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By
Suzanne

Interview with Marsha Thomason of
"White
Collar" on USA 8/16/10
New Media Strategies / Electric Artists:
USA Network Q&A with Marsha Thomason
August 16, 2010/1:00 p.m. EDT
SPEAKER
Marsha Thomason – Diana Barrigan, White Collar
PRESENTATION
Moderator Welcome to the USA Network Q&A Session with Marsha Thomason.
D. Christiansen Good afternoon, everyone. This is Danny Christiansen
from New Media Strategies. I’d like to thank everyone for joining us for
today’s White Collar Q&A session. To start things off by thanking Marsh
Thomason for being with us today to answer questions, so thank you,
Marsha.
M. Thomason You’re welcome.
D. Christiansen As you know Marsha plays Diana Barrigan on White Collar,
which airs on Tuesdays at 9/8 Central on USA Networks. In a minute we’ll
begin the Q&A session. I’d like to now turn the call back over to our
Moderator, Mary, to begin the formal Q&A session.
Moderator Our first question comes from the line of Crystal Clark from
Pop Culture Madness.
C. Clark What would you say motivates your character to get out of bed
each day?
M. Thomason She just really loves solving crimes. She likes putting bad
guys away. Of course, we all have a sense of right and wrong, but she
really has a strong sense of that. She doesn’t really deviate from it.
So I think for her, her passion for being a FBI agent and getting out of
bed and going to do that job everyday really is just getting the bad
guys and helping innocent people.
C. Clark What would you say is one of the biggest challenges you’ve
faced while working on the show so far?
M. Thomason Well, there are a couple. One of them is some of the
language that we have to use on the show. In the pilot I had on my very
first day, it was this little speech and there was this big scene where
we bust into this warehouse. There’s an explosion and all of this. So
basically every time we did it, even if you made a mistake, you just had
to keep going until the end because we needed to get what bits and
pieces we could. I had to say something about, “Exigent circumstance
means we can do the blah, blah, blah and the thing in the face.” I had
no idea what exigent circumstance was or how to say it in an American
accent. I was nervous because it was my first day and it was just the
most mortifying moment where I booked into this thing.
I managed to get one take out and then something happened and the second
take, I go, “Exigent circumstance, blah, blah.” And Tim looks at me and
I look at him like I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m saying. Just say
your line. All of this through a lock, so that’s one of the tricky ones,
sometimes some of the language.
And then some of the action still I find a little bit tricky. I enjoy it
very much, but it can get very technical. Something as simple as the
handcuffs that we use, obviously they’re not real handcuffs because
we’re dealing with actors and not perps. And so when you hook them on,
the mechanism, it can just go around and around and around if that makes
sense. And they can just take them off. In other words, it makes them
really difficult to get on. They bounce back, and I just look completely
inept. So that’s one of the ones.
Moderator Our next question is from the line of Allison Toner from
Poptimal.com.
A. Toner I understand that you read a lot on set. I was wondering what
you’re reading right now.
M. Thomason I just actually started, I literally just like put it in my
bag and I’ve read a page. And then I realized I needed to get in the
shower and get myself prepared for this call. But I have The Glass
Castle, Jeannette Walls, which apparently is fantastic. It was
recommended actually by a hair stylist on the show.
I just finished reading American Music, which actually the DP on our
show, Russell Fine, gave to me because his friend, Jane Mendelsohn, is
the author. She wrote a book called Looking for Amelia Earhart I think
it was called. I never read that one. But that’s what I just finished
reading. It was really wonderful, a beautiful love story.
A. Toner Ae you similar to your character, Diana, at all?
M. Thomason We look alike, which is kind of weird. Am I similar? Yes,
she’s a ball buster. Which I guess is something that could be said about
me. She really has a sense of doing the right thing and I have that.
We’re similar in many ways, actually. I couldn’t imagine having a job
where I had to wear a suit every day. But other than that, I think there
are many similarities between us.
Moderator Our next question is from the line of Lena Lamoray from
Lenalamoray.com.
L. Lamoray It’s great having you back this season and “Need to Know” has
been my favorite episode so far. So you can you talk about filming it
and what your favorite episode is?
M. Thomason That was my favorite episode. Though, actually Tuesday
night, tomorrow night’s episode is another fun one for me, another one
where I go undercover. Those are my favorite ones where we go undercover
because I get to play another character on top of the character I’m
already playing.
For me with “Need to Know,” my favorite part of it really—well, there
were a few things. I loved our director, Sandy. He was fantastic. And I
really enjoyed, it’s simple, but I really enjoyed working with the … and
I felt …, which you don’t get to do every day. I felt like Angelina
Jolie. I even told him I was going to shoot him in the shoulder. He
didn’t believe me and then I shot him in the shoulder.
L. Lamoray Can you talk about the pros and con’s of filming in New York
City?
M. Thomason Well, the pro’s is that it’s New York City, hello. The con
is that it’s so bloody humid right now and I’m in a suit all the time.
And I just literally, they come and powder me, so I look like I’m smooth
and cool. Underneath I’m literally dripping with sweat. It’s so hot all
the time. It’s kind of chaotic, but I like that. For me right now, it
really is just the heat. It’s been a little difficult in that sense.
Moderator Our next question is from the line of Suzanne Lanoue with the
TV MegaSite.
S. Lanoue What was it like working opposite James Franco on General
Hospital?
M. Thomason Confusing and this is fun. He’s a really lovely guy. I
already knew him a little bit just from out and about in L.A., so it was
kind of fun. It was bizarre world because here I am on the set of
General Hospital, a soap opera institution, with James Franco, a big
movie star playing a role that honestly I didn’t even know what I was
doing. They told me that I was going to be involved in espionage and
that my character was going to be romantically involved with James and
none of those things happened. I was just confused the whole time. I was
just really confused and still confused.
S. Lanoue It didn’t take too long to do the filming.
M. Thomason No, no. In soaps you literally get a take, so you need to
nail it and then they move on. But I worked on it for about five weeks,
just the odd day here and there, but you would never know by the amount
that I was on the screen. The whole thing is just like a complete— I
don’t even know. I have no words. I don’t even know what it was about.
S. Lanoue Soaps move so fast, it throws people off when they’re not used
to it.
M. Thomason No, no, no, that’s not why I didn’t know what it was about.
I didn’t know what it was about because my character didn’t have a name,
because not one thing that they said I was going to be doing I did. I
don’t even know who I played and I’m just still so confused.
S. Lanoue So would you go back and do soaps again?
M. Thomason We’ll pop … on that one. Never say never.
S. Lanoue A lot of your costars got their start on soaps, Matt Bomer,
Josh …, Vanessa Marcel.
M. Thomason Right, certainly, yes. But I already got my start, so I
think for now; I’m going to stick with White Collar.
Moderator Our next question is from the line of Tiffany Vogt from
Airlock Alpha & Nice Girls TV.
T. Vogt I have a question with White Collar. What would you like
personally for the writers to bring out more of in your character?
M. Thomason Ooh, la, ha! Oh my goodness … but I won’t. What I will say
is I really love for us to find a … who is … talk about girls with me.
That I would love very much. I’d really like to see the relationship
with Neal explored a little more. I work with Tim a heck of a lot on the
show. We have a lot of scenes together. But Neal and Diana, it’s kind of
a slow build, so I’m really looking forward to seeing that storyline
develop.
T. Vogt Do you think we’ll be seeing more of a possibly a dark side to
her?
M. Thomason I have no idea.
Moderator Our next question is from the line of Kurt Wagner from RedEye
Show Patrol.
K. Wagner I was wondering if we’re going to see more of her personal
life, of Diana’s personal life and her girlfriend and all that kind of
stuff.
M. Thomason Well, I was just saying actually so far, not so much. But
the writers keep threatening me with that every time I ask them, “Hey,
when are we going to meet Christy?” And they’re like, it’s coming, it’s
coming. …, but I’m hoping we meet Christy soon because I’ve shot quite a
bit of footage in Diana’s house, but Christy is never there. Maybe Diana
is just full of crap. Supposed she doesn’t even have a girlfriend. Maybe
Diana has never had a girlfriend and she just has a secret lonely life.
She just goes home and cries into her pillow and makes the whole thing
up.
K. Wagner Maybe she’s just saying it so Neal will leave her alone.
M. Thomason There’s that, too. You never know. Though, that would be
pretty elaborate because Peter even thinks that she has a Christy, so I
don’t know. I don’t think she would like a Peter. I think Christy
exists, but only on paper at this point.
Moderator We have a follow-up from the line of Suzanne Lanoue from the
TV Megasite.
S. Lanoue Do the writers ever give you any background information about
the character that maybe you haven’t seen on the screen yet, but you use
it to get information for yourself?
M. Thomason Well, no. Everything that we’ve seen about Diana’s
background, I know about Diana’s background. It basically came out in
the second episode when she was in the hotel and talking to Neal. All I
know is that they’re not happy about her being in the FBI. They
definitely wanted a different path for her. This was not part of their
plan. And … who was like a father to him, and he was killed in the line
of duty, so I know that there’s some darkness to their past, but not
really.
S. Lanoue I hope we get to see more about her past and her family and
everything.
M. Thomason So do I, so do I. I guess if people request it and you guys’
blog about it, maybe they’ll pay note.
Moderator Our next question is from the line of Michelle St. James form
Daemon’s TV.
M. St. James I have a question about the “The Music Box.” Diana and
Peter now know that there’s a piece missing and Neal has the missing
piece. Who’s going to crack first and go to the other one?
M. Thomason Now I think you’ve done enough of these to know there’s no
way I can tell you the answer to that at this time.
M. St. James It was worth a try.
M. Thomason Yes, it’s a good effort. But needless to say you know you’ll
get the answer to that very soon.
M. St. James In regards to the relationship with Neal, is he ever going
to give up in terms of trying to make you attracted to him?
M. Thomason No. Absolutely not. His ego is too big. You’ve seen the way
women swoon when he walks into a room, because no, no, and it’s sport
for him. He’s the guy that fakes art and steals and does all of that
stuff for sport. There’s no way he’s ever going to give up.
Moderator There are no further questions.
D. Christiansen Ladies and gentlemen, if there are no further questions,
that will conclude today’s session. I’d like to once again thank Marsha
for joining us and remind everyone to tune in to a new episode of White
Collar tomorrow, August 17th at 9/8 Central on USA Network. Thanks
again, and enjoy your week, everyone.
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