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Interview with Jeff Goldblum of "Law & Order: Criminal
Intent"
Law & Order: Criminal Intent – Jeff Goldblum
Q&A Session
April 28, 2009/2:00 pm. EDT
SPEAKERS
Jeff Goldblum
Chrissy Fehskens
PRESENTATION
Moderator Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by
and welcome to the Law & Order: Criminal Intent
teleconference with Jeff Goldblum. At this time all
participants are in a listen-only mode. Later we will
conduct a question and answer session and instructions will
be given at that time. I would now like to turn our
conference over to our host, Chrissy Fehskens, please go
ahead.
C. Fehskens Ladies and gentlemen, thanks so much for joining
us for today’s Q&A session with Jeff Goldblum of USA
Network’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Special thanks to
Jeff for taking the time to be with us.
J. Goldblum Thank you so much, I’m so pleased to be here.
C. Fehskens I’m going to keep things brief here so that we
can begin the Q&A session, but I wanted to remind all
participants that transcripts of this call will be made
available within 48 hours. Additionally, due to our time
limitations and the number of participants who dialed in
we’re asking everybody to limit themselves to one question
at a time and then reenter the question queue if you have
additional or follow-ups. This will ensure that we can move
through as many questions as possible on today’s call. With
that I’m going to turn things back over to our Moderator to
begin the session. Nicole, please go ahead.
Moderator Our first question comes from the line of Jamie
Ruby with Media Boulevard. Please go ahead.
J. Ruby Hello, thanks for taking our call.
J. Goldblum Thank you for calling in; I appreciate it.
J. Ruby I actually am not that far from Pittsburgh myself so
I’m curious, since I’m interested in it, too, how did you
get started in acting?
J. Goldblum Hello to you from almost Pittsburgh. I always
wanted to do it; my parents took us to see some children’s
theater I remember, early on at the Pittsburgh Playhouse.
Even though I was very little I got kind of the bug. I was
very excited being around theater and wondered what are
those actors doing backstage and I was very excited about
it.
And then there’s this thing in Pittsburgh, I think it’s
still going on. It’s at Chatham, Music Day Camp it’s called;
in the summers for six weeks between fifth and sixth grades
and another year, maybe the year before that, too, during
the summers I had the most magical time ever going to this
thing and going from softball to arts and crafts and piano.
I already had started playing piano then to this drama
course. At the end of this drama course actually I took part
in this recital and my father, my parents had already wisely
said if you find something you love to do that might be a
key to your vocation. After this show they cast me as this
kind of lead in this funny little show and after that I had
such an exhilarating time of it I remember, they were there.
They said, “How did you like that?” I was like yes, that was
really something and I kept it secret to myself just how
much I loved it, but I think from that time on around fifth
grade I thought to myself that’s what I want to do.
Then between ninth and tenth and tenth and eleventh grades I
went to Carnegie Mellon University and they had six-week
sessions for people and I remember looking through the
catalog with my parents. They said, “What do you want to
do?” There was art and I had painted and taken some art
classes and had some talent in that. And I was playing
piano. They said, “What do you want to do, this music
program here? Do you want to do the art program?” I was
like, “What if I did the one for actors?” It had kind of
been a secret.
And so I did that, fell wildly more in love, several steps
down the road in my soul and heart and blood and system
toward being obsessed with and convinced and passionate
about being an actor. That kind of stuck and then right
after high school went to New York when I was still 17, just
before I turned 18 and joined the Neighborhood Playhouse
with Sandy Meisner, the great acting teacher, where he was
still teaching. That’s how it all started. I started to do
plays and movies and like that.
Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Jamie
Steinberg with Starry Constellation Magazine.
J. Steinberg Hello, it’s such a pleasure to speak with you.
J. Goldblum My pleasure entirely, thanks.
J. Steinberg You’re known for your dramatic roles and also
for your dry sense of humor. I was wondering why you chose
to be on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Do you at least get
to express some of your sense of humor while you’re doing
the show?
J. Goldblum Yes, such as it is. Maybe I’m funny sometimes,
maybe not so funny other times, but yes. They actually
write, Dick Wolf has been fantastic, kind, cordial and
brilliant, I think. And they have a brilliant staff of
writers and producers and they have intendingly built a part
that is suited for some of the things that I like to do and
can do. That’s what they’ve tried to do and after seeing the
first episode that was aired I think there’s some humor in
there. Along with the solving the crime and the very
passionate part of this character and serious part of the
character, I think there’s some humor in it; I’m enjoying
some of the funny parts of it.
Moderator Our next question comes from the line Sheldon
Wiebe with eclipsemagazine.com, please go ahead.
S. Wiebe Hello, Jeff, I just want to say first I’ve been
following your career since Tenspeed and Brown Shoe and
enjoyed practically everything you’ve ever done. Detective
Nichols seems to work from an observational point of view,
where he’s working on motivations more than just the facts.
So he’s kind of intuitive a bit. How would you describe your
character if you were actually Nichols describing the
character?
J. Goldblum I’ll take a crack at it. Yes, I think you’re
right. I am an intuitive fellow. Of course people know that
both my parents were shrinks so I was sort of raised in an
atmosphere where there was that interest in the human
mechanism and the human psyche and what makes people tick.
And yes, I think I’m particularly creative and adventurous
and improvisational and spontaneous in my inner impulses and
patterns and deeply curious and appetized in the
unfathomably mysterious and delicious phenomena that is the
human being and who we really are.
And why certainly people go off the rails and commit murder
here in New York City, that interests me particularly, and
oftentimes I find it’s a mistake of identity and having
their ego built around mistakenly and their sense of
identity built around some aspect of form, if you will, in
their lives, either their careers or their reputations or
their bank accounts. That mistake gets them into trouble and
they wind up doing risky and awful things in order to pursue
that mistaken notion and defend it and help that survive.
It’s a bad, but not uncommon disease of the psyche that I
find results in murder sometimes. I’m a humble student of
that whole subject.
Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Julie
Kissane with popculturemadness.com.
J. Kissane Hello, Jeff, pleasure.
J. Goldblum Hello, Julie, my pleasure.
J. Kissane You actually touched on this before, that you are
a skilled piano player. Were you nervous when you were being
filmed during a scene where you got to play the piano in an
episode?
J. Goldblum I don’t know how skilled I am, but I did take
lessons. Our parents gave us music lessons early on in
Pittsburgh and I took to it and loved it. I kind of guess
it’s a hobby of mine. I’ve always played piano … I decided
on being an actor, I played the ragged cocktail lounges here
and there, a couple of jobs while I was still in high school
in Pittsburgh and then have always had a piano where I am,
where I live and now where I work, too. I just love to play
all the time. For the last several years I’ve had a jazz
band called the Mildred Spitzer Orchestra in Los Angeles and
when I’m off work we book ourselves into places and play
gigs around town.
Then, yes, they knew about it a little bit and worked it
into the character so my character, Detective Nichols, is
able to play a bit and in these couple episodes, one that
you saw already, maybe that first episode, and there’s
another one where I play. No, I’m not particularly nervous.
I get excited and I got excited about it, but I always was
sort of thrilled to play. Even when I play gigs these days I
have no career aspirations or no fear of criticism. I really
do it because I love to do it. Whenever I do it I love to do
it, so it was particularly enjoyable for me having it be
part of a scene or two.
Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Christine
Nyholm with Examiner. Please go ahead.
C. Nyholm Hello, Jeff, thank you for talking to us today.
Touching back on expansion of your first question I’m just
wondering what you advise young actors today if they wanted
to get into the field of acting. How would you start and
where would you go?
J. Goldblum Very good question, advice to, you know I teach,
for the last, I’m a humble student of acting myself and part
of that studentship is teaching, in fact, I feel like I
learn a lot from it. I just love doing it; I could teach
every day. I haven’t done it for a while because I’ve been
working so often, but one of the things I feel like is
relevant and practical to tell my students sometimes, and
anybody interested in getting into it, is to, well I like
what Stanislavsky said. He said, “Love the art in yourself;
not yourself in art.”
So in fact you can begin to discover and investigate whether
you are an actor or not, whether you’re in my view,
qualified for a life in this profession or in this endeavor
by checking yourself out and acting every day, getting plays
and scripts and getting together with people and divvying up
the parts and acting in one way or another, or writing
things. But an actor wants to get up every day and they
can’t think of anything particularly more fun to do than
getting into a made-up situation and living it out as if
it’s real. And having people watch it perhaps and thereby
telling those people a story, by acting out these characters
in a story. That’s what actors want to do; they don’t
necessarily want to be famous or rich or anything else. It’s
a very bad gamble if that’s what you’re after. But if your
heart is wildly in it so that you can’t think of anything
else that could possibly make you happy or happier than
getting up every day and acting, playing this crazy game
that you make something up and playing pretending as if
that’s true; if that’s for you you should start to do it.
And it’s not rocket science. There are a lot of books about
it. I had a great teach Sandy Meisner and there’s a book
that he wrote kind of chronicling a class that he, his
two-year program takes you through. And you can learn many
things, but it’s really doing it. If you have a feeling to
do it that’s what you might do. And that’s what you start to
do. If you make acting a part of your daily life, first of
all, that’s a satisfying end in itself. But you might find
that you start to get good at it and opportunities may come.
If you’re of that sort of temperament you may investigate
how to study formally and pursue the profession if that’s of
your temperament and all of that.
But I’d say start to act; be a fan. See if you’re a person
who loves, is a fan of and a lover of it, a devotee of
literature, of material and you say, “I’ve got to do that.”
Then start to do it anywhere you can that’s what I would
say.
Moderator Thank you. Our next question comes from the line
of Joshua Fulghum with totallyher.com. Please go ahead.
J. Fulghum It’s an honor to speak with you today.
J. Goldblum It’s a greater honor for me. That’s a line from
a movie; do you know what movie that’s from?
J. Fulghum Not right off hand.
J. Goldblum A Woody Allen movie, Love and Death. “It’s a
greater honor for me. No, it’s a greater honor for me. No,
you must be Don Francisco’s sister.” Yes, that’s from Love
and Death. But in fact it’s a greater honor for me.
J. Fulghum Throughout your career you’ve starred in movies
that feature incredible and even monstrous creatures like
Jurassic Park and Incident at Loch Ness. Do you have any
interest in cryptozoology, which is the study of hidden
animals?
J. Goldblum Not particularly. I don’t have much of an
interest in Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster or dinosaurs
that actually might be running around, no. I’ve never heard
anything credible that would make me think that any of that
stuff actually exists. Even though I love playing in those
stories including the dinosaurs, no, in real life I’m not
particularly interested in Big Foot or the Loch Ness
monster.
Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Troy
Rogers with deadbolt.com. Please go ahead.
T. Rogers Hello, Jeff, thanks for taking the time.
J. Goldblum My pleasure.
T. Rogers How would the Jeff Goldblum of 20 years ago
approach Zach Nichols?
J. Goldblum Jeff Goldblum 20 years ago might have been, but
I was playing that Tenspeed and Brownshoe so I would have
been the actor involved perhaps, this is hopefully I
wouldn’t have any business with doing anything wrong that
would have gotten me involved in a guy who’s investigating
murders. But I’ve always been involved with crime stories
and if I had been, for instance 20 years ago not
inconceivably involved in a part where I might have been
playing a detective like this I would have been very
interested to talk to Zach Nichols, who’s ostensibly a real
and a uniquely brilliant detective, for research purposes.
Here on our set, Criminal Intent we’ve got a guy like that,
so the current Jeff Goldblum can talk to this fellow Mike
Struck who’s a brilliant real-life detective. I love hearing
all his stories and he’s on the set when we do our stories
here and he tells us what’s real and if he were playing the
part and he were in the actual situation what he’d be
thinking, what he’d be doing, how he’d be doing it, and
that’s thrilling and fascinating to me. So that’s how I can
imagine Jeff Goldblum of yore talking to Zach Nichols if he
were real.
Moderator Thank you. Our next question comes from the line
of Zach Oat with televisionwithoutpity.com. Please go ahead.
Z. Oat I’m a big fan of Raines and I don’t know if this has
been touched on already, but were you disappointed when the
show got cancelled and did that influence you at all in
considering this part on Law & Order?
J. Goldblum Let’s see, I have a very, at this point maybe I
have a philosophical approach that allows me here and there
to be satisfied with whatever happens, believe it or not.
Yes, I have my ups and downs and I can be disappointed in
one thing or another, but generally speaking whatever
happens I will mostly, and you can, it’s not strange to
think to look at my life and go, “You’re a lucky guy,” and
to mostly feel incredibly grateful. So even during a period
when for instance Raines came and Raines went, I just felt
incredibly grateful. If they had told me in fact that Raines
would have been a six, seven-part miniseries I probably
would have signed up and been very happy to do it like that
too. I would have been very happy. But I’m always interested
in the unexpected and know that things, especially in show
business, but in life generally, are inevitably fleeting to
one extent. It may be short, it may be long, but there’s no
such thing as long. I think all of life is a fleeting
proposition, so I’m sort of happy with whatever comes and
goes in fact. And I think in loss and in the goings is
sometimes the greatest opportunity for expansion.
Anyway, in another way it did give me, it whet my appetite
for more cop parts, it’s true, and even before I did Raines
I did this … show called The Pillow Man, where I played a
detective, a homicide detective in fact. And I had a great
time doing that. It was this Mike McDonough play and I was
in it with Billy Crudup and Zeljko Ivanek and we had a great
time for six months at the Booth Theater in New York. After
that I was still very appetized when Raines came along, and
after Raines, to do this, and there was sort of some kind of
appetizing continuum for me in those things, that’s right.
C. Fehskens Nicole, we have time for one more question.
Moderator Our final question comes from the line of Jamie
Ruby with Media Boulevard. Please go ahead.
J. Ruby So out of all the roles you’ve played, because
there’s been a lot, what’s been your favorite and why?
J. Goldblum My favorite and why. Maybe it’s because I’m
trying to get better and I feel like I am, but I currently
am pretty in love with this part that I’m doing now. Then
I’ve got a couple of, I like the parts at the stage when
they’re at the stage of development, so I’m doing a couple
more movies right after this, this summer, one called The
Baster with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman, and I’m at
the stage where I’m rehearsing it and trying to figure out
who the character is and what the part is, and I kind of
love that. And then I’m doing this movie with Harrison Ford
and Diane Keaton and Rachel McAdams called Morning Glory
right after that, and I’m a bit in love with that. I think
you have to be. That’s part of the criteria and
qualification for taking a part. It has to be a passion and
something you’re in love with.
But besides that, having said all that, I did love very much
Adam Resurrected that I did this last year with Paul
Schrader directing that Willem Dafoe was in and it was a
wonderful movie and experience for me. I loved doing that
movie, Pittsburgh that I think you can still get on NetFlix,
a very handcrafted affair that I sort of cooked up over
several years. Besides that, holy cats, many things that I
could think of, but those are a few that come to mind.
C. Fehskens That’s all the time we have for today, folks. I
wanted to again thank Jeff for joining us and remind
everybody to tune into new episodes of Law and Order:
Criminal Intent Sundays at 9:00/8:00 central on USA. Have a
great day, everyone.
J. Goldblum Thank you.
Interview with Kathryn Erbe and Vincent
D’Onofrio of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent"
Law & Order: Criminal Intent Q&A Session
April 15, 2009/3:15 p.m. EDT
SPEAKERS
Kathryn Erbe
Vincent D’Onofrio
Chrissy Fehskens
PRESENTATION
Moderator Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by.
Welcome to the Law & Order: Criminal Intent – Vincent
D’Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe question-and-answer session. At
this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later
we will conduct a question-and-answer session. As a
reminder, this conference is being recorded. I’d now like to
turn the conference over to our host, Ms. Chrissy Fehskens.
Please go ahead.
C. Fehskens Good afternoon, everyone, this is Chrissy
Fehskens from New Media Strategies and I want to welcome you
to the Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe Q&A session, and
start things off by thanking Vincent and Kathryn for being
with us today. As you know, Vincent and Kathryn costar as
Detectives Goren and Eames on USA Network’s Law & Order:
Criminal Intent, which will premiere an all-new season this
Sunday,
April 19th, at 9:00, 8:00 Central. In a moment we’ll begin
the Q&A session.
Moderator Thank you. We have a question from Jamie Steinberg
with Starry Constellation Magazine. Please go ahead.
J. Steinberg Hello, Vincent and Kathryn, it’s a pleasure to
speak with you both.
K. Erbe Hello, thanks.
J. Steinberg I was wondering, Kathryn, what about your role
continues to challenge you?
K. Erbe Finding ways to – let’s see. That’s a very good
question. I don’t know, every day we have new challenges,
just in dealing with the new actors that we get to work
with. We have new writers on the show, new producers and I
feel like it’s a challenge just staying involved with the
work that we’re doing and staying actively involved in
finding ways for Eames to stay important to the stories and
to bring a positive – just have a positive effect on what
we’re doing.
J. Steinberg And Vincent, after so many seasons, how do you
all continue to maintain chemistry between each other?
V. D'Onofrio I think it’s been eight years now, so I think
that anything the audience sees is just whatever has
happened naturally in the eight years. I think that both of
us kind of just rely on that – the history of the show and
the history of the characters – to just somehow translate to
the audience in some way.
Moderator We have a question from Troy Rogers with
thedeadbolt.com. Please go ahead.
T. Rogers Hello, Vincent and Kathryn. Actually, this is for
either one of you: How much more in-depth is the
Goren-Wallace frame-up story going to go into during season
seven? Or is that just completely done?
K. Erbe Oh, she’s dead. Right?
V. D'Onofrio Yes, that’s over.
K. Erbe Yes. Unfortunately, sadly, they killed her.
T. Rogers There’s no way it’s going to come back to haunt
you guys later on?
V. D'Onofrio I don’t think so, no. That was a certain set of
writers that were doing that, and we were enjoying that with
them. And then we’ve had another set of writers since then,
so – that’s not going to happen again, I don’t think.
K. Erbe Yes. It’s sad.
Moderator Our next question will come from Jamie Ruby with
Media Boulevard. Please go ahead.
J. Ruby This first question is for Vincent. You’ve played
quite a variety of topics. What kind of role do you enjoy
the most, or does like playing maybe evil have a different
set of challenges than what you’re doing now?
V. D'Onofrio Is the question which I prefer?
J. Ruby Yes, what kind of role; because you play good and
evil, so –
V. D'Onofrio I don’t know, I think I’m – it’s the same as
most actors. Anything that’s interesting, you know. Like
whatever comes my way, like the most interesting parts of
those are the ones that I would do. I don’t really have like
a dream role or anything like that. I just go script by
script and see what’s interesting, and if not, then I don’t
do it. You know, it’s like that.
Moderator Our next question will come from Zach Oat with
televisionwithoutpity.com. Please go ahead.
Z. Oat Yes, Television Without Pity. Vincent, I wanted to
ask, with the events of last season’s finale, what is your
character’s mental state at the beginning of the season? Is
he resolved about – resigned himself to all of the loose
ends being tied up or is he at all – has he broken down at
all in the face of everything that’s happened to him and his
nephew being missing?
V. D'Onofrio We never really tie anything up when it comes
to Kate and my characters, because it’s – they always want
to leave it open. You know, we tie up criminals, but – we’ll
end those stories, but not – they’ll never really shut any
kind of storyline down completely, so it’s kind of open as
to what’s going to happen with my character, I don’t know. I
think that this eighth season, I just – you know, I just
played it differently than last season, but last season was
very, very extreme. So this season, it’s like he’s just
trying to be a cop, trying to do the best you can kind of a
thing.
Moderator We have a question from Ashley Aikens; please go
ahead.
A. Aikens My question here is for Vincent and I’d like to
know, what is it like to be developing a character over
several TV seasons as opposed to having to develop a
character in a two-hour film?
V. D'Onofrio Yes, it’s completely different. When I first
started the TV show, I kind of thought it’s ostensibly about
the character, and did a lot of planning and stuff. Most of
the planning went out the window, and then I just kind of
tried my best after that. With a film, it’s much more – it’s
really planned out scene by scene and there’s a real solid
arc hopefully most of the time. The structure of the film is
in three acts, you know it’s going to end – it’s easier to
plan out a role like that. It’s just as interesting but it’s
a completely different thing.
With the show, it’s just wide open. We just keep doing it,
and there’s different crimes, different little stories to
tell. So it’s two different things. I think I just always
will prefer films. I just think that’s my favorite thing to
do. But Goren’s a great character, so it’s good to do.
Moderator We have a question from Kristyn Clarke with
popculturemadness.com. Please go ahead.
K. Clarke What do you feel it is about a show like Law &
Order that resonates well with viewers?
V. D'Onofrio I think in our show I think it’s the
characters, and I think we investigate weird crimes and I
think it’s a popular thing on TV, these kind of crime shows
and – just like people were not – and still are – into like
crime novels and short stories. That’s what we’re doing, but
we’re doing like a TV version of that, so – you know, it
takes off and people like it.
K. Clarke Do you have a favorite type of case to tackle on
the show?
V. D'Onofrio Yes, I like simpler stories. Like we just
finished one like a spree killer type story about one guy
doing bad things, and Kate and I had to like, you know,
catch him. It was more direct, not complicated, and it had
heart, and I like that kind of thing.
Moderator We have a question from Jay Jacobs with
popentertainment.com Please go ahead.
J. Jacobs I just was wondering, I know that Jeff Goldblum is
new to the show and I know you guys aren’t working directly
with him, but have you seen any of his work and how is he
fitting in with the show?
V. D'Onofrio To me it looks like he’s psyched. Kate, do you
want to – go ahead.
K. Erbe That’s okay. We only really got to see him in the
beginning when he was waiting for his scripts to be ready.
He came and hung out with us extensively and learned all the
names of everybody on the crew and just asked us a lot of
questions. It seems like the crew is really happy with him
and the producers and like he’s having a good time.
V. D'Onofrio Yes. He seems really enthusiastic. And I
haven’t seen any of his episodes, so I can’t comment on
that.
K. Erbe Yes.
J. Jacobs Okay. Have you worked with any particularly
interesting guest stars or bad guys for the new season?
K. Erbe We have a lot. We have Lynn Redgrave, we have Scott
Cohen and Kathy Baker are in the episode Sunday night. We
had a great time with them. Who else, Vince?
V. D'Onofrio We’ve also worked with some really good unknown
actors, like young people that were really good. We’re very
lucky in that way, that most times we get really good
actors, whether they’re known actors or not.
K. Erbe Yes.
V. D'Onofrio That’s one of the pros of working on this show.
K. Erbe Yes.
Moderator We have a question from Christine Nyholm with
examiner.com. Please go ahead.
C. Nyholm I’ve been a longtime fan of the show, I think
since it started.
K. Erbe Oh, great.
C. Nyholm Yes, I really enjoy it. My first question is for
Vincent: Your character goes into some very dark places, and
we’ve seen a lot of changes in him since the beginning in
the last season, and I was wondering what kind of toll that
takes on you as a person, what effect that has on you, if
any, in your real life.
V. D'Onofrio Well, it takes a lot of time. It used to take a
lot more time before we started sharing the episodes with
another detective. But – you know, it’s – how do I answer
this? The first four years, or maybe the first three years
of the show, when we were trying to make the show a show,
you know, just make it distinct from the other Law & Orders
and just a plain old good show that people would watch, that
was – that was hard. It was like a 24-hour job and it was
with me all the time.
But that’s a long time ago now, and we all know how to do
the show, and we know what the show is. And so it’s not that
exhausting anymore. The hours are long sometimes, and when
we are working we don’t see our families as much as we want.
But that’s part of our job, so we have to do it. And as far
as Goren, bringing Goren home, that just doesn’t happen
anymore. I’ve been playing him too long, and it’s – it’s not
something that stays with me.
Moderator You have a question from Ian Dawson with
www.stuffwelike.com. Please go ahead.
I. Dawson I wanted to know … all the Law & Orders deal with
heavy subject matter and I was wondering what you guys do
during downtime on the set.
V. D'Onofrio What do we do?
K. Erbe How do we deal with heavy subject matter and what do
we do in our downtime?
I. Dawson Yes. What do you do like on breaks from filming?
K. Erbe Lots of different things. Eat, read, I walk my dog.
What do you do, Vin?
V. D'Onofrio We run our families, over the phone. We try to
participate in our lives out of our dressing rooms. Mostly
that’s what I do.
K. Erbe Yes, exactly.
V. D'Onofrio And then if we can, if we have a moment of
relaxation, like Kate said, we read or Kate walks her dog or
something like that, exactly.
Moderator We have a question from Troy Rogers with
thedeadbolt.com. Please go ahead.
T. Rogers When you guys first took on these roles, did you
go into it knowing full well that this might become like a
lifelong fulltime job … Law & Order franchise –
V. D'Onofrio Lifelong, huh?
K. Erbe I don’t think either of us thought that we were
going to be doing it for eight years.
V. D'Onofrio No way.
K. Erbe No. They never would have gotten you to agree to
that.
V. D'Onofrio No way. And the first – what did we do, we did
13 at first, Kate?
K. Erbe Right, yes.
V. D'Onofrio The first 13 was such a blur that I don’t think
either of us was even thinking about – I don’t think it was
– I don’t know, it wasn’t weighing heavy on me what was
going to happen. Was it weighing heavy on you, Kate?
K. Erbe No. We had no idea. It was just getting through each
day, really, trying to make it to the end.
V. D'Onofrio The first 13 scripts were really, really good
scripts and maybe there was like one clunker out of the 13,
but they were really good scripts and very tough to figure
out how to pull the show off while we were doing them. The
last thing on my mind was like – it was just a blur. I
wasn’t thinking about whether the show was going to run,
honestly. That’s the honest truth. And I think we knew
earlier than most people do with a – when you shoot 3,
right? I think we knew pretty early that it was going to go.
K. Erbe Yes.
Moderator We have a question from Amy Steele with
Entertainment Realm. Please go ahead.
(Audio quality compromised)
A. Steele Vincent, … one of my favorite films. But I wanted
to ask both of you what you like best … character.
K. Erbe I didn’t understand that question, I couldn’t hear
it.
V. D'Onofrio What do you like best about your character?
K. Erbe What do I like best about my character? What I like
best about my character is she usually has the right thing
to say. She knows what to say; she’s fairly straightforward
and doesn’t seem to have difficulty making choices. Nothing
like myself in real life. I rarely know the right thing to
say and she seems to almost have infinite courage and she’s
sort of like my fantasy of what it would be like to be like
that – strong all the time and know what to do all the time
and have a clear idea of what the right thing is to do and
that sort of thing. So I like that about her. I like that
she’s a strong woman in a tough job and a scary job. I think
they’re both courageous. I think most of NYPD is very
courageous. So that’s what I like about her.
Moderator We have a question from Christine Zimmer with All
Things Law & Order. Please go ahead.
C. Zimmer I have one question for both of you regarding your
roles outside of Criminal Intent. Out of all the work that
you’ve done in movies, stage or whatever, what roles do you
want to be remembered for, and which roles would you like to
just kind of forget?
V. D'Onofrio A lot of them I’d like to forget.
K. Erbe The Mighty Ducks 2.
C. Zimmer Vincent, what about you?
V. D'Onofrio Can I just say most of them?
K. Erbe You would not say that, you’re being sarcastic.
V. D'Onofrio Rather than name them? Because I don’t want to
like insult the filmmakers.
C. Zimmer No, that’s okay. That’s all right.
K. Erbe Yes, I even feel bad that I even said Mighty Ducks
2, because some people liked that movie.
C. Zimmer That’s okay, I’ll delete it from my memory banks.
But Kathryn, I do have one more question for you: Goren is
always touted as being this unstable genius and the brains
of the partnership, and sometimes you’re there to be like
the dry witness conscience. Are you okay with this role, or
do you think Eames deserves more respect?
K. Erbe Sometimes I get a lot to do, Eames has a lot to do,
and sometimes she doesn’t. I’ve fought for the whole time
for her to have more of an impact on the work that they’re
doing, and it’s gone up and down. I like being the dry wit.
I wish I actually did more of that these days. The humor has
kind of gone out of the character and so I would like to
find a way to bring that back.
C. Zimmer I think you guys need some more episodes like
Vanishing Act.
K. Erbe Yes –
V. D'Onofrio Which one was that?
K. Erbe Was that the magician one?
V. D'Onofrio Oh, okay.
K. Erbe Was that the magician one? I think it was. I can’t
Google it because I’m on my phone.
Moderator Our next question will come from Jamie Ruby with
Media Boulevard. Please go ahead.
J. Ruby This is for both of you: What got you started in
acting in the first place?
V. D'Onofrio I was introduced to it by my dad at a very
young age, because he was always involved in community
theater and stuff. So I used to run lights and sound and
stuff like that for plays and things. But I really didn’t
think of acting until I guess I was like 18, and then – I
don’t know, it just – I just thought I’d try it out. I don’t
really know why. I think it was just in my life, really. I
think it’s my dad’s fault. So I just thought I would give
acting school in New York, in Manhattan, a try, so I did.
And then I guess I just caught the bug and went for it.
Moderator We have a question from Zach Oat with
televisionwithoutpity.com. Please go ahead.
Z. Oat I just wanted to follow up on some of the stuff you
guys have been saying. Vincent, Kathryn said that if you’d
known it was going to be eight seasons, they probably
wouldn’t have been able to lock you into the character. Why
– I guess I have to ask – how have the managed to keep you
two on and interested for so long, especially you, Vincent?
You’ve certainly looked for a lot of variety in your film
roles. Is it a love of the characters or is it a comfort
zone or are they writing you the big checks, or is it a
combination of all three?
V. D'Onofrio For me it’s a combination of all three.
K. Erbe Yes, for me too.
V. D'Onofrio I have a lot of freedom because of Law & Order.
I have a lot of creative freedom. I have a lot of creative
freedom on the show and I have a lot of creative freedom
with my own time to do other films and do anything I want,
so – it’s a very good situation.
K. Erbe Yes, and it gives us a structure for our lives. I
mean, as actors, I never – I was ready to give up acting
because I could not handle never knowing when I would have a
paycheck or where the job would be, where it would take me;
and having a daughter and now my son, I just couldn’t – it
was just too hard of a life. And this gives us a – when we
have time off, we know that it’s time off; it’s not time out
of work, looking for other work.
And it’s really such an amazing experience to work with the
same people for this length of time. It’s challenging and
it’s so gratifying to know everybody’s families and – it’s
just a very different experience from the sort of crash and
burn of going from one job to another and really never
knowing – this like gypsy lifestyle, never knowing where
you’re going to be when. So it’s a very different, much more
stable, if it’s even possible to say that – a stable
environment.
Moderator We have a question from Jay Jacobs with
popentertainment.com. Please go ahead.
J. Jacobs You were just mentioning creative freedom. I was
wondering, I know it’s been a couple of years now, but has
moving to cable and the USA Network sort of freed the show
up to do different things that they couldn’t necessarily do
in the – at NBC?
V. D'Onofrio I don’t think so. I think it’s exactly the
same, right?
K. Erbe Yes. Because they show them on NBC too, so –
V. D'Onofrio I think the only change that I know, I think
there’s like a minute – the episodes are like a minute
longer or something like that, something silly like that.
J. Jacobs All right. And we have an older interview with
Eric Bogosian. I’m a big fan of his.
V. D'Onofrio Me, too.
J. Jacobs What’s he like to work with and is he going to be
doing anything this season?
V. D'Onofrio He’s going to – yes, he’s doing lots.
K. Erbe Yes. We just got him out in the woods last night in
the rain.
V. D'Onofrio We located a girl in the woods with the captain
last night.
K. Erbe Yes. He comes out a lot more this season than he
ever has, I think. He was wondering really why he wanted to
do that, when we were standing out in the middle of the
woods in the rain.
Moderator We have a question from Christine Nyholm with
examiner.com. Please go ahead.
C. Nyholm I have another question for both of you: What kind
of advice would you give to new young actors coming up as
far as what kind of education they should get and how they
should pursue an acting career.
K. Erbe What would you say, Vin?
V. D'Onofrio I think when I was younger I would have said go
to like a private acting school or something like that, but
I think that these days, the drama departments and the
universities are so great that I think that’s the way to go,
and unless they want –
K. Erbe Get an education.
V. D'Onofrio Get an education. Go into the drama department,
whatever, film department, or just like the arts section of
a university and – start there, study there. And then after
that, go to the city you want to live in, like L.A. or New
York and then try to be – then try to get jobs. Do theater
and stuff. But when I was younger I would have said just go
straight to the city and take an acting class and try to get
jobs. But I think these days – I’ve been checking out
universities and stuff and I know some teachers and some
teachers that teach writing, film writing, and I know some
drama teachers and – they’re all really good teachers, so –
I’m swaying towards that now.
Moderator We have a question from Troy Rogers with
thedeadbolt.com. Please go ahead.
T. Rogers Your characters have a pretty complex and
interesting relationship. After all they’ve been through,
what would you like to see happen between them during this
season?
K. Erbe I personally am very happy because this season we’re
back on the same page. I, for some reason, really like that,
when they’re on the same team and they’re just on the path
together. Although it makes for probably a more interesting
show when we’re at odds or going in different directions, I
personally like that; and this season we were working
together.
T. Rogers Vincent?
V. D'Onofrio Yes, I agree with Kate, what she said. I think
there’s nothing left to argue about, really. I think it
depends on what the writers come up with. If they can come
up with another good conflict between us, then most likely
it will be cool to do. But I agree with what Kate said.
Moderator We have a question from Kristyn Clarke with
popculturemadness.com. Please go ahead.
K. Clarke We’re just curious to know if you had a favorite
episode or onscreen moment from the coming season so far.
K. Erbe I would have to say that in the episode that is
going to be on Sunday night, Kathy Baker and Scott Cohen,
their characters, when they were in the interrogation room
at the end when she kind of grabbed him and –
V. D'Onofrio Oh, yes.
K. Erbe -- pressed him to her – to her chest and tried to
comfort him after screaming at him, they were fantastic. It
was very twisted and – I mean, we’ve had a lot, but that one
really sticks out in my mind.
V. D'Onofrio Yes. He turned into this big baby right in
front of her eyes. It was awesome.
K. Erbe Oh, such a baby. Yes.
V. D'Onofrio It was really good. So I guess it was somebody
else’s screen moment that we liked most.
K. Erbe I guess. Can you think of one that was ours?
V. D'Onofrio No, I can’t. I think you’re exactly right, that
was very entertaining.
K. Erbe It was very entertaining.
Moderator We have a question from Jamie Ruby with Media
Boulevard. Please go ahead.
J. Ruby Would either of you ever be interested in writing or
directing for the show?
V. D'Onofrio No.
K. Erbe I don’t think I would, no. Not writing, definitely
not writing. And I don’t think I would – being a director, I
don’t know whether I have it in me. Maybe for something
else.
J. Ruby Do either of you have any new, I guess, acting
projects coming up?
K. Erbe You have lots, right, Vin?
V. D'Onofrio Lots?
K. Erbe You did like 17 films on the last hiatus – directed,
starred.
V. D'Onofrio That’s good, I’ll talk about that. I directed a
film over the summer, a kind of new genre that I invented,
slasher musical. I just finished it, and we’re taking it to
L.A. in a week to sell to a distributor, so it’ll probably
be out sometime, I hope, soon. I have a movie, The Narrows,
coming out, and a movie called Staten Island coming out that
I acted in – both of those. And that’s all.
K. Erbe And I have a movie with Edie Falco and Elias Koteas
called Three Backyards.
Moderator We have a question from Christine Nyholm with
examiner.com. Please go ahead.
C. Nyholm Vincent, I have a question about the very end of
the last season, after Vincent or Goren realized that his
nemesis had been killed and it was for his benefit – do you
know what I’m talking about? – and he’s sitting with that
professor. And you kind of looked at the end, when he said,
“I did it to free you,” basically, and you got that look on
your face like, you got it. And I was wondering if we’re
going to be seeing now in this season a change in you or a
kind of a freeing in your character because of this action.
V. D'Onofrio It’s nice that you saw it that way, because
that’s the way I wanted you to see it, so it’s – yes. I
wanted it to kind of be a freeing thing so that I could
treat the next season fresh, so it could be a guy trying to
keep his stuff together, do his job; and so what’s
interesting about this kind of storytelling is that we
always have that – like, the audiences that watch our show,
if they’re fans of the show, then they know that that’s part
of the learning. So even if we don’t mention it or I just
show this kind of earnest cop trying to do his thing
throughout the season, the season previous to that or other
things in the previous years, they’re still present, because
people are fans of the show and they know that that’s the
guy they’re watching that went through all that stuff. So,
yes, that’s what I did, and that’s what I’m doing now.
Moderator We have a question from Loring Judge with Reel
Blog. Please go ahead.
L. Judge Thank you for sharing your time with us. The
question is, how do you feel about the new writing team this
season? Are you pleased with your episodes?
V. D'Onofrio It’s tough to – always tough when we switch
writers to – it’s all – these last eight years have been
just experience after experience, learning experience after
learning experience, and it’s quite a business. To be a
performer on a television show, you get a lot of curve balls
thrown at you and you have to deal with them, and you know
that the show has to be shot so you do your best to
contribute and make it the best show you can. But you get
thrown curve balls, like a new writing crew, and – who have
never written for you and they’re trying their hardest to
get it right, and they’re in a position where they have to
get it right fairly quickly, because there are shows to
shoot and to air, and so it’s tough. It takes a while.
But the great thing about is that they’re all talented
people and everybody’s scripts are getting better and
better, and what we’ve been talking about for the last few
minutes is these great things about this season already. So
there have been some amazing things already this season. But
it’s tough. It’s tough to get new writers. And they’re great
people and so we’re – this show is – this last show that we
did was great, and it’s a good season so far, so we’re
happy.
K. Erbe Yes.
Moderator We have a question from Christine Zimmer with All
Things Law & Order. Please go ahead.
C. Zimmer One more quick question. The show seems to have
completely dropped the law end of it, is that ever coming
back? Or has it just kind of gone by the wayside?
K. Erbe We miss Courtney. But we haven’t been in court at
all this year, not once. I didn’t even think about that.
V. D'Onofrio No, it’s been just straight out catch the bad
guy, political – we’ve been involved in politics of big
corporations and stuff like that. It’s that kind of season.
But we haven’t been – no, I think we do less of the law
part, I think you’re right. I mean, as you know, it never
really focused on that very much anyway, but – one of the
cool things about having an ADA in the show is that you have
to actually answer to somebody. Because there’s this kind of
tension between the captain and the two detectives, but
there’s a certain kind of tension between the detectives and
the assistant district attorney and that’s fun to play. So
we don’t get to do that often anymore.
K. Erbe Yes.
Moderator We have a question from Jamie Ruby with Media
Boulevard. Please go ahead.
J. Ruby I just want to ask Vincent, what’s the name of your
slasher musical, so we can look out for it?
V. D'Onofrio It’s called Don’t Go in the Woods.
J. Ruby Okay, that sounds interesting.
K. Erbe It is. It’s very good.
C. Fehskens I’d like to once again thank Vincent and Kathryn
for being with us today.
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