Brendan Fehr – The Night Shift

Q) Please tell us the premise for “Night Shift” and about your character Drew.

A) The premise is a group of doctors who work the night shift at San Antonio Memorial Hospital. That is the only trauma center within ten counties or so. We get all kinds of worse-case scenarios. It always seems like the weirder things or the odder things more serious, scarier things happen at night. So, we get to tell all these wonderful stories about people coming in with odd, weird or severe injuries. It’s a rag-tag group of doctors who try to do their job and save lives. We’re like an island of misfits. We all come from different backgrounds, have different hangups and have different struggles, secrets and regrets. We all feel kind of like an outsider in some way or form, but we all feel like that there is this kind of odd and intriguing bond between them. They get to get lost in this chaos and forget about what they are struggling with for a bit. That’s part of the intrigue. They are all a little bit of adrenaline junkies and dealing with other people they can kind of put their own inadequacies or hangups and everything aside for a little bit because they don’t want to deal with them for various reasons. It’s fun for fans to see them struggling with themselves and losing themselves in their work and what they do.

Q) Is that what really made you want to be a part of this show?

A) I liked the script to begin with. That was one of the reasons in talking with Gabe [Sachs] and Jeff [Judah]. They were just two creators that listened and they gave us a lot of input into it. Then, we didn’t know it until we arrived on set, but just the cast as people were all at different places in their lives. Freddy [Rodriguez] and I are married with kids and then you have some of the other people like Robert [Bailey, Jr.] and Jeananne [Goosen] who are single and in their twenties. It’s just a mix of people, but we got along so well. There was an instant respect and an instant bond between us that made it pretty exceptional work place.

Q) Was there anything about the character that you added that wasn’t originally scripted for you?

A) In terms of a couple lines, you always throw something in. The whole “sleepy time, nighty-night” line in the pilot I added. Or, “sleep like a baby.” Whatever it was. They are good about letting you add little stuff like that. In terms of overall, throughout the season, not too much. We certainly talk about it. We get the preliminary script and you kind of go through it. There was a point where Drew was written in episode three or four where he reveals that he is a Christian and that he goes to church because he believes. It was a little bit of a struggle with him and that was something interesting. They had a few things in there. Inevitably, we didn’t end up going in that direction with it. But for the most part, the character is pretty well defined. Jeff, Gabe and I talked about it pretty early on about what we wanted him to be, what we wanted to focus on and how we wanted this character seen. Because we are all on the same page, there hasn’t been too many changes except for the odd dialogue changes to make it snappier, wittier or more heartbreaking.

Q) How did you prepare for this role?

A) I did a lot of research. I read a lot about military medics and a lot of the stories of Army medics. They all seem to be cut from the same kind of cloth and the most intriguing part was the guys that were shooting at them trying to kill them ten minutes before they’d be trying to save their lives. When you saw someone after the fire fight is done, when you see someone suffering and dying, as a medic your job is to save their life. You might save their life and then have them arrested. It was just their whole M.O., what they lived for was to make sure their brothers were safe and cared for until the very end. They’ll put themselves in harms way to do it. It really creates a solid foundation to build a character from who has a lot of character and a lot of integrity. It was a great start. I read a lot of military books and a few medical books. Trained Big John McCarthy for some MMA, which was a lot of fun.

Q) What was your most memorable moment from filming “Night Shift?”

A) I think I’ll have to let the audience decide that. Overall, the most memorable moment was all of it because we enjoyed shooting it so much. The cast got along so well. There was so many moments. It was really just the comradery of the group. I’ve never worked on a set like that are so different, that believe in different things from political to religious and from such different families, different backgrounds and ethnicities. For us to get along the way we did, to be able to laugh as much as much as we did and to agree with a smile on our faces was kind of a one in a million cast.

Q) You are a part of the social networking site Twitter. Did you enjoy the instant feedback you’ve received since the show premiered?

A) I enjoyed that. I don’t want to get hung up on it too much because I think it’s an average. People have been overwhelmingly positive and they’ve said some great things about how good you are and how much they love you. I think if you read too much of that it can get dangerous. As nice as it is to hear, you always want to be kept in check, which my family and friends will make sure of. I think it’s fun to tweet during the show and it helps. With this new age of media, it helps the show. If it helps the show, I want to be willing to do it. I think it’s fun as a fan. I’m a fan of people and sports. To be able to interact with them on some level is always kind of a pleasant, fun and great thing. I know we, as a cast, will do anything to keep this show going. If it’s something as simple as connecting with fans then I think that’s great. Most of the feedback is good, but you get to hear what they don’t like as well. Some of it is the tone or said in a way that you might exactly not want to hear. I’ve gotten tweets and Facebook posts about my character and how they feel about him. Some of them aren’t so nice, but some of them are very interesting. Some of them do make you think, “Oh, that’s an interesting take on it. Okay.” It’s fun and you can also use it as a little bit of a learning tool. That’s good, I suppose.

Q) Is there anything you want to be sure fans know about “Night Shift” and your character?

A) The only thing I can say is I think the show only gets better. It is something that I hope they enjoy. We’ve done our work and done it to the best of our ability. I hope that everything that we put into it the people can kind of see that on the screen. I hope they continue to support us. In terms of the one thing I hope to do…We know with the show that we are entertaining people and we take our creative liberties and stuff like that, but I’m also honored to be a part of a show that represents the military in some way. I don’t think we can ever possibly put ourselves in their shoes, in terms of what the men and women do for us and what they sacrifice. It’s something that I have yet to fully comprehend of what they do. As much as I’ve read, I can sit there and understand it really is so special. To be a part of that and any kind of awareness we can bring to that I think is only good. They are the people that allow us to do what we do and have the freedom we have. So, thank you to all the military people out there for the jobs they do, for their time and sometimes their lives and family members they have sacrificed to make this a great country. It’s an honor.