Michael Vartan
During his acting career Michael Vartan has successful juggling TV with movies with the like of Never Been Kissed and Alias under his belt.
He is about to return to a TV project as filming on Hawthorne, for what will be a third season, alongside Jada Pinkett Smith.
I caught up with the actor to talk about season three of Hawthorne and what lie ahead.
- You are currently working on a third season of Hawthorne so how excited are you to be back and when can we expect from the third series?
Yes I am thrilled to be back for season three, just on a personal level as an actor work is always a wonderful thing, but to be on a show and getting a third season is wonderful because people who watch the show enjoy it and enough people are watching to keep it afloat.
The first season was really about establishing the characters, the hospital environment and who is doing what, where and when. Season two was ramped up a bit and the stakes were raised a bit.
Season three begins shooting in twelve or thirteen days from now and apparently it's going to be even more of the latter - so I'm very excited to get into it.
There's going to be a lot of craziness, or so I've been told, and as an actor that is what you want to hear no one what to see boring everyday life they want to see drama and misery and the overcoming of adversity.
- You take on the role of Dr. Tom Wakefield who what was it about the character and the script that originally drew you to the project?
Well that he was left handed (laughs). Well to be honest with you when they first approached me with the show I thought 'Oh really another medical drama are you kidding?'
But then they explained it to me and it is told through the perspective of the nurse, play by Jada (Pinkett Smith) and there really hasn't been a show that deals with the nurses it's always been about the doctors - and if it's less of a serious show it's about doctor and nurse romances - but there has never really been a show that talks about the role of the nurse and how vital a nurse is to the well being of the patient. I just thought that was interesting.
And then they said 'oh by the way the nurse will be played by Jada Pinkett Smith' and I was like 'right where do I sign?' Let’s not pretend that it was an artistic endeavour they said Jada Pinkett Smith and I said yes.
- And can you tell us what is in store for Tom over the coming episodes?
In season one he is chief of surgery at a hospital called Richmond Trinity - the thing that I like about the show is we deal with quasi-current event; season one we dealt with the economic crisis and there's a hospital move and the infrastructure collapses and a lot of people have to go to different places.
My character goes from chief of surgery back to being a regular surgeon, which is where he originally always wanted to be as he hates all the red tape and nonsense.
And obviously it's television Helen so there is going to be some romance and, as we all know, work space romances never end up well do they? I can only anticipate a lot of doom, gloom and misery for the two of us - it should be fun to play as an actor.
- Obviously Hawthorne is a medical drama so did you do any research for the role?
We had three days of boot camp, as they call it. We went to the set, which at the time was an old abandoned hospital that they had refurbished to make look functional, and a lot of real nurses, doctors and EMTs came in and showed us the ropes.
I had never held a stethoscope or taken a pulse, I didn't even where to take a pulse on a human body - there are seventeen different places you can do it, who knew?
So we learnt the basics and then during certain scenes, if I have to perform surgery, we have an amazing team of technical consultants who make me look so much smarter than I am - I really have no idea what is going on.
The thing that is quite fun about the show is that we try to be as realistic as possible and we try not to take to many artistic liberties.
- The series sees you work alongside Jada Pinkett Smith so how have you found working with her?
She is wonderful! She is so much funnier and easy going than I thought, or than I hoped that she would be. I had never met her I just knew her as this very successful and powerful business woman who does lots of things - and of course we all know her husband, who's career is going in the toilet (laughs).
No I was surprised at her sense of humour she is so easy going and laid back, obviously there are times when things need to be done and as the boss she makes sure that they get done.
But on set she is so laid back she will be sat in her chair reading a book or chatting with the crew - she has a carrot stick while I have candy.
She's great to work with and we get along really well, there's nothing worse than being forced to have chemistry with someone on screen that you would not have a cup of coffee with. but luckily we joke all of the time and it is a joy to work with her.
- Away from Hawthorne you may be best known for your role as Michael in Alias were you sad to see the series come to an end - or do you think it finished at the right time?
I think a little of both. In terms of the story it ended at the right time by the end of season four we secretly started joking about 'how many more hallways can this girl run down in a wig are the criminals that stupid that they don't realise that this is the person who is destroying their whole web of terror and deceit?'
There were just no more stories we had exhausted almost every avenue. But on a personal level I remember the last day as when we shut down the entire cast and crew were crying - you spend fourteen hours a day for five years with people you are going to make incredible bonds and ties.
It was an amazing experience and it will probably remain the best experience of my career because it was so long and because of the nature of the relationships that I was fortunate enough to develop.
I am still friend with so much of the crew and people ask me 'are you still in touch with Victor and Jennifer? Of course but I also stay in touch with the boom guy - it's such an amazing by-product of this business.
I like the joke 'acting is wonderful but being an actor is crap' (laughs) you get to work with all these amazing people and hear their stories and know about their children and families - that red carpet you can keep it.
- As well as TV you have worked on the big screen in the likes of Never Been Kissed and Monster in Law so how does movie work compared to TV?
They are very different in many ways, I like them both. In television you have a little less creativity just because you are on a time crunch and the show is airing in three weeks.
Where as in film has any movie ever finished on time? No I don't think so. Because 'let's try it this way', 'let's try it that way' and 'no let's break for lunch and try it that way after'.
So there is a lot of that going on but that's nice from an actor point of view because you can really explore your character and do things that you may not have thought of in rehearsal.
And with film you often get to travel to weird or beautiful locations and see different parts of the world and if you are working with a bunch of complete buggers that you can't stand at least it's over in two months. But in TV, if that is the case, then you are stuck with them for five years and that can get pretty ugly.
But the thing that I love about TV is you can have a life; you work Monday through Friday, you can plan your Saturdays, you know when the season is going to start and end so you can plan a vacation with your family, or your dogs in my case. So there is a structure about TV that is very nice.
- We will see you back on the big screen later this year in Colombiana can you tell me a bit about the movie.
Zoe Saldana, ugly girl she's not attractive at all. It's movie that's, I don't want to give to much away because I have a small part so I will let her ruin the surprise if she wants to, but it's about a young girl whose family is murdered by the drug cartel.
So she spends her young and adult life tracking each one of them down to avenge her family's death. She is obviously a little bit challenged emotionally, she has some serious issues, and she meets this young, I said young about myself that's a good one, middle aged man who she has feelings for and he tries to bring her out of her shell. I won't tell you if that was successful or not.
- What was it that attracted you to the movie - I suppose a Luc Besson scrip is quite exciting?
Well you just said it... Luc Besson. I had met with Olivier Megaton, the director, who is such an interesting and wonderful guy - he is such a cool guy I would work with him on anything.
And obviously Zoe her career is taking off and I just try to ride everyone's coat tails (laughs).
- Finally what's next for you?
Well season three of Hawthorne; we quite literally start filming in two weeks. That is what I was saying about the nice thing about television I don't have to worry about auditioning, or readings I can just got to work for three months - maybe three weeks before Hawthorne wraps I will start worrying about what the next job is going to be and if there will be a season four.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
During his acting career Michael Vartan has successful juggling TV with movies with the like of Never Been Kissed and Alias under his belt.
He is about to return to a TV project as filming on Hawthorne, for what will be a third season, alongside Jada Pinkett Smith.
I caught up with the actor to talk about season three of Hawthorne and what lie ahead.
- You are currently working on a third season of Hawthorne so how excited are you to be back and when can we expect from the third series?
Yes I am thrilled to be back for season three, just on a personal level as an actor work is always a wonderful thing, but to be on a show and getting a third season is wonderful because people who watch the show enjoy it and enough people are watching to keep it afloat.
The first season was really about establishing the characters, the hospital environment and who is doing what, where and when. Season two was ramped up a bit and the stakes were raised a bit.
Season three begins shooting in twelve or thirteen days from now and apparently it's going to be even more of the latter - so I'm very excited to get into it.
There's going to be a lot of craziness, or so I've been told, and as an actor that is what you want to hear no one what to see boring everyday life they want to see drama and misery and the overcoming of adversity.
- You take on the role of Dr. Tom Wakefield who what was it about the character and the script that originally drew you to the project?
Well that he was left handed (laughs). Well to be honest with you when they first approached me with the show I thought 'Oh really another medical drama are you kidding?'
But then they explained it to me and it is told through the perspective of the nurse, play by Jada (Pinkett Smith) and there really hasn't been a show that deals with the nurses it's always been about the doctors - and if it's less of a serious show it's about doctor and nurse romances - but there has never really been a show that talks about the role of the nurse and how vital a nurse is to the well being of the patient. I just thought that was interesting.
And then they said 'oh by the way the nurse will be played by Jada Pinkett Smith' and I was like 'right where do I sign?' Let’s not pretend that it was an artistic endeavour they said Jada Pinkett Smith and I said yes.
- And can you tell us what is in store for Tom over the coming episodes?
In season one he is chief of surgery at a hospital called Richmond Trinity - the thing that I like about the show is we deal with quasi-current event; season one we dealt with the economic crisis and there's a hospital move and the infrastructure collapses and a lot of people have to go to different places.
My character goes from chief of surgery back to being a regular surgeon, which is where he originally always wanted to be as he hates all the red tape and nonsense.
And obviously it's television Helen so there is going to be some romance and, as we all know, work space romances never end up well do they? I can only anticipate a lot of doom, gloom and misery for the two of us - it should be fun to play as an actor.
- Obviously Hawthorne is a medical drama so did you do any research for the role?
We had three days of boot camp, as they call it. We went to the set, which at the time was an old abandoned hospital that they had refurbished to make look functional, and a lot of real nurses, doctors and EMTs came in and showed us the ropes.
I had never held a stethoscope or taken a pulse, I didn't even where to take a pulse on a human body - there are seventeen different places you can do it, who knew?
So we learnt the basics and then during certain scenes, if I have to perform surgery, we have an amazing team of technical consultants who make me look so much smarter than I am - I really have no idea what is going on.