Interview with 24 stars Gregory Itzin and Jean Smart (President Logan and Martha Logan) - October 18th, 2006

Promoting: 24, season 5
Venue: Covent Garden Hotel
Interview type: One-on-one (well, one-on-two)



ViewLondon: First of all, congratulations on the show. Are you both on board for season six?

Gregory Itzin (GI): We’re not allowed to say! Here’s what we say because we’ve said it before. We’ve been told we are…and there you go.

Jean Smart (JS): Apparently almost two years will have taken place between Day 5 and Day 6, so they’re going to fit us in where they can.

VL: And is the movie going to be after Season 6 or before Season 6?

GI: They’re writing it now and that’s all they’ll tell us. There are no guarantees, or rather there’s only one guarantee and we know who that is. And we don’t know what it’s about or anything else. I even know the people who are writing it and they just don’t even talk about it.

VL: That must be very frustrating. Is it?

JS: I never assumed that I’d have anything to do with the movie, so it’s not frustrating to me at all!

GI: Everyone says ‘Oh, you’re going to be in the movie’, I say no. No assumptions are made on this show.

JS: I don’t think anybody who’s on the show is assuming they’re going to be in the movie.

GI: But the fact that we’re alive, it’s good.

JS: We’re still breathing.

VL: One of the great things about 24 is its propensity for killing off its main characters. Were you scared you weren’t going to make it to the end?

GI: Not scared. I thought it could happen. I’ll tell you honestly - business-wise, I knew if they did, they’d still pay me till the end of the season so it wasn’t that big a deal. And I figured if they did, they’d find a way to do it that was interesting but basically I knew they couldn’t kill two Presidents in one day. I thought that would be a bit much.

JS: Right. And a First Lady.

GI: Well, I didn’t know that you would go. I thought you’d be the one that would kill me.

JS: Yeah, we thought he’d kill me or I’d kill him or we’d kill each other or something but I said, you know, if she goes, I just want it to be in an interesting way. Heroic or taking a lot of people with her or something.

GI: You got to kill somebody!

JS: I did. My son was very impressed with that. Although he thought I was too upset. He said why were you so upset when you shot that day?

GI: Because she’s not Jack Bauer, that’s why.

VL: How far in advance do you get the scripts?

GI: A week or two. But if you’re going to die, they bring you in and talk to you.

JS: They give you a little courtesy call if you’re going to die.

VL: Gregory, what was your reaction to finding out Logan was behind everything?

GI: At first I was very, ‘What? What? No! Wait! Stop!’ because while I realised that they and I together were creating a character who was indecisive and ill-equipped for the job, let’s face it, ultimately, I always thought of him as – in his own head he’s a hero. And even afterwards he was. But when I first heard that he was, or might have been or whatever – you see, even now, I’m resisting it – the prime mover behind David Palmer’s death, even if it wasn’t intentional, I said I can’t, no, wait, stop. But ultimately I trusted them, because they have a hit show and they know what they’re doing. And interestingly enough, once he did this, he became more popular, people liked him more. And I think, simply, it’s because he finally became decisive and people like their villains to be clear-cut or something like that. But at first I said no, I don’t like this and I had to step back out of it, go back and look at some episodes, right around episode 6,7 and 8, when I’m reacting to Cummings and saying, ‘You’re a traitor’ and all of that, I mean, when I acted that stuff I didn’t know all that other stuff was coming, so when I acted that stuff it’s really honest and it’s really coming from a real place and then I started to think, well, this becomes even more interesting now, because he’s such a good actor in these moments and he’s using his anger at Cummings for being caught. So then it became quite appropriate and I could walk back into the character and go, okay. But at first, I was not very happy at all.

VL: Are we going to see more of Martha and Agent Aaron Pierce?

JS: Everybody’s asked me that, they all ask me why he didn’t kiss her. You know, her husband tried to kill her and this guy saved her life – it tends to colour the way a woman looks at a guy.

VL: Did you play it like she was attracted to him?

JS: They told me that they might sort of go in that direction and I wasn’t sure at first. But it was very sweet, the way they handled it, because he was the kind of person who would never step beyond what he considered his duty and his proper position. They actually cut a scene though that he and I were very upset about. There was a scene where he said something which let her know how he felt, which was quite shocking to her. And they cut that. So then the scene they left in, where he comes to my room and I thank him for saving my life and hold his hand and everything, that came out of what he’d said to me but now it looked like I was sexually harassing the staff! I thought Oh my God, this is terrible! But it was okay, people didn’t seem to mind.

VL: Had you watched the show before you were cast?

GI: I had sampled it a couple of times because there was a big to-do about the show, so I watched it a couple of times, but it was appointment TV and you had to watch from the beginning, so I didn’t. But when they hired me, I said, could I please have the DVDs for what’s happened up to now and then I got it.

JS: I had not seen the show so they sent me season 4 and I just was blown away by it. And my son and I sat and watched it in a couple of days and my husband got on board very soon after and we became a house of junkies for this show.

VL: Do you have a favourite moment from this season?

GI: The scene in the last episode when she and I are in the hangar.

JS: I agree, the finale between Greg and I. But also my first scene, the introduction to Martha where she dumps her head in the sink. It spoke volumes about her impulsive nature and it’s one of my favourite introductions to any character I’ve ever played.

VL: What’s the atmosphere like on set, when you’re shooting?

GI: It’s amazing. The cast is obviously tremendous and honest. The work is the kind of work I like to do, when people work right. They do their homework, they come in, they engage you moment to moment, there’s no line that isn’t owned and committed to, that’s fantastic. The directors are very supportive and not directorial. The crew are the best crew I’ve ever worked with. They’re so respectful and – I hate to say this because, you know, but it’s not a cliché because it doesn’t exist on every set, but there’s a lot of love on the set. And everybody’s very proud of the work.

VL: Is Kiefer around when you’re shooting your scenes, given his executive producer position?

GI: Only when you’re on the phone with him. But I remember, on season 4, he set the tone on this from the very first season. If you’re doing a phone scene – and there are so many phone scenes on 24 – you get called in and you sit on the set while they’re talking to you on the phone. You sit in the corner and actually have a conversation with them. And that’s very rare.

VL: One more question, a slightly delicate one. There’s a moment towards the end of the series where your love scene appears to only last the length of the commercial break…

JS: The Presidential quickie? I had a huge concern about that. I said I did not want this to be like a joke on the internet or something. And they said no, no, we fudge the times on things a lot.

GI: It’s one of the few times where they weren’t quite on the up and up. There was more to the scene than ended up on the screen. That episode ran 17 minutes long and they had to lose things to fit it all in. There was a whole bunch of stuff that was left on the cutting room floor.

JS: But yeah, it was a concern. I said, you know, they’ve been married for 20 years, they know exactly what they’re doing. When you’re married that long, you know, it’s possible! It isn’t probable, but it’s possible.

GI: I had a helicopter to catch! But no, it was slightly embarrassing, but I can handle it, I’m an actor.



Note: This is a much longer version than first appeared on ViewLondon, but there's also quite a bit more that I didn't transcribe in the first place, including some stuff about Edgar (Deadgar) and Tony and some stuff about the limosine scene. If enough people want me to transcribe it, I'll dig out the tape and do the rest.

Interview with David Thewlis - March 17th, 2006

Promoting: Basic Instinct 2
Venue: The Dorchester Hotel
Interview type: One-on-one



ViewLondon (VL): How did you get involved with Basic Instinct 2?

David Thewlis (DT: Oh, just in the normal way, my agent sent me a script, you know? There’s no story, apart from I hadn’t seen the original – I’d heard about it, obviously, but I didn’t really know what it was, apart from the fact that it was a bit sexy and Sharon Stone was in it. And, you know, that was enough for me. So I read the script, and they told me it would be set in England, which was a good idea, because if you’re going to do a sequel you might as well make it quite dramatically different, I think. And I really liked Michael Caton-Jones, I’d nearly worked with him on Rob Roy and wished I had. And David Morrissey, who I’d also never worked with but really liked.

VL: How about Sharon Stone?

DT: She was fine – I didn’t really get to know her, because I only had one scene with her. Also, I shot my scenes in quite a short space of time, because I had to get shut out because we were having a baby.

VL: I have to ask, why does your character have a Welsh accent?

DL: I seem to get asked this a lot, for some reason. The Welsh accent, well, it came about in rehearsal, because the detective’s dialogue is quite banal –you know, “Where were you on the night of the murder?” - and it all sounded very flat, and I thought, “What’s a really nice lyrical accent where I can actually put the stress on things in a more entertaining way and actually entertain myself?” And I started doing that and the director liked it, he said, “That’s good, why are you doing that?” and I said, “I don’t know, I know a lot of Welsh people and I quite like it.” And I kept going back to it in rehearsal and I said, “I think I’m going to do it like that” and Michael went, “Yeah, do it” and that was that. So there’s no real backstory – basically, I was having a laugh.

Interview with David Morrissey - March 14th, 2006

Promoting: Basic Instinct 2
Venue: The Dorchester Hotel
Interview type: One-on-one



ViewLondon (VL): How did you get involved with Basic Instinct 2? Were you a fan of the original film?

David Morrissey (DM): I was in London and I got a phone call from my agent to say that they were interested in me for Basic Instinct 2. I remembered really enjoying the first one although I hadn’t seen it for ages. I read the script, which I really liked – it was set in New York when I read it but I knew that they were going to transpose it to London. And I got the first one out again and I really thought it was great, seeing it a second time, it had a real Hitchcockian feel to it. And I met Michael Caton-Jones and we got on immediately, and the next thing they fly me to L.A. and I meet Sharon and I get to stay in the Four Seasons Hotel and I’m all very swanky and then I go down and I meet her and we get on. I’d prepared three scenes to do with her and they’d blocked out an hour for me to be with her and I was there for two hours and about an hour and a half of that was just chatting, so we got on well. And then we did the scenes and then I went home and they told me I’d got it. But in my pessimistic way I thought “This’ll never happen”, but it did.

VL: A couple of explicit deleted scenes from the film have ended up on the internet. Can you explain why they were cut out?

DM: I can’t really answer the question about why they were cut out because I wasn’t privy to those decisions, really. Probably because my arse wasn’t good enough. But I think one of the things about the time that’s gone on between the two films is that we do live in a different time, and not that it’s a more prurient time but I think that with the internet and advertising, sex is pretty much out there and available to us in a way that it wasn’t with the first film. So the first film was quite full on but now I think less is more and that might have been behind the decision to pull the threesome scene. But there’s also that maxim, that I think is very true, that you set out to make one film, you actually shoot a second film and you edit a third.

VL: Have you ever been cut out of anything?

DM: Yeah, I was cut out of Girl With A Pearl Earring, which was fine, actually, I mean I was really, well, not happy about it, but as a director you can see why those decisions were made and you don’t take it personally. And I liked the film and I think it benefited from me not being in it!

Interview with Anjelica Huston - March 9th, 2006

Promoting: These Foolish Things
Venue: Claridges Hotel
Interview type: Round table


Q: Terence Stamp seemed to be enjoying himself immensely in the film. What was it like working with him?

Angelica Huston (AH): It was great. He's an extremely surprising actor, not that he'll throw you a curve ball but he will give you a completely novel reading of something. 'Puce' might not seem such a devastatingly funny word in print, but the way he delivers it genuinely cracks you up. You can't help it. He just goes about his business as though no-one else is there, really. In the first scene as innocuous a phrase as 'Do you want a prawn?' becomes incredibly funny. I don't know how he manages to do this but his delivery is brilliant and dry and his wit is great.

Q: Was the relationship between your characters on the page or was it your idea?

AH: I think we kind of developed our screen romance a bit, it became a good idea. I don't think it was quite so obvious on the page, but I took advantage of the situation.

Q: You and (co-star) Lauren Bacall go way back, don’t you?

AH: We've been friends for a very long time. Years ago, the moment I fell in love with Lauren Bacall was when we were having dinner at my father's rented house in Rhode Island. One night, he started telling stories, and Bacall was at the bottom of the table. He started talking about Katie Hepburn, how wonderful she was, how she was a man's woman, maybe she was the best female friend he ever had - and finally, down at the end of the table this little voice said, 'But John, what about me?'. He said, 'Oh honey, you were married to Bogie, you don't count!'. She looked at him like a little bird. At the same time, she can terrify people. I think that's what makes her a great actress. She's capable of going to all sides, through all the facets. That's what we're all made up of a little bit. Give us some good lines, we come in like gangbusters, the rest of the time we're wracked with self-doubt.

Interview with Lindy Booth - January 12th, 2006

Promoting: Cry_Wolf
Venue: MyHotel, Bloomsbury.



ViewLondon (VL): How did you get involved with the film?

Lindy Booth (LB): I got sent the script by my manager and I read it and I loved it. It’s a fabulous script, it’s extremely well written and my character, Dodger, is a really strong female character. I read a lot of horror scripts and to not play a victim, to play someone who’s really layered and an interesting person is really rare. So I sent an audition tape and I came down from Toronto to audition and I guess (director) Jeff was in the middle of his search and basically, I got the part.

VL: Without giving away any specifics about the plot, how do you feel about twist endings?

LB: I hate twist endings. I truly do. Because I hate watching a movie and the end comes and you’re like, “Why did I watch the whole movie? I could have just watched the last ten minutes.” But I think that what’s great about this is it’s not a twist. You know from the beginning what you’re getting into. I feel like it’s so supported, so it’s not a twist.

VL: Because the film is basically about lying?

LB: Exactly. It’s about lying and it’s about subjectivity. Because the whole film, you’re trying to figure out who’s lying and who’s telling the truth. And you’re trying to figure out, are we manipulating you? Are we being honest with you? Are we being honest with what we’re showing you? And I think that’s where it comes from and I think it’s really exciting because at the end you’re like, “Ah HAH!” You know? You’re fulfilled – it all works out.

Interview with Ryan Reynolds - January 6th, 2006

Promoting: Just Friends
Venue: The Soho Hotel (I think)



ViewLondon(VL): How did you get involved in the movie?

Ryan Reynolds (RR): It was something that (director) Roger Kumble brought to me, plus I just loved that whole concept of “You can’t go home again.” That’s something that I can definitely relate to. I’ve tried to go home numerous times and it’s not easy, so I loved that concept. I was shocked that no-one else had jumped on that idea yet – the whole Friend Zone thing.

VL: Can you describe the Fat Suit experience? How was it for you?

RR: It was fun. I liked that the Fat Suit wasn’t so over the top, it wasn’t gigantic or anything. It was integral to shaping that character. It was a five hour experience to get it on – there was a team of people working on it around the clock and I felt like they would have to put scaffolding on me to get it on. But it’s weird – any time you have a kind of appliance on your face, it suddenly avails you of about 20 new facial expressions so I was loving that. I was loving just experimenting with it, playing in the mirror.

VL: There are several hilarious supporting performances in the film, particularly Chris Marquette, who plays your brother.

RR: He’s great, yeah. My brother in real life – he and I had that dynamic. And Roger rather trepidatiously let us do this, like, slap fight stuff. I mean that went on in my house – I had three older brothers. And in the movie, every slap is real. I mean, we didn’t pull any punches. So by the time we finished shooting our faces looked like some sort of diseased pancake. It was really violent. But I just love when something like that happens – it looks so out of place for this romantic comedy to have this, like, hardcore violence, but for some reason it just cracked me up.

VL: I thought at the time that it was great “slap acting” but obviously you’re prepared to suffer for your art.

RR: Oh yeah, it was all absolutely real.