Scott Bakula, Ray Romano and Andre Braugher in “Men of a Certain Age”

Scott Bakula may be the geek set’s favorite actor, but he’s been hard to typecast. Sure, producers nowadays probably remember watching him on lonely high school nights as Dr. Sam Beckett on NBC’s “Quantum Leap.” It’s the reason why Josh Schwartz cast him as Chuck’s bumbling scientist/cunning spy dad on “Chuck” this past season. Others may argue his character of Capt. Archer on “Enterprise” was the most down-to-earth Star Trek captain of all time.

But his upcoming role in the new TNT dramedy “Men of a Certain Age” shows how much Bakula can surprise you. He plays Terry, a middle-aged actor who’s finally deciding that he wants to grow up. The show, which also stars Ray Romano and Andre Braugher, examines the choices men make in their lives, and how they deal with them as they get older.

I sat with Bakula to talk about his new show, if he’s going to be on “Chuck” this season, and why “Quantum Leap” resonates so much 16 years after it went off the air:

J: Let’s get to “Men of a Certain Age” first. I watched the first three episodes. The thing that surprised me most: I think everyone expected the show to have a lighthearted edge because Ray Romano is involved, but it’s much more dramatic and sometimes very dark. Do you think people are expecting that from the show? Is that going to surprise people?

SB: I hope it surprises people in a good way. Every time I tell people it’s an hour show they go “oh.” There’s a lot going on in this show. What surprised me in this show is that we all know Ray is funny, but he created this with Mike Royce, and their sense of humor and point of view is a little twisted and a little quirky, and they’ve been allowed to put that into the show. His dramatic moments and his vulnerability and poignancy are going to be the big surprise. The original pilot was too dark for the network, to be quite honest.

J: Well, essentially it’s three guys going through their mid-40’s, and they’re a lot of mid-life crises/changes/just exploring what their place is. Everyone has a different perspective it seems like.

SB: Well, we’re three buddies from college, and we’ve all hung together, but we’re not living together. We’re not old friends. We go home to our separate lives, but we’ve kept our relationship and our bond that we’ve developed over the years. So the storytelling comes from three points of view as they go through their lives, but then they come together and comment on each other’s lives and give each other a hard time. They’re sarcastic and hard on each other and they go back into the world.

A “Men of a Certain Age” teaser

J: Were you surprised that Andre was able to do the lighter aspects of the show so well? His resume is filled with heavier, dramatic roles.

SB: I wasn’t but I think that’s the actor in me. Actors have this kind of bravado that we can do anything: we can be a funny guy, we can ride horses: we can do anything. I was not at all surprised. I bumped into that feeling a lot from other people: “Oh my god, Braugher. He’s funny!” But this show is so well written that it’s not about delivering the jokes, but being real because the situations are just so funny.

J: Did he gain weight for the role?

SB: I don’t know that he gained weight for the role, but he’s losing weight as we talk. But I love it. He’s not shy about it. He’s got it, and he’s working with it, and he’s lifting his shirt up and sticking that needle in it. I love his openness about it all.

J: I mean there’s one scene where he’s sitting with his wife in his room with his belly all hanging out.

SB: I loved that. I love him for it. It’s funny because I’ve been in two things were people had to gain weight for it. In “The Informant!” Matt (Damon) had to gain thirty pounds, and he had a ball with it. I thought, “Could I do that? Could I gain?” Because the older you get, the harder it is to lose weight. Matt’s a young kid, and he’s back to his fabulous self. But I don’t know if I could do it or not, but those two guys are just loving it.

A fan’s tribute to Bakula in “Chuck”

J: Let me ask you a couple questions about “Chuck” because “Chuck” could be starting anytime for all we know.

SB: I just bumped into someone the other day and they said they were working on the set, and Zach was directing an episode.

J: Are you in any episodes this season?

SB: I am not.

J: You mentioned this show kind of fell in your lap. Give me a little bit of background on how you got the role.

SB: From what I understood, I literally got a call and they said, “We’d like you to do this three-episode arc on ‘Chuck.’” They said they want to send you the scripts, and Josh is going to get on the phone and talk to you about it. I said okay. And it was as simple as that.[Creator] Josh [Schwartz] was a big fan of mine from Quantum Leaps days; Zach was a fan of mine. We had a good conversation. I loved the show. I loved the character. The character was a great surprise. It was great to play that old, befuddled guy, somewhat of an act but also a mad scientist. And when he needs to get it together he gets it together in his days. I thought that was a great character and I loved that show.

J: Are you hoping to get back there sometime this season?

SB: I am, yeah.

J: How is it working out with Chevy Chase there?

SB: Hysterical. Exactly what you’d think it would be. Just totally off the wall. You never know what he’s going to say. And a lot of times he takes you out of the scene and you’re all on the ground laughing.

J: What’s a good example of that?

SB: (Laughs) Can’t say.

Bakula DJs and dances on “Quantum Leap”

J: I find it interesting that there’s a generation of producers in Hollywood—they’re my age, mid to late thirties—they saw you in “Quantum Leap” for all those years. Do you think that contributes to why they’re calling you up? And why do you think that show’s legacy has lasted for so long?

SB: That’s been the good and the bad of it. I’m glad that show was so impactful. But I also feel that because of reruns, I never went away, and I feel like people felt like they knew me. A lot of times people go away for a couple of years and they reinvent themselves. They come back and it’s like, “Hey, they’re sexy again.” But you don’t go away anymore. But I’ve never been the new idea in the room. But now it’s working out. I’ve been in their mind. I bumped into Seth MacFarlane. I’ve never met the guy, but he’s used me a hundred times on “Family Guy.” You know, Sam Beckett leaps into Jesus in the back of a pickup truck. That show’s had a huge impact on a huge number of people.

J: How many of those people are Trek fans too.

SB: A lot of them. A lot of them.

J: Do you ever worry that because of “Quantum Leap” and because of “Enterprise” you get pigeon-holed as a sci-fi guy? Or do you not worry because you’ve done other roles?

SB: I’ve done so many other roles. That’s why I wasn’t afraid to do “Enterprise.” Because I’ve mixed so many other things in. and “Men of a Certain Age” is so far from any sci-fi. In fact, Andre is like “I need to find some sci-fi! I haven’t done any sci-fi yet! I want to do some sci-fi!” I’ve certainly turned down a lot of sci-fi that’s come my way just because I want to role from one to another. I like sci-fi. I can’t deny it. And when a good script comes my way, I can’t deny it. I never would have done Star Trek except the franchise was allowing me to be the first captain.

J: You come before Kirk.

SB: That’s right. So, it’s not like I’m following all of these other people. I get to start it. I love that notion. The sci-fi has brought me a lot of great stuff. I love it, but at the same time I make sure I don’t do it any other jobs.

J: Now you have kind of a trio of geek-chic roles with Chuck. What is it about those kind of Comic-Con crowds that engenders such passion in these kind of roles? People debate them, talk about them…

SB: Science fiction generally grabs you because it captures your imagination. It makes you dream. It makes you think outside the box. It attracts someone who’s inclined to do it. It attracts a certain level of intelligence because it requires some sort of understanding, some research. I think that when you combine that kind of passion and imagination and intelligence, if the science fiction is right, then it stays with you. The science fiction that I loved when I was a kid, I love it today. Ray Bradbury - that kind of stuff - stays with me. There’s this kind of relationship that develops that’s a give and take. The demand that the audience wants - they want you to be good, they expect you to be correct, and not screw with them and how they believe things are going to go, and if deliver that then they’re there.

“Men of a Certain Age” debuts on TNT on Monday, December 7, at 10/9c

Michael Cerveris is the type of actor who is happy to hide behind his characters’ identities. As the mysterious Observer on FOX’s “Fringe,” Cerveris pops up in places you least expect; the network has taken advantage of this putting Cerveris in the middle of a Giants-Eagles game and a NASCAR race, amongst other unusual locales.

The Broadway veteran, who won a Tony in 2004 for his work in “Assassins,” really immersed himself into his latest role, in “The Vampire’s Assistant.” As Mr. Tiny, the “immortal enemy” of John C. Reilly’s Larten Crepsley, Cerveris had to sit for over three hours of makeup work every day to transform into the 300-pound villain, and he had to deal with all the limitations of having that makeup on all day. That includes the challenge of getting recognized by the crew, who only saw him as Mr. Tiny, during the wrap party.

Cerveris sat with me to talk about the role, his new love of New Orleans, and what it’s like to be The Observer.

J: Just the basic question, where had you come across the role. Had you read any of the books? Was this something that was on your radar at all?

MC: No, not really. I didn’t know anything about the books until I got the job, actually. And that came up because I had been doing a production of King Lear at the Public Theater. Kevin Klein was starring in it and I was playing Kent. Lauren Shuler Donner (a producer) came to see and she got in touch with my agent and said, “I don’t know if this is the movie we’ll work together on, but I’d like to get Michael into a big studio film.” So, she introduced me to Paul Weitz, the director, and then it was just the process of auditions and that kind of thing.

J: Now you play Mr. Tiny, who is the mortal enemy of John C. Reilly’s character.

MC: Well, actually the immortal enemy.

J: Right.

MC: He’s not a vampire. He’s not vampanese. He’s not part of the freak show. He’s something above and beyond those sorts of things. He’s able to go between life and death. He’s someone even the scary characters are afraid of.

J: I haven’t seen the movie yet. It just came out and I haven’t been able to see a preview, but from the looks of things, Mr. Tiny isn’t so Tiny, is he?

MC: No, it’s a pretty ironic thing I think. His full name is Desmond Tiny, or Dez Tiny. But yeah, I think he tips in around 300 or 400 lbs.

J: Looking at the pictures, there was definitely a transformation done to get you into Mr. Tiny shape.

MC: Part of it was living in New Orleans for 4 or 5 months and eating lots of good gumbo. But more of it was being 4 or 5 hours in a makeup chair every day.

J: Every single day? So what day would your day usually start to get that done?

MC: My calls were sometimes 3:30 in the morning to be on the set for 9 or 10 o’clock. And it was often me and the two makeup guys and we’d be the only ones on the set for hours. So by the time most of the crew rolled in, I was mostly in makeup. So, I think there are still crew members who haven’t seen me as anything but a fat person… I actually crossed by people on the street in New Orleans on an off day or at the wrap party, and I’d start conversations since we’d spent hours together talking, and I forgot what I looked like when I was talking to people. And they’d be weirded-out by this person who knew a lot about them and looked kind of familiar, but not really.

J: Is this the most extensive makeup you’ve done by far?

MC: Yeah, I mean Hedwig was some prosthetics and stuff. Fringe was some prosthetics. But nothing as involved as this. I grew up reading Famous Monsters of Film Land Magazine and I was a big Harry Helson fan and those early universal black and white films, like “Phantom of the Opera” or “The Wolfman.” I was a huge fan of those as a kid. So it was kind of a thrill to do this type of film with heavy prosthetics and stuff because they don’t do this stuff much anymore. It’s usually digitally done and computer generated and you’re walking around in a unitard with electrodes attached to you and they do the coloring in later. And this is great because it’s more old school and more goes back to the human being and the actor has control of it and there’s more craft and artistry on the performing end.

J: So when you were offered the part, you knew you’d be in for this every day, for how ever many months getting into the fat suit and the makeup and the prosthetics. Any trepidation?

MC: They told me I’d be huge in this movie. I thought it meant something different. But it turned out to be this. No trepidation. I was mostly just excited for this. I like playing characters where you get to disappear. My idea of acting is: someone you don’t recognize from movie to movie, they transform themselves so much. So, I love getting an opportunity like this to really kind of stretch how different I can appear.

J: How was the physicality of the suit on the set? Was it difficult? Did you get a sense of what it’s like to move around at that weight?

MC: Oh yeah, definitely. I definitely got a sense of that. Just even getting up a couple of stairs or climbing up to sit in a higher chair. I did get a lot of sympathy for people who have to live their life like that. And just… we were in New Orleans during the summer, and it got really hot at times. We were on location outside at times and that would be its own heat and humidity, and we were in a big Winn Dixie warehouse that had been converted into a movie studio where we did the interior stuff. And that just got roasting because it was a big tin roof. They made a cooling suit for me, which was essentially a t-shirt with little plastic piping sown into it and two nozzles on the side that they would stick out the side of the costume and they attach hoses that were attached to a bucket with ice water in it. And they would pump ice water through the pipes and circulate around my chest and back. And basically just send cold water and refrigerate my fat suit and it worked really well. I wanted them to market a mini mobile device I could take to Jazz Fest. I think it’d be a big seller down there.

J: Movie magic. It’s great what you can do in a pinch. Speaking of New Orleans, was this your first time down there in a while, or are you a regular visitor? How was shooting down there?

MC: I’d been down there once before years and years and years ago just for a quick visit to an ex-girlfriend’s grandmother who lived down there. But I hadn’t experienced much of the city at all. But I ended up being there 4 to 5 months shooting, and I stayed another month more because I just fell in love with the place. And I’ve been back down there six times since then, volunteering with Habitat for Humanity and going down to hang out with friends. I just came back on Monday. I went to the cast and crew screening down there, and had a benefit to support this organization called the Tipitina’s Foundation that buys instruments for high school kids who can’t afford them. And I really connected with the city in a deep way. And even though the movie isn’t in New Orleans, it’s set in, you know, Anytown USA. I think the fact that we shot it there had a lot do to with the tone of the movie. Anything from the people to do background work or to background certain characters to the locations themselves or simply when you’re not working, you have a weekend off, have a couple days off, and you’re eating those foods, meeting those people, it just sort of seeps into the movie in a great way. And you know, New Orleans, everyone thinks, oh you’re going to shoot a vampire movie. New Orleans is the perfect place, but more so just the carnival freak show atmosphere of it. It’s just a fantastic place to shoot.

J: Now from your latest role, but I’m going to move to a role you mentioned briefly earlier, the Observer in “Fringe.” You’ve been in a couple episodes this season correct?

MC: I’ve been in a couple and a big one coming up, and then I’ll be in some others after this big Broadway show I’m doing finishes up.

J: Anything you can mention about the big season coming up?

MC: I think we’ll learn that there’s more than one of everything. And I think we’ll learn more about what the mission of the observer is and just what things they’re all owed to do and what things they’re supposed to do and not supposed to do. We already know my character has crossed over to being involved with the humans more than he should have when he pulled Peter and Walter out of the water when they had a car accident. But there are things they’re supposed to be doing and not supposed to be doing.

J: Now when there is more than one observer, do they all look like you?

MC: They all go to the same tailor.

J: Ah. Okay. That makes sense. When you got the role, the first time we saw the observer the story was still in its mystery of the week phase, where there was just a little bit of background about what was going on, then they really smashed into the parallel universe story. When you saw those scripts, what were your thoughts?

MC: Well, when we first started we didn’t know much at all. We were still kind of figuring out what the world was and where the story was going. And by the time we got to the second season the story was clearer and I had a conversation with Jeff Pinkner and he explained to me what the larger story would be and where the Observer would fit into all of that. It’s all pretty exciting. It’s pretty massive just in terms of the scale of what the drama is and the things involved. It’s great that the whole series functions on one level on a real human relationship level, and the relationship between Peter and Walter and between agent Dunnam and Peter and Walter and all those kinds of real life human identifiable stories. And there’s been more of that in the beginning of this season. And as it goes along it‘ll start laying into this whole level of something much bigger than any one individual’s life and something more on a global scale starts to be revealed.

J: Now as an actor, how does it feel to be in such a… you know especially when you first get the script and the role is to be to go into a diner and eat really hot food, and then do these things that look really weird and mysterious and the producers aren’t telling you 100% of what’s going on, and there’s no real character to hang your hat on besides the fact that he’s weird and mysterious. As an actor, how do you work with that, and how does it feel to be doing that?

MC: Well, as an actor, you’ve got to let go pretty quickly of the things you cling to as an actor, and if you can do that that it starts to be very freeing. And you don’t have to answer questions like where is he from and what is he feeling, because there really are no answers, and you can make up the answers as you go along. And the things that you do: the way I chose to move, the way I chose to speak the writers get ideas based on that, and they start to get ideas based on what you’re doing, and if starts to feel like a real collaborative exploration that you’re all doing together. It is, in the very beginning like, well, what am I supposed to do exactly and then it really does become freeing and exciting and you look forward to seeing the next script to see what the hell is going on. But that’s true for everyone—it’s true for Anna and Chris and John—they look at the script and wonder what’s going to happen next.

J: What aspect of the Observer did you create that’s sort of stuck with him?

MC: I think that flat affect-less way of speaking. And his sort of - almost dog-like - sort of turns of the head, listening kind of thing came from me watching my own dog. My dog is a very good observer. So I think I learned a lot of the observer’s physical life on my dog.

J: So the Observer’s patterned on your dog. I think that’s the big takeaway from this interview—the big headline. Just so you know, I’m a member of the TCA, so when I was at the party they had stationed someone for Fox in the balcony of the hotel in the shadows of the hotel that looked especially like the Observer. Now was that you?

MC: No, they hired someone to do that. I have done a lot of real life ever, but it’s more like the observer shows up on American idol, and a NASCAR race and the NFC playoffs, the baseball all-star game.

J: is it cool that Fox is running with that thread there, and they’re making you kind of a running thing?

MC: Yeah it is. I think it’s a treat for the fans and people that follow the show. Unless you were following the show, I don’t think you’d know what this weird guy with no eyebrows was doing standing on the field at the eagles-giants game. Although, since he’s becoming such an iconic image for the series, people are starting to watch the show because they’ve seen these little appearances. But JJ Abrams, Jeff Pinkner, they’re nothing if not die-hard fans of these kinds of shows…and they recognize how fun it is to have people have little clues or surprises, so I think it’s just a reward for the fans. Plus I get to do all of these cool things.

J: That was the follow-up question: what was the most fun thing you go to do?

MC: I think being in the pit for the NASCAR races was pretty awesome. They put me down there and said “we’re going to film you when he comes in for a pit stop, we’re gonna film that.” So we’re standing next to guys who are carrying big tanks of fuel, and they’re covered in not just regular asbestos suit but this big flame retarded bib and I realized I was standing next to them, and if anything bad happened, they’d be fine but I’d probably be in trouble. And I was wearing eyebrows that were already flammable. So yeah, that was pretty cool. That and standing on the field during an NFL game.

J: Are there cases where your friends who see you and don’t know that you’re doing this call you and say what the hell are you doing a NASCAR race.

MC: All the time, because Fox doesn’t like me to advertise that I’m doing this. The funniest one was when they put me in the audience of American Idol. I’d never seen “American Idol” before. I mean I knew about it but hadn’t seen it before. And I had a lot of friends who watched it, and who outed themselves as “American Idol” watchers when they called and said, “I happened to be flipping by American idol the other night and you happened to be on.”

]]> http://thefastertimes.com/thefameinterview/2009/11/05/michael-ceveris-from-fringe-to-vampires-assistant/feed/ http://thefastertimes.com/thefameinterview/2009/11/03/coming-soon-to-faster-fame/ http://thefastertimes.com/thefameinterview/2009/11/03/coming-soon-to-faster-fame/#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:03:15 +0000 Joel Keller http://thefastertimes.com/thefameinterview/?p=6 http://thefastertimes.com/thefameinterview/2009/11/03/coming-soon-to-faster-fame/feed/