Fringe: The Beginning Of The End (of Season 2)

Blair Brown (Nina Sharp), Jaskia Nicole (Astrid Farnsworth), John Noble (Dr. Walter Bishop, and Akiva Goldsman (writer/director) speak about the excitement and suspense of the story line, and where the rest of the season is headed.

(Source: Fox)

Fringe Interviews: Noble Intentions

John Noble discusses his character Dr. Walter Bishop in the Fringe episodes Olivia. In The Lab. With The Revolver. and White Tulip.

Fringe Interviews: Blair Brown & John Noble

Here are interview with Blair Brown (Nina Sharp) and John Noble (Dr. Walter Bishop) discussing the Fringe episode Peter:

UPDATE: YouTube versions of these videos can be found in the FringeTelevision YouTube channel.

Fringe Interview: John Noble

Fox All Access has a new interview with John Noble discussing the upcoming episodes.

JOHN NOBLE: NEW FRINGE EPISODES WILL BRING REVELATIONS

Fringe has been away on a brief break, and its Winter finale ended on a cliffhanger that made the break feel far too long for Fringe addicts. But fear not, Fringeaholics new episodes are coming soon! The first new episode arrives on Thursday, April 1, and it takes us back to 1985, where we meet a younger, pre-institutionalized Dr. Walter Bishop and go back to the very origins of the Fringe mythology. In our exclusive interview with John Noble, he talks about the episode and the types of revelations we can expect to see. We also talk about how Walters progressed this season, the challenges of playing such a peculiar character, and maybe even a little hint of things to come as Fringe moves toward its second season finale. The Fringe Spring premiere is Thursday, April 1 at 9/8c on Fox.

Also, note that Noble calls Peter episode 215. Just sayin...

Fringe Interview: John Noble on Alternate Realities

Fox All Access interviewed John Noble (Dr. Walter Bishop), where they discuss parallel universes, alternate realities, and Star Trek.

Happy Birthday John Noble!

Happy Birthday to John Noble (Dr. Walter Bishop), who turns 61 today!

You can leave your own birthday wish for John in the comments.

What Would You Ask: The Comic-Con Cast?

Guess what? Our friend Mandy over at Josh-Jackson.net is headed to San Diego this week for the Comic-Con, where she'll hopefully get to interview Josh Jackson, Anna Torv, and John Noble.

Mandy wants some good questions, so let's hear 'em!

Fringe At Comic-Con 2009

The good folks over at SlashFilm just announced Fringe's slate at this month's infamous San Diego Comic-Con (which should really be renamed Media-Con in this day and age).

The Fringe Screening and Q&A will take place on Saturday, July 25th, featuring Anna Torv, Josh Jackson, and John Noble from the cast, along with writer/producers Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner, and J.H. Wyman.

Fans will be treated to a "special video presentation" (the season 2 premiere?), along with a question-and-answer session.

If you're planning on attending the Fringe panel at this year's Comic-Con, please let us know! You can email me at adam (at) fringetelevision.com.

Happy Earth Day from John Noble

John Noble is featured in Fox's Green It. Mean It. Earth Day campaign, discussing how nice it is to ride you bike to work.

You can discover other ways to stay green at Fox.com/GreenItMeanIt

John Noble, Part 2: More Fringe Mysteries Tackled!

Here is part two of the TV Guide interview with John Noble. You can see Part 1 of the interview here.

I can see why they split this up, as this half of the interview talks about Inner Child.

John Noble Teases Upcoming Eps

John Noble recently spoke with TVGuide about what we can expect from Fringe's last episodes of the season. No explicit spoilers, but he does offer a few tasty hints.

Joshua Jackson & John Noble on Good Day NY

Good Day NY's Anne Craig chatted with actors Joshua Jackson (Peter Bishop) and John Noble (Dr. Walter Bishop) from the Fox show, "Fringe." The show returns on FOX with new episodes Tuesday at 9 p.m. after "American Idol."

Exclusive: John Noble Interview

John Noble, who plays the brilliant, enigmatic scientist Walter Bishop, was generous enough to chat with me yesterday for about half an hour about Fringe. I've posted the full transcript below, but do beware there are some mild spoilers. Nothing specific, but he does foreshadow a few things coming up in these next six episodes.

In addition to being talented and kind, John's got a wonderful sense of humor, as you'll see below.

Adam Morgan: First of all, let me just congratulate you on becoming one of the most iconic characters on television.

John Noble: Well, thank you!

Adam Morgan: I know you've got a very extensive background in theater. How do you approach acting for television differently?

John Noble: Well...I don't, really! But the thing about playing a character on television is that you have to work and think very fast, make a lot of improvisations. You have to work with the director to get lots of takes with different timings and positions. One thing different about the theater is that you can play lots and lots of different characters in a relatively short amount of time, but with television and film, you may only play a handful in an entire career.

Adam Morgan: Yeah, and I've heard you say elsewhere that Walter Bishop is your "dream character." Can you tell us why?

John Noble: It requires a complete range of emotions. You have the comedic element, which is in the timing. Because Walter never tries to be funny. Physically, what I try to do is create a character who's older than me, but also still has this incredible energy coming through.

And actually, I just thought of something. It's so rare as an actor to be given a chance to grow a character over a long period of time. It's a long-term development, and of course in theater and film, you can't do that. So that also makes it fun to play Walter, to look back and forward at his journey out of madness, to see where that takes him.

Click here to read more...

Adam Morgan: Do you think there are more major skeletons in Walter's closet that we don't know about.

John Noble: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely! There have been a lot of hints that Walter was up to something...dubious, to say the least. And some of that will be hit on in these upcoming episodes, one thing in particular concerning Olivia. In the finale, you'll also see something concerning Peter that is absolutely shattering. So yes, there are revelations to be made.
Lots of people just think of him as funny and cute, but Walter's a man with a past. And it's not only being revealed to the audience, it's being revealed to him as he goes along and starts to get his memory back.

Adam Morgan: Okay...what's your favorite dessert?

John Noble: My favorite what?

Adam Morgan: Your favorite dessert!

John Noble: Dessert! [Cackle] I thought you said "zurt"! I thought that was another Fringe term I wasn't aware of. Well I'm trying to stay away from desserts at the moment, because being on a film set you have to be very careful, or you'll start to explode from the waist. But what would be my favorite? I'd have to say New York cheesecake.

Adam Morgan: Aha, you should tell the writers so they can include it in an episode.

John Noble: I shouldn't have said anything about, because now I'm starting to salivate.

Adam Morgan: What did you think about the episode where Walter runs into another version of himself at the mental institution?

John Noble: That's one of my favorite episodes, The Equation. We all have voices that talk to us, and that did happen when Walter was drugged, so I suppose it could have been in his mind. But Jeff Pinkner has said that everyone has a double, a doppelganger. So whether it was part of Walter's imagination, or another Walter from a parallel universe, that's to be revealed. But I don't want to tell you any more than that. It will be addressed, not this season, but next season.

Adam Morgan: Great! And this is a question I ask everybody: what's been your favorite scene to shoot so far?

John Noble: There's been a lot of them, but back to The Equation, there was that scene were I talked with a guy named Kim, on the balcony when he breaks down. I found that really moving. He's a beautiful actor to work with. For me, that was a highlight.
But there are so many moments, you know? We've got one coming up on Tuesday night where Walter gets to dance...

Adam Morgan: Haha, yes. I loved that.

John Noble: It was so much fun, because I didn't get much time to think about it. Someone said, "Oh by the way, choose one of these two pieces of music because tomorrow you're going to do a dance." I remember coming home that night and asking my daughter, "Darling, come listen to this. Which one of these songs should I choose?" So then we shot it first thing the next morning, and it was so much fun. It's really bad, too.

Adam Morgan: It's hilarious! And touching at the same time. Do you have any other funny stories or anecdotes from the set?

John Noble: Every time Josh and Jasika and I are on the set, there's a funny story. Have you made a set visit?

Adam Morgan: No, I haven't. I'd love to, though.

John Noble: Oh, you've got to come up here for a set visit, because particularly in the lab, it's a very funny place to be. There's all sorts of stuff going on between us, and also the crew. Sometimes we really get going, but it happens so fast that not much really sticks out in my mind. On the rare occasions that I get to do a scene with Lance Reddick, who is such a stoic man, I do my best to try and make him laugh. That's one of our inside jokes on the set. Another one is that we all do a take on Kirk [Acevedo]'s voice, like...[Raspy, Puerto Rican, Charlie Francis voice] "It's just...a box...of tissues!"

Adam Morgan: [Laughs]

John Noble: We set each other up.

Adam Morgan: Hopefully some of that will make it onto the DVD...

John Noble: [Laughs] Hopefully not all of it gets on there. Some of it's a bit dodgy! [Full-throated cackle] I actually caught myself just the other day, saying something inappropriate, and we were all laughing and I looked up and there was a giant crane camera right on me!

Adam Morgan: Speaking of the dynamic between you and the rest of the cast, the stuff between you and Joshua Jackson comes across very naturally on the show. Have you guys bonded a lot off-camera? How do you approach that relationship?

John Noble: Absolutely. It's one of the finest relationships I can remember having with another actor, just in terms of how we understand each other and what we're able to do with our characters. I'm very, very fond of Josh Jackson and I think the feeling's mutual. And I respect him a lot too. We have a chance to find something...precious in the relationship between Walter and Peter. We really try to mine that relationship for precious moments, not all of which make it into the show.

Adam Morgan: And what's it like to watch the show? Do you sit down with friends and family on Tuesday nights?

John Noble: When I can, yes. Quite often we're working those nights, but on the same day I'll be given a DVD. I actually really enjoy watching them, and it gives me a chance to see what the other actors are doing, because half the time I don't even know where they are when I'm not on set. And the guest actors too, like Jared Harris for instance, who makes a comeback as Mr. Jones in these last six episodes. And to watch the Observer pop up on all these places, Michael Cerveris. I was just talking to him the other day, and he's such a nice man. He's become such an iconic figure now, people searching for him, even finding him in places where he's not. There might be a pale fellow in the background and people will shout "There he is!"

Adam Morgan: [Laughs] Yeah, I could've sworn I saw him at a Walgreen's the other day here in Chicago...

John Noble: [Cackle] I'll have to tell him that.

Adam Morgan: I spoke with Anna [Torv] yesterday, and she said you guys were in the middle of shooting the finale. Can you tell me anything about William Bell?

John Noble: Well...no. I can't really tell you anymore than you already know...[dramatic pause]...Well, this is what I'll say to you: something happens to Nina [Sharp], which forces us to come into contact with Bell. It's not fatal, but it's something pretty horrible. So we do get to meet the great man himself. And I can't wait to see him! I don't even know who he is yet!

Adam Morgan: You don't?

John Noble: No, I haven't been told. They love to keep secrets like that from us. We're all sort of hanging out waiting to see what happens with the story.

Adam Morgan: Is that ever frustrating?

John Noble: Oh, no. We all want to know things, but if they gave us answers it would spread through the set in a matter of minutes. But I can't wait to find out. Let me know if you hear anything first.

Adam Morgan: I will! So have you enjoyed living in New York? Do you miss Australia? Apprehensive about the potential move to Vancouver next year?

John Noble: Leaving in New York has been one of the best years of my life, having my wife and children here. There's no other place like it in the world. Though I do hear some great things about Chicago, which is where you are, isn't it?

Adam Morgan: Yeah, it's amazing here. I love it.

John Noble: Do I miss Australia? Well, no. I will definitely retire to Australia at some point, but I don't have any hankerings to go back at this time. As for Canada, Vancouver is a very beautiful city, and obviously there are very talented filmmakers there. So from that point of view, I don't feel too much trepidation. I'll miss New York, and the big family we've created here with our crew. But Vancouver is another day, another challenge, and when I worked there I found the people to be fantastic. And also it's Josh Jackson's hometown.

Adam Morgan: Speaking of Josh, how do you think Walter would react if and when Peter and Olivia became romantically involved?

John Noble: Walter cheesily tries to set them up all the time, but from a storyline point of view I'll stick to my guns here. I think we need to keep the sexual tension going for about six or ten seasons, and then in the finale they can do whatever they like. I mean, think about this: anytime you've got a three person dynamic, and then two of them hook up, someone's left out. And that would be me.

Adam Morgan: [Laughs] Well, I've heard you say you'd like to share a scene with Blair Brown, so, maybe...

John Noble: Well, yes, we kid around about that sometimes and try to come up with ways for us to share a scene. I really look forward to working with her, she's such an amazing actress.

Adam Morgan: Yes. She's a very creepy character on the show. OK, finally, what can we expect from these final six episodes of the season?

John Noble: Well everyone seems to think that Ability is the best episode, and I don't think we're going to drop from that standard. These last six episodes are very dense, exciting, and riddled with mysteries and revolutions. There are some really great stories. I can't wait for these six to air. I'm beginning to have this deep-set feeling that Fringe is becoming a television classic. I just have the feeling that lately we're getting into that ballpark. So I hope the audience agrees with me. I think these six are our best.

What Would You Ask: Walter Bishop

Tomorrow afternoon, I'll get the chance to chat one-on-one with John Noble, who plays Fringe's most iconic character, Walter Bishop. Submit your questions in the comments, and I'll try to include as many as I can!

John Noble on Good Day LA

John Noble, who plays Dr. Walter Bishop on Fringe, was interviewed Monday on Good Day LA. The first video featured a clip from the upcoming episode Bound, which I edited it out, and placed in the Fringe Spoilers section. The second video is a web extra interview.

Fringe: John Noble Conference Call

Fox held a conference call last week where a handful of journalist asked John Noble questions about Fringe and his character Dr. Walter Bishop.

On the accent:

John Noble: The character of “Walter,” because of his nature, he’s a top academic. We knew that he was probably born in – well, he was born in England, but he’d spent most of his life in Boston, which has a unique sort of accent anyway, and had lived in this sort of very worldly, peopled with scientists from all over the world, so he kind of lived in a different world and has picked up what we called a Transatlantic accent, so it is American, but it has sort of elements of British in there as well, and that’s the term we use in vocal, talking about vocal stuff is Transatlantic, and we did that quite deliberately because of the background of the character.

On Walter's relationship with Peter:

Julia Diddy (FanCast.com): “Walter” seems to almost be torn in terms of his loyalty to “Peter” and his loyalty to science, as if his experiments are also his children in a sense. ... It seems like there’s a sibling rivalry with “Peter” against science, so I was curious about the process you go through to play that.

John Noble: It’s an amazing observation. It’s true. It’s absolutely true what you say. Given a task, that “Walter” is incredibly focused, myopic when he has a task to do, and really other things become secondary. And we know this with a lot of people in our society are workaholics, and find it difficult to split their time between their work and their families. Now this is an issue that many of us deal with. This is an extreme case of that. And when he’s on his science, he really doesn’t have time for this squawking child next to him or for the wife, and I think there are plenty of examples of that in society, but “Walter’s” is just heightened a little bit.

FringeTelevision.com has an exclusive recording of the entire interview here:



Or, click here to read a transcript of the interview.

J. Noble: Hello, everybody.

Moderator: We’ll go to the first question from Joshua Maloni with Niagara Frontier Publications.

J. Maloni: John, thanks for your time today.

J. Noble: You’re very welcome.

J. Maloni: I have to say, yours is definitely one of the best new characters this season. Watching you last night chewing the gum and calling Jasika, “Asteroid,” I mean it’s just comic genius, I have to say. I’m wondering, how do you approach the parts and how much fun is it to play?

J. Noble: Well, the second part of it, it’s as much fun as it looks like. I mean it’s an absolute hoot playing. It’s obviously got serious aspects to it, but I treat it as a hoot to play the thing. Preparation, well, that’s probably the hardest bit, getting the timing right and doing the preparation on the scientific work. But working on Fringe is a great job. I mean it’s a great group of people to work with, and amazing scripts from the minds of J.J. Abrams and other people. They’re geniuses. Living inside their heads much be a very strange thing to do because they’re always coming up with something different. Overall, fantastic experience, and thank you for the comment about “Walter.”

J. Maloni: Yes. I mean, like you said, J.J., his shows, I mean the storylines are always, you know, they’re incredibly clever, but they’re also complex. And for the audience, at times, it can be a little challenging to follow. As a cast member, do you find it sort of challenging to follow all the sort of twists and turns?

J. Noble: Yes [laughs], absolutely. But I could also say that, as an audience member, I kind of enjoy reading things that make me concentrate or watching things that make me concentrate, and so, you know, that’s what Fringe does. And I watched an episode on Tuesday night, and I was in it, but there were things I missed, and I said, what was that? What did they say there? So I mean it’s fascinating to be watching something that does require concentration.

J. Maloni: Definitely. Thanks, John, for your time.

J. Noble: You’re very welcome. Thank you.

Moderator: Next we have Sarah Jersild with the Tribune Interactive.

S. Jersild: Thanks so much for taking my call.

J. Noble: You’re very welcome, Sarah.

S. Jersild: We were just talking about how “Walter” is this incredibly genial fun character, but he’s got this menace behind him, which we saw when he drugged “Astrid,” when he – we just discovered he was doing experiments on “Peter” as a child. How do you balance that being this sort of cuddly guy when all of a sudden we find out, he’s kind of scary?

J. Noble: Yes. It’s the dark side to stuff, isn’t it? I guess it exists in all of us. But with “Walter,” because of who he is and how he is and how bright he is and how disturbed he is, it just sort of surfaces a bit more often and a bit more radically than it does in most of us. I don’t find it that hard to find. I mean taking each moment when I’m doing a scene, I take each second and look at what’s gone through at that point, and sometimes those reactions just come out, to be honest with you, out of frustration, the character’s frustration, or out his greater purpose, whatever, out of his madness. But it’s certainly interesting to play, and it shocks the people I’m playing with at times. You see these shocked reactions from the other actors, but that all makes some good fun too.

S. Jersild: Great. Thanks so much.

J. Noble: You’re very welcome.

Moderator: We’ll go to David Martindale with the Hearst Newspapers.

D. Martindale: Hello, John.

J. Noble: Hello, David.

D. Martindale: I love the show. You’re really wonderful in it.

J. Noble: Thank you.

D. Martindale : At my softball game this weekend, I think I saw “The Observer” milling around. I was very concerned.

J. Noble: I think he was there.

D. Martindale: Yes. Yes.

J. Noble: Yes. He was supposed to be there.

D. Martindale: Do you have a head for science? Do you have an aptitude for even fundamental science?

J. Noble: Yes, I do, but more on a theoretical level than a practical level. One of my best friends, a fellow who I shared a house with many years and we were at the university together, he’s a brilliant scientist. He’s also quite mad. But we would talk, and my thought was the art, his was the science, but we could talk for hours. We found common ground in the theory, the theoretical side of it, and so I’ve always understood that or being able to talk about it, and also have written quite extensively. But put me in a lab with a whole lot of instruments, and I may not do so well.

D. Martindale: And I’ve heard it said that the line between genius and madman is very, very thin, and “Walter” definitely walks on both sides of that line. Do you find, I mean do you find this friend of yours, for example, some inspiration for that or someone else?

J. Noble: Yes, I certainly do. His name is Dr. Ted Steal, and he’s an extraordinary man, and he’s always ridden on the edge of the scientific community because he’s just absolutely no good at politics, but he’s a genius, and so, but he was a man whatever he did he did with absolute passion and focus and so if we were out drinking and partying, or if he was playing tennis or football or going after a girl, whatever he did, it was with complete and utter focus. That’s one of the aspects that “Walter” has as well. But he was also a lovely man, but he’d also fight people. I mean, at a turn of a hat, he would fight people, and so he was a fascinating guy. In fact, he’s having his 60th birthday this week, I think, and I can’t be there in Australia with him, but he’s an amazing man, and I’ve based a lot of this on him.

D. Martindale: Wow. That’s terrific. Thank you so much. I love the show.

J. Noble: Thanks so much for your comment.

D. Martindale: You bet.

Moderator: We’ll go to Fred Toppel with SciFi.com.

F. Toppel: Hello, John.

J. Noble: Hello, Fred.

F. Toppel: In the upcoming episodes we’re going to see later this month and next, what are some of the great “Walter” moments we’ll see?

J. Noble: In terms of – I guess there are always two things. There are the sort of bleak and dark moments that you see sometimes, and there’s also the comedic, well what play as comedic moments. We’ve just really finished off the final episode that will be going on in December, and there are a lot of “Walter” moments in there just him being inappropriate really.

There are a couple of quite – the next episode, which goes on next week, we see “Walter” from a different angle, very vulnerable. He goes back into the asylum, and we see the very, very fearful man return for a while, although he does have some wonderful moments early in the episode. But when he goes back inside, he turns back into this incredibly fearful, stuttering fellow who we saw when we first met him.

It’s a very interesting journey that we see “Walter” go through. You know, he also solves these extraordinary things either because he had done them in the past or because he simply has the intellect to think now. We’re getting more episodes where “Walter” hasn’t done that experiment sometimes, but he has the mind to be able to see a way through it, so that’s the sort of thrust of things you will expect to see in the future.

Deepening of the relationship with the son, of course. There’ll be a lot more of this. As you go through, you know, this season and the next seasons after that, you’ll see the ensemble of actors interact a lot more than maybe we’ve seen at present. The relationships with the “Olivia” character will become more like relationships do when people who know each other for a while and start to kind of have an investment and care, and care for each other. We certainly will see that in the first episode coming back next year where we all bond together to support “Olivia,” and she for us. So that’s the sort of thing you can look forward to.

F. Toppel: That sounds great. Just as a follow up, do you approach “Walter” with some sort of logic for some of the weird, seemingly random things he says, or do you just go with it?

J. Noble: I think there’s – as an actor, I always have to find a reason. I can’t just sort of say something out of the blue, so I always find some sort of neural pathway in there, some image that it’s tapped. It’s like we are, we’ll see, we’ll smell something or we’ll hear a sound, and it’ll take us into a memory. You know how that happens to you as well? And so it’s like he continually has these little memory jolts that will – but instead of keeping them to himself, he talks about them, and say, “I had a fruit cocktail once in Atlantic City.” And that’ll just come out because it’s a memory, so he’s quite inappropriate at times.

F. Toppel: He’s a fantastic character, so thank you for talking to us about it.

J. Noble: Thanks so much. It’s lovely to talk to you.

Moderator: We’ll go to Marisa Roffman with Zap2it.com

M. Roffman: John, how are you doing today?

J. Noble: How are you doing, Marisa?

M. Roffman: Okay. I’m doing very well. I’m very happy to be talking to you.

J. Noble: Thank you.

M. Roffman: So I have a question because “Walter” has been – he’s obviously very grounded in mythology between “William Bell” and Massive Dynamic. Are we going to see more of that in upcoming episodes at all? Do you know?

J. Noble: There’s going to be a growth in that sort of in the mythology. It’s not going to be laid all out for everyone to find in one episode.

M. Roffman: Right.

J. Noble: Of course, you understand, Marisa, that J.J. won’t do that.

M. Roffman: Of course. No.

J. Noble: And in fact, one of the things that they also do, these people, is that they keep the process pretty organic, and as things happen, as things happen in their mind, this is the writers I’m talking about, or an actor, one of the characters will invent something or a new character will evolve, and they keep it open to evolving the script as they go along. We’re constantly getting rewrites. Sometimes just before we go on set, we’ll get a rewrite because they’ll have a better idea on what line to say there. And so that’s, whilst that’s challenging, it’s also very, as I said, organic. I personally love working that way.

M. Roffman: Okay. Well, thank you so much for your time.

J. Noble: Thank you so much.

M. Roffman: Have a great day.

J. Noble: Bye.

Moderator: We have Troy Rogers with TheDeadbolt.com.

T. Rogers: Hello, John. Thanks for taking the time.

J. Noble: Good day, Troy. How are you?

T. Rogers: Not too bad. Do you have any say over what type of food “Walter” is looking for from episode to episode?

J. Noble: No [laughs], but it’s very funny because this week we had a week where we hadn’t been filming. We’ve been doing a lot of preparation for the next episode, and also sort of ADR and publicity. But I’ve had a chance to have a look at the blogs going on, and there are blogs going around about what “Walter” is going to eat. It’s very funny stuff, and the whole – there was one I tuned into, and it was going for pages and people having such fun just about what “Walter” is going to have to eat next. I think they finally … with a cheese steak, so we’ll see if the writers put it in.

T. Rogers: Yes. A lot of the people think you’re going to eat something sweet….

J. Noble: No [laughs]. Isn’t it funny though? It’s great fun that a television show and a character can get people having so much fun with each other.

T. Rogers: Yes. Exactly. Actually, another follow up, I was just curious what’s the weirdest thing you’ve learned so far working on the show?

J. Noble: Golly. Do you mean within the content of the science?

T. Rogers: Yes. Concerning the cases that you guys….

J. Noble: We’ve got some coming up. A lot of it is – I get more interested in the neural aspects of it, I suppose, than say the parasitical elements of it. When it goes into that sort of neural stuff and it’s a little strange in that sense, I get very excited about it. Obviously the parallel universe episode we did, which was called “The Arrival,” was probably outside of the realm of what we normally think about, although I have to confess, I had a very similar conversation about parallel universes with a friend of mine sitting in the university campus 30 years ago looking at the stars, and so it was an interesting thing to revisit that. You remember what I’m talking about?

T. Rogers: Yes.

J. Noble: So that was kind of memorable for me, that one.

T. Rogers: Okay. Great. Thanks again for your time.

J. Noble: Thank you, sir.

Moderator: We’ll go to Suzanne Lanoue with The TV MegaSite.

S. Lanoue: Hello. Thank you for being here with us.

J. Noble: Thank you, Suzanne.

S. Lanoue: I noticed that you’re speaking voice, your natural speaking voice, is very different from the one you use on the show. And I know you have quite a bit of experience acting and directing and teaching acting and all that. I was wondering, I noticed that the character has a lot of vibrato in the voice, and it almost sounds like – I don’t want to stereotype – I don’t want to say bad – stereotype like the great actor voice. I was wondering how you came up with it.

J. Noble: The character of “Walter,” because of his nature, he’s a top academic. We knew that he was probably born in – well, he was born in England, but he’d spent most of his life in Boston, which has a unique sort of accent anyway, and had lived in this sort of very wordly, peopled with scientists from all over the world, so he kind of lived in a different world and has picked up what we called a Transatlantic accent, so it is American, but it has sort of elements of British in there as well, and that’s the term we use in vocal, talking about vocal stuff is Transatlantic, and we did that quite deliberately because of the background of the character.

S. Lanoue: Did Mr. Abrams help you with that when you say we, or do you mean … coach?

J. Noble: No. I guess that was my job to think about that and come up with something, but it was accepted. I mean, if they hadn’t liked it, they would have told me, I’m sure.

S. Lanoue: All right. Thank you very much. I love Fringe, and it gets better with every episode.

J. Noble: Thank you so much.

Moderator: Next we have Joe Diliberto with Soap Opera Weekly.

J. Diliberto: Hello, John. It’s a pleasure.

J. Noble: Thank you, Joe.

J. Diliberto: I love the relationship on the show between you and your son, your character, that is, and your son. How important is the father/son relationship, and do you expect the dynamic between them to shift or change in any major way, i.e. “Walter” maybe becoming a little more normal?

J. Noble: From my point of view, and I think Josh Jackson will back this up, probably the most, the thing that has held our interest most so far has been that relationship and, in a sense, as individual actors, what we’ve worked on, we’ve probably talked more about that, Josh and I, than about anything else. We just kind of feel that it’s special to do that sort of thing and feel a bit of responsibility to try and get it as right as possible. Judging by the feedback we’re getting, it’s working, and it’s resonating with a whole lot of people.

J. Diliberto: Absolutely. Yes.

J. Noble: And we’ll continue to do that. It’s not going to turn into any sort of soft, “Oh, I understand, and now I know I love you” time, and walk away into the sunset. It won’t happen any more than it happens in families. But they’ll continue to grow. The depth of their relationship will continue to grow. There’s no question about that.

J. Diliberto: Cool. Thank you so much.

J. Noble: You’re very welcome.

Moderator: Our next question is from Rachel Bishop with TheTwoCents.com.

R. Bishop: Hello, John.

J. Noble: Hello, Rachel.

R. Bishop: “Walter” has arguably some of the best dialogue on TV today. You’ve touched on this a little bit, but have you found it difficult or perhaps challenging would be a better word to play a character who not only has very technical, scientific dialog, but also has an extremely non-linear thought process?

J. Noble: No [laughs]. I don’t know what it says about me, but I haven’t actually found it very hard at all [laughs]. I hesitate to give you that answer, but no, I haven’t. I don’t. I find it fun. I don’t know, I’ve always been attracted to that sort of humor anyway, and I guess around our home, I mean all of us use that sort of offbeat humor, so it wasn’t so difficult. And trailing off great lines of what sometimes sound like nonsense also appeals apparently, so I do that occasionally. No, it wasn’t too hard [laughs].

R. Bishop: Good.

J. Noble: Thank you.

R. Bishop: You make it look very easy, so I guess it was easy.

J. Noble: Well, what I’m saying is that I enjoy doing it. It’s not something that I find terribly difficult and have to worry about. I mean it comes certainly naturally, I think.

R. Bishop: Good. Now what have been some of your favorite scenes or moments thus far in the series that we’ve seen?

J. Noble: Yes. Well, anything to do with the cow. Anything to do with the cow, I mean, I adore working with the cow. It just makes – the cow makes me laugh. I don’t know why. Everyone gets all sort of gooey and funny when the cow comes in. And then, of course, I got to milk the cow and, you know, because they rang up and said, “Do you need some coaching to milk a cow?” And I said, “Certainly not. I could milk a cow. I’m a country boy,” so that was great fun milking the cow. I don’t know.

It just – the one where … in the pilot where we’re eating Chinese watching “Sponge Bob,” and that cow was on our necks, myself and Jasika. That was the funniest thing because it was nuzzling up against us trying to get the Chinese food. It wouldn’t stay until I gave it some, but it was just the funniest night doing that scene about 4:00 in the morning. Those sorts of things, there’s a whole lot of them.

One of my favorite games at present is to try and make – I’ve got this thing where I try and make “Broyles” laugh because Lance Reddick plays it to a tee. So I go out of my way whenever I have a scene to try and make him laugh. Of course, as actors, we have great fun with this because, in rehearsals, I succeed. But as soon as the cameras roll, there’s no way. It’s going to be absolute headlines across the nation. “Broyles Smiles” one day.

R. Bishop: That’s great. Well, I really enjoy “Walter,” and I feel like I want to buy him a root beer.

J. Noble: That’s very kind of you.

R. Bishop: Thank you for your time.

J. Noble: Thank you so much.

Moderator: We’ll go back to David Martindale with the Hearst Newspapers.

D. Martindale: I have one more for you. As big and broad as you get to play this character, has it ever happened yet that somebody’s stopped it and said, “John, don’t you think you’re going a little bit big in this scene?”

J. Noble: Sure. Absolutely, David.

D. Martindale: Do they let you bounce off the walls if you want?

J. Noble: No. The agreement that I have with every director that comes in, the term I use is: “I’ll push the edge of the envelope, and then you can pull me wherever you want to.” But I find it easier to go for, you know, “Let me take all the risks, and then tell me what is too much” rather than starting with nothing or starting from very little. I start with a lot, and sometimes they’ll say to me, just pull that one back. It’s no big deal. Or just, you know, change that or just pull the vocal level back there, which I’m more than happy to do, but it means that I have to trust the directors. But I’d rather try for the sort of big effect and then pull it back than start with nothing and try and build it up.

D. Martindale: That’s true. They give Oscars to actors who go big. They don’t often give them to actors that don’t do much.

J. Noble: You have to have a trust in your director. Basically your directors and your editors, you have to say to them, “Well, look, I’ll do this, but don’t hang me up to dry here.” That trust, I mean, I have that with the people I work with. It would be terrible if you thought suddenly that you were being hung out to dry doing this big performance, and it was out of character and out of context, and they kept it in there, making you look like a fool. Then that wouldn’t be so comfortable.

D. Martindale: I get you. Do you ever have “Walter” moments? I mean just where you space out?

J. Noble: Yes [laughs].

D. Martindale: People look at you like you have lobsters crawling out your ears when you do it.

J. Noble: Yes. My daughters do that quite a lot, actually [laughs]…. No, we do. We have a lot of fun of that in nature, but I do have “Walter” moments. My mind goes off onto quite strange places at times, and I’m told, I’m told that this happens.

D. Martindale: It makes sense to you, though.

J. Noble: Absolutely makes sense to me. I’m confused as to why other people just don’t understand.

D. Martindale: I get you. Cool. Thank you so much.

J. Noble: You’re welcome, David.

Moderator: Next is Sarah Jersild with the Tribune Interactive.

S. Jersild: Can you tell me a little bit about the relationship that “Walter” has with “Olivia” and with “Astrid” because the big relationship you have is with “Peter,” but you’re also seeming to get more in-depth relationship with the two women.

J. Noble: Yes. Look. It’s been one of the things that has had to come slowly. We’ve had a man who has obviously been – I don’t think he would have ever been particularly good with women anyway, you know. I think he would have been a pretty horrible husband, not because he’s a bad man, simply because he wouldn’t have thought to be nice. Then he comes out, and he’s confronted with these two girls, and he doesn’t know how to talk to girls, so it’s taken time to learn. He still can’t remember “Astrid’s” name.

S. Jersild: Right.

J. Noble: Which is, I have to say, one of the great joys is working with Jasika on that whole, you know, the name business. She is such a funny girl. I can’t wait to see what they come up with her eventually, but she’s a very, very funny woman. And the one with “Olivia” is fascinating because that’s far deeper. My sense is that “Walter” starts to feel almost paternal towards her. But obviously you can’t go into that path, and just on occasions I can see that “Olivia” wants to ask “Walter” something, but then she’ll back away. We’ve seen a couple times that that’s happened. Somewhere down the track, I think that there will be a coming together of those two, and I don’t know this for a fact, but I just feel it’s inevitable, and I think it’s something that “Walter” and “Olivia” will need to do.

S. Jersild: Right. One of the things you were talking about earlier was there will be a newsflash when “Broyles” smiles. I just found out that he’s actually a jazz musician.

J. Noble: He is [laughs]. He’s a wonderful musician and composer.

S. Jersild: Is there a lot of music on the set or is something like that, and did it surprise the heck out of you when you found out?

J. Noble: It did. When I first met the man, I mean, he’s a very quiet, dignified man. We started to talk, and I suddenly find out that his first degree was in music and he’s, in fact, a composer and a jazz musician, among other things. He’s a man of many parts. But he’s quiet and enigmatic and a very noble man to just spend time with, so I’m very impressed with him, I must say.

S. Jersild: Thanks again.

J. Noble: You’re very welcome.

Moderator: We’ll go to Amy Amatangelo with the Boston Herald.

A. Amatangelo: I joined the call a little late, so I apologize if someone asked this before.

J. Noble: That’s all right, Amy.

A. Amatangelo: I was wondering how much thought you give to the whole idea of “The Pattern” and what is “The Pattern,” and do you have to deal with a lot of people trying to get information out of you, fans of the show thinking you might know something more than they know at this point?

J. Noble: Do you know, we don’t know. I don’t know what The Pattern” is. “Walter” doesn’t, and that kind of works okay for me. We know, and having a global conspiracy of sorts, I mean, goodness me, James Bond opening this week, we’re used to the idea of global conspiracies. I don’t particularly want to know what’s going on in terms of the writers’ minds. As to people asking, well, yes. But it’s not offensively. It’s just, “Do you know anything? And I say, “I don’t know,” and I mean it, so I can’t be drawn really, Amy. But no, a little bit is revealed, and these writers have in mind a plan that could last one, two, three years, or however long it lasts, and they will bring that all to a conclusion at the right time. We can’t reveal everything now because where do you go, so there’s a long way to go.

A. Amatangelo: I actually laughed out loud this week when you called – you were on the phone with “Peter” and you say it’s your father. That whole delivery, I thought, was just so funny in just the way you did it. But I was just curious, is all of that on the page? Is it a lot of rehearsals and back and forth? Is any of it adlibbed on your part to kind of get that … to make a line that really is not that funny, very funny?

J. Noble: What I get is the ink on the page. No, I mean the interpretation of the character is mine. As an actor, I talk an awful lot about rhythms when I’m talking about acting. I don’t want to bore you with this, but that’s what I do, just creating different rhythms within the scene and the act of the scene. See, I did bore you there, but so I mean I’m always looking for rhythms that will work because it makes life interesting rather than just playing through on a flat line the whole time. Lines like that, I don’t know. They just kind of sound right to do it like that.

A. Amatangelo: In the science on the show, we hear a lot when people on medical shows that they have trouble getting the medical jargon down and they have to kind of rehearse. Are there any particular things that you’ve had to – because I feel like your character also often has a lot of the exposition because you’re saying what the science is behind what’s happening? Has there been anything in particular that’s been challenging about that? Half the time, do you even understand what you’re saying…?

J. Noble: Yes. I do what research I can, and I do it off the Internet. So if there’s a chemical described, then I’ll go and see what they’re talking about basically just for my own satisfaction or procedure. The times that it’s more likely to affect me is after we’ve been filming for about 15 hours and we’re onto our tenth take. Then I could start to jumble … it’s really interesting. It doesn’t happen the other way around, you know, at the beginning. It’s after when we start to get tired that things will come out jumbled. But it does take a little bit of work, Amy. Yes.

A. Amatangelo: Great. Thank you so much.

J. Noble: You’re very welcome.

Moderator: Next we have Tara Bennett with SFX.

T. Bennett: Thanks so much for your time today.

J. Noble: You’re welcome.

T. Bennett: One of the things that’s been interesting about your character is that you have had to really kind of do some more of the gory work on the show.

J. Noble: Yes.

T. Bennett: I was wondering if at any time that’s been kind of jarring for you or if there’s ever been a moment when you’ve had to look in a body cavity or something that you’ve kind of gone … even yourself got a little shiver?

J. Noble: No. There hasn’t been. Now I spent quite a long time doing a semi-regular [role] in Australia as a neurosurgeon [on a TV show], so I got to look inside bodies, I’d say, a bit. I was thinking about this yesterday, Tara, in terms of, it looks odd, doesn’t it, to see a man looking inside….

T. Bennett: Sometimes. Yes.

J. Noble: And yet, I thought, “Well, could I do that?” And the answer is yes. But what I would find difficult was when “Walter” can seem to harm or to hurt people and not feel anything. I think that one, but you see we don’t hurt each other, and we don’t hurt the actors that are there and the prosthetics don’t get hurt. I think if there was genuine pain being inflicted, I would feel far less comfortable than I do.

T. Bennett: Thanks so much, and I love your performance.

J. Noble: Thanks.

Moderator: Next we have Julia Diddy with FanCast.com.

J. Diddy: Thank you so much for your time today.

J. Noble: You’re welcome, Julia.

J. Diddy: First, I wanted to know what your own thoughts are about science and scientific advances pushing the envelope, and how does that inform your character?

J. Noble: In my lifetime, you know, lasers were considered to be some sort of futuristic foolish idea. This is in my lifetime, and we use them on a daily basis for everything now. I believe we are only tapping the edges of what is potential … as we learn more through quantum mechanics and string theory, we’re finding out that all sorts of things are possible that we didn’t think were. We’re becoming less ignorant as to the possibilities. We can imagine the impossibilities, as J.J. Abrams likes to say. So I don’t have any problem with any of it, and I just went off on a great big tangent and forgot the question.

J. Diddy: You actually handled it beautifully.

J. Noble: Thank you, Julia.

J. Diddy: In terms about your feelings of science and forming your character. And the only other question, very quickly, you touched upon this a bit already in terms of your character’s relationship with his son. But I’d like to hear just a bit more in terms of “Walter” seems to almost be torn in terms of his loyalty to “Peter” and his loyalty to science, as if his experiments are also his children in a sense.

J. Noble: I think that’s a beautiful observation.

J. Diddy: It seems like there’s a sibling rivalry with “Peter” against science, so I was curious about the process you go through to play that.

J. Noble: It’s an amazing observation. It’s true. It’s absolutely true what you say. Given a task, that “Walter” is incredibly focused, myopic when he has a task to do, and really other things become secondary. And we know this with a lot of people in our society are workaholics, and find it difficult to split their time between their work and their families. Now this is an issue that many of us deal with. This is an extreme case of that. And when he’s on his science, he really doesn’t have time for this squawking child next to him or for the wife, and I think there are plenty of examples of that in society, but “Walter’s” is just heightened a little bit.

J. Diddy: That makes perfect sense. Okay. Thank you so much.

J. Noble: Thank you so much.

Moderator: We’ll go back to Troy Rogers with TheDeadbolt.com

T. Rogers: Actually, following up on that science question, I was wondering what are your personal views on fringe science? Are you into big foot and UFOs and stuff like that?

J. Noble: No, not UFOs. No. I’ve got nothing against them, but it’s just not something that tantalizes my imagination. I think I’m much more fascinated by what we’ve discovered, as I said a while ago, through quantum mechanics and so forth. What was started off by Albert Einstein essentially, who just opened the floodgates into a new world, and then we suddenly find out that we can bend time or the string theory … and it just means that anything is conceivable, and I find that fascinating. We don’t know anything. We don’t know what black holes are even. Do you know what I mean? To me, I get excited by it.

T. Rogers: Yes. So do I because isn’t the theory that we only use 10% of our brains.

J. Noble: Yes. But, you know, we’re moving exponentially. We’re moving so fast that today’s technology is out of place by next week. It’s an exciting time to live in keeping up with these guys. I don’t know. I’m glad to be alive to observe it. I think I’ve lived in an amazing time. I think I’ve lived in amazing times.

T. Rogers: Excellent. Thanks again, John.

J. Noble: You’re very welcome.

Moderator: We’ll go back to Joe Diliberto with the Soap Opera Weekly.

J. Diliberto: Thanks. Hello, again. You were talking about acting before and some of the processes you go through. My question is actually about another actor on the show who is not in it a hell of a lot, but I love her, Blair Brown.

J. Noble: Of course, I know you were going to talk about her.

J. Diliberto: And I was wondering because her character is so kind of diametrically opposite. She’s so focused and everything like that as opposed to yours. Do you think there would ever be any scenes between the two of you?

J. Noble: Absolutely has to be. Absolutely has to be, I mean, apart from the fact that Blair and I want to work together. That’s just a personal thing. But she’s already been interviewed and said, “Yes, Walter and” – what did she say? “Walter and Nina used to be together.” She’s invented this whole scenario. The first time I ever met the woman, when we did a read through the first time, she said, “Well, down the track, I can see that we’ll finish up having a big of go.” She’s a very funny woman. That’s the theory that somewhere down the line, maybe they were even together, which is absolutely feasible, and it’ll be, I’m sure, a very interesting challenge working with Blair Brown. She’s a smashing actress.

J. Diliberto: Yes. Absolutely. That would be so excellent. I hope it happens.

J. Noble: So do I.

J. Diliberto: Thank you.

J. Noble: You’re welcome.

Moderator: Our final question will come from Sarah Jersild.

S. Jersild: Can you tell me a little bit about the experience of actually building the relationship with “Peter” on the show, how you and Joshua Jackson sort of worked between the two of you to make it such an authentic father/son estranged relationship?

J. Noble: We talked. We talked. Joshua and I talked very openly and, frankly, right from the beginning, about this amazing thing. You know, he – we’re both men. I mean, I am a father of a son, and fortunately I have a very good relationship with him. But we understood how complex these things are between men, as indeed they are between women as well. It was something that touched us both and interested us both, and so we became very animated right from the beginning, Josh Jackson and I, about the responsibility of playing this correctly, getting this right. And we still talk about it. We still get excited about it. We’ll go into each other’s caravan and talk about that issue, nothing else but that issue, trying to find the truth in there. And sometimes it’s not clichéd sometimes. Sometimes it’s ugly. It’s not what you’d expect, and we’re trying to get all of those elements into it. We take it pretty seriously.

S. Jersild: Great. Thank you so much.

J. Noble: You’re very welcome.

Moderator: We have no further questions in queue. Do you have any closing remarks, Mr. Noble?

J. Noble: Simply this. I mean the people that have been asking questions, thank you for the continued support and the lovely comments you’ve made today. You know, I think the journey of Fringe has only just started. Every energy that I sense around the place is to take this good, very good show, and turn it into a great show. That’s the discussion. That’s the energy that’s going into it, and your support and the way you’ve spoken today obviously you have support of the show, and I thank you for that. It’s going to be a great ride. I think it’s going to be an amazing ride, so thank you so much.

What Would You Ask Walter?

FOX has scheduled a conference call tomorrow with actor John Noble, better known as Dr. Walter Bishop, to discuss the upcoming all-new episodes of FRINGE and his character’s surprising return to the mental institution!

I've been invited to take part, so if you have any questions you would like me to ask Walter, leave them in the comments, and I will try my best to get them answered.

10 New Fringe Behind The Scenes Videos and Interviews

1. "How the show was cast" featuers interviews from: * J.J. Abrams -- Co-Creator / Exec. Prod. / Writer * Alex Graves -- Director / Exec. Prod. (pilot) * Alex Kurtzman -- Co-Creator / Exec. Prod. / Writer


2. "B-ROLL" features behind-the-scenes footage from the filming of the Fringe pilot episode.


3. "How I prepared for my role" features interviews from: John Noble -- "Walter Bishop" * Blair Brown -- "Nina Sharp" * Kirk Acevedo -- "Charlie Francis"


4. "How FRINGE was created" features interviews from: * J.J. Abrams -- Co-Creator / Exec. Prod. / Writer * Alex Kurtzman -- Co-Creator / Exec. Prod. / Writer * Roberto Orci -- Co-Creator / Exec. Prod. / Writer


5. "Graphics" features animated Glyphs graphics.


6. "About the car chase" features interviews from: * Alex Graves -- Director / Exec. Prod. (pilot) * Mark Valley -- "John Scott" Plus, behind-the-scenes footage from the filming of the Fringe pilot episode.


7. "About The Script" features interviews from * J.J. Abrams -- Co-Creator / Exec. Prod. / Writer * Roberto Orci -- Co-Creator / Exec. Prod. / Writer * Alex Kurtzman -- Co-Creator / Exec. Prod. / Writer * Joshua Jackson -- "Peter Bishop" * John Noble -- "Walter Bishop"


8. "About My Character" features interviews from: * Anna Torv -- "Olivia Dunham" * Joshua Jackson -- "Peter Bishop" * John Noble -- "Walter Bishop" * Lance Reddick -- "Phillip Broyles" * Blair Brown -- "Nina Sharp" * Jasika Nicole - "Astrid Farnsworth" * Kirk Acevedo -- "Charlie Francis"


9. "About the foot chase" features interviews from: * Alex Graves -- Director / Exec. Prod. (pilot) * Joshua Jackson -- "Peter Bishop" * Anna Torv -- "Olivia Dunham" Plus, behind-the-scenes footage from the filming of the Fringe pilot episode.


10. "About FRINGE" features interviews from: * J.J. Abrams -- Co-Creator / Exec. Prod. / Writer * Alex Kurtzman -- Co-Creator / Exec. Prod. / Writer * Roberto Orci -- Co-Creator / Exec. Prod. / Writer * Joshua Jackson -- "Peter Bishop" * Anna Torv -- "Olivia Dunham" * Lance Reddick -- "Phillip Broyles" * Blair Brown -- "Nina Sharp"
    

AP Interview: John Noble, Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv

J.J. Abrams on the 'Fringe' with new show

The Associated Press interviewed John Noble, Joshua Jackson, and Anna Torv about their Fringe characters.

* Thanks to SpoilerTV

Fringe Promotional Photos: Episode 1.01 - Pilot

Fox released these "episodic photos" from the Pilot episode of FRINGE, which premiers Tuesday, Sept. 9 (8:00-9:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

* Thanks to SpoilerTV. Photo credit: Ben Mark Holzberg/FOX