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By
Suzanne

Interview with Michael Emerson and Greg
Plageman of "Person
of Interest" on
CBS and WGN America 8/31/15
It was really great to speak with Michael. He's an
amazing actor, and I love his show so much. This call was
all about "Person of Interest", which is now running older
seasons on WGN America (along with "Elementary" and "Blue
Bloods").
Michael Emerson: Hi. I’m going to jump in here. It’s
Michael Emerson. I’m going to jump in here and introduce
myself as Michael Emerson. I play Harold Finch on Person of
Interest.
Coordinator: Yes, sir. Our first question comes from the
line of Jamie Ruby. Your line is open.
Jamie Ruby: Hi, guys. Thanks for talking to us today. At
least we’ve got it working finally, right? So first I just
want to say, Michael, I’m a big fan of yours, obviously from
Lost. So it’s great to talk to you and great to talk to you,
too, Greg.
Can you talk about, if this is the last season, are you guys
going to be satisfied with what’s been told?
Greg Plageman: Well, this is Greg. I don’t know if I speak
for Michael in that regard, but as a writer here from the
very beginning with Jonah, one thing we felt very adamant
about was that we would be able to tell a complete story on
the show.
This has always been a show where, you know, every season
finale felt like it could have been a series finale. And
this year will be no different.
Jamie Ruby: Okay, great. Michael?
Michael Emerson: I feel the same way. I feel like we kind of
wrap things up every season. And so I think we’ll kind of
continue in that same vein, maybe with a hint more finale
feeling. But at the same time, I think probably the writers
are going to leave it a little bit ambiguous, because we
don’t know if it’s the end of POI as we know it or not. So
we kind of have to juggle that.
Jamie Ruby: Okay, great. And then just as a follow-up, can
you talk about what it’s like being on such popular shows,
because obviously you went from Lost, which was a huge
success, to this show, which is also huge?
Michael Emerson: Well it’s gratifying to think that people
are watching the show that you’re on. And I do get people
coming up to talk to me about them on a regular basis.
Beyond that one-on-one interaction on the street, I’m not -
I mean, I’m not conscious that much of the reach of the
show, although occasionally I’ll be surprised.
And it is surprising sometimes how many people in foreign
countries watch our shows. It’s always interesting to think
that people know who you are in Istanbul or Singapore.
That’s kind of interesting.
Jamie Ruby: All right. Well thank you so much, both of you.
Greg Plageman: Thank you.
Michael Emerson: Thanks.
Coordinator: Thank you. And our next question comes from the
line of Susan Lanoue.
Suzanne Lanoue: Hi. This is (Suzanne). How are you doing
today?
Michael Emerson: Good, thank you.
Suzanne Lanoue: Good. Since these shows are going to be on
WGN, do you have any idea what the thinking was behind
pairing these - or, not pairing. There’s three of them. But
putting these three CBS shows on - in America it seems like
Blue Bloods doesn’t quite fit with the other two. But, I
mean, they’re good shows. But I was wondering if you knew
anything about the process behind them coming to WGN.
Greg Plageman: This is Greg. I think it’s just a chance for WGN to
come up with, you know, a thematic promotion. Those are fine
shows as well. I think our show perhaps is maybe a little
bit more genre, a little bit more serialized in that regard.
But we’re extremely grateful to WGN for giving us the
opportunity. And we’re more than happy to promote their
prime crime lineup, as they call it.
Suzanne Lanoue: Well, and, yes, I had just read that the
show is also going to be on Netflix streaming for the first
time. I didn’t know that, because I always watch it and I
buy the DVDs. But I was wondering why it’s taken so long for
POI to be on Netflix?
Greg Plageman: There’s always been some issues, you know, in terms
of, you know, studio networks have their own rules, rules
set by which they can allow something to go into syndication
or streaming. And I think all those things kind of held up
the show for a number of years.
And we have to tell you that we’ve very excited about both
these entities promoting the show and giving people an
opportunity to catch up, because after a certain number of
episodes, the show certainly does become an obstacle unto
itself, in terms of people maybe not being able to keep all
with all the worlds and characters and storylines. And we
think this is a great, great, opportunity for the show.
Suzanne Lanoue: And, Michael, if you had a choice between
any other show besides yours to watch, streaming on
Netflix or on your TV On Demand, what would you choose to
watch?
Michael Emerson: I feel like I have missed so many great
television shows in the time I’ve been working on one, that
I would want to do some catching up, you know. Breaking Bad,
shows like that. I have to tell you that I am a big fan of
Elementary, not just because we’re sharing an evening on
WGN, but because for some reason that has been the show that
I’ve managed to watch every episode of.
Suzanne Lanoue: Cool. That’s a great show. Thanks, I
appreciate it.
Coordinator: Thank you and our next question comes from the
line of Tony Tellado. Your line is open.
Tony Tellado: Thank you, gentlemen. It’s great to talk to
you. This is a show I’ve been watching from the beginning.
It’s such an excellent premise. And it’s like nothing on
television is like this, which is really cool.
Michael Emerson: Thanks.
Greg Plageman: Thank you.
Tony Tellado: Kind of take us back to the beginning, as far
as developing Harold Finch. For both of you, how much of his
background was actually set when the series began, or was
that something that evolved as the series went on?
Greg Plageman: Well I’ll certainly let Michael field that one, but I
will say from the very beginning, Michael has been extremely
collaborative with us in developing his character’s back
story and, you know, delving into even, you know, mining all
the flashbacks that we’ve gone into. And everything from his
injury and his relationship with Grace on the show, as well.
Michael Emerson: This is Michael.
Michael Emerson: It always seemed clear to me what Mr. Finch
was like. I don’t think there was a lot of experimentation
required. I felt right about it when we shot the pilot. I
had to think about the physical handicap carefully, because
I knew if the show was a success, I’d be doing it for a
long, long time.
But the character seemed fairly plain to me on the page, and
of course it’s gotten, you know, richer and more nuanced as
we’ve gone along and thought about it and lived in it and
walked around with it. So it’s been, for me, a happy actor
experience.
Tony Tellado: Yes, I’ve enjoyed the flashbacks to his youth,
too. That was really neat.
Michael Emerson: They’re great. I really enjoy them. I love
seeing the infancy of the machine.
Tony Tellado: Yes.
Michael Emerson: And I love seeing Mr. Finch in happier
days.
Tony Tellado: Yes, definitely. Now the show for me was a
procedural and the computer was just giving him the numbers
and everything. But then when - the episode that changed it
for me was when the machine spoke to them.
Now going back in time, Michael, did you - when did you know
that was going to happen? From the beginning, or was that
something that kind of crept up on you?
Michael Emerson: Almost everything on the show creeps up on
me. You know, we - I kind of know whatever is in the script
that’s being filmed at the moment and not much more, not
much beyond that.
And it’s kind of the way I - it’s kind of the way I like it.
I’m comfortable reacting to the scripts as they come and
being focused on those episodes and not too much in the
business of connecting the dots into the future.
Tony Tellado: Excellent. Thank you, gentlemen. I’ll get back
in line.
Greg Plageman: Thank you.
Michael Emerson: Thanks.
Coordinator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the
line of Angele Colageo. Your line is open.
Angele Colageo: Thank you. Hi, Michael. Hi, Greg. Thanks
for speaking to us today.
Greg Plageman: Hello.
Angele Colageo: My question, I’m going to throw it out to
the both of you, with WGN’s prime crime lineup, has it come
up as a question that I’ve heard of possible crossover
episodes? What do you think of that happening? Is it
something that is possible?
Greg Plageman: Well now that Michael has just informed me that he
hasn’t missed an episode of Elementary, I think I’m going to
have to consider it.
Angele Colageo: You definitely would be a great
back-to-back to catch.
Greg Plageman: Yes. It should be fun. We’re really looking forward to
it.
Michael Emerson: It would be tricky, though, to do a mashup
of our show and another show, because they seem to be
different worlds. In what world would that mashup take
place? In the world of POI? In the world of Elementary?
And then you have characters that, they might be like matter
and antimatter. They might just implode when they got near
each other.
Angele Colageo: Definitely. Yes, I think that’s where we
understand that. But the idea of it sounds great, because, I
mean, I’m a great fan of both shows. And I do enjoy that the
writers keep me guessing as to what’s going to happen, and
you don’t get a lot of that these days, you know.
Michael Emerson: True, true. It would be tricky, because I
kind of feel like Sherlock Holmes is the Sherlock Holmes of
Elementary, and Harold Finch is the Sherlock of Holmes of
Person of Interest. And I don’t know what they would do
together. I guess they would have to team up somehow, or
maybe they’re mashed up together into one character somehow
with two faces.
Angele Colageo: Well that would be definitely interesting
to look forward to if it were possible.
Greg Plageman: You know, if we went out of town, Michael, we could
leave them the dog.
Michael Emerson: Yes, that’s right. Very funny.
Angele Colageo: That was great. Thank you both.
Michael Emerson: Thank you.
Greg Plageman: Thank you.
Coordinator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the
line of Jorge Solis. Sir, your line is open.
Jorge Solis: Hi. I’m very excited to see Person of
Interest on WGN America.
Michael Emerson: Great.
Jorge Solis: I was wondering with all this - after playing
Finch and writing about Finch for past seasons, what is it
that still interests you about the character?
Michael Emerson: Is that a question for me?
Jorge Solis: For the both of you, for you and Greg.
Greg Plageman: That sounds like for you, Mike.
Michael Emerson: Yes, I guess so. Well I think because the
character has been evolving over the course of four seasons,
I think there’s still a lot we don’t know about him. And I’m
interested in that journey, moving forward.
I’m interested in the kinds of problem solving that the
narrative imposes on Mr. Finch, you know, personal problems,
philosophical problems, practical problems. There seems to
be a fairly inexhaustible list of them, and its fun to
tackle. And I don’t think we have, by any means, run out of
material.
Greg Plageman: I think the interesting thing for us in terms of
writing Harold’s character, Michael’s character, Harold
Finch, is that, you know, there was so much - when Michael
came to the show, people imbue so many different ideas on to
him, because he played a villain on another show you might
have heard of.
But his character was never that character on this show. It
was in fact a character that endeavored to do something to
better the world, to help change the world. And I think it’s
become a burden in some ways to him. I think it’s an
extremely heavy mantel to bear, particularly when he lost
Ingram and he lost so many people close to him, including,
you know, a personal life. His fiancé, he hasn’t been able
to see her anymore. And I think it’s become a tremendous
weight on Harold Finch’s character.
And I think we’d like to explore particularly this season
is, what happens when someone, you know, is able to transfer
some of that burden to others, but also when something so
dramatic happens that there may become a shift in the
character that we haven’t seen before.
Jorge Solis: And one of my favorite episodes from this
past season is If-Then-Else. I was wondering, to the both of
you, which episodes stand out in your mind over the past
four seasons?
Michael Emerson: Well that was certainly a really
interesting and conceptual episode. I loved reading it. It
was hard shooting, because there was so - it was repetitive,
but with subtle differences every scene. That’s a unique
experience in my television career to have shot an episode
that was constructed that way.
Greg Plageman: I think it was, you know, an episode which sort of
proved that this show can do, be a lot of different things.
We can twist genre. It can be a straight ahead sort of
number, case of the week, type show. It can be a paranoid
thriller. This show, the great thing about this premise, it
allows us to do so many things.
And, you know, I have a lot of favorite episodes, going back
to the pilot. You know, I sort of - I loved Many Happy
Returns. That was, for me, one of the first very emotional
episodes where we understood more about when Harold Finch
sort of first saw John Reese for the first time, as well as
what happened to John Reese’s former fiancé.
So a lot of those episodes in the first season really stand
out to me, because they were seminal in the sense of setting
the tone for the relationships of the shows. And we’ve been
able to play with a lot of them since, and we’re still
having fun.
Jorge Solis: Thank you so much.
Michael Emerson: Thank you.
Greg Plageman: Thank you.
Coordinator: Okay. Just to remind our participants, you are
entitled for two questions per queue, but you may re-queue
afterwards. And our next question comes from the line of
Diana Marsh. Ma’am, your line is open.
Diana Marsh: All right. Thank you, guys, for answering our
questions. We really appreciate your time. My first question
is for Michael. Michael, when you look at a role why do you
choose a particular role? What jumps out at you and says, I
need to play this?
Michael Emerson: I mean, I kind of go by whether the writing
appeals to me and the character may be secondary, because
I’m not looking to play a particular type or a particular
quality or result. I just like to know that there’s going to
be good language, you know, and a good atmosphere.
I responded to the pilot script for person of interest
because of its setting and the darkness of it, the paranoia
of it. And also that the character I was going to be asked
to play was a person with a particular way of talking. I
like that.
Angele Colageo: All right. And then my next question is
for both of you guys. Other than Person of Interest, do you
have any other side projects or anything else going on that
you’d like to mention or are you just focused on Person of
Interest for right now?
Michael Emerson: I have to say that it’s kind of
all-consuming. When we’re working on Person of Interest, you
know, we’re scrambling to find time to have a private life
or a family life, much less moonlight on anything else. So,
yes, it’s kind of all you can do when it’s working.
Greg Plageman: Yes, most definitely.
Diana Marsh: All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate
you answering my question.
Greg Plageman: Thank you.
Michael Emerson: Thanks.
Coordinator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the
line of Douglas Dobbins. Sir, your line is open.
Douglas Dobbins:: Hi. Hi, Michael. Hi, Greg. How are you
guys doing today?
Greg Plageman: Good, thank you.
Douglas Dobbins:: So one of the things here, Michael, I
have to say you’re the only actor I know who’s had his wife
play his mother at some point in his career.
Michael Emerson: Yes. That’s kind of a Freudian nightmare,
isn’t it?
Douglas Dobbins:: Yes, it is. But one of the things is you
kind of brought up the fact that, you know, this is
all-consuming. Have you guys thought about, and this is for
both of you, if the show was to carry over, maybe it was not
going to be a regular series, have you thought about making
it a special series or doing a smaller thing?
WGN maybe opens up a venue which CBS might not be open to,
to maybe have four or five two-hour movies a year. Would
that be something which would interest you to continue the
story, if at the end of this season it is the end as a
traditional TV series?
Greg Plageman: Well, you know, never say never. Isn’t 24 coming back?
Michael Emerson: Right.
Douglas Dobbins:: Exactly.
Greg Plageman: X Files.
Michael Emerson: I think it would be interesting to carry on
this story in a different format, you know, maybe a shorter
season or, as you said, fewer but longer episodes. I mean,
all of those platforms are changing so much and everything’s
more fragmented. It might be invigorating to not be staring
down the barrel of 23 episodes every year.
Greg Plageman: Yes, I agree.
Douglas Dobbins:: Plus it probably would open both of you
up to do other things. While you probably love the
characters, at some point you probably want to do - you have
other stories you’d probably want to tell as well.
Michael Emerson: It would be nice. It would be nice to have
a little more variety in one’s working life.
Greg Plageman: Sure.
Douglas Dobbins:: Now another thing for both of you kind of
here is a lot of people come to me and talk about your back
stories. And you’ve done a lot. And this may be a little bit
more for Greg, but have you ever thought about, I don’t
know, working with one of the comic book companies and have
a young John Reese and a young Harold kind of comic, or
doing some sort of special that way to kind of give us a
little bit more in-depth of their younger - both of them,
you kind of have the feeling their youth really influenced
how they ended up in life more than even the average person?
Greg Plageman: Wow. That’s really intriguing. That’s pretty exciting.
There’s certainly a genre aspect to the show that we’ve
always embraced. You could even say a superhero quality to
John Reese. And the premise of the show, you know, has
somewhat of a - was once considered sci-fi, but apparently
not anymore. It could be really cool.
I think, you know, what this show’s evolved from, you know,
sort of being, you know, a paranoid thriller about the
surveillance state in procedural clothing has now become
more of a commentary almost on the burgeoning artificial
superintelligence that we believe may emerge in the world in
the coming years. So it can be a lot of different things,
and I certainly think that would be an interesting
possibility.
Douglas Dobbins:: So, Michael, would it both you to see
yourself portrayed in a comic book format? I’ve always
wondered how actors feel about that when that happens.
Michael Emerson: No, I think that would be fun. You know,
I’m a big fan of comics and graphic novels, because I used
to be an illustrator. So I love to see how people draw
things. And I do feel like our show would really lend itself
to a kind of graphicization, because I feel our characters
have a kind of particular look about them that could
translate onto paper in a good way.
We sometimes use illustrated storyboards when we’re shooting
episodes, and I love looking at them, because I love the way
they draw our characters, how they capture them in a few
strokes. And, yes, I think a bunch of cool things could be
done that way.
Douglas Dobbins:: Great. Thank you, gentlemen, both, for
talking to us today.
Greg Plageman: Thank you.
Michael Emerson: Thank you.
Coordinator: Thank you. Once again, participants, to ask a
question you may press star and then 1. To cancel your
request, you may press star and then 2. Okay. Our next
question comes from the line of Jeffrey Harris. Sir, your
line is open.
Jeffrey Harris: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for
speaking with us today.
Michael Emerson: Good morning.
Jeffrey Harris: Michael, in the very first episode of the
series, Finch said that both of us will probably end up
dead. So really in the very first episode Finch really sort
of laid everything out. And in the last season, I kept
really going back to that line. And really it feels like
every episode, it feels like this is somewhat inevitable. Do
you ever think about when Finch said that and how is sort of
in a situation where it’s very likely to happen at some
point?
Michael Emerson: I try to remind myself every episode that
their mission is a suicide mission. No one - eventually, no
one’s getting out alive and that all time in the story is
borrowed time, really. It’s a hard thing to keep going and
it’s a hard level of stakes to be playing at all times. But,
like you, I harken back to that line, which I feel is really
an establishing line philosophically for the series.
Jeffrey Harris: Now I think what really draw me into Finch
as a character is from the very beginning he was very - you
know, there was always this ambiguity and there was always
this mystique around Finch. But over the years, you know,
we’ve really gotten to peel back the layers and learn a lot
more about him.
And I feel like even though he doesn’t really tell you
everything, you can trust Finch because I believe he is a
man of integrity and I believe, you know, he is true in his
convictions, in his beliefs.
So have you liked learning more about Finch and getting to
peel back those layers as the seasons go along, especially
the fact that I feel like really what he was trying to do
with the Machine was not create a watchdog, but really just
to create something that would help his father, you know,
his ailing father with Alzheimer.
Michael Emerson: Yes. I think that may - the roots of his
interest in this Machine, yes, go back to his father’s
condition. But then I think it took a turn after 9/11, when
he had to get more serious about some other things. Some
other issues preoccupied him.
I haven’t - I enjoy thinking about the timeline of Harold
Finch, how his life went from something lighter to something
darker, and about how he’s able to hold on to - I don’t know
if I want to use the word ideals, but how he tries to hold
on to some values that he’s had all along. But it’s a tricky
business in his line of work and in the world that he lives
in, a world darker and more violent than most people would
believe. I’m not sure that’s an answer to your question.
Jeffrey Harris: I think it’s very interesting. And for
Greg, I feel early on, I mean, the show was really sort of a
breakout hit. But I noticed a lot of major media outlets
weren’t really covering it or giving it a lot of attention.
And I was wondering, do you think maybe the subject matter
of the show and, you know, these heroes who are using sort
of, you know, this sort of surveillance material, do you
think it maybe makes people uncomfortable to think about a
show that maybe uses it in this way?
Greg Plageman: Well I certainly think there’s a dark quality of the
show that we endeavor to, you know, imbue the show with. I
think its underneath. The mechanics of the show are very
thought provoking. But I never think we’ve strayed from
being an entertaining show.
And honestly, I think we’ve baffled a lot of people in
broadcast, because, you know, oftentimes people will, you
know, when it comes to a broadcast television show, it
becomes a certain amount of comfort food for them. And they
become attached to the characters and they want that thing
every week.
And then when we do things like kill off a character or veer
into something a little darker terrain, it startles people
in a way that I think you get away with a lot more in cable.
So we’re kind of like a show that’s in a zone right now
where we feel like we’ve snuck in a lot of somewhat
subversive ideas into what people can view as, you know, a
procedural.
And procedural’s not a dirty word for me. I grew up, you
know, writing NYPD Blue and was proud to call it a
procedural. But there was a serialized component to that
show as well that I thought was very thought provoking. And
I think we’ve endeavored to do the same.
One of the reasons I think we’re extremely about excited
about this going to WGN or Netflix coming up is simply
because this is a show that can have a certain amount of,
you know, opacity if you don’t keep up with it, if you don’t
understand what’s going on. And we’ve always been
comfortable with that. We’d rather it be a show that, you
know, stuck to your ribs than something that was just
comfort food.
And I don’t know. I don’t know if that’s something that, you
know, people find hard to keep up with, but I think
availability has certainly been an obstacle. And now it will
no longer.
Jeffrey Harris: I was very nervous, Greg, when you guys
did an episode where one of the numbers turned out to be
sort of an amateur MMA fighter, because I was sort of, as an
MMA fan, I was sort of nervous about what angle sort of, you
know, like a Hollywood TV show was going to take on the
whole MMA thing, because sometimes it happens and I’m really
- and I feel there’s just sort of a very ignorant
perspective.
But I was pleasantly surprised that it really seemed that
everyone had done their homework with how it was presented,
especially the fact that MMA is regulated in New York. And
that sort of makes it - that’s sort of a big problem right
now. It’s currently the only state that doesn’t regulate MMA.
And pretty much everything that was said about that was
correct. So whoever did that episode and, you know, did all
the fact checking, I really appreciate you guys doing your
homework and not - you know, sometimes in a show like this,
a subject like that will be addressed and it’s very
inaccurate and very ignorant of the subject, but that was
not the case here. So I wanted to thank you all for that.
Greg Plageman: I’m glad, because I don’t want you coming to beat me
up. Just want to point out, as well as the actress did not
know anything about MMA fighting before we got her. And our
amazing stunt coordinator, (Tony Vincent), trained with her
for weeks prior. And really, really, she attacked it with
gusto and really helped us sell the authenticity of that.
Michael Emerson: Yes, she was incredible.
Coordinator: Thank you.
Jeffrey Harris: Thank you.
Coordinator: Our next question comes from the line of
Bradley Adams. Sir, your line is open.
Bradley Adams:: Hi, guys. Thanks for doing this call. I
just want to talk a bit about the end of Season 4 and going
into Season 5. Obviously at the end of Season 4 the Machine
was almost dead basically and, you know, still alive in a
box.
And presumably Season 5 is going to see Finch and perhaps
Root try to rebuild the machine. I actually wanted to ask,
because when Finch designed the Machine initially, he
installed it with a mole code. And I wanted to know whether
Season 5 is perhaps going to explore Finch designing it
without that mole code, if that’s what it’s going to take to
stop Samaritan from winning.
Greg Plageman: Well I’ll answer first and then Michael can tell you
his opinion. You know, I think Harold Finch - one of the
reasons we think of the Machine as a more moral entity, at
least perhaps than Samaritan, is because we know that Harold
Finch coded it. And I think Harold has always had an
ambivalence about the creation of a god and has never quite
trusted it in the sense that, you know, if this was
something that he unleashed in the world, then a heavy
burden falls upon him.
He’s tried everything in his power to create something that,
you know, first do no harm. And I think what’s happening now
is an emerging debate with Amy Acker’s character, Root,
Samantha Groves, who’s telling him that is no longer enough,
that the machine that he built is in dire straits unless
they change it, in terms of reconstituting it. And it
becomes a sort of a center around which we based this
season.
And I’m actually really excited about doing 13 episodes this
year, because we get the ability to really go into that in
depth and explore what that means. And I think we’re going
to also see a side of Harold Finch that he’s kept at bay,
because of his ambivalence about creating a god.
Michael Emerson: I think you’ve put your finger on what the
big issue of the first few episodes of Season 5 is. If we
are to revive the Machine -- and, of course, we would like
to do that -- what kind of checks and balances will it
include, if any? Must it be completely unfettered if it is
to go head-to-head with Samaritan? Is that desirable? Where
does that take us ultimately?
And it’s fun. It’ll be, you know, a battle of philosophies
between Mr. Finch and Root, who has a different perspective.
And that’s going to be one of the chief pleasures of Season
5.
Bradley Adams:: Okay. Thanks for your time, fellows. I
appreciate you taking the time to make the call.
Greg Plageman: Thank you.
Michael Emerson: Thanks.
Coordinator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the
line of Mark Dago. Sir, your line is open.
Mark Dago: Hi, how’s it going today?
Michael Emerson: Good, thank you.
Greg Plageman: Hello.
Mark Dago: Good, good. Thanks for taking the time to talk
to us. I appreciate it. My question is, and I know it was
stated earlier that you try not to connect the dots too much
from episode to episode, but with regards to Person of
Interest, did you know the end from the beginning?
Greg Plageman: Yes.
Mark Dago: Either one of you, as like a whole premise?
Greg Plageman: (Jonah) and I have talked about it. And we do know
what the ending of the show is.
Mark Dago: So this wasn’t kind of make it up as you go
along, but you tailor it with different, you know, events
that come along?
Greg Plageman: Well certainly you don’t know. In television, you’re
never guaranteed another day. So you have to, you know, dole
these things out accordingly. And I think the premise of
this show is large enough that, you know, we could go for
more seasons than this one.
But, you know, given the situation we’re looking at right
now, we have to be prepared to be nimble and compress story
if we feel like it’s time to wind it up. And we have the
ending that we want to tell.
Mark Dago: And just kind of a general question, what’s the
best advice either one of you have ever been given, ever?
Greg Plageman: As a writer, we have deadlines. But someone once told
me that no one ever remembers if it’s on time. They only
remember if it’s good. So consequently I’ve blown a lot of
deadlines in my life.
Mark Dago: What about you, Mike?
Michael Emerson: As an actor, you know, I’ve - people have
said this to me, and I make a point of saying it to others,
and that is, it’s not a race. Everyone’s path is different
and you’ll get there when you get there. It’s a way of
saying be patient with yourself. I do believe that.
Mark Dago: Well thanks again for your time. I appreciate
it, guys.
Greg Plageman: Thank you.
Michael Emerson: Thanks.
Coordinator: Thank you. And our next question comes from the
line of Jaime Ruby. Ma’am, your line is open.
Jamie Ruby: Hi, again. Michael, I just curious. When you
first started working on the series, was there anyone that
you took inspiration from for Finch, either an actor or a
character that maybe you thought about while you were
starting out the role?
Michael Emerson: You know, I’ll tell you that I didn’t
really. It’s not based on anyone. It’s fully made up by me,
and that’s not usually. Usually, you know, you find someone
that you - that kind of inspires your take on the character.
I did go online and I looked at men who were titans of
technology, you know, giving talks and stuff, TED talks and
stuff. And none of them had anything that I thought I could
use. None of them showed me a way into the playing of the
character. So then I just kind of made it up on my own to
tell you the truth.
Jamie Ruby: Well, it worked. So as long as it works out,
that’s all that matters.
Michael Emerson: Thank you.
Jamie Ruby: All right. Thanks a lot.
Greg Plageman: Thank you.
Coordinator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the
line of Tony Tollado. Sir, your line is open.
Tony Tellado: Thank you again, gentlemen. Great to talk to
you. You know, you kind of touched on it a little bit and
really the show in some ways is kind of telling a cautionary
tale of where we’re going now in real life with artificial
intelligence and also surveillance.
If you can comment a little bit more on that and how you’ve
kind of seen, as you do this show, this stuff kind of
happening almost in real life.
Greg Plageman: Well I think Michael and I have been dealing with this
for a couple years now where, you know, the initial
questions on the show were about the science fiction premise
being somewhat far-fetched. And then the next thing you know
we were on CNN or going to the Smithsonian, where they were
asking us, “How did you know?”
We thought everybody knew. Certainly the Snowden revelations
came along. And perhaps the more troubling thing, I think,
is that the collective yawn of the public in terms of
knowing that the government is watching and recording
everything they’re writing and saying, digitally, but
voluntarily giving up their information.
And, you know, so after that sort of happened, I think what
became more compelling for us was talking about artificial
intelligence. And there’s a lot of really interesting people
we’ve been talking to who have made us aware that we’re a
lot closer to creating something like this than you think.
Interestingly, there’s another show on WGN that I’d like to
watch and catch up on, and that’s Manhattan.
Tony Tellado: Yes.
Greg Plageman: Because I think the creation of the atomic bomb, if
anything of an analog in history that I could look for, for
Harold Finch, it would probably be Oppenheimer and the
ambivalence that he had about creating something that is
such a monumental existential risk in the world and what
that burden is like with an understanding that if we don’t
do it someone else will. And I think that that’s the most
compelling thing to me about the show and about Harold and
what he’s created, and what he’s going to do with it going
forward.
Tony Tellado: And, Michael, thoughts?
Michael Emerson: Well I think Greg has succinctly said
everything I would have wished to say. And I think that’s an
interesting comparison to draw to Oppenheimer, and an apt
one. I confess that when I read or hear stuff about
developments at Google’s AI laboratory or something, I find
it a little hair raising to know that we’re on the trail of
something so life altering...
Greg Plageman: Yes.
Tony Tellado: Yes.
Michael Emerson: ...or species altering.
Tony Tellado: Definitely. I’m glad that they’re doing a
marathon on our birthday, Labor Day, which is...
Michael Emerson: I guess they are.
Tony Tellado: So that’s - I don’t - it probably wasn’t
planned, but it certainly works out.
Michael Emerson: And I’m going to stay home and watch every
one of them.
Tony Tellado: Thank you, gentlemen. And my DVR will be
humming in the next few days.
Michael Emerson: Cool. Thank you.
Coordinator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the
line of (George Solas). Sir, your line is open.
Jorge Solis: Hi. With the first season coming up and now
showing up on Netflix and WGN, what is that you both want
the audience, the viewers, to come away with from the show
and the character of Harold Finch?
Michael Emerson: I would just like them to be entertained. I
would like them to have fun and have some laughs, and white
knuckle the living room chair for a while, and come away
from it with something to talk about.
Greg Plageman: Definitely. And, you know, I would love it for people,
and whether it’s young people or older folks I don’t really
care, to be that show where if you missed it the first time
around, it was the show that someone said, “Do I need to be
watching that?” People say, “Yes.” And they have an
opportunity now to see it and say, “That show was sneaky
good and you missed it.” Now you can see it.
Jorge Solis: What I love about the show is how it’s shot
in New York. I was wondering could you tell me any like
behind scenes trivia from shooting in the snow or when
Hurricane Sandy hit?
Greg Plageman: I’ll let Michael field that one.
Michael Emerson: Oh, god. There are too many stories to tell
and the weather is often a factor. And shooting in the snow,
I mean, that doesn’t need much explanation. When people are
coming out with whisk brooms between takes to know the snow
off of your head, you know that that’s not exactly what you
signed up for. So there’s always that.
But what’s rich is our interaction with the citizenry of
this great city and also with great buildings. One of the
chief pleasures of the work is being on top of skyscrapers
or being in great civic buildings in the middle of the night
when no one else is there, you know? To be in the Guggenheim
Museum at 3:00 am or in the main Post Office building.
There’s something eerie and wonderful about having a license
to be there at that hour and have it all to yourself. It’s
cool.
Jorge Solis: Thank you so much.
Greg Plageman: Thank you.
Michael Emerson: Thank you.
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