JOSHUA MALINA CHAT TRANSCRIPT - AOL / TV GUIDE (October 4, 1999)
Tvgchat: Welcome, Joshua! Thanks for joining us!
Joshua Malina: Hello, everybody. Fire away.
Question: What's it like working with Sabrina Lloyd?
Joshua Malina: Good opener. I actually technically worked with her once
before. I guest-starred on the Season 3 premiere of "Sliders." I played
Egghead. He was the host of a futuristic life and death game. I didn't have
scenes with her and as I point out, she never introduced herself to me. She's
a pleasure to work with. I always enjoy the Jeremy/Natalie scenes.
Question: How do you and your friends on the TV show get along?
Joshua Malina: It probably sounds corny, but we're all good friends. I've
spent time with Peter and Josh outside of the show. We get together and go
bowling or play golf. At work we have a ball, we have a lot of pranks on the
set. Everyone gets along really well. No egos, no tension.
Question: What's the coolest part of working on "Sports Night"?
Joshua Malina: Getting paid at the end of the week. I guess the coolest part
is for a decade, I've been an actor. I've always worked enough not to have to
hold another job. This is the first time I've had steady work and played the
same character for over a year. A lot of people complain that in TV it gets
old quickly. When you do a movie, you play the character for 2 hours. For TV,
you do 22 episodes, so you play the character for 11 hours. If the writing is
good, it can be more rewarding to work on a TV show.
Question: How did you get started?
Joshua Malina: I've always been involved as long as I can remember as an
amateur, community theater, plays at camp, high school plays. Then I was an
undergraduate at Yale. The undergraduate program. When I graduated from
college, I had the great good fortune to meet Aaron Sorkin. Starting back in
1989, I worked with him in "A Few Good Men" on Broadway and then everything
else he has written. My advice is meet somebody vastly more talented than you
are, then ride their coattails.
Question: Just thought I would thank you and ask you to thank everyone
involved with the show. It is wonderful and fun and smart, and I'm thrilled
it will be back tomorrow. Any thoughts on how Season 2 will differ from last
year?
Joshua Malina: I think a lot of the story lines will play out. Things will
be resolved that were first introduced last year. I think viewers will get to
know the characters even more. The most major plot turn mirrors real life.
Robert Guillaume, who plays Isaac, who had a stroke, is back, very bravely,
and he is dealing [with] what actually happened to him as the character. I
think that will be a very major story line this year and very interesting to
watch.
Question: What do you like about your character?
Joshua Malina: I like a lot of things about Jeremy. He's smart and funny and
he's kind. He is a lot of good things. I like most that he can be inept, dumb
and at times mean. Aaron has created a character that is multi-faceted. You
usually don't get that in a sitcom. You can describe them in a phrase or two.
They don't deviate from that for the first five years. Jeremy is a little
more complex to play.
Question: What is your favorite medium... theater, movies, TV?
Joshua Malina: That's a tough question, having worked in all three. If
forced to pick one, I would say theater. There is no substitute for walking
out in front of an audience and giving a live performance. At the same time,
there are aspects of acting in front of the camera. Unfortunately, it's hard
to make a living as an actor.
Question: Will the problems with his parents' breakup and the effect on
Jeremy be explored more this season?
Joshua Malina: I hope so and I think so. The nature of the way Aaron writes
the scripts is such that it is impossible to know too far ahead of time what
will happen. He puts pen to paper for Monday on the preceding Friday. You can
know ahead of time what he intends to do, but till you see the execution, you
don't know what he will do. There have been talks about Jeremy and Natalie
breaking up. If they do, it will be in part [due to] the psychological
repercussions of his parents breaking up.
Question: Would you like to direct?
Joshua Malina: I've thought about it and was just discussing it the other
day on the set with Felicity Huffman, who would like to direct. I have some
interest in that area. Whereas I'm competent in working with actors, I'm not
sure I have the visual command or the technical know-how to direct. I
wouldn't mind directing a play, though. I've directed scenes before.
Question: If you weren't an actor, what would you be?
Joshua Malina: In a fantasy world where I didn't have to have the talent to
be what I'd like to be, I'd be a novelist -- on no plane of reality could I
ever have done that. In a more practical way, I think I might have pursued
screenwriting or gone to law school.
Question: What advice would you give to someone who may want to become an
actor?
Joshua Malina: In all honesty, my advice would be don't. I once read a book
on acting for aspiring actors. The first chapter was incredibly depressing.
It included all the statistics: at any time, 10% of the Screen Actors Guild
is employed... I remember thinking this is the preface to [aspiring] actors.
The last paragraph said if this discouraged you from acting, you wouldn't
make it. If it didn't, then you are determined to be an actor. The number one
thing is search yourself and see if you are committed to pursuing your
career. It can be very disappointing at times.
Question: How is Aaron handling writing two shows at the same time now?
Joshua Malina: I'll say this. He doesn't look well rested. He is handling it
very well in the sense that he is churning out great scripts for both shows,
but I do think he is finding it incredibly demanding. I don't envy the
position he is in.
Question: How many days does it take to shoot an episode? And how much time
do you have to rehearse?
Joshua Malina: That's a very good question. "Sports Night" has a very
different schedule. Most sitcoms have a light rehearsal schedule and shoot
one night a week for eight hours. We have two full days of rehearsal followed
by three full days of shooting which can go anywhere from 12 to 18 hours a
day. Part of the reason our schedule is so different is the manner in which
we shoot. If the scene involves a bunch of characters in a sitcom, they only
sit on three sides of the table. Where the fourth side is, is the camera. On
"Sports Night," it's a fuller and more realistic show.
Question: Hi. Do you have a girlfriend?
Joshua Malina: I do not have a girlfriend 'cause my wife won't let me.
Question: I'm a huge fan of "Sports Night." Will your romance with Natalie
progress this season?
Joshua Malina: As I mentioned earlier, it will progress, but towards what,
is the question. I have a hunch that by the end of the season, all will not
be peachy in romance land for Jeremy and Natalie. If we are lucky enough to
run for several seasons... in the end, they will wind up together.
Question: Who is your favorite actor?
Joshua Malina: Actors that I love include Gene Wilder, Peter O'Toole, Daniel
Day-Lewis; actresses: big Audrey Hepburn fan, Meryl Streep, big fan of
classic comedians like Charlie Chaplin and Groucho Marx. Katharine Hepburn,
too.
Question: Are you a big "SportsCenter" fan? Do you model yourself after
Chris Berman or Dan Patrick?
Joshua Malina: Sorry to say, I'm really not a giant "SportsCenter" fan. Nor
a sports fan. I like to tell people who ask me that that Eriq La Salle isn't
authorized to perform thoracic surgery, either. I'm a fan in that I can get
engaged in a game. I don't really follow any one team, and just root for the
underdog. That being said, I'm rooting for the Mets. They are the one team
[to which] I actually have some allegiance.
Question: What were your favorite movies that you watched as a child?
Joshua Malina: As a kid that I still love, "Willy Wonka," a classic,
"Lawrence of Arabia." I love the David Mamet film "House of Games."
"Breakfast at Tiffany's." Big fan of the Mel Brooks movie "The Producers."
Also "The Great Dictator." There's one Chaplin movie.
Question: How is Robert G. doing?
Joshua Malina: It's very nice. I do get asked this more than anything else.
It's a nice reflection on Robert and how people feel about him. He is one of
the classiest, nicest, most talented people I've ever met. He projects that
charisma on the screen. He's doing wonderfully well. He would be the first to
say that he is still recuperating. It's a battle he's fighting fiercely and
with great good humor. As I mentioned earlier, he will be in every episode
this season of "Sports Night." It was clear from the beginning that Robert
was very important to the show. The moment he left after the stroke, it
became clear that "Sports Night" wasn't "Sports Night" without him. He was
the glue that held it together. We all felt a tremendous loss when he wasn't
on the show.
Question: What was your favorite episode so far?
Joshua Malina: That's a tough questions. My personal favorite was Episode 6
from the first season. It's called 'The Head Coach, Dinner and the Morning
Mail." It's the second part of the two-episode arc following the episode
where Natalie is sexually harassed by a football player. Selfishly, I had
great material. Jeremy was up hours and hours reading Natalie's e-mail and
trying to weed out these threats and hate mail she was getting. The scenes
Aaron wrote for me were dramatic and funny all in the span of 22 minutes.
That would be my favorite.
Question: How would you compare your role on "Sports Night" with previous
television or movie roles you have had in the past?
Joshua Malina: I would say it compares favorably. For a long time I played
small roles here and there and was very happy to have them. It gets
frustrating after a while when you don't get enough screen time to develop
your character. "Sports Night" has been a fantastic opportunity to provide a
wide range of material. In a career that has had a lot of highlights that I
remember fondly, so far it hasn't gotten better than this.
Tvgchat: Thanks for joining us, Joshua! We wish you the best of luck, and
please visit us again!
Joshua Malina: Thank you to everybody who came to chat. I've enjoyed it.
I've said before and I'll say it again that "Sports Night" has the best fans
of any show. If you want to send me e-mail... I may take time to respond.
Write me at joshuamalina@popco.com.
Tvgchat: Bye! Series premiere tomorrow night at 9:30PM ET on ABC.
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