If you haven’t seen USA Network’s White Collar, then you are missing something amazing!
This FBI agent + con man on release to help solve cases is really fun and it’s been called a “bro-mance” because it’s like 2 brothers.. and it’s really about the guys in this series. The men dominate in this series and one of those men is Willie Garson!!
Most often seen with Matt Bomer in scenes doing things not quite legal, Willie provides some edge and authentic con-man feel. The 11/13 episode absolutely featured Willie’s character at his finest as this series unfolds in its’ first season.
We had an opportunity to get in on a group interview with other journalists and here’s a transcript of that interview. It’s really long so this is part one of the interview with Willie Garson!!
Moderator Our first question comes from the line of Jamie Steinberg with Starry Constellation Magazine.
J. Steinberg Hello, it’s a pleasure to speak with you. What was it about this particular show or about the script that drew you back to TV?
W. Garson Well, I found the script to be very interesting and very timely. Certainly, we all have been reading about a lot of people figuring out ways to scam and get money for doing nothing, other than figuring out a way to get over on hard working people. So I thought that was a really interesting time for a show like this.
J. Steinberg What’s the most challenging aspect of your role?
W. Garson That’s an interesting question. The most challenging aspect was for me, my characters have always been very showy. This character kind of operates under the radar and that was an interesting difference in many of the characters I’ve played, certainly from Stanford and certainly from NYPD Blue, certainly a little more behind the scenes kind of guy.
Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Lynn DeVries with TVdramawatch.com.
L. DeVries Thank you for taking the call with us. I love the show and I like your character. He’s very interesting and even though you call him under the radar, he kind of has a real dynamic, interesting attitude. How much of that character was your invention?
W. Garson Well, certainly, the reality is when you buy me, you get what you get, so that’s kind of what they’re trapped with is that I’m a little bit of a hambone. But I find that he’s really only quirky and interesting more so when he’s alone with Neal Caffrey played by Matt Bomer. They have a very strong and deep partnership. So I like to say that he’s more the people person and I’m more the quiet, I should be able to fade into the background if there’s anyone else around. That was interesting for me to try to play.
L. DeVries Well, I like it. I like the way you two interact with each other on the screen. That’s really nice. How would you like to see Mozzie develop as a character on the series?
W. Garson Well, I think what’s happening now is as the scripts are developing, what’s great is that I’m getting the opportunity to fade into any situation. So whether that means hiding behind the caper or pretending to be someone else kind of a lawyer, a cop, a driver or something that someone would just walk by and then the camera knows that I’m actually deeply involved. But the person that we’re dealing with has no idea that I would be an operative in the caper.
L. DeVries But will we be finding out more of the character’s back story and how you originally came to be friends with Neal?
W. Garson Oh, God, I hope so. I think we’re slowly coming to terms with how we hooked up and all the absolute crimes we have committed in the past that have brought us to this point.
Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Erin Stranyak with Exclusive Magazine.
E. Stranyak I just wanted to say thank you for joining today. My question is in Sex in the City, New York City itself was as any other character on the show. So do you expect that the White Collar script will treat the city in the same sort of Manhattan centric kind of way?
W. Garson Well, I do feel already right out of the gate, that’s what I’m hearing from people, certainly, is that we are shooting the city. Which is, I find a lot of shows shoot in New York and they might as well be shooting on a sound stage. Our show if I’m talking in a scene, we really make a strong effort to have basically like the Empire State Building sticking out of my head. There’s such an energy and there’s much architecture and people and vibe on the street, that we try to grab all of that as much as we possibly can. It does provide an energy and just kind of a sea of humanity that really helps us in terms of telling the stories. We so far already just so early on, we’ve shot right at the Central Park fountain. We shot in Grand Central Station, like crazy massive backdrops that really inform how big it is behind all of us.
E. Stranyak My follow-up question is speaking of New York, you’ve recently relocated to the city to shoot both White Collar and your new movie, Sex in the City, to which I think I speak for a lot of people when I say I’m really excited about that. So tell me, are you excited about your cross country move and what do you like about living in New York City or dislike about living in New York City?
W. Garson Well, I will burst that bubble and tell you that it’s actually was erroneously reported. I don’t live here. I am from here and I just commute back and forth. So for some reason, I live in Los Angeles and have lived there for quite a while. However, for some reason, nothing I shoot ever shoots there. So people just assume that I live in New York and that I’ve moved back to New York. I actually live in seat 2A in the airplane that I travel on.
So it’s a wonderful place. I think it’s a hard city to live in and it’s hard city to raise a child in, so I have decided to stay in Los Angeles, but that’s also a lie, because I’m here every five minutes, so I love it here. I love it here. I love the energy and the food and the culture and so I’ll always be a New Yorker, but for right now, I actually still live in Los Angeles.
E. Stranyak So New Yorker at heart, thank you very much.
Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Jim Halterman with Edge Publications.
J. Halterman Thank for your time today. I wanted to know, being on a TV show, any TV show, you’re often closely associated with your character. Is that a blessing or a curse from your experience with Sex in the City and then also with your new role?
W. Garson It’s mostly a blessing. I kind of try and dive in head first. What’s great about television is it gives you over the course of seasons, it gives you such an opportunity to explore everything about a person from top to bottom, which you don’t often get in movies because you only have two hours to tell a story. In this case, certainly in this first season, we have 15 hours to tell a story. So each episode, you try and add one more facet of the person. This character definitely shares a lot of my fear of big business and big government and my kind of cynical outlook. In Sex in the City, I definitely share the kind of snarky wit and style of Stanford. Each of them you find things inside of yourself that hopefully have something to do to form the character that has been created for you. In this case, the wonderful Jeff Easton created this guy and it’s our job to service it and bring what we can to it, so that’s what I’m trying to do here with this guy.
J. Halterman Is there anything you can tell any of us about the Sex in the City movie, what Stanford is up to in the movie?
W. Garson Stanford is still a male. That’s all I can tell you.
Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Beth Ann Henderson with Nicegirlstv.com.
BA Henderson Thanks for taking our calls today. I’d like to know what are the differences and the similarities between you and your character?
W. Garson Certainly, as I said, the cynicism and figuring out how people try to get away with things. Also, what we’re going to find out is the thrill of just being involved in something bigger than themselves. We have an episode where we talk about why we do what we do and we talk about it, that it doesn’t matter if we’re committing some crime for personal gain or if we’re helping solve a crime. It’s the excitement of living the adventure; it is the enticement. So I definitely feel that myself, the adventure of living is something that I have certainly chosen. So that’s exciting to me.
The differences I think that myself, Willie Garson, is much more conservative in terms of where am I living, where’s my next meal coming from, all of those kinds of things. I’m more of a businessman than Mozzie probably is. So I get a chance with Mozzie to–Mozzie just goes with God and Willie doesn’t.
BA Henderson For my follow-up question, I just wanted to know will we find out, does Mozzie know more about Kate than he’s telling Neal?
W. Garson Stay tuned, I have no idea. That’s up to our lovely writers’ room.
Stay tuned for the part 2 of this interesting interview with Wilile Garson. As he said, his home is seat 2A on whatever airline that he flies. He’s funny, fast and definitely on a roll with Mozzie as a con man character.
Make sure you tune in on Friday nights at 10 PM for White Collar on the USA Network!!
Stevie Wilson
Subscribe to RSS headline updates from:
Powered by FeedBurner
LA-Story Recessionista, Celebrity Stylescope, Celebrity Style Slam Trademark/Copyright: KBP Inc. 2007-09
