In Plain Sight returns tonight, and as you probably know, we're picking up from the cliffhanger shooting. It's a great episode, though you can probably guess there is a bit more recuperating than absolutely necessary. It's easily up to the show's standards, and I think fans will find the resolution well worth the wait.
This season kicks off in dramatic fashion as Mary (McCormack) and Marshall (Weller) search for the person who nearly killed Mary in the season two cliffhanger. We will also flashback to when Mary first joined WITSEC after a break-in threatens the security of the first witness she and Marshall handled together, see the struggle of a former thief as he tries to give up crime for the sake of his teenage son, and experience a witness who has been in a coma for three years suddenly awake to find he is the only eyewitness who can put a prolific weapons trafficker behind bars.
You probably also know that Donnie Wahlberg guest stars, and he recently took part in a teleconference interview for the show. Check it out.
I've seen the episode and you were fantastic. What was it like working on a TV series again?
D. Wahlberg It's different as a guest as opposed to being a star of a series. A guest star is a whole different responsibility. It's much different than being a regular. You come in and it's a lot of unfamiliar faces and you want to try to fit in as best you can, but also you want to stay there without making waves. But at the same time you want to come in and be hopefully the best you can be and bring something new to the table. I've been a regular before and I know that it becomes not a grind. That series that I've been a regular in, I was very committed and very dedicated, but it was always fun when a new actor came along and brought something to the table.
All that said, I felt incredibly welcomed. I also knew that there was a really a new spirit going on on the show. That everybody was really looking to raise the bar for season three with John McNamara coming in. I felt like I was playing with a team that was really trying to great. So everyone was very encouraging and very welcoming of me.
I was wondering if you found there was instant chemistry when you began working with the cast. I know sometimes it takes a little bit of time to develop, but did you find the rapport was instant?
D. Wahlberg It was pretty instant. I think when we did a table read a few days before and I got to sit next to Mary McCormick and she was very gracious and stuff. But I felt, again, very safe. I'm not a big fan of table reads or sitting around a table and reading a script. I'd rather do it on set and do it for real. I generally hate table reads, in fact, but it was a great atmosphere and everybody really seemed excited I was there. The regulars on the show were just very welcoming. I think part of it is maybe is the New Mexico charm that everyone has down there. But at the same time, I think there's a real great spirit on that show and it starts at the top with Mary and Fred and they've very, very gracious.
I saw the episode and you were fantastic. It was really nice to see you in the role of a dad. How can you relate to your character on In Plain Sight and what element of yourself do you see in the character?
D. Wahlberg Well, I think being a dad, that's certainly something I was able to relate to immediately. I have a 17 year old boy and I'm starting to experience what that means, the different things that they get into, 17 year olds and teenagers in general and the pressure and sometimes the head scratching that comes along with it. It's amazing. There's so many clichés about getting older or are kids doing things that we did or having their own way of going about doing similar things to what we did and I'm experiencing it all right now from the flying to the styles to the music to everything. I thought everything that I liked when I was 17 was the coolest. But I guess liking a band like New Edition is like my mom loving the Four Tops to my 17 year old. It's not so cool to them.
But I think that was really the thing that I zeroed in on the most was just being a parent and understanding the pressure and responsibility of taking care of and protecting the child. There's a lot of ….and stuff on the show and different elements that I actually borrowed from a friend of mine who's had similar life experience. I talked to him about it and brought those things to the table in terms of witness protection and stuff like that. But I think really the thing that was most important thing to me was the family aspect of it and the responsibility that a dad has, no matter where he is or what his circumstances are. I think my character on the show was just, it was just important for him to be a good day when he was out of the streets being a criminal as it was for him being a straight laced guy in this witness protection program. His son was the most important thing to him in both scenarios.
Throughout your career you've done a bit of everything, singing, dancing, performing live, movies, TV shows. Which of those have you enjoyed the most and why?
D. Wahlberg It's really hard to say. If you asked me six months ago, I would say probably doing concerts again. But if you asked me six months before that, I might have said song writing. If you asked me six months before that, I might have said acting. If you asked me today, I'm shooting something right now and working with an amazing team and just work In Plain Sight, which was a really, really great experience. I'm really enjoying acting again right now.
So I think I'm smart enough and honest enough to know that it's really all of the above. I think one thing I do is I really get an incredible high off of the creative process. That extends with acting, beyond just being on screen or being in front of the camera. I love sitting down with a director and a writer and bringing different ideas to the table and really diving into a character, the behind the scenes, the preparation, the rehearsals, the wardrobe.
I love it all. I love being creative. I love being around creative people and that's really it. It's music or movies or acting. I love the rush of being creative. I really think I live for it. It kinds of fills my soul and so I'm very lucky. I remember my time in New Mexico, I just really started sort of shooting In Plain Sight, I really felt myself getting back into the groove. I was a little rusty at first, but after a day or two, just having that rapport with other actors and a director, it's an amazing high that I get from doing it. I take great pride and I have a great sense of responsibility for it. I don't know if I answered the question, but I tried.
Your character on In Plain Sight is a bad boy with a big heart and in New Kids, you were considered the bad boy. So is it more fun to play a shady character and why?
D. Wahlberg I don't know. I think I enjoy playing all types of difference characters. I think the challenge with this particular character was to do something different with the character that was somewhat similar to things I've done in the past. I played a lot of cops. He's obviously not a cop, but it's tricky because in playing this guy, I didn't want to do things that I'd done before, mannerisms or certain behaviors or actions or even the way that I spoke.
But at the same time, I didn't want to be too selfish because the character is written, the way he's written for a reason. My insecurities or whatever, I didn't want to bring those to the table and try and to overdo something in order to satisfy myself and say I made this character different than anything I've ever done and it's very unique. I wanted to accomplish that, but at the same time, I couldn't do it in a way that was selfish and not in the best interest of the show.
John McNamara is an amazing writer. He wanted me for a lot of specific reasons. Those sort of things that he saw in my past work, it's a responsibility for me to bring those things to the table and then add something to that. So I've played ballroom dancers. I've play psychotics. I've played cops. I've play silly cops and serious cops. I've played so many different roles, but I just try to take each role based on the material. And if I like the material, then I'm attracted to it. If I'm attracted to it, then I'm going to give all my energy to it. And if I give all my energy to something, it usually if nothing else, then I know that I've been committed and gave all I could. And I usually feel very satisfied at the end when I'm in that predicament. If I don't like the material, I just generally pass, no matter what it is. If it's a studio movie or a big opportunity, if I can't pile into something in the character, I usually don't do it.
You have played so many diverse characters from obviously the psychotic that you said and one of my favorite characters is from Dreamcatcher, Duddits. Playing harder characters like that, was it just harder to get into those types of characters? Or do you think it's harder to get into the character like a Jimmy versus going into something a little bit darker?
D. Wahlberg Well, I think every character presents a difference challenge and a different opportunity. It's just some characters require a different level of commitment, other than internalizing the character and making it my own.
The Sixth Sense, for example, I sort of underwent a physical transformation. And in committing to the physical transformation, that actually helped me emotionally get to where I needed to get. I suffered a lot in my preparation for that part. And so when it came time to shoot, I really was a lot closer to the character I was playing because I suffered. I wasn't sitting in a cushy hotel rooms eating lobster every night, waiting for them to call action. I was really committed to a certain physical state. And as I was preparing alongside that, it took me to a tremendous emotional places that allowed me to really play the character a certain way on screen.
For Jimmy, I think it's certainly not the same type of preparation process. But what I did similar is I engaged in things that would help transform me. I went into New Mexico early and I kind of laid low. I usually end up in a ….and I get on the Blackberry and start Twittering and meeting with fans and having dinner and stuff like that. I have no problem going out and about in towns that I go to and meeting people and engaging people.
When I went to New Mexico, I really wanted to lay low. I wanted to feel alone and not really attract a lot of attention. In fact, I wanted to do the opposite and I did that. I spent probably the first week just sort of hiding out and not really being specific to anyone about where I was. In doing that alongside of my preparation for the character, I think I did isolate myself and create a little bit of loneliness. I only had about a week to prepare for the show, so that's really all I could do, but it helps. Every amount of preparation helps. Every little ounce of it helps and so I did as much as I could and being isolated down there in New Mexico wasn't really the same as having been in the witness protection program for a long time, but I certainly got enough of a feel and an energy around me that I was able to bring that do work everyday.
What do you watch? What do you like? What characters do you like to see every week?
D. Wahlberg If I tell the truth right now, it's probably going to make no sense. I'm kind of a big reality TV guy. I don't know why. I like a lot of train wreck television or something. I like Bad Girls Club. I like Tool Academy. I like Jersey Shore, but I also like Dog Whisperer. I watch a lot of Food Network. I like Iron Chef and Chopped. I like the Dog Whisperer. But in terms of characters on television, I'm really big into the timeless characters. Colombo is one of my favorites. Rochford Files, Streets of San Francisco, M.A.S.H., I sort of love the a lot older series, a lot of series from the '70s. A show that's sort of similar, I don't think there are many shows nowadays that are similar to those kinds of shows, but the shows that are built around really fascinating characters. I think The Shield is one and The Sopranos is another one, shows that have a really, really an amazing central character and an amazing cast around it. The characters that aren't necessarily like the movie star type or just that sort of typical Hollywood leading man. Those two examples, The Shield and The Sopranos have very, very different sort of guys, very regular guys in very amazing circumstances at the center of them. And those kinds of shows really appeal to me.
But I grew up watching classic movies with my dad and classic television with him as well. I tend to gravitate to that type of stuff. That has no connection to any of these reality shows that I mentioned. I think that those reality shows are just fun. They're a way for me to turn off my brain a little bit. I work a lot as you know, Laura, sometimes 22, 23 hours a day. Just being able to tune out and watch silliness like Tool Academy on VH1 is pretty funny at times.
For you coming from a big family, not just from your brother, Mark, but how has your family and your support system played into your career that really could have gone in so many different ways and not to the success that it has?
D. Wahlberg It's hard to say. I don't know that I really had anybody looking over me saying, hey, make the right choice. I think, in fact, it was the opposite. I had a lot of brothers screwing up in front of me. It was up to me to look at them and say I could do that they're doing or I could make a different choice. That's what I did. I think my tolerance for danger wasn't quite as great as some of my other brothers. I might take a ride in a stolen car once in a while, but I wasn't going to get behind the wheel and hotwire the thing myself. I guess my threshold for pain and trouble and danger was just a little different.
I think I was really lucky also in the school that I went to. As I said earlier in I think in the first question, the first or second question about music or acting, I was very fortunate in that I went to a Boston public school. In my first year in that school, the city was experimenting with a new type of high school format. I was able to take theatre class for two periods a day. That was an amazing situation to be in, to be in a school like that where arts was really a prominent part of the curriculum.
I think I was able to find ways to channel a lot of my energy into positive things. I was in New Kids on the Block outside of school and in theatre inside of school. Being committed to doing a play, it's a lot of work. It's a lot of commitment. I didn't want to get up and embarrass myself in front of the whole school. I wanted to be ready and I wanted to be the best that I could be and I had a commitment to that and to my fellow classmates in theatre.
I think it A, gave me an outlet for my energy and B, gave me something creative to do to take my mind off of the other bad opportunities that were there for me. Again, that's why something like the camp event I did the other night with my brothers is really important because creating opportunities for kids to find other avenues for their energy is something that I benefited from. I certainly want to give that opportunity to other kids now.
So can you talk about how you got the part? Is there an audition process for In Plain Sight?
D. Wahlberg It wasn't an audition. It was actually I came, I met with John McNamara a few times in the past. We both expressed a mutual want to work with each other. John ….for something before, but I just didn't quite have the right energy for him. I had just come off tour and he called and asked for a meeting and he said, "I've always wanted to work with you. I'm going to be running the show In Plain Sight now and I want to build a character for you. I think this is a great opportunity for us to finally work together." So he sort of told me what he was thinking for the character and shared some ideas with me and asked me if I had any ideas. And I presented him with a lot of thoughts and I think we both saw it in a very similar way. He went and wrote the character.
I think for a guy who's not from Boston, a guy who's not from that world, I didn't know what he would come up with when it was finally on paper. But I really only had minimal note for him. I think he got the talk right and that's the hardest part. He wrote a guy that sounded like he was a Boston guy and sounded like he was a real guy dealing with real stuff and that appealed to me. So that was really the process. Fortunately, I didn't have to audition because I pretty rather stick nails in my eyes than audition for anything. It's many people as I'm saying in front of them in my life and acted in front of them and performed in front of them, I still get pretty nervous about auditioning.
Given the success that you and Mark had when you were young, what did you learn from each other now as men? It must be kind of unbelievable, just given the way you started.
D. Wahlberg I think we both, coming from the background that we come from and the life that we had, I think we're both very cautious. I think we both walk around with a fear of a self fulfilling prophecy that inevitably one day for two street kids coming from such a crazy family with so much chaos going on, eventually somebody is going to come and take this all away from us. I think that fear in both of us, the result is a great work ethic. I think it's the only way that we feel safe is to continue to work hard. I think we both have identified that hard work is really the only way to be successful and it's the only way to protect what we've worked so hard for is to continue to work hard.
I think the minute I sit back and think, yes, I am a great character actor and I can do this, that and the other is the minute some other character actor who's working much harder than me is going to come in and take my opportunities away from me. I just think that fight or that fear, I think it's in a lot of people who grow in really tough environments. We had….for food on the table with eight brothers and sisters.
I think in Hollywood, it's even harder. With every role, I'm fighting against hundreds and hundreds and thousands of other actors who want the same thing. It's amazing. On the one hand, … we can say, yes, I have a pretty good body of work and I've done a lot of things and I continue to get opportunities. But on the other hand, it's amazingly fortunate because there are so many actors who are out there fighting for the same things.
I know the minute I let up and don't work hard or I take anything for granted, there's a good chance it is going to go away for me and desirably so. It's just my responsibility to build on the foundation that I have and to build something solid there. And the only way I can do that is with hard work. I know that Mark, while we don't really talk about it that much, I know he feels the same way.
RU?
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