We Love TV!
This is just an unofficial fan page, we have no connection
to any shows or networks.
Please click here to vote for our site!
By
Suzanne

Interview with Jimmy Smits of
"Sons of Anarchy" on
FX 12/4/14
This is the second time I was able to speak with Jimmy
Smits on the telephone because of his SOA role. He was
really nice on the phone, like a genuine person. Not at all
like a big star. It was a great interview! You can tell in
here that he kind of sticks up for me (and the other press)
because sometimes when they're short on time, they cut us
off, don't let us say thank you or whatever...they try to
limit us to one question to make sure we all get a chance,
but it can be a little weird when they just cut us off, and
that's what you see him reacting to here. My hero! LOL!
Seriously, I did get all choked up.
Final Transcript
FX NETWORK: Sons of Anarchy
December 4, 2014/10:00 a.m. PST
SPEAKERS
Stephanie Kelly
Jimmy Smits
PRESENTATION
Moderator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by.
Welcome to the FX Network Sons of Anarchy conference call.
At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode.
Later we will conduct a question and answer session.
Instructions will be given at that time. (Operator
instructions.) As a reminder, this call will be recorded
today.
I would now like to turn over the conference to our host,
Ms. Stephanie Kelly. Please go ahead.
Stephanie: Hello, everyone. Thanks so much for joining the
conference call with Jimmy Smits, who plays Nero Padilla on
FX’s Sons of Anarchy, which is unbelievably wrapping up its
series next Tuesday at 10 on FX. So without further ado, we
will open it up to questions with Jimmy.
Jimmy: Thanks, Stephanie, hello, everybody. Good morning,
good afternoon as the case may be with everyone. How is
everybody doing? Sorry my smartphone was not being very
smart. I had a little technical difficulty. Thanks for
hanging in.
Moderator: (Operator instructions) The first question that we
will have today will come from Earl Dittman with Digital
Journal. Please go ahead.
Earl: Jimmy.
Jimmy: Earl, how is it going, buddy?
Earl: Doing great. How the heck are you, man?
Jimmy: I’m doing all right, man, how about you?
Earl: Doing great. It just seems just like yesterday we were
talking about how you and Wanda got on the show and how you
didn’t even know if you were going to last that season and
here you are, man.
Jimmy: Here I am.
Earl: Congratulations, you did it. I know that every time you
do a film or a series, you learn something from every
experience. Looking back now what would you say not only as
an actor you took away or learned from doing Sons of
Anarchy, but as a person, as a man, being a part of the SOA
family?
Jimmy: Wow, great, great question that I don’t have a ready
answer for, Earl. I don’t know. The whole thing about the
strength of family through thick and thin, and even though
the whole thing about family is questionable with this
particular family, but that’s something that was like an
ongoing the club becomes the family and when things are done
against the family, how the family kind of like sticks
together and the glue. That was just like a running theme
and to see that group from being a fan and watching them on
television to partaking with them on the performance level,
I think that that bond was really, really strong, so that’s
something that I’ll always remember about that particular
group and about what they conveyed not only in the writing,
but on a performance level as well.
Earl: And as an actor, did you take anything away from
playing Nero, did he teach you anything new or learn
anything new?
Jimmy: Wow. It just kind of reinforced for me what we need to
do as performing—this might be boring for the audience, but
just as performers how you really need to stay focused on
any given day, so that when it’s your turn to be up at bat,
you try your best to bring your A game. And when I get stuck
in terms of how to play something or how to approach it or I
start thinking too much, I always just go back to the basics
of what does my guy want in this particular scene and what
is his major objective in terms of life, that would be in
his case the exit strategy, what are the people saying about
him and just trying to keep that as fluid as possible while
I’m putting my tattoos on, so that when it’s my turn that I
make the most of those two or three scenes every episode
that I get to do.
Earl: It’s been great. Thank you so much and it’s always a
pleasure and honor, man. Thanks so much.
Jimmy: I really appreciate it. I hope everything is well with
you, man.
Earl: And it is with you, too, thanks a lot.
Jimmy: Happy Holidays.
Earl: You, too.
Moderator: Our next question will come from Hillary Atkin.
Please go ahead.
Hillary: Good morning, Jimmy, how are you?
Jimmy: I’m well, Hillary, how is it going with you?
Hillary: Good, good. I just loved the “Red Rose” episode and
I feel like with Nero, there’s such an intrinsic strength,
power and gravitas to him that he acts as somewhat of a
balancer and grounding force to the Tellers, particularly to
Gemma, but also somewhat to Jax. What are your thoughts on
the context of the role that Nero plays in the family?
Jimmy: I think that when you start thinking about the
fluidity of a television series and how it evolves and
changes and grows and is kind of like symbiotic with not
only what the writers’ vision is, but what the interaction
is between the actors, the ensemble, the crew, all of those
things, how the writers respond to when they see their
particular scene that they’ve written in the writers’ room
come to life on the stage and then in film, I think about
that character. And of course going in, it was supposed to
be ten episodes and out, and all of those things that you
alluded to, thank you very much, are nice, and I think that
it’s evolved into that.
I remember having a conversation with Kurt at the end of the
second season that I was on, which was Season 6, and he
expressed interest in me thinking about the way he framed
it, the Nero character becoming part of the mythology of the
show. And that’s the way it was framed, so I think that all
of those qualities that you cited are probably are things
that I have developed. So for the character besides that
ongoing super objective that he came in with and was what
his major character tag or pillar was that he wanted this
kind of exit strategy, it’s something that permeated not
only his character, but I think it influenced actions of the
other characters.
The character served this purpose of confidant, foil, love
interest, all of those little spokes in the wheel that
fleshes out the show in general. With regards to the
gravitas and stuff, I don’t know. The whole fluidity again
of television and the character and the performer because
it’s not just an open and close, it’s not like a film or a
play in the sense that everything is spelled out and has a
fluidity to it; I’m just happy that I had the respect of
that group when I came in and they were very kind of like
warm and open. And they are a close knit, very close knit
group and that kind of respect and had to do probably with
the prior work, the fact that I had worked with Paris
before, all of that and I think that bleeds over into the
character as well.
Hillary: Just a quick follow-up, another element that comes
out is the humor displayed with Wendy and particularly some
of the lines in the latest episode, like, “Hey, Junkie, I’ll
put you in the trunk.” Talk a little bit about that aspect
of the character and also his relationship with Wendy,
please.
Jimmy: It’s one of Kurt’s strong suits I think if you look at
the whole gamut of the seven seasons of the show when he has
characters that one would conceive or consider to be dark or
askew, you can see it in Tig, you can see it in all of the
characters actually that Kurt operates best when he does
this kind of one-two punch to the audience and can present
kind of like lighter shade humorous side and then socks you
with something that can be very emotionally impacting.
I think that engages the audience in a lot of ways. It makes
them root for these people who are on the “wrong side of the
tracks,” so I like the fact that that he operates as a
writer from that kind of level. And with regards to Nero and
Wendy, they both have the similarities that they have is
that their sobriety is something that they have in common,
so I think that that’s the strong bond that they share or
will continue to share. Whatever happens that’s an element
of it. I think it takes kind of the stink off the
possibility that there’s a romantic thing. It’s more
paternal, brother/sister kind. You get that vibe from the
back and forth that they have, so it functions on a lot of
different levels because of that.
Does that make sense?
Hillary: Yes, thank you. And I hope Nero makes it all the way
to the end.
Jimmy: The reaper, beware of the reaper. Thanks so much,
Hillary. Happy Holidays to you.
Moderator: Our next question will come from Diana Price with
Examiner.com. Please go ahead.
Diana: Thanks so much for doing the call today, Jimmy.
Jimmy: Hello, Diana. Thanks so much for hanging in there, I
appreciate it.
Diana: Great show. Obviously you can’t give away any
spoilers, but when you got that last script—
Jimmy: I can, but I would not be in great shape.
Diana: Yes, don’t, they’ll shank you in the neck over there
if you give away spoilers. But when you got that last script
and you read it, was it what you were expecting? Were you
surprised? Did you think I can’t believe Kurt did this? What
was your feeling when you read that final script?
Jimmy: I’ve been continually shocked with the past maybe five
scripts in terms of like we’re really blowing sh** up here.
He’s going for broke, so it was always with like a little
bit of trepidation on everybody’s part when that new script
would come in in your email or whether you would get it in
page form to make that turn of the first couple of pages to
see what was next or who was going to go down next.
I don’t think audiences are going to be disappointed at all.
I think they’re going to be very satisfied and it’s touching
in a lot of ways. It’s sad, but it’s also it’s grim, too.
Diana: So we should have our tissues handy, in other words.
Jimmy: Yes, great show.
Diana: Okay, thanks so much, Jimmy, love the show and love
your role in it.
Jimmy: I really appreciate. Have a happy holiday.
Diana: You, too.
Moderator: Our next question will come from Christina Avina
with On Request Magazine. Please go ahead.
Christina: Thank you. Hey, Jimmy, how are you?
Jimmy: I’m good, Chris, how is it going with you?
Christina: It’s great. Thanks so much for talking to
everybody today. We appreciate it.
Jimmy: No worries, thanks for hanging in there, I appreciate
it.
Christina: Sure. You’ve played some roles in your career that
were beyond memorable, to say the least, and your
performance in Dexter is one that just stands out to me as
being really outstanding. Here you are and you take this
role of Nero Padilla and every time he’s on screen he just
seems larger than life. He just sort of commands attention,
and he’s become this character that everybody wants to see
and admires in a lot of ways. Is this a role that you’re
going to walk away from and be one of your personal most
memorable roles that you’ve played?
Jimmy: I hope there’ll be other memorable roles down the
line, but I know I’m going to have fond memories of the
group and this guy. When I first was jotting down little
things in my little composition high school composition
notebook, which I always buy for each of the characters that
I have, I wrote down Jimmy S. and a slash and Jimmy Mi
Familia/Nero Padilla. That character that I played in Mi
Familia was kind of like a little sprouting seed of maybe
where this guy wound up being. I don’t know. It was just a
stream of consciousness kind of thing of what kind of
attributes you want to give to a character. It’s like
putting little strokes onto a canvas like if you were
painting something.
I wanted to try to do something a little bit different and
I’m glad that Kurt really gave me that kind of opportunity
to do something that was kind of like more guy/guy thing.
You realize where a character falls in terms of the
different, if you think of a series as a wheel and there are
different spokes in the wheel that support it and keep it
going. You have different characters that have different
functions, a role play on a basketball team, so I knew what
was needed. That was expressed to me and you’re going to be
this for Jax and that for Gemma and that’s where he’s going
to—but you want to try to keep, or it was important for me
to try to keep a couple of balls in the air when I was
juggling all of that.
Kurt and I, we had conversations, there were conversations
that we had because I just didn’t want to be that. I wanted
to make sure because it’s a show about outlaws and people on
the wrong side of the tracks that you kept that vibrant as
well, so it wasn’t just a guy coming to have somebody cry on
his shoulder and giving coffee out. Do you know what I mean?
Christina: Yes, totally.
Jimmy: So we definitely had to, because he’s got a lot going
on. There are a lot of characters to serve and you have to
find ways—if we keep that other element going, it makes
everything else more believable, so I’m just glad that there
was a kind of real back and forth respect and trust that we
had with each other. At least the facade of it was there;
no, I have a huge, huge respect for what he’s done with the
show, and I hope that’s mutual.
And our conversations like in Season 5 actually started
getting less, not more. You would think that it would be as
the character flourishes, you would have much more, but they
were less, less frequent, but when they happened, they were
more intense is not the word. But to the point and there’s a
realization on my part that he’s spinning a lot of plates,
so you have to be very succinct in terms of getting what
points you need or what you think needed to be looked at in
a particular scene, because you want to try to do that
before you get on set. Things when they happen when you’re
on set when you want to start making changes, it doesn’t
make for a good environment in television because of the
quickness that you have to work.
Christina: Absolutely.
Jimmy: I hope that addresses what you were asking.
Christina: It does, and then just a real quick follow-up is
you mentioned all the different aspects to the character and
him having to serve different roles. He’s a bad guy in one
respect. He’s a father. He’s a father figure. He’s
[indiscernible], so many different things, but he also can
be very tender and understanding and the voice of reason. My
question is how much do you personally relate to Nero
Padilla?
Jimmy: The whole thing with him about how religion is part of
his life or some kind of spirituality was just like a simple
little kind of brush stroke on the writers’ part I think and
that became very important to me. I don’t want to say I
embellished it, but I gave it a lot more weight and I think
because of that they wrote then subsequently they added more
and that’s satisfying to me because I like the fact that
this guy that seemingly has a spiritual side to him, too,
that’s intense. And it made sense to me because of the fact
that he’s sober and higher power and all that stuff, so
Jimmy relates to that, so that was a nice little flare that
the character had that I like and can relate to.
Christina: Thank you so much. I really appreciate it, Jimmy,
and love the character, love the show and best of luck to
you.
Jimmy: God bless you, thanks so much. I appreciate it.
Christina: Thank you.
Moderator: Our next question will come from the Kristyn
Clarke with Pop Culture Madness. Please go ahead.
Kristyn: Hello, Jimmy, thank you so much for speaking with us
today.
Jimmy: Hello, Kristyn. I’ll try to be more succinct in my
answers.
Kristyn: No worries. I’m so glad to see you make it till the
end. We saw Nero breaking down on the bed—
Jimmy: He made it till the end, but maybe not to the end end.
Sorry, you said you were talking about him breaking down—
Kristyn: Yes, we can kind of jump to the conclusion that
obviously no news from Unser was good news there. Where is
Nero’s [indiscernible] that, especially in that scene in
particular?
Jimmy: I think there’s pain. There’s guilt. There’s remorse.
Did you do the right thing? And I’m sure that the scenes
afterwards that are not written or maybe you won’t get to
see in between the episodes are full of maybe anger and
trying to grapple with what’s the next move. You got to
remember with all of these people that there’s this bubbling
kind of how do they deal with the feeling of betrayal and
how they try to go about exacting one might term it
vengeance or making things right for them or their point of
view. Hopefully all of that is full for this final chapter.
Kristyn: Absolutely. As a follow-up I think to me one of the
most heart wrenching and beautiful scenes took place about
two episodes ago between Nero and Jax when they’re just
sitting together in the chairs. Can you talk about that
connection a little bit?
Jimmy: Yes, I think it was the culmination of what the
relationship has been between these two characters over
three seasons and certainly the weight of what the Jax
character has been carrying or feeling for the past seven
seasons. Because of that relationship between Jax and Nero,
there was the availability of a kind of vulnerability, those
words that Kurt wrote that came out of Jax’s mouth there
about the bottom line no matter what’s happened, she’s my
mom have to really resonate in a huge way.
I’m kind of happy that the way that turned out and just like
on a performance level that we were able to have enough
trust between us as actors; and that Peter Weller who
directed that particular episode that you’re talking about
kind of just said minimal stuff and just let it happen, but
was very supportive, so I think it resonates and has the
power that Kurt intended when he wrote it.
Hello?
Moderator: Our next question will come from Brent Hankins
with the Nerd Repository. Please go ahead.
Brent: Hello, Jimmy, thanks a lot for taking the call today.
I really appreciate your time.
Jimmy: No worries, Brent. How’s it going with you?
Brent: It’s going great, man, thank you. This is a season
that’s been full of heartbreaking moments even more so than
most other seasons of this show, but I think to me one of
the best moments I saw are the ones that really pulled at
the heart strings the most was the scene with you and Gemma
where you’re on a cell phone with Jax and we know that Jax
is explaining to Nero what he has learned. Can you talk a
little bit about how you decided to play that scene? The
fact that the audience didn’t get Jax’s side of the
conversation I thought was a really interesting choice and
that you had to convey everything just through facial
expressions and emotions. Can you talk a little bit about
that scene?
Jimmy: In terms of the technical performance aspects of it?
Brent: As an actor getting into the mindset, like deciding
that at what moment to convey the progression of the
emotions and so forth.
Jimmy: Right, right. We knew that it was just from a
dramaturgical look at it when we had the read-through for
it, that the scene was going to have impact, but that it was
going to be demanding because of the fact that it’s not a
back and forth. But in the scope of that particular episode,
you do have the fact that the act is repeated a number of
times and most notably in the scene between Jax and Juice in
the jail cell where they were in vivid detail Juice has
recounted what happened with Tara and Gemma’s involvement in
it. And you see that registering on both of them, so I think
it was a great writer stroke that he decided, that Kurt
decided that the subsequent retelling of it would play in a
different kind of way. I think because the audience now is
engaged and they know and it becomes more about how each of
the subsequent characters are going to start relating to the
news. So when I look at it in total I think it really points
to Kurt’s strength as a writer.
Now the execution of it was a little bit scary and what I
alluded before about learning, somebody asked me about what
I took away from the show about trying to stay focused as a
performer in the environment of television, which can be
very quick. That particular day was a little scary because
we were like at the end of the day. We were losing light. It
had to be outside and Paul Maibaum who’s been the DP for the
show since its beginning is just wonderful and kept on
telling me don’t worry about it. We can make this work.
My thing I kept on saying we’re going to have to come back
and do this and I don’t know how I’m going to be able to get
back to where I was, but it all become a trust, a day of
trust on that level. And on recounting not having the phone
call actually in my ear and just knowing that I could be
emotionally full with all of the information that I’ve had
about these particular characters and knowing that when I
looked in Katey’s eyes and she looked at my eyes that it
would resonate emotionally. So we had that one aspect going
for us and I think it played out. I think it has a kind of
power to it and I’m happy with most of it. There’s a lot
that I still kick myself about, but that’s just me. I’m
never totally happy, but thanks for the good words about it.
Moderator: Our next question will come from Suzanne Lanoue
with The TV MegaSite. Please go ahead.
Suzanne: Good morning.
Jimmy: Hello, how are you, Suzanne?
Suzanne: I’m pretty good, thanks. Nice to talk to you again.
Jimmy: Likewise, likewise.
Suzanne: I was wondering now that the show is about over and
you got the holidays coming up, what are your plans after
that? Do you have specific stuff lined up, or what can we
expect from you? Do you want to rest for a while?
Jimmy: Like Jimmy’s holidays?
Suzanne: Your holiday, plans you have afterwards, do you have
other stuff lined up or just see what happens?
Jimmy: I’m sitting here in an office full of junk. I’m just
looking at reading material and there’s no like next job
lined up like right away and I’ve been out there going to
meetings and auditioning and doing the stuff that you have
to do as an actor. I’ll spend a little time with my family
over the holidays and like that, the same old thing that I
always do. I’m never going to work again kind of thing, you
know. Hello?
Moderator: Our next question will come from Minyvonne Burke
with HNGN.com. Please go ahead.
Jimmy: Hello, operator. Are we cutting off the people or—
Moderator: Yes, we were advised to.
Jimmy: Okay.
Stephanie: Not to cut people off, I just want people to be
able to ask one question and then if we have time, we’ll
circle back for the follow-ups, so please do not cut people
off.
Jimmy: Okay, all right, yes, because it’s just disconcerting
to me.
Stephanie: Yes, let them finish the conversation. I just mean
to remind people we give them one question—
Jimmy: Yes, you guys give a specific follow-up or if you feel
like it’s going too long, you guys can jump in.
Stephanie: Exactly. Right, but one question is fine, but
please do not cut people off.
Jimmy: Okay, thanks so much, guys.
Moderator: My apologies.
Jimmy: No worries.
Stephanie: Okay, we can continue.
Moderator: And the next question will be Minyvonne Burke.
Minyvonne: Hello, Jimmy. How are you?
Jimmy: I’m good, Miny, what’s happening? How are you?
Minyvonne: I’m good. I’m really excited to see next week’s
episode of Sons of Anarchy, but I wanted to ask you about
Star Wars. I wanted to know if you’ve seen the trailer and
what you thought of it and are you excited about the movie
coming out next year.
Jimmy: I did see the trailer and I got a text from my son the
other day and said, “Have you seen the trailer?” And I
texted back, “Why are you sweating me like that?” He wrote
back, “???, oh, Dad, I’m sorry,” because he knows it’s kind
of like a sore spot with me.
The trailer looks great and I’m really excited about seeing
it and how the mythology of that particular show just
continues.
Minyvonne: All right, thank you so much.
Jimmy: God bless you, man. Take care.
Minyvonne: All right, bye.
Moderator: Our next question will come from Jeri Jacquin with
the Military Press. Please go ahead.
Jeri: Hello, Jimmy.
Jimmy: Hello, Jeri, what’s happening? How are you?
Jeri: It’s a nice San Diego day, dude.
Jimmy: Okay.
Jeri: I know, right? Close to home.
Jimmy: There’s no rain, you guys didn’t get rain?
Jeri: Yes, we did, but today it’s so sunny and pretty.
Jimmy: Okay. Good deal. God bless.
Jeri: I didn’t mind the rain at all. When you were following
week to week up to the final season, what was your reaction
each week to the fate of the characters?
Jimmy: I think I mentioned that it was like I think I was a
little nervous I think getting ready to open that script up
to see who was going down next, because we were like in that
somebody is going down every episode mode here. Last episode
it—
Jeri: And sometimes more than one.
Jimmy: Three people, three major people.
Jeri: I know, I was in a room full of people and they were
freaking out and there is a team Nero going on here in San
Diego.
Jimmy: I appreciate that. You mean besides his cardigan,
because his cardigans has a life of their own I understand.
I understand.
Jeri: Are you going to keep all the cardigans?
Jimmy: I beg your pardon.
Jeri: Are you going to keep all the sweaters?
Jimmy: No, not all of them, but there’s one that I really got
my eye on that I like a lot that I’ve told Kelly about. I
was a little, as everyone was in the cast, it’s a little
tense and shocked, but you understand. It’s all part of the
culmination of what has been brewing in Kurt’s head for all
this time. It’s good.
Jeri: Did you expect it to be as graphic as it was?
Jimmy: Yes, they’re graphic, but I don’t think that they’re
out of what the character either deserves, like it’s part of
the world, so it’s all good.
Jeri: Right, thank you and Happy Holidays to you. Thank you
for everything of being Nero.
Jimmy: My God, thanks so much for saying that. Take care,
bye.
Jeri: Bye, bye.
Jimmy: Bye now.
Moderator: The next question will come from Damon Martin with
the Nerdcore Movement. Please go ahead.
Damon: Hello, Jimmy, thank you so much for taking the time. I
really appreciate it.
Jimmy: Thanks for hanging in there, Damon, I appreciate you
[indiscernible].
Damon: Obviously with your roles in the past, you’ve been a
part of some pretty iconic roles, NYPD Blue, obviously the
West Wing. When you’re a character for more than a season or
two, I’m sure you get invested in that, so my question is
obviously art is subjective and how people are going to
react to the finale is also subjective. But when you look at
the final episode and your final arc as Nero, would you say
that you think this is a satisfying ending both for the show
and for you personally when you look at this last episode
and even this last season as whole?
Jimmy: As far as the last season is concerned, I think that
Kurt ended it really beautifully and it has all of those
elements that the show has been the signature of the show
throughout the seven seasons. I was a little surprised
specifically about the way Nero ends up, but I totally get
it. I totally get it.
Damon: Awesome, thank you so much.
Jimmy: That’s about as much as I can say without doing
spoilers and stuff.
Damon: Awesome, thank you so much.
Jimmy: Thank you, Damon. Happy Holidays to you, bro.
Damon: You as well.
Moderator: Our next question will come from Alicia Grillo
with SciFiVision. Please go ahead.
Alyssa: Hello, Jimmy, thank you so much for taking the time
to speak with us today.
Jimmy: Alicia, how are you?
Alyssa: It’s actually Alyssa, I don’t know where they—
Jimmy: Alyssa is good. Do you say Grillo or Grillo?
Alyssa: I say Grillo, but yes, I know the meaning of it, too.
I’m a huge fan of your work. You’ve obviously done
everything from NYPD Blue to Dexter and now Sons of Anarchy.
My question for you is actually about last night’s episode.
I think one of the most memorable lines is from last night
was when Nero tells Unser that this is not about saving
Gemma, it’s about saving Jax. What do you think has changed
in Nero that he seemed more concerned with saving Jax than
Gemma?
Jimmy: Well, Alyssa, I think that that particular line I
tried to give it a little bit of weight, so that it really
means both because we all know that in the episode prior to
that when Nero starts talking about you know what you’re
thinking about doing is kind of like one of the biggest sins
that you could impose upon yourself and the weight that
that’s going to put on you. So knowing that that was a
possibility, that was part of where that line was coming
from and tried imbue with all of that, but I don’t think
that he meant discard Gemma or there wasn’t that thing going
on; and I hope that didn’t read like that because the love
that he has—you did see him in the next subsequent scenes in
the bedroom. And I think that reinforced that even though
the events that transpired have transpired, that he still
has a profound kind of love and emotional connection with
the Gemma character. So it’s like everything that Kurt
writes it’s not just one thing. It’s layered in many, many,
many different ways.
I hope that answers your question, Alyssa.
Alyssa: As a follow-up, do you have a favorite scene or maybe
a scene that was harder for you to film during the series?
Jimmy: Wow. The two scenes in Episode 11, 10 and 11 of this
season were both very difficult because it had to do with
focus, I alluded to that and just the head space of where I
am in my life, in Jimmy’s life, so those were kind of
difficult. But you got to know that in Season 5 when my
partner in life was playing a character and that character
had to go down, that was a very tough day because you’re
looking at a character who is supposed to be your sister,
but in real life it’s the person that you live with and love
with. That was a difficult; memorable, difficult day as
performer and character as well.
Alyssa: Very good, thank you so much for your time. Have a
great holiday.
Jimmy: Happy Holidays to you, Alyssa. God bless.
Alyssa: Thank you.
Moderator: Our next question will come from Kelly Schremph
with Bustle. Please go ahead.
Kelly: Hello, Jimmy, thank you so much. It’s so great to chat
with you today.
Jimmy: Thanks for hanging in there, Kelly, I appreciate it.
How’s it going with you?
Kelly: Good. Okay, so speaking of last episode it was just so
intense and everyone on the cast played it so beautifully.
I’m just wondering just hypothetically in your mind since
you know the character Nero so well, if Nero had gone to
find Gemma instead of Unser, do you think he would have
chosen her over Jax? They had gotten close over these past
few episodes, but would his love for Gemma have overpowered
that bond, and even like would he have gone after Jax if he
tried to hurt Gemma?
Jimmy: You mean that’s why Unser, that’s why he sent Unser?
Kelly: I’m just saying like if Nero had gone instead of
Unser, do you think that things would still have played out
the same?
Jimmy: If Nero had gone, there would have been probably three
dead bodies there. All of them would have gone down in some
way. I think that was his big fear that he didn’t want to
try to have to make that particular choice, but I don’t
think that the Nero character understood how profound and
deep the relationship that Unser has with them also. I guess
he thinks that because of the police element or line in
Unser’s character thread was there that he would be able to
exact some kind of calm out of the situation.
Kelly: Do you think that we’ll be seeing a little bit of
guilt once he realizes what happened?
Jimmy: You’ll see more than guilt.
Kelly: Okay. Very good. Thank you so much. I love your
character and what you’ve done with it and I love the show,
so thank you for your time.
Jimmy: I really appreciate it, thanks. Thank you. Happy
Holidays.
Moderator: Our next question will come from Mandi Bierly with
Entertainment Weekly. Please go ahead.
Mandi: Hello, Jimmy, how are you?
Jimmy: Mandi.
Mandi: Hello. You talked about what Nero was feeling on the
bed at the end of “Red Rose.” I assume you read that script,
you see that and then you have a week, or I don’t know. Did
Kurt tell you immediately what Nero’s reaction would be, or
did you have time to imagine in your own head what it was
going to be, and kind of have to wait for the answer?
Jimmy: Yes, we didn’t get a call and talk about what was
upcoming.
Mandi: Okay. What was that night or whenever you read that
script, what was your immediate gut reaction, like you see,
okay, now he knows what has happened?
Jimmy: To what particular thing are we talking about, what
scene are we talking about?
Mandi: The end of “Red Rose,” whenever he’s on the bed, he
figured out that Gemma presumably and Unser are gone, what
was going through your mind at that moment, like could Nero
possibly could do next?
Jimmy: The pain definitely of being in that room and the loss
that he felt and what was going through the mind in the
close-up shot was I was trying to play a what the next move
is and to try to keep it percolating in terms of active, is
there a shade of revenge or something that’s much more
active than just the pain. I don’t know if I achieved that,
but I just had to keep it alive in my mind because you
didn’t what was going to happen in the episode that follows.
Does that make sense?
Mandi: Yes, I guess I was asking more of like Jimmy’s sense
what did you think would happen next. I don’t know if you
can, like what your gut reaction is when you’re like you
don’t know what’s coming, but you’re in that head space.
Like are you expecting revenge? Are you expecting—
Jimmy: Yes, yes, Mandi, I’m sorry. At this point in this
whole last season I just was in go-with-the-flow mode and
whatever Kurt needs to do to get to where he needs to get
to, I’m with him.
Mandi: All right, thank you.
Jimmy: Does that make sense?
Mandi: Yes.
Jimmy: Because otherwise you’d be let down. What I know,
there’s enough trust there that I know that when we turn
pages, there’s always going to be a nice surprise for
everyone.
Mandi: Got it, thank you.
Jimmy: Happy Holidays, Mandi, take care.
Mandi: You, too, Jimmy.
Jimmy: God bless you.
Moderator: Our next question will come from Graham Flashner
with Emmy Magazine. Please go ahead.
Graham: Jimmy, thanks so much for making yourself available.
Jimmy: No worries, Graham, thank you for hanging in there.
Graham: So a two part question, this is an enormously popular
show and I’m just wondering why do you think a show like
this, dark as it is, a motorcycle gang, why does it resonate
with viewers so much? And also could you talk about your
experience working with FX, working with John or the execs
or how they support you? I’d just be curious to hear about
that.
Jimmy: All right, Graham. Since we’re in this time in
television where we have all of these channels and niches
and I think the great thing about it and things that you
guys specifically in your magazine have written about is
this kind of golden age of TV, because the canvas is much
broader, and you can go into much more specifics. I think
that audiences want to relate to different, or want to know
about different worlds that they might not get on a network
TV; your typical doctor, lawyer, police type show. So it
affords the opportunity to get a professor who’s dying who
runs a meth lab, or how it was in New York and New Jersey in
the ‘20s; those types of things and really become engaged
with those characters, and in this case with a world that
you think you might know something about, but don’t really
know about.
And then layer that or texturize it with all of those things
that that world and what they learn about that world and the
things that every particular family has; the family
dynamics, the codes that a family has, the hierarchy and
that’s what engages it. I think Kurt was really successful
with the writers in terms of like presenting this kind of
like Shakespearian story in a lot of ways that has a lot of
emotionality and humor and tragedy and all of that,
violence, but at the same time has this thread of family and
brotherhood, so those are the things that I think really
engage audiences with the show specifically.
And then the second part of your question was, sorry, sorry.
Graham: Just about your experience working with FX, the execs
and how they definitely support you, etc.
Jimmy: So it’s my first time working on the network, but not
my first time dealing specifically with John Landgraf and
that crew there, who I have a lot of respect for. In my
years, Graham, of having deals with different networks and
having to interface and pitch to different studio people,
I’ve not met a group that is more supportive to the creative
side keeping the business thing in perspective, but really
supportive of the creative side. I say this not from the
actor perspective, but I saw from the outside how supportive
John Landgraf and that team the creative executives are with
Kurt and how they allowed him I think to really blossom into
not just a television writer, but a creator of a series and
somebody who has weight and a voice. I think that they were
intricate in that dynamic of having Kurt develop into that.
They just get it. They’re just very supportive and my
interactions with them have been very not the norm, unusual.
I always come away even if the pitch didn’t go or I didn’t
get a particular job, that’s happened with them, but my
interfacing with them has always been very positive and I
come away like changed in a lot of ways about my respect of
what TV can be. They’re really into literature and they just
get it. I can’t say enough good things about those guys and
I hope we get to work down the line.
Graham: Thanks so much.
Jimmy: All right, thank you.
Moderator: Our next question will come from Sydney Bucksbaum
with E! Online. Please go ahead.
Sydney: Hey, Jimmy, how is it going?
Jimmy: I’m doing all right. How’s it going with you?
Sydney: I’m good. So I know you probably can’t say too much,
but what can you tease about the fallout from all of the
devastating deaths that just happened in the last episode?
Jimmy: I can say that the audience is going to be satisfied
with the way the show ends up and that it continues to
deliver its one-two punch that I talked about before. And as
much as it is exciting and sad and funny, it’s got that grim
quality to it as well.
Sydney: Awesome, thank you so much.
Jimmy: Good talking to you.
Moderator: Our next question will be with Minyvonne Burke
with HNGN.com. Please go ahead.
Minyvonne: Hello, Jimmy, I’m back, one more question.
Jimmy: You have a question, cool.
Minyvonne: Yes. I wanted to ask you about the finale and how
was it to like physically film it. We talked with Katey
Sagal a couple weeks ago and she was saying there were a lot
of tears involved, so how was it for you personally to film
that very last episode?
Jimmy: Your investment has not only been with the characters
and the story, but the crew that you spent, in Katey’s case
seven years with, that crew has been very kind of cohesive.
There haven’t been a lot of changes and the crew really
loves the show. They’re like into the show. There are a lot
of tattoos on that crew, let me just say that, so I guess in
that way there were a lot of tears.
There’s a sadness that that family unit that you develop
because you do work for so many hours is going to disperse
and we kept on reaffirming that we know we have great
memories and that we’ll see each other again hopefully down
the line, because this business is all kind of circled, but
it was sad. I finished up I think it was halfway into the
shoot, so there was that particular eight days. And I came
back like I would come back for a couple of hours every day
until we wrapped wrapped because I wanted to be there for
like Charlie’s last scene or the last scene of particular
characters and a lot of people did that, so it was very
emotional.
Minyvonne: Yes, and do you plan on keeping in touch with the
other cast members?
Jimmy: I will and we all say that, but we probably won’t.
That’s what happens in our business, and I think that makes
it sad, too, because that’s the gypsy aspect of the business
that we all kind of acknowledge that you’re going into
something and it has to be a certain level of trust,
particularly with the performers and you get to share parts
of your life to gain that kind of trust that the characters
are going to have. And then the reality is you move on to
the next thing, but when we see each other again, the true
mark of it is like it’s like you never skipped a day. You
know what I mean?
Minyvonne: Yes, thank you.
Jimmy: Yes, take care.
Minyvonne: You, too.
Jimmy: Bye, bye.
Minyvonne: Bye.
Moderator: Our next question will come from Earl Dittman.
Please go ahead.
Stephanie: That was supposed to be the last question.
Jimmy: That’s okay. Earl is cool. I’m cool with Earl.
Stephanie: Okay. All right.
Jimmy: Earl, come on.
Earl: I’m on the final ride.
Jimmy: [Indiscernible] Earl.
Stephanie: We’ll have Earl be the last question.
Earl: Okay, it’s a real quick quickie, so since Nero never
rode motorcycle, have the guys finally gotten you on a
motorcycle?
Jimmy: Yes, I’ve been on motorcycles. When I first knew that
I was going to be working with the show, Kurt and I were
just having meetings and I didn’t know where it was going to
go, so the first thing I did besides watching, rewatching
all the at that point it was five seasons over a weekend I
went out there and I got my motorcycle license. And there’s
this great group of people in southern California and a lot
of them are women that have this motorcycle training
facility; and I got my license and did a crash course and I
was pretty happy.
And then I found out that it wasn’t going to happen and then
I toyed and we keep in contact and also my stand-in, we’ve
been together for like 20 years now, he’s a motorcycle
rider, so we rode a lot together. I would always through the
past three seasons, I always keep myself in tune hoping that
one day I’m going to open up the script and it’s going to
say, “and then Nero jumps on Jax’s motorcycle and goes
away.”
Earl: There’s always the finale. You never know.
Jimmy: That would be a spoiler, let’s put that one out there,
“Nero jumps on the motorcycle and rides off—”
Earl: Rides off in the sunset. You mentioned earlier, I’ll
make it quick, I’ll get off the phone with you, that you
were talking about in the future you’re open to everything.
I talked to someone the other day and someone mentioned that
it’s still in the boiler that there might be a West Wing
sequel that your character might come back. Have you heard
anything about that?
Jimmy: No, no.
Earl: Nothing, would you want to resurrect the character from
your—
Jimmy: They ain’t call me. I don’t know, Earl, it depends.
Like I wasn’t available, I was working on something else
when they did the LA Law reunion that they had. They did
like a LA Law movie. I don’t know. Sometimes it’s better to
just leave things alone. It depends, but with the right
people writing certainly with the West Wing, if you’re
talking about the West Wing, there could be a lot of
resonance to having that group to see where that group has
all landed up, because you knew it was, and I’m not just
talking about the presidency, but there were staffers, so to
see where those particular staffers are now in their
careers, I would be very interested in that.
Earl: Yes, definitely. Again, I appreciate. Final, I promise.
Jimmy: Okay.
Earl: You talk about keeping notebooks for each of your
characters, will we ever see those, will you ever publish
them one day?
Jimmy: Publish them?
Earl: Yes.
Jimmy: I don’t think so.
Earl: No.
Jimmy: There’s a storage room I have that has back to my days
at Cornell in summer stock and all that stuff, so there are
lot of composition books out there. Don’t even put that in
my head. They’re just ramblings.
Earl: Yes, but I can only imagine what you would subtitle the
final one on Sons of Anarchy or this one on the Sons of
Anarchy. It’d be an incredible little volume to read.
Jimmy: Yes, yes. There’s a lot of cursing in there.
Earl: Jimmy, Happy Holidays. Thank you for two great seasons
and thanks so much for doing this.
Jimmy: Thanks for watching. I appreciate it.
Earl: Take care.
Moderator: There are no other questions at this time.
Stephanie: Okay, great. Thank you so much, Jimmy. We really
appreciate the time, and thank you, everyone, for joining us
today.
Jimmy: Thank you guys, thank you all.
Stephanie: We will provide a transcript of the call in the
next 72 hours.
Jimmy: You actually put a transcript of that.
Stephanie: It does. It was great.
Jimmy: And have all the uh, uh, uh.
Stephanie: They take that part out.
Jimmy: Dot, dot, dot.
Stephanie: Thank you so much. Take care, everyone.
Jimmy: Bye.
Stephanie: Bye.
Moderator: That does conclude our conference for today. Thank
you for your participation and for using AT&T Executive
TeleConference. You may now disconnect.
Back to the Main Articles
Page
Back to the Main Primetime TV Page
We need more episode guide recap writers, article
writers, MS FrontPage and Web Expression users, graphics designers, and more, so
please email us
if you can help out! More volunteers always
needed! Thanks!
Page updated 12/18/14
    
|