Fringe's Kurtzman And Orci in L.A. Times

      Email Post       3/31/2009 11:38:00 AM      

The LA Times has a nice story about Fringe co-creators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and their history of working together, likening themselves to Kirk and Spock - two opposites who work well together.

Fringe is only mentioned in passing, but in the Fringe Spoilers section, Roberto Orci answers some very direct questions about what's coming up on Fringe.

Joshua Jackson On The Fringe Set

      Email Post       3/28/2009 02:19:00 PM      

Popsugar and TenGossip.com have some behind-the-scenes photos of Fringe heartthrob Joshua Jackson.
Joshua Jackson on the set of FringeJoshua Jackson on the set of FringeJoshua Jackson on the set of FringeJoshua Jackson on the set of Fringe

Joshua Jackson on the set of FringeJoshua Jackson on the set of Fringe

Joshua Jackson on the set of Fringe
Joshua Jackson on the set of Fringe
Joshua Jackson on the set of Fringe

Exclusive: Mitchell Loeb Interview

      Email Post       3/23/2009 10:00:00 AM      

Last week, the man behind the icy eyes of Mitchell Loeb, Chance Kelly, was kind enough to chat with me about his role and experience on Fringe. For a look at his work, check out ChanceKelly.com. Don't let Loeb's countenance fool you: Chance is a wonderfully nice, down-to-earth guy.
Adam Morgan: As an actor, what are the challenges in playing a morally ambiguous character like Mitchell Loeb?

Chance Kelly: Thank you for coming up with a niche category for Mitchell Loeb. I like that: “morally ambiguous.” I am happy to hear you describe him this way, because many people come up to me and simply say, “Oh, you’re a bad guy on that show.” The funny thing is, kidnapping, attempted murder and two (or three) other successful murders notwithstanding, Loeb is actually a fiercely patriotic and committed soldier in a very complex and multi-tiered predicament. What viewers should keep in mind is that behind every decision he makes, no matter how harsh it may seem (ie: “honey, you have to kill her”; knocking off that broad with the formula, or knocking off one of his teammates, etc.) there is a motivating factor stronger, bigger, and more compelling than anything we are seeing on screen. That is one of the keys to the success of this program. Follow the Pattern. All roads lead there. I would say the only major challenge is fixing in on the specific factor that motivates those specific decisions.

Adam Morgan: You do a great job making viewers empathize with your character (like your reaction to Loeb's wife's death), despite being portrayed as a villain. How do you strike that balance?

Chance Kelly: Again, I understand that on the surface, Loeb appears quite villainous, but trust me, he’s a good guy. Trust me. In war there are no winners, only soldiers. And in life, aren’t we all somewhat morally ambiguous? Regardless of what we may want others to believe?

Click here to read more...

Adam Morgan: Did the writers give you a lot of backstory, or did you come up with a history for Loeb yourself?

Chance Kelly: The writers, I believe, give plenty if one pays close attention (and I would venture to guess that you do, Adam). I feel they have given me multitudes toward who Loeb is.

Adam Morgan: What was your favorite scene to shoot? Which was the most challenging?

Chance Kelly: Though there were many, let me share a few:
  • Lying on my back in a coma while John Noble talks about his whacky food cravings, intermittently petting his son with backhanded doses of affection. There’s something about that guy’s voice, his demeanor, his entire persona that I just love. He’s like that uncle that would take you to the movies your parents were on the fence about. He’s so damn cool and one of the best damn actors I’ve ever been around. I love that dude. He’s my hero.
  • Talking to Lance Reddick in his office before going into a convulsive seizure (due to a bio-engineered alien parasite strangling my heart). Again, though I never worked with Lance, we know some of the same people and it was as if we’ve known each other a long time. That went for Chance as well as Loeb. Just some connection that, kudos to the casting pros on this show, manages to pair individuals with fabulous chemistry.
  • Talking to Anna in my trademark prison orange: this chick is great. She is a pleasure to work with and is as humble as the day is long. Though Olivia is dynamic and at times near-superhuman, Anna also brings this humble vulnerability to Olivia which is much of what makes her character so compelling. Also, she told me while we were shooting that scene that she married John Scott. MAZELTOV! I just thought that was one of the greatest things I had heard in a long time. Though I don’t know Mark, and I only know Anna a little, I was so very happy for them and it just seems like such a great thing for something so real to come out of something so fantastical…or something like that (plus, I just feel a euphoric level of liberation getting back into my prison orange).
Adam Morgan: What's your experience been like with the cast? Any good stories from the set?

Chance Kelly: On that first episode I did [In Which We Meet Mr. Jones] (ie: The Boy In the Plastic Bubble), Anna and Josh were wheeling my comatose body in on the stretcher in the bubble and she was squeezing this breathing pump thing that was fixed in my mouth and every time she squeezed it, my mouth would puff up, and I’m pretty sure she didn’t realize that her squeezing it was actually doing anything. I think it was just one of those things we do while acting, trying to stay in the moment.

Anyway, in between takes I picked my head up, and having been laying there pretending to have been in a coma for the better part of two hours, my voice didn’t work so well. Plus, I was the boy in the plastic bubble so it was hard to be heard and to effectively communicate with the outside world (now I know how that poor boy so deftly portrayed by Travolta, must have felt). In the rush to set up for another take, I said it once unheard, and tried it again, again unheard, and then a third time, and this time it came out as a thunderous growl to this polite Australian girl who only now heard this large, gruff, double-agent with a bio-engineered parasite clutching his heart howl: “DON’T SQUEEZE THAT THING ANYMORE…IT’S BLOWING AIR DOWN MY THROAT!”
I’m not sure who was more mortified. Anna, for having unknowingly been doing anything that might have been bothering anyone, or me, who never meant to growl at that nice girl. It’s just hard to effectively communicate from inside a plastic bubble!

Pre-production for that episode also brings back funny memories. I told my wife (my real wife), "Yeah, I got this job on this new show." That’s about all she knew about it until she answered the phone one day and started receiving instructions about the preparations required for her husband’s portrayal of a man with something horrible happening within his chest cavity (the caller being very Fringe-esque by not getting any more specific than that).

One of the requirements of these preparations involved my reporting to this dude’s basement, somewhere in Jersey, on a Saturday morning to lay on a floor and have a couple of dudes pour goo all over my naked chest and form some kind of body cast. My wife: “What the hell kind of show is this!!!” Hey baby, work is work, you know? Anyway, the dude’s last name was Kelly, and you know, us Kelly's Semper Fi always roll strong in solidarity, so I figured what the hell. He promised me I could be done in time to get back to coach my son’s football game. So, I show up out there in Jersey somewhere, and if the dude wasn’t named Kelly, I would have thought I was in some re-creation of that Silence of the Lambs scene where...well, you know the scene.
Anyway, Steve Kelly and I soon realized we were kindreds-not-too-far-removed, so I trusted him to pour whatever goo all over my chest that he thought appropriate and necessary in the name of creating ground-breaking television; besides, he told me I didn’t have to shave my chest…not that I wouldn’t have shaved my chest, I mean, listen, Chance Kelly has always been a team-player and I’ve done it once or twice before, but frankly, I’m just not really a part of that sub-division that shaves chests and waxes and gets manicures (well, only if absolutely necessary). I am not really of the metro-sexual ilk, but more of a retro-sexual….a guy who probably should have been born in my grandfather’s generation (or somewhere between that and the Civil War), who feels more comfortable around a barbeque than a boutique.

So Kelly and the other dude spread the goo all over me, all the while we are discussing the lubricating prowess of the petroleum jelly that they had generously applied to my chest hairs in advance of the goo that was now hardening all over my chest and all the hair on it. I trusted Kelly with my chest, my chest hair, and pretty much would have trusted him with my life, until...

The first sign of trouble was seeing his reaction to my reaction when he first tried to remove the hardened plastic cast from my chest. Man, that hurt. Pulling out chest hair always hurts more than you think it’s gonna. Anyway, his wince from my wince caused more of a deep and prolonged concern from somewhere deep within my chest cavity (hey, maybe these preparations really had a higher meaning) that I was the dude connected to all that chest hair that this now-hardened plastic cast was so intent on ripping out of my very pale skin. But the truth is, we laughed the whole way through it and, take it from a man who knows, there is no stronger bond between two (heterosexual) men than meeting in a crisis involving the threat of having one’s chest hair violently removed from one’s body and summarily being rescued therein by the versatile improvisation of a tactful, resourceful special effects dude and a precisely navigated pair of tape cutters.

Adam Morgan: What's it like watching one of your episodes when it airs? Do you watch with your family and/or friends?

Chance Kelly: My wife and I love the show. We will always watch (and always is forever).

Adam Morgan: How was working on Fringe different from Generation Kill or Law and Order?

Chance Kelly: I'd never done sci-fi before. Not to pidgeon-hole it, because that doesn’t necessarily do Fringe justice, but there is a strong sci-fi element to the show and that element is utilized in such a powerful and effective way that I think it is a legitimate way of categorizing the show, along with calling it a great drama, a great mystery, a love story, an international thriller, and funny as hell, etc. The experience has been unlike anything else that I’ve worked on. The linear quality to most productions is simply absent from Fringe, and of course, this is ultimately a good thing…you never know what exactly is going to come next on this show: as a viewer, as an actor, as part of the production team. It’s a little unsettling at first, but isn’t it interesting how life imitates art around this show? My experience with the production is something akin to what I would imagine Loeb’s dealings with Massive Dynamic might be. An austerity that repels some is a relentless gravitational force to others.

Adam Morgan: You've become a fan favorite. Will we see Mitchell Loeb in any of these last six eps of the season? Would you want to be a part of the show if and when it returns for a second season?

Chance Kelly: I would love to continue with the show in the exact capacity in which Loeb figures back into the Pattern...which he does quite significantly.

Adam Morgan: What was it like working with M. Night Shyamalan on Unbreakable? How many takes did you shoot for that great one-shot fight with Bruce Willis? This is one of my favorite movies!

Chance Kelly: Working with Night was great. He is a super nice young guy. It was a great opportunity to die at the hands of Bruce Willis, who is another infinitely nice and infinitely young guy (six takes). I look forward to dying at the hands of both Bruce and Night many times more in the future.


Adam Morgan: Tell us about the project you're writing, The Soul of a Man. What makes you passionate about it? How've you found the challenge of writing different from acting?

Chance Kelly: As you can probably tell from these ridiculous responses, I am very much a frustrated writer. Yes, I am passionate about my project, The Soul of a Man. It was hatched many years back from my dreamlike concept of It’s a Wonderful Life meets The Sixth Sense meets Jacob’s Ladder meets Cool Hand Luke meets To Kill A Mockingbird.

Now, this concept was first born and summarily morphed into several incarnations as a feature-length screenplay. However, after working with it and developing it, I came to realize (and be convinced) that it is much more fit for episodic television. I am passionate about it because the title is what it is about and what it comes from: The Soul of a Man. This is the soul of a father, a husband, a brother, a friend, a son, a stranger, a neighbor, a Christian, a member of society who tried to be upstanding, in spite of prevailing forces and challenges, the soul of a man. There is so much to be passionate about within this story. It is as much of Chance Kelly as I can give while remaining effectively fantastical and worthy of 48 minutes of programming each week.
Also, check out this funny NCAA commercial starring Chance Kelly.

Anna Torv in Allure

      Email Post       3/22/2009 11:44:00 PM      

Fringe's Anna Torv (Olivia Dunham) in the April 2009 issue of AllureAnna Torv is featured in the April 2009 issue of Allure magazine, under the Beauty Reporter section as "Allure's Face". Anna talked to Hanna Morrill about her accent, Fringe gore, Joshua Jackson, and Cate Blanchett.

Click here to read the article text.


Allure's Face: Anna Torv

Anna Torv has played an unfaithful lesbian, a gifted equestrian, and, in the video game Heavenly Sword, a blade-wielding ninja. ("Sometimes you do things you're really proud of; sometimes you don't," she says.) Now at age 30, the Australian actress has landed a starring role - and a new husband, costar Mark Valley - on Fox's thriller Fringe. "I've always wondered if I could come to America, master the accent, and mix it up with the big boys," she says. Mission accomplished.

How is your accent?
I can't say the word "anything/" I can't hear what I do wrong. Everytime I say it, it's wrong. IN-ything. AHN-ything.

What's it like filming the gory parts of Fringe?
It's revolting. They use fake blood that's this gooey, syrupy makeup. The have different colors depending on whether it's from an organ or just a cut. The boys seem to like it, so they get thier hands dirty, and I just observe.

Did you know your costar, Joshua Jackson, was a heartthrob?
No, I didn't. But it didn't take long to get the picture. Everyone on the set calls him Pacey.

When will you kiss?
I'm sure we'll drag it out for at least a season.

Annoying question: Do you think you look like Cate Blanchett?
People have been saying that since she became, you know, Cate Blanchett. I've met her, an in person we look nothing alike.

Lance Reddick: How Much Does Broyles Know?

      Email Post       3/20/2009 04:32:00 PM      



Fox's Fringe website has a new video titled "How Much Does Broyles Know?". Lance Reddick talks about his character Phillip Broyles, Massive Dynamic, Good and Evil, and his favorite Fringe episodes (In Which We Meet Mr. Jones and Bound).

Fringe Television One Year Old Today

      Email Post       3/20/2009 10:00:00 AM      



We've come a long way since our first post, and there's a lot more in store. We're working on a new look, new features, and we'll be bringing you exclusive interviews with the Fringe cast and crew.

As the last six episodes of the season get closer, the excitement is building. The chances of Fringe getting a second season look good, so we look forward to celebrating birthday number two.

A big, big thanks to you, the fans, for making it worthwhile!

Fringe Interview: Joshua Jackson on Peter and Walter

      Email Post       3/20/2009 09:58:00 AM      

E!'s Kristin Dos Santos has an exclusive interview with Joshua Jackson where he discusses Peter's daddy issues.


The E! Online article also has my Fringe Preview video for "Inner Child" (Hi Kristin!), which you can also find in the Fringe Spoilers section, along with some spoilery screenshots.

Fringe Promo: Walter Has The Answers

      Email Post       3/18/2009 12:54:00 PM      



Here is a fun new Fringe promo titled "When strange things happen...Walter has the answers."

There is also another new promo in the Fringe Spoilers section, which has some scenes from the next Fringe episode "Inner Child", which airs April 7th.

Fringe Viral Marketing in Germany

      Email Post       3/18/2009 11:56:00 AM      

German television station Pro7 (ProSieben) began showing Fringe last week, and to promote the show, they aired these fake news stories featuring scenes from The Same Old Story and The Dreamscape. Apparently, some people in Germany were offended, since they are not used to that type of viral marketing over there.

UPDATE: Here are transcripts of the two videos, translated to English by Kosmopol!

A fascinating and cruel phenomenon was experienced by an midwife and two medical specialists in the birth room of a New York clinic yesterday. After they had delivered the freshly born baby, they witnesses the newborn rapidly age. A colleague was able to catch these terrible scenes with a camera. The body of the new-born grew so quickly that it was able to be born only through a need of a Cesarean section. Its body soon became the size of a fully grown man. The head of the clinic explained they were not clear yet whether it would due to a genetic defect or a rare illness. It's clear that this was an unprecedented medical case, and medical and science specialists were informed. The debate on this highly mysterious case continues. On March 16th, a special unit will be assembled, and will investigate this phenomenon. You learn more information about these unusual events after the News and exclusively on PRO7.


It happened at a US research center in NY. After a meeting of Massive Dynamic employees, a 43 years old man was attacked in the office building by butterfly-like insects and was injured. As his colleagues were about to help him, he was assaulted by an entire swarm of butterflies. Another colleague made these recordings with his mobile phone. According to witness testimony the man was injured so strongly with facial cuts that he had to be hospitalized. The man is seriously injured and in shock and could not report about this incident yet. One of the aggressive animals was caught and will be examined. The debate on this highly mysterious case continues. On March 16th, a special unit will be assembled, and will investigate this phenomenon. You learn more information about these unusual events after the News and exclusively on PRO7.
[source: Kosmopol, video: worldofpromises0, ASiMAlMassiva]

Why No Fringe?

      Email Post       3/17/2009 09:39:00 PM      

What do you mean there's no new Fringe?Only three more weeks to go until Fringe returns on April 7th, but don't worry... there's plenty to do until then!

If you've missed any episodes, you can catch up for free online:
It's listener appreciation week at the Fringe Podcast Network:
Also, there's always things to learn about Fringe and The Pattern over at Fringepedia, the best Fringe Wiki around!

What Would You Ask: Jeff Pinkner and JR Orci?

      Email Post       3/16/2009 03:35:00 PM      

Jeff Pinkner and J.R. Orci are waiting for your Fringe questions!
Excited about the return of Fringe? So are the writers and producers.

Writer and Supervising Producer J.R. Orci will join "Showrunner" Jeff Pinkner in an exclusive FringeTelevision.com interview to answer your questions about the future of Fringe.

What would you ask? We'll be accepting questions until tomorrow (3/17) at midnight (EST).

Happy Birthday J.R. Orci

      Email Post       3/12/2009 12:00:00 PM      

Happy Birthday to Fringe supervising producer / writer J.R. Orci!

Orci has also worked on Alias, Vanished, and Journeyman, and is the brother of Roberto Orci, who also works on Fringe.


For more Fringe Birthdays, check out the Fringe Birthday Calendar!

Fringe May Not Move To Canada After All

      Email Post       3/12/2009 11:00:00 AM      

To quote NY Yankees legend Yogi Berra, "It ain't over till it's over."

There was a huge "Save NY Film & TV Tax Credits" rally in Albany, New York yesterday, and reports are coming in that it went "very well", and there is a good feeling that NY will end up with a tax credit of some sort.

A confidential source at Warner Bros. indicated that Fringe "is considering staying in New York if some kind of tax credit is passed."

It makes you wonder if the Canada move was just a bluff, because there will definitely be pressure on WB to keep Fringe in NY if the tax credits do in fact get renewed. I discussed this with my informant, who confided "if you wanted to scare New York into a tax credit, would you not take the biggest show shooting there and say you're moving it?" Bluff or not, hopefully this strategy works, because there is more at stake than just the few hundred Fringe jobs that would be lost.

Of course, this is all predicated on Fringe getting renewed for a second season, which almost everybody presumes at this point. However, I don't think it's a coincidence that Fox has not made any official announcements yet, instead waiting for the NY tax credit mess to sort out.

Fringe #4 & Fringe #5 Comics Announced

      Email Post       3/11/2009 09:00:00 AM      

DC Comics' Wildstorm has announced the street dates of the next two Fringe Comics:
  • Fringe #4 — April 29, 2009
  • Fringe #5 — May 27, 2009
You can preorder them at your local Comic Book Shop

For more info, check out the Fringe Comics page at Fringepedia.net.

Where's My Fringe?

      Email Post       3/10/2009 09:00:00 PM      

Only four more weeks to go until Fringe returns on April 7th, but don't worry... there's plenty to do until then!

If you've missed any episodes, you can catch up for free online:
There have also been two new Fringe Podcasts since the hiatus:
Also, there's always things to learn about Fringe and The Pattern over at Fringepedia, the best Fringe Wiki around!

Fringe Nominated for Saturn Awards

      Email Post       3/10/2009 05:42:00 PM      

The Academy of Science Fiction Fantasy & Horror Films nominated Fringe for TWO Saturn Awards, which honors the best in Science-Fiction TV and Film.

Fringe was nominated under the Best Network TV Show category, along with Heroes, Life On Mars, Lost, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Supernatural, and Anna Torv was nominated for Best Actress In Television, along with Lena Headey, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Evangeline Lilly, Mary McDonnell, Anna Paquin, and Kyra Sedgwick.

Lost, that other J.J. Abrams show, led the field with 11 nominations. For the complete list of nominees, visit SaturnAwards.org.

BTW, unlike the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences or the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which gives out Oscars and Emmys respectively, the ASFFHF is open to the public.

No 'Glee' For Fringe Fans, Season Cut to 20 Episodes

      Email Post       3/09/2009 06:37:00 PM      

Fringe Executive Producer J.R. Orci confirmed today that the Fringe season has been officially cut to 20 episodes.

The two main culprits for the shortened season are the Osbournes: Reloaded special on March 31st, and the High School Musical/Bring It On ripoff called Glee, which "previews" May 19th, following the American Idol season finale. This leaves room for only six new Fringe episodes before the end of May 'Sweeps'.

It should be noted that Fringe has still not been renewed for a second season yet, but Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly did have some nice things to say when speaking to The Hollywood Reporter:
THR: What is the future of RemoteFreeTV?

REILLY: The jury's still out. We've gotten outstanding viewer feedback. I think the year hasn't helped. Fortunately, "Fringe" was a keeper. Can you sell the real estate for free? If we don't do it on a full series, we might use it for a special episode or stunt something. So we'll keep it in the mix in some fashion.

THR: There's a perception that "Lie to Me" and "Fringe" have been dependent on being paired with strong lead-ins. Is that fair? And even if it is fair, does it matter?

REILLY: No, it's not fair, and no, it doesn't matter. That's good television. "Fringe" has established a really dedicated audience, and "Lie to Me" is also very charming. Look across the board at 10 o'clock. Look at Thursday night, with the "Grey's Anatomy" lead-in and the "CSI" lead-in. Nobody forces anybody to watch a show even with a lead-in.

Fringe Comic #3 - The Escape / Run Away

      Email Post       3/05/2009 04:00:00 PM      

I just received an email from DC Comics letting me know that Fringe Comic #3 was released yesterday. They also sent me an official preview of Fringe Comic #3, which you can download as a PDF here, or check out the pages below.

To get your own copy of Fringe #3, head out to your local comic shop.
Fringe # 3 (of 6)

Written by Mike Johnson, Alex Katsnelson, Matthew Pitts and Danielle DiSpaltro; Art by Tom Mandrake

The FOX television phenomenon Fringe continues in this special tie-in comic series from creators J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Don't miss any of the clues as the mysteries of FRINGE unfold here!
Fringe Comic #3, Page 1Fringe Comic #3, Page 2Fringe Comic #3, Page 3Fringe Comic #3, Page 4

Exclusive: Jared Harris Interview

      Email Post       3/02/2009 09:00:00 AM      


Right before Ability aired, the wonderful Jared Harris (aka Mr. Jones) was kind enough to chat with me about his character and his experience on the show. Unfortunately, the audio file was too low-res to post, but here's the transcription:
Q. Mr. Jones has been portrayed as a villain so far, but is there any chance he's more of a misunderstood hero?

A. No. I think he's a villain who might be temporarily cooperating with the forces of righteousness, but he's only doing that to pursue his own agenda. He's an opportunist. Look at what he did to that poor guy in the suit! I think he's a sociopath. He doesn't really care. But I can't really tell you for sure, because I don't know where the story's going.

Q. That was my next question. Do the writers and producers give you background information for your character, or do you just get the script?

A. They give you some background, but they don't tell you where it's going, for precisely this reason. We're having a chat, and if I give something away that their whole season finale hinges on...

Q. We wouldn't want that to happen...

A. As far as background, they said he was in the world of espionage and bioterrorism, very dangerous, very bright. That he got himself into that German prison on purpose, because it was the safest place to be for the time being. I asked Jeff Pinkner about the character back when I started, about where I should try to take him.

Click here to read more...


Q. Are we going to see more of you after Ability?

A. I don't know! I'm in pretty bad shape.

Q. You personally? Or Mr. Jones?

A. Jones. He's in pretty bad shape, and I'm not sure where it's going. That episode opens some pretty interesting doors about the connection between [Mr. Jones] and Olivia, and about the Pattern. It's a really good episode. A page-turner of a script. I absolutely loved it when I read it.

Q. Jones certainly seems obsessed with Olivia.

A. Yeah, there were all those drawings a few episodes back. I mean, she's very good looking, but I think it's more than that with him. He needs her, he's trying to manipulate her into trusting him so that she'll do something for him. It's not answered in [Ability] but it's developed a little further.

Q. I sure hope you're coming back; Mr. Jones is my favorite character.

A. Is he? That's very sweet of you to say. My favorite character is the cow. I can't say enough about the cow. I love John Noble, I think he's brilliant, where he takes that character. The dynamic between him and Peter is fantastic. They make me chuckle a lot. And I'm a huge fan of Lance from The Wire. As an actor, he's just incredibly precise, utterly convincing.

Q. What's your experience been like on the set?

A. It's a really good atmosphere there. I mean, it's hard work. For one hour of dramatic television, you're basically shooting a movie every nine days. It's very ambitious. But the atmosphere is very good. There's good banter, a great sense of humor. It's an exciting show, and you can sense that from the attitude of the people involved. They all enjoy what they're doing. It's a great vibe. And of course everyone plays the game that we are right now, try to guess where things are going. The guy that runs Massive Dynamic, William Bell, he always comes up at lunchtime.

Q. Which scene was your favorite to film?

A. The opening scene in Ability definitely ranks up there among my favorites. I love that shot where I'm in the shadows, out of focus in the background, and then I suddenly pop up behind [Mr. Kohl]. That look of insanity in Jones' eyes. He's a nutcase!

Q. How much time is there between when you shoot an episode and when it airs.

A. Well this one (Ability), we finished about two weeks before it aired. That's a really fast turnaround. Normally there's about six weeks turnaround for post-production, but for some reason this one was unusually fast.

Q. As an actor, how do you approach this role on a television show differently from a role in a film, like Captain Mike in Benjamin Button?

A. With Captain Mike, I knew I had that part three or four months before I started shooting. The longer you have to work with a character, the more connections you can make with your own life, your own history. The characterization becomes more detailed and deeper, more intense. It's very hard on Fringe, when you don't know where the story's going. It's much more impressionistic. You go with your gut in the moment, but it's difficult. Some of the choices that you make are probably going to be contradicted later on, and that can be frustrating as an actor.

Q. Yeah, with a film you know the entire arc of the story, whereas with television you only get bits at a time.

A. But it's exciting too. The great thing about television is that it's so immediate. We shot it two weeks ago and now it's coming out. And people are so excited about Fringe, it's this immediate feedback. With Benjamin Button, I shot that two years before it came out. With Lady in the Water, I did an audition without reading the script and then went on my honeymoon. I was in the bush, on safari, with no telephones, and when I got back by agent said we'd made a deal. Then I finally read the script, and I was like "Oh. So that's what this is about." [Laughs]

Q. What's it like to sit in front of the television and watch yourself?

A. It's great fun. When you watch yourself in anything, it's quite a laugh. You can't really concentrate on the story! You remember everything about the day you shot it, the shots and the lines they cut out. You've got an emotional memory of that day. It takes a long time for that to drop away, to just see the character. It takes a couple years to just see it for what it was.

Q. I imagine it's the same for a writer or director, to get that personal experience out of the way.

A. I don't know how directors do it, because they have watch the movie or the episode two or three hundred times. I don't know how they keep the audience's anticipations in their head, how they shape that experience, since they can't trust their own gut reactions anymore. It's amazing how they do that.

Q. Do you have any advice for budding actors out there looking to be as successful as you've been these last few years?

A. It's a tough job. You have to develop a really skin. You're going to get knocked down a lot, but you've got to dust yourself off and get back off. The one thing that keeps you going is your passion. You've got to keep in touch with that part of yourself. Acting itself is the fun part. I love auditioning for that reason. Any day you actually get to do a bit of acting is a good day.
 

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