White Collar: Willie Garson Says It's Not Just Hot on the White Collar Season Finale!

We love White Collar and we hadn’t forgotten the other half of Willie Garson’s interview– but we needed to get our fix of White Collar over the weekend – and with the holidays, it’s better to run it when you are all here to see it. White Collar is a new series (about to run into a season finale this Friday @ 10 PM on USA Network.
The show stars Matt Bomer, Tim, Tiffany Thiessen, Willie Garson and Tim Dekay

Willie Garson
Moderator Our next question comes from the line Kendra White with Sidereel.
K. White Thanks for talking with us. I just wanted to ask how you actually first heard about and became involved with White Collar?
W. Garson It’s actually kind of an interesting story. Fox International Television Productions was making an off-market TV show for the international market called “Mental,” which was shooting in Bogota, Columbia. They asked me to go down and do an episode and I went and did one because I’d never been to Bogota, Colombia.
When I got back, I got a call from them and they said you were wonderful. You saved the show. It’s amazing, amazing. Would you like a series? I said yes, I was actually looking for one. I like the stability and the new scripts every week. I love that, so I said sure and they sent over the script and it was fantastic.
As you all write about television, you’re aware those good scripts are few and far between right now. It was just a wonderful, fresh and energetic setting for a show that Jeff Easton created. Fox had teamed up already with USA on “Burn Notice” and done very well. And this was their next partnership with them and instead of just doing like a spin-off of Burn Notice or Burn Notice II, they came up with a fresh, unique twist and so I love the script. It always ends up being the script, always, so that attracted me immediately.

K. White I’m curious what you think you would tell someone who is thinking about watching White Collar, but hasn’t actually tuned in yet, what would you tell them the show is all about and what would draw them in.

W. Garson I think it’s interesting take on what people will do to try and scam people, so people can know that there are smart people looking out for all of us and trying to bring these people down.
I said this before. It’s amazing to me. I worked as a dishwasher for $4 an hour and I know in these times, there are people who have worked really hard and watched their whole life’s savings go away. I think it’s a great twist on seeing how there are people out there with good intentions trying to make sure that everyone kind of takes care of each other and does the right thing.

I think that’s a really good message for right now. And the show is really energetic and fun and fast paced. It’s really unfortunate how horrifying the people are on the show to look at. Tiffani Theissen is just so hideous and Matt Bomer is so unfortunately unattractive, so I think people once they tune in, they’re hooked once you give it a shot.

Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Rosa Cordero with Accidental Sexiness.com.
R. Cordero Willie, I’m very excited to speak with you again. I wanted to know how it is for you when you were on Sex in the City, you worked with mostly a female cast and now you’ve gone to working with a big male cast. I wanted to know what the differences were and which do you prefer.
W. Garson That’s a funky question. You know, it’s a different energy, but actors are strange animals. We all try and take care of each other the same way. I think it’s no secret that women in the entertainment business certainly who have pursued for years a career in acting and theatre are no shrinking violets. So they’re not like the obvious stereotype of a quiet girl, so there’s really not that much difference. Also the men working in theatre are not kind of macho, macho guys. We have to be really in touch with our emotions and very sensitive, sometimes almost in a softer way we have to be able to tap into our emotions as well, so the same for men. So I find actors to be wonderful, interesting, worldly people, whether they’re male or female. So it really doesn’t make that much of a difference to me.
R. Cordero Thanks, for my follow-up question, when I spoke with you in New York, you mentioned that you were in the process of finalizing your adoption. As soon as that was finalized, you’d be able to show us your lovely son. Have you been able to finalize that yet?
W. Garson Not yet, but we’re inching closer, hopefully by the end of the year, so a bunch of things happened last week. And we’re getting closer and closer and then it will be done. I will be done with the adoption process, which I highly recommend to everyone who’s thinking about it. I say just jump right in and do it. There’s a lot of kids who need a home.


Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Christine Nyholm with Cable TV Examiner. Please go ahead.
C. Nyholm I was wondering, I know you’ve been in show business for a long time. So I’d like to know your perspective of how or what advice you would give to young people that want to start out in show business, how to go about it.
W. Garson I would say think of anything else that you could do for a living. And then if you have truly exhausted every possibility, then try it. It’s a very hard thing right now for people. We’re not living in a climate that really supports it. Although, I personally feel now in difficult times, I feel like we need it more than ever before. I approach the business side of it much like a businessman. Be better prepared. Be better at what you do and work really, really hard and just worry about the work, rather than in our current culture of easy reality fame and all of that. I think if you concentrate on your work, eventually someone is going to notice.
C. Nyholm: I’d like to know what it is you enjoy most about being an actor.
W. Garson What I really enjoy about being an actor is certainly the freedom. I like having a Tuesday off. I like that there’s a new script all the time, so it’s not like, oh, I’m selling another house today or whatever. It’s always different. Every script, every page, every scene has new challenges. The joy of getting to try out different things, try to be different people, try to make writers’ words work. Figuring out, it’s a very cerebral, mental process and I love the activity of it. It’s a wonderful blessing that I get to do this.
Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Courtney Schinke with Raked Review.
C. Schinke Your character, like you said, is very below the radar and very mysterious, actually. I was wondering how much of the season’s storylines were you privy to before you could create your character. Do you know any secrets that we don’t know that helped you make him what he is?
W. Garson Not yet. I know things will come out in episodes that we shot that haven’t aired yet, but we get the scripts as they roll out. We don’t even have next week’s script yet. So it’s always an interesting surprise to open it up and see where we’re going. As far as the way TV works unless it’s from my understanding, like a show like Lost or something, that they had it all mapped out when they started the show. I think most shows, the writers are following what happens in their minds as they’re writing and seeing where do we go next. I think that’s what’s happening with our show for sure.
C. Schinke That’s really interesting. In the first episode, you actually tried to meet up with Neal and be very sneaky about it, the whole cigarette scene. The FBI immediately outed you as his contact. I’m curious to know if Neal’s big skill is being sneaky and not being caught, what do you think yours is if you were outed basically immediately?
W. Garson I think mine is how hidden he is. Let them think that I’m no big deal and don’t worry about me. I’m just an idiot. I think that’s the way we’re playing it with my relationship with the FBI. It’s like, don’t worry about him. He’s just some freak. I think as time goes on, we’ll see how my partnership with the FBI develops and how much they’re allowed to deal with me, certainly legally, how they are allowed to work with this kind of questionably legal operative.

Hobbies and Interests
Moderator Our next question is a follow-up from the line of Erin Stranyak with Exclusive Magazine.
E. Stranyak As we know, Mozzie is a career criminal and I would just like to know what is the worst crime that you’ve ever committed?
W. Garson Oh, wow! Well, okay, I stole $50 million, no–let’s see, the worst crime I’ve ever committed. I used to definitely borrow things, like I would say, cash from bars where I worked as a bartender. I don’t think that’s any secret. Bartenders give away drinks, etc., to get some extra tips. Certainly, at a bar I worked at in London, they were on to every bartender trick. So they would measure the bottles every night and I certainly have put water into a liquor bottle to top it off to the level that would make sense with what was keyed into the register at the end of the night. It’s a pretty good scam.
E. Stranyak That’s certainly not the worst thing that you could have done.
W. Garson I can’t think of anything more horrible. I grew up well taken care of with a strong work ethic. I’m not really a criminal guy myself.
E. Stranyak Maybe running a stop sign every once in a while.
W. Garson Bye, bye.

Season Finale is Friday 12/4 @ 10 PM on USA Network. Check your guide for the channel. If you are going to miss it, set up your tivo or dvr. You don’t want to miss this one!

Stevie Wilson, LA-Story.com


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