The TV Chick

Last week’s episode of “The Vampire Diaries” was one of my favorites of the entire season. We have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Elena’s biological mom and we finally got to meet her. We even find out that Jon Gilbert is actually Elena’s biological father. Isobel is a complex vampire who struggles with her humanity (or lack thereof) and her feelings towards her ex-husband Alaric and her “maker” Damon. I recently had the chance to chat with Mia Kirshner, who plays Isobel, and she had some interesting insights into her character. We even talked a little bit about her time on “The L Word.”

How did you get the part of Isobel?
It was all just pretty random. It was right before Christmas, and I was in the countryside of Malawi staying on a dairy farm, (laughs) and I got this call from my agent and they told me about the show, The Vampire Diaries and it sounded pretty cool. And then they said that I could speak to Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec [Executive Producers] who I spoke to and it was through Skype and it was a really crackly connection, but there were words: mysterious and unpredictable and stuff like that I believe we used in the conversation that made me excited about the character. And I knew that they were talented, so I said yes–not knowing a lot about it. It was kind of a leap of faith.

Isobel is a vampire devoid of any human emotions. How are you able to relate to her?
I don’t think that’s true.

Oh, you don’t? Interesting!
I don’t. I think that she tries not to have human emotions but I think actually that’s her weakness–that she struggles with is that she does still have feelings for Alaric and her daughter.

Oooh, interesting. And how are you able to relate to her? Are you anything like her at all?
(laughs) We both like Paris. We love France. We speak French. That’s probably about it.

So the producers didn’t tell you too much about her back story?
No. I only learned more about the back story when I watched the actual episode. And that was interesting. But no, it was sort of left to my imagination what happened to her between the time that Damon turned her and when she comes back.

So you think that she loves and cares for Alaric. Why do you believe that?
Because I think true love is hard to come by and I think it’s part of who she is. She’s got a lot of lovers in her life, and nothing to compares to what she had. And it’s like at the end of the episode “Isobel,” she said “I made a mistake.”

Do you think she cares about Elena as well?
I think so. And I also think, as twisted as this sounds — I’m not defending Isobel’s actions — I think she wants to push her daughter away because she doesn’t want her daughter to be like her. But I think that ultimately, she’s going to do everything she can to protect her daughter’s well-being.

Yeah, like try to kill Damon and Stefan.
Yes, I mean in her mind, I think she has a skewed view of reality (laughs).

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Elizabeth Mitchell is one of those actresses that has a way of drawing you in. On Lost, Juliet became such a beloved character that I would venture to say was probably just as popular as the Oceanic 6. She now plays Erica Evans on V, where she doubles as an FBI Agent and a leader of the 5th Column (the resistance movement against the Vs). Whatever the role she takes on, Elizabeth Mitchell is just brilliant. I recently had the chance to speak with her and we talked about the upcoming Erica/Anna showdown, the similarities and differences between Erica and Juliet and her favorite moments from filming Lost. (We even chatted a little bit about our golden retrievers!) And while she could share next to nothing about the way Lost ends, we talked about her time there and if she was happy with the way her story ended.

What originally drew you to the role of Erica?
Well, it’s actually really interesting because since I was a little kid, I wanted to play kind of a sci-fi hero protagonist woman. And that really was it. That was the initial draw, and it was basically kind of a childhood wish fulfillment — that sort of thing. Because that’s what I watched, and that’s what I love. And then as I started getting into it and my character started getting more interesting, I was like “Cool, okay this is cool.” So that’s what initially drew me to it. Actually, honestly that was it. I thought it would be a really unique and interesting way to spend my time. And I thought it would be really fun. I had been doing such deep, dark stuff, I thought that taking a little kind of a popcorn movie would be great. Not of course realizing that once I joined it, she would become twisted and dark. (laughs) But you know, that’s just me, that’s what I tend to do.

Well, I like it!
Good, I’m glad. Thank you!

What do you think makes V different from Lost or any other shows you have been on?
Well Lost was really its own world, and so completely unique in the way they went about doing things. Because of Damon, I think, and his tricky little intricate mind. But I actually think that V for me is different because it’s an action-adventure sci-fi show. Whereas Lost was really — I guess you could call it sci-fi, but it was really just this unique hybrid of all kinds of wonderful things. But I just think V is kind of — or what I was hoping for at least — was kind of a shoot-em-up, sci-fi, us-against-them kind of thing and of course, it’s turned into all kinds of wonderful murky shades of gray which is even more interesting, really. Those were my kind of hopes. I kind of wanted to be Han Solo, you know, that kind of thing. So we have one of those now. I think I really do best as the kind of tortured critter who walks around trying to figure everything out. (laughs)

Erica is very suspicious of the Vs for good reason. Do you think the 5th Column is going to gain more followers as the show goes on?
I do think they will, and a lot of it has to do with faith. The whole show I think — it’s so funny, people went political with it, which I thought was great, because I love hearing what people think about things. But to me, it’s all about faith — blind faith for them. It’s about having faith in something. And really, the faith is here, but the Vs are bad. You know, there’s only been a few instances that she can actually pinpoint to say this is true. But her overall feeling is one of such tremendous evil coming her way that she’s taking it on faith that that’s what this is and she’s doing everything she can to stop it. So I believe more and more people will start to feel that way, and things will start to get scarier and scarier. And of course, we as the audience know that Anna is up to no good. But as far as the human race goes, she’s pretty good on paper, as they say. (laughs)

What don’t we know about the Vs that we might find out soon?
Well, I mean, the fact that Anna has all those teeth is pretty cool. I guess we’re going to find out a little bit about the baby which is super super cool. And I think that’s going to be really fun. That’s something I didn’t get to see that I just read about. So I’m very excited to see how the Val and Ryan thing goes.

Yeah, the baby with the tail.
Yeah! How cool is that?! I think we’re going to find out more about what their agenda is, and what their capabilities are. And a little bit more about what they possibility might need from us, and why can’t she just take it peacefully? Why do they have to take it with such force? Obviously, they want something from us that we’re not really willing to give up, or else they wouldn’t be so sneaky about it. I mean, I don’t think Anna’s being sneaky just to be sneaky, that’s just a waste of time. But you never know. (laughs)

And talk a little bit about Erica’s relationship with her son, Tyler. Is she ever going to talk some sense into him?
No I know! It’s really funny, because I was just reading one kind of little review which I don’t usually do because I feel like it can get in your head a little bit. But there’s a couple people that I read, and I’m like “Oh, okay,” because they usually have a pretty good understanding. And one of them was like, “And then he put on the jacket. And that’s getting old!” And I thought well, it is actually, if you think about it. So I don’t think it’s the jacket that keeps her from talking to him, I think it’s the fact that if he knew, and he’s such a kid, I don’t believe he would make good choices with his knowledge, if that makes any sense. I think that any more knowledge that he has, puts him in more danger. And she’s just, she’s completely lost. But I love their relationship. It’s such a teenager relationship. He’s just a long streak of misery. And she basically kind of puts up with it. She’s obviously not a good mother. I mean, anyone who comes home and downs three fingers of vodka is probably not a good mom. (laughs)

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Starz officially won me over with Party Down, so I was excited to see what else the network had to offer. Gravity is a new series starring Krysten Ritter (of “Breaking Bad” and “Gilmore Girls” fame) about a suicide support group. Each member of the group tried to kill themselves in some way — some hilarious ways, others heartbreaking, and some we are just beginning to discover. The third episode is tonight and already it’s off to a great start. When I first heard about this series, I wasn’t sure what to think. However, I think death is a topic that isn’t addressed enough on TV. Gravity injects humor where necessary and serious moments as well, and I think the balance is just right. I recently had the chance to chat with the lovely creator, Jill Franklyn, who talked about the casting process, her inspiration for the show and why she had to change the name to Gravity.

What was your inspiration behind creating Gravity?
I was having a bad day. I don’t mean to make light of it. I’m not going to give you the laundry list of what was going on, but it was during the writers strike in ’07 when I came up with it. And just my dog, and there was just all this stuff, so I went to this dark place which I sometimes do–which for me, creatively is really good. And so I also was thinking about, because it was the writers strike and I knew coming back from the writers strike, that it was going to be really hard to sell something, and you really had to come up with something different. So I was trying to think of territories that no one had ever approached and so I started thinking about death, as I do, because I’ve written a lot of stories about people that are in comas, and I made them humorous. So I just started thinking about crazy ways of people trying to off themselves and it started to come alive. I started to see the faces of the characters, they had names, I had a title for the show. And then what happened was I called up my agent and I was already going out with three shows. And I called up my agent and said I have one more show I want to go out with, and they said “Okay, what is it?” and I said “I call it ‘Suicide for Dummies’” and it’s going to be a comedy about suicide, and there was dead silence on the phone.

(laughs)
“Are you guys there?” and they said “Yeah…but no. We cannot make that call. We cannot call up producers and say you have a show about suicide.” So because I already had three shows I was going out with, I put it aside. I put it aside and Eric [Schaeffer] had called me one day, we had worked together once before. He wasn’t doing anything and he asked what I was doing, and I said I had some projects I was going out with. And he asked if I had anything laying around, and I said “Yeah, I do have this idea that I really want to do but my agents doesn’t want me to go out with it. So I told him, and he said “I love that!” I’ll get my agents to go out with it. So, we talked it about it for a little bit and I said go off and think about it and I’ll go think about it because we need more than that. And he called me the next day and after I hung up with him, I was thinking about what could be the love story. And I had written this movie, I actually wrote it in a weekend after a yoga class, and sold it the next week. It was about this girl who — well there’s this big sixth sense twist to it — but I’ll just say that in the afterlife she finds her love…I’ll  say that just in case it gets made, hopefully.

Yeah, you don’t want to give it away!
No, especially that big twist. So I had this character, and I already know her name is Lily, and I’m thinking why does she do it and who is she and what happens when she dies? And the whole story just came to me really in a few minutes. So I wrote everything down and I wrote it as if I was her telling her story. And I think just a few days later, we started going out to the networks and it was really funny because we would get these reactions where people would just look at us completely dumbfounded. Fortunately, we found Starz. They were really great. And so we wrote the pilot — we actually Skype wrote the pilot — because he’s there, I’m here. [She's in LA and he's in NY] We wrote the pilot and then we had to wait a really long time. I’m going to say that it felt like it could have been like 8 months. I could be exaggerating but it was a really long time and I remember so well because my dog was so sick and my dog had died and I remember I was at Trader Joe’s and Eric called me and said “Guess what, our show got picked up.” And I said “Oh that’s really great.” And he said “You don’t sound excited.” And I said “Well, my dog died.” And he said “But you don’t sound excited!” And I said “But my dog died…”

You were like how am I supposed to sound excited after this happened?
I know, it was awful. It was awful and bittersweet. And ultimately it was great, and I will tell you right now I have my new dog laying on my lap.

Aww. I’m a huge dog lover.

[We then proceeded to talk about dogs -- I grew up with golden retrievers. We are both surprised at how many dogs live in New York City.]

So then we got the call, and then we just wrote the nine episodes and it was pretty quick. We turned them around really fast and it was really exciting. I think the biggest thing for me was just knowing that if somebody says no, it really has no more meaning to me (laughs). And so I love that. I feel much more freedom than I did before.

Yeah. And how did the name change to Gravity?
Well, I knew we were going to have a problem with Suicide For Dummies because of all the For Dummies books. So we changed it first to Suicide Dummies so it didn’t have the for in it, so it didn’t seem like it was a manual. And Starz legal they just didn’t want suicide in the title. So they threw around a lot of other names. We had Failure to Fly which I just hated. Failure to Fly is the actual term if you’re in the hospital and you try to commit suicide and you fail, they call that Failure to Fly.

Oh! I had no idea!
I had no idea either, but I still hated it. And I don’t remember exactly how we had Gravity. I think Gravity was in a list of maybe three names and it just, at first I wasn’t crazy about it and then it grew on me, and now I love it.

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Happy Glee day! Tonight’s episode titled The Power of Madonna, which I reviewed here, tackles the music of a legend. It is truly epic, and pays homage to a deserving artist. But really, I’m just happy Glee is back on my TV. What started as a little show with some big talent has had incredible success. In the back 9, there are new love interests, new couples and tons of new music. I recently had the chance to chat with the wonderful and extremely talented Jonathan Groff, a Broadway star who is now the new resident heartthrob. We talked about what it has been like working with his best friend again (Lea Michele), what goes into making an episode of Glee and the differences between stage and screen.

How did you get the part of Jesse St. James?
Well I actually about two years ago did a television pilot called Pretty/Handsome for FX with Ryan Murphy, that Ryan Murphy created and directed that never got picked up. And so I met him — I was doing Spring Awakening on Broadway at the time — and I left the show to do the pilot and I met Ryan and worked with Ryan, and then a year and a half later, he created this television show called Glee. He had known my work from Spring Awakening and also from working with him, and he said if the show does well and we get picked up for more episodes, I’ll create a character for you. And then he created Jesse St. James.

So you didn’t have to audition at all?
It was just written for me, so I didn’t have to audition or anything.

You come from a Broadway background. How has it been making the transition to television?
It’s been really interesting. It’s a totally different thing and I’ve sort of been comparing it to long distance running maybe as opposed to short distance running because in the theater you’re doing eight shows a week, and you have to pace yourself in order to be able to fit them all in. So you have to know when to push and pull back and when to conserve your energy and when to give it and all of that. And in television, you do a scene once with no rehearsal, and you had a day or half of a day to do your work on it, so it’s very intense, it’s fast, it’s high focused, and it’s acting. It’s sort of the same thing, but the mediums are so different that you have to adjust the way that you work. It’s been a real education.

And do you find that you have a preference: Broadway vs. a television show?
For me, acting is acting. As long as the part is good and the director’s good and the cast is great, it’s sort of fun to do that in whatever medium as long as you really love what you’re working on. I loved working in the theater and the projects that I’ve gotten the chance to work on, and I’ve really, truly loved working on this show and getting to spending time with the people and the material there. So I don’t think I do have a preference.

Well, that’s a good thing.
Yeah, yeah. (laughs)

And you and Lea Michele are best friends. I actually saw both of you perform at Feinsteins in the winter.
Oh really??

Yeah, I loved it!
Oh cool! We had so much fun at that concert. That was so fun.

Yeah, it was sort of like both of you unplugged. I loved it.
Aw, awesome.

So, what has it been like to work with her again?
Words can’t properly describe it. It’s been a blast. You get to sing and dance with your best friend. And not only do you get to work with your best friend, with sort of all the fun and good times and ease that that involves, but I also get to work with a peer who is an artist that I completely respect and admire. When you are an actor, or a musician or an athlete or whatever, you want to be challenged and work with people that push you and that inspire you, and Lea happens to be one of those artists for me that I have always really admired and really been inspired by and I’ve always been sort of made better by. And so it’s sort of two fold, because I love her so much as an actress and a singer and a performer, and then I also love her so much as a human being and as a person, so it’s been really incredible to get to work with her again. And we have that history together, so there’s an ease in our working relationship that comes with years of knowing each other and know each other’s work.

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I realize I have a lot of favorite shows, but Nurse Jackie is truly one of them. Edie Falco leads an outstanding cast as they navigate their way through All Saints hospital. What makes this show great is that each character brings something totally different and amazing to the table. And despite all of her drug-using, adultering ways, you still find yourself rooting for Jackie. One of the characters that stood out for me from the beginning was Zoey — Jackie’s new optimistic protegee who had a way of warming my heart and making me laugh at the same time. As season one ended and season two began, Zoey became a comedic staple, and her charming quriky-ness is never to be underestimated. I recently had the chance to chat with Merritt Wever, who plays the esteemed Zoey, about working with Edie, Zoey’s recent new looks and behavior, and what she wants to see from her character going forward.

What originally attracted you to the show?
The actors. I liked the writing, and the opportunity to work with Edie was probably what I liked the most. Since it was just the pilot script, I couldn’t actually tell what Zoey was going to be like, I wasn’t sure. It took me a couple of episodes to find some footing. So it was mostly just Edie and thinking that the script was funny.

And what has it been like working with Edie?
It’s pretty fantastic. She’s fabulous. All the good things are true. And the more I work in other situations, the more I value her and what she brings to the set, personally and professionally.

Did you talk to any nurses or spend time with any nurses before you started the show to prepare?
I did, and then quickly realized — I spent a couple hours in an ER, and then remembered that Zoey is brand new and doesn’t need to be used to anything or comfortable yet at all, and realized I was kind of wasting my time.

That makes sense. She starts out very new.
Yeah, I don’t know why that didn’t occur to me earlier.

And are you anything like Zoey at all?
I don’t know, I’m sure we have to similar in some ways, but she’s probably a lot more positive and optimistic and in love with life and everything that it brings, good or bad, than I am. I wish I had some more of her enthusiasm, but unfortunately I just do not. I’m like Zoey fresh half sister.

The evil twin, perhaps.
Yeah. The blue twin.

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Glee returns tonight! Are you as excited as I am? I recently had the chance to catch up with Jessalyn Gilsig (Terri Schuester). In case you missed Part 1 of my interview, check it out here. In this next installment, she talks about Emma and her husband stealing ways, her dream guest stars and Glee’s incredible ensemble cast. She also addresses the Will and Terri fans when I asked her if there is still hope for the couple. She even shares a little bit about season 2.

I watched a little behind-the-scenes video where you came in wearing the same outfit as Jayma, during the kissing scene.
(laughs) Yeah. That’s a perfect example. Okay. Let’s talk about that beret. When I saw her in that white beret, I was like Lou, are you kidding me? You literally dressed her like an angel. She literally has a halo on her head. This is ridiculous. So then I had to find a beret, and come on set. I was thinking that Terri should just cut her hair into a bob and dye it red. Because I think that’s how simple Terri is. I think Terri really thinks, If I just look like Emma, then he would love me again. But that beret, I mean that’s where Lou is such a genius. Because obviously, Jayma looks so adorable in it, so perfect and yet it made it impossible for any character to have sympathy for my character.

Have there been any other pranks that you’ve pulled like that or any other pranks that have been pulled on set?
Let me think. I feel like there have been some things. I mean, everybody gets kind of goofy from time to time that’s for sure.

Did you show up during the next kissing scene? I know there is a Will/Emma kiss from the promo.
I was on set, actually. Because if we’re shooting in the apartment then usually we’ll spend the whole day there. So they shot that and then the following scene was actually a scene between Emma and myself in the apartment. It was a really fun scene.

Oooh interesting.
Did you get to see the next episode at the Paley Festival?

I wasn’t there. I couldn’t make it out there, I wanted to go so badly.
Yeah, because we aired the next episode.

I know!
Did people like it?

People did like it! I think there was some interesting reactions to Idina Menzel’s character.
Really? What did they say?

Well there might be something between her and Will.
Yeeees. Exactly.

So I think that people who are crazy about Emma and Will…
Ohhhhh! It’s so good! [The show] is so smart, you see! Isn’t that so good? Because everybody thinks it’s going in one — oh it gets so good!

I am so excited!
It gets so good, because it’s exactly what you don’t expect, but it’s actually probably truer to life, what would really happen. You know, because people don’t just ride off into the sunset very often.

Right, the world’s not perfect.
Yeah. Oh yeah, it gets really, really good. I was on set that day that they kissed, and I thought it was disgusting.

(laughs) Is there going to be any future showdowns between you and Emma?
Between Emma and myself? Yeah.

And what about between you and anyone else? Maybe Will?
Will and I, we have another one. And then we have some sad things.

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Glee is back in just one day! My countdown clock will soon become obsolete. I am so thrilled that it is returning, and I jumped at the chance to chat again with Jessalyn Gilsig, who plays Terri Schuester. I know there are huge Will and Emma fans out there (Wemma as they have become affectionately known), but I love Terri because I think Jessalyn plays her with such magnificence. She adds a little crazy to the mix but she also shows that nothing is ever perfect. If we got what we wanted right away on any TV show, it would be the easy way out, and if there is one thing about Ryan Murphy and his creative team I know for sure, it is that they are never ones to do this. There is a great Terri moment in the mid-season premiere (“Hell-O”) but as Jessalyn explains, it really heats up later. We talked about the amazing fashion on the show, interesting fan reactions, and her song.

Congratulations on all the success of the show. It has been an amazing season. What has awards season been like for you?
I think it just ended, or it just ended for me. I never understood when people said it’s a season that it’s really a season. I mean, it goes on. There are a lot of award shows (laughs) that I never knew about. It was amazing. The Golden Globes were amazing because we just — we couldn’t believe we were there. We sort of felt like we snuck in. And then when I got to the table and the whole cast was sitting there. And Chris was there and Mark’s there and Dianna, and we just looked at each other like what are we doing here? We’ve only shot 13 episodes (laughs). And then, a really fun one that I went to — this was the kind of thing I never knew about — was the Costume Design Awards. Lou Eyrich is our designer who also designs for Nip/Tuck, she was nominated, and she actually won that night. And Jayma and I went there in support of her and it was just really fun to see. We get so much attention from the show but we know that the show is such a collaborative experience and Lou is such a good example. She helps us find our characters, and she really sort of creates such a visual experience, so to see her get recognized and kind of put the spotlight on her…Jayma and I both agreed it was our best experience out of all the award shows.

Yeah, she does some incredible work on the show.
Doesn’t she? And she takes such big risks and I just feel like because there’s so many times that our characters are present but not necessarily speaking. I mean, especially for a lot of the kids. You know, they might have an episode where — I just saw one where Dianna, she doesn’t have much to say but just whenever she’s on screen, there’s still a story being told, and so much of that is also through what she’s wearing and her posture. So it’s just really interesting how everybody kind of tracks the evolution of our characters. And there are so many of them.

There are actually websites out there dedicated to the fashion on Glee.
Are you kidding? (laughs)

There’s a site called What Would Emma Pillsbury Wear?
What? Are you kidding me?

No you have to go check it out!
I mean, Emma’s wardrobe…that’s a perfect example. It’s ingenious. And of course, I selfishly, from Terri’s point of view, think Emma’s a genius because she dresses like a saint but she’s actually a husband stealer.

Oh she totally is…
But the way she dresses…it makes her look like a good person.

And I wanted to know what it was like filming that scene that last time we spoke, you referred to it as the reckoning between Will and Terri. It was so incredibly intense.
Was I right?

You were right, absolutely!
It was intense. This is why it is so much fun to work on Ryan Murphy’s show because it’s really fun to watch an audience get frustrated with the show. You know, a woman came up to me in the store the other day (laughs), it was so hysterical. I’m standing in a store with my daughter, and this older woman — I mean, she was probably in her 60s — she comes over and she says “You know what I don’t understand? How can he be so stupid?” (laughs)

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A couple of weeks ago, I attended USA Network’s 2nd Annual Character Approved Awards reception, where they honored innovators in various different fields of work. To learn more about the nominees (which include Green Day and Katherine Bigelow), you can visit the Character Approved website. Many of the stars of the USA Network shows attended the reception, and I was able to talk with the cast of one of my new favorite shows, White Collar. I had interviewed Tim DeKay (Peter Burke) over the phone in the past, and he was so wonderful to meet in person, and just incredibly nice and forthcoming. So forthcoming in fact, that he ALMOST revealed a huge location that would have given away a major plot point from the season finale. We talked about Peter and Neal’s relationship, the success of White Collar, and of course, what it’s like working with Matt Bomer.

What’s coming on the big season finale of White Collar?
You know, what, you’re a great interviewer, and I know you’re going to ask me all types of questions to get to the same answer. All I’m going to say is everybody’s involved. Certainly Neal and Peter, Mozzie, Elizabeth, Fowler, Kate, and even countries other than the United States.

Interesting! When you signed on, did you know White Collar was going to be so successful?
No. You never know. This was my 11th pilot, so I’m 3 for 11 with pilots. The others were all sort of…No I didn’t know! But because you have this guarded optimism as an actor because you think “Oh, I love this project, I love working with Matt, I love these characters,” don’t get too excited because you’re going to get the call and say It’s great, but it didn’t test well, or whatever. You know, there are so many people that make these decisions, to say “Yeah, let’s go with it.” But sometimes when you do these things, you feel all these, and you think all of these thoughts about the series or about the show, and then it’s confirmed by other people. You think, “Oh, I was right. It’s exactly what I thought people would think it was.” That’s a wonderful feeling.

Are we going to see more of Peter being watched by Fowler?
Yeah, the last episode, [he] becomes very stealth, I’ll use that word. The stakes are high, very high.

I know last time we spoke, you talked about shooting all over New York City. Do you have another location that you’ve filmed at recently that was one of your favorites?
We shot at — Oh no, I can’t tell you. I can’t tell you. I was just going to tell you and then you were going to say — Ohhh! You don’t even know when you’re asking good questions! You don’t even know!

(laughs) I didn’t mean it that way! Do you have a location that won’t give away anything?
They’re all good locations. I can’t talk to you. I was about to tell you a location that would have given a huge part of the story away!

I wasn’t trying to get you to spoil it, I swear! (laughs)
Bad, bad!

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A couple of weeks ago, I attended USA Network’s 2nd Annual Character Approved Awards reception, where they honored innovators in various different fields of work. To learn more about the nominees (which include Green Day and Katherine Bigelow), you can visit the Character Approved website. Many of the stars of the USA Network shows attended the reception, and I was able to talk with the cast of one of my new favorite shows, White Collar. Willie Garson, who we all know and love as Stanford Blatch from Sex and The City, spoke about who he bases Mozzie on, the fashion on White Collar and even a little bit about the upcoming Sex and the City movie.

How do you like playing Moz on White Collar? I love the character.
Oh it’s really great. They write it to me, they came to me with it, they write exactly in my wheel house. I get to play around with it a lot, just the fun of being able to play different characters depending on the scam and it’s great fun.

Have you done any research into what exactly your character does?
Oh God no. Yes, of course. You know, I start — because I’m kind of a gigi actor, I start with how things look. And I looked at those guys in Tompkins Square Park who play chess all day. And I figured, they must make a living, they must do something for a living — so that’s what I base Mozzie on mostly and then scams. Whatever scam we’re doing on that episode, we find out all about that as we go along.

The fashion is amazing on the show. Have you been enjoying working with the costume designers?
Stephanie’s great. We have a very specific look for Mozzie. It took actually a few episodes to find it, so we won’t be having the Scooby Doo neckerchief anymore, but again, it’s those guys in the park playing chess. They’re clean, they live somewhere, they’re just wearing kind of unique pieces. They’re one of a kind, and Mozzie’s one of a kind. And we knew, USA knew, by bringing me, I have, I’m a little fashion iconic, so they knew they had to kind of build to that. I couldn’t be wearing like an airline jump suit, people are expecting me to be dressed. So that’s why Mozzie has to be kind of dressed, because I’m playing him.

Right. And do you have a favorite moment from filming the show so far?
A favorite moment in the show…we have great moments. I love being out on the street in New York. And we have a lot of fun and especially because it’s me on the street– there’s always an adventure when we’re shooting out on the street. People are interrupting takes, screaming Stanford in the middle of it — so New York’s always a blast. It’s hilarious.

And can you tell us anything about the new movie coming out? [Sex And The City 2]
I can tell you that it IS coming out.

Any chance there will be a Sex and the City 3?
I have no idea. I hope so! I would like some vacation probably.

What it was it like working on the sequel?
Great. It’s just a gift from the fans that we’re [going to be] doing this. I mean, we joke about it. We’re like what are we Bonanza? We started talking about the pilot in 1996. This is crazy that we get to still do this. And it’s because the fans are letting us. So, God bless ‘em you know!

Did you have any idea it was going to be such a big phenomenon?
Oh God no. God no. That’s at the beginning at the show, and certainly when we released the first movie–we would never be so bold as to think that we’d end up with whatever, 500 million dollars worldwide. It’s like what? We just were making it for our fans. We didn’t realize how many of them there are. So, we love them. We love them, love them, love them.

Who did you hang out with on the Sex and the City set?
Sarah Jessica and I are pretty close, for almost 25 years now. She’s my best friend, so if I didn’t say her, I’d be lying.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow night to USA Network at 10 pm for the season finale of White Collar.

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to attend USA Network’s 2nd Annual Character Approved Awards reception, where they honored innovators in various different fields of work. It was an amazing reception, where guests were treated to a performance by American Idiot before the cast makes its Broadway debut. The Character Approved award honorees are Katherine Bigelow (pre-Oscar win), Nora Ephron, Green Day, Narciso Rodriguez, Angela Brooks (groundbreaking architect), Kehinde Wiley (urban arts painter), Yves Behar (designer of a bluetooth headset and $100 laptop), Dan Barber (well known restauranteur), Jessica Jackley (founder kiva.org), and Alex Rigopulos & Erin Egozy (creators of Rock Band and Guitar Hero). To learn more about the nominees, you can visit the Character Approved website. It was great to see such leaders in their own field be honored by a network that is innovative in and of itself. Many of the stars of the USA Network shows attended the reception, and I was able to speak with the cast of White Collar. Matt Bomer, ever so dashing and lovely, took some time out to talk about Neal, what’s coming up on the big season finale and his favorite part of filming the show so far. (And of course, the most important thing–what was he wearing?)

What are you wearing tonight?
I’m wearing Calvin Klein.

Is there any way Bryce will be back on Chuck?
That’d be really fun. We’ll see. The opportunity is open, but timing-wise with both of our schedules it hasn’t really worked out so far. But I love that show, I love everybody on it, I wish them all the best, always.

What’s coming up on White Collar?
We have a big season finale coming up. A lot of big story lines coming to climax, a lot of really unexpected stuff going on, and we’re really setting ourselves up nicely for the second season. Check it out!

What has been your favorite part of filming the show so far?
I think really the cast, who I love, and we get along amazingly, and it’s truly a joy to come to work every day. And also getting to shoot in New York City. We get to see a side of New York City that a lot of people don’t get to see even if you live here. We’re shooting in huge, amazing townhouses and brownstones and getting to see the insides of a lot of the white collar aspects of New York City.

Do you have a favorite location from filming the show?
We got to shoot in a lot of really iconic places, like Times Square, the NASDAQ building and Columbus Circle, so for me, as somebody whose lived in New York, it was really a surreal experience for me. So I would say it would be somewhere between that and something really nice — we got to shoot in a really nice townhouse on the Upper East Side that had a million dollar chandelier that went down six stories and spread out on the floor. It’s just crazy opulence that I’ve never experienced before.

And you and Tim just recently rang the opening bell at the Stock Exchange. What was that like?
It was so much more exciting than I thought it was going to be. The countdown and leading up to it, and getting to introduce it, it’s such a huge part of New York City, just being in the financial capital of the world and getting to do it was a real honor. I can’t believe they let a criminal, though, ring the bell…but…

Has being on White Collar made you more aware of white collar crime? Have you done and investigation into some of the cases?
I think it was so out there, we were so fortunate, because we just came out there in the zeitgeist at the right time. We shot the pilot and then the whole thing with Madoff went down which was so fortuitous for us. And then, you know, it just kept rolling out and became more and more front page stories so the work sort of did itself that way. Anybody who picked up a paper was aware of a white collar scandal at the time.

Do you think Neal is going to trust Peter more in the upcoming season?
I think Neal never really trusted anybody 100 percent, but I think Peter’s probably the person he trusted the most so you know, I don’t think he’ll ever be really, completely given over to him in terms of trust but he definitely has a lot of trust in him.

Did you know the show was going to be such a huge success when you started?
No! We had no idea. To me, I just loved the script, I loved the character, it was so much fun to do that whatever came about was great. I think I’ve been in this business long enough to not really have any expectations, just show up, do the work, and do the best I could. And I knew I was on a network that really gave shows a shot, and really got behind their shows and so I’m really grateful to be working for them and I was pleasantly surprised.

Do you have anything else you are working on?
Right now, it was tough because this hiatus was so short. I did have movie offers, but I couldn’t shoot them in such a brief period of time so that was tricky. But right now, I’m doing a workshop of a new Broadway musical. They’re re-making the last Rat Pack movie actually, Robin and The Seven Hoods, and I’m playing the Sinatra role in that, so that was sort of a fun way for me to get to flex my creative muscles with a much smaller time constraint.

Is there a particular genre of film that you like?
I really respond to a lot of the really fun romantic comedy stuff. I think it’s fun, and it gives you a real sense of liberty as an actor to make fun choices, and I think that’d be a really fun place to start.

Do you have anyone in mind who you’d want to play the lead actress opposite you?
Oh my gosh, the list is endless. I really like Ginnifer Goodwin a lot. Who else do I really like? Anna Faris I love her, too. I think she’s hysterical.

And are you anything like your character? Are you anything like Neal at all?
Well, I think I’m gonna miss him because I’m definitely a bit quixotic like he is but I’m not nearly as smooth in terms of pulling off crimes, so the similarities end there.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow night to USA Network at 10 pm for the season finale of White Collar.