Eric McCormack – Perception

Q) You have such an incredible role in Daniel. Is playing someone who’s reality is pretty broad, is that reaching or is it fun? Is it exhausting?

A) It’s totally all of the above. I have a lot of energy in life anyway which – so when I’ve tried to play cooler heads, when I’ve tried to play macho guys with little to say, it doesn’t work. I’m better off in a part like Daniel where my brain is racing and my physicality is a plus. And I love playing a guy that is much smarter than I am, whose verbiage gives me a chance to throw my ability to memorize and my ability to describe and to play. He’s a workout but you feel good after a workout.

Q) I was wondering, have you found out yet whether there’s going to be a next season or is it too early to tell?

A) It’s not too early for me but you’ll have to ask TNT. It seems to be too early for them.

Q) There’s been a running arc through this season about your dad and how Dr. Pierce is trying to come to terms with his bad relationship with him and also his struggles with Alzheimer’s. As a brain specialist, do you think that it makes it sort of harder knowing his helplessness in this situation? And also, what’s Peter Coyote like to work with in the role?

A) Well, first of all I was delighted. The exciting thing about TV sometimes is that you can plant seeds that show up and grow later on when JoBeth Williams appeared as a hallucination of my mother in the second season, she mentioned that my father and I had a very distant and not good relationship. It was literally one line but I love that that planted the seed for this year where Peter shows up, who’s great. I mean, an underrated actor. I just loved having him there. And it was one of those pieces of casting that once he’s on set, once we’re in similar clothing, it was just, like, it was kind of magic. It worked and he and I were just naturally fractious and it was a great piece of chemistry. But, yes, for someone who’s constantly wrestling with the idea of his disease not debilitating him, that he’s going to get the better of it or he’s going to use it to his advantage. To see his own father, another very hard-headed man, being brought low by a brain disease is – it gives him that much more fuel and it makes him that much more sympathetic.

Q) After playing this character for several seasons now, as an actor, what is the greatest thing you’ve learned about acting from playing this character, if there’s been anything that you’ve taken away from it?

A) How do I put this? Was it Malcolm Gladwell that was talking about the 10,000 hours, this concept that you really don’t get good at something until you’ve put 10,000 hours into it? I feel like, for me, I’ve learned that I’m a – I don’t know that I would’ve – what I would’ve brought to this 15 years ago that Daniel and I kind of intersected at exactly the right time. I’m enough of an actor now to play this part in a way that I might not have been before. So I think I’ve learned that you – the idea that I had about acting in theater school, which was very much about putting on costumes and, you know, my dad’s got a par and let’s put on a play. It’s a much deeper and richer experience than that. And to play someone like this, someone – I think I have a real responsibility to the mental health community and to the academic community to get it right and I’m kind of glad that happened at a time in my life where I could do it justice.

Q) It’s been a great season. We’ve enjoyed seeing Daniel in so many different aspects of his life and in different situations. What can you tease us, though, is in store for the finale?

A) Well, as we saw last week, I was personally – I loved watching the one last week. As I said, I thought it was one of the best ones we’ve done in terms of just a great set of fast-paced emotional storyline, but it was the LeVar Burton’s first directing for us and this next one is also LeVar and they go together very nicely, these two episodes. What we tease at the end of the episode that aired the other night was this idea that Donnie’s pursuing being an (alderman) in Chicago and the relationship he has with this woman, Shelby. That’s the big drive in the next episode. Quite frankly, I kind of wish it’s something we teased out a little longer because it’s – the idea of Scott Wolf as a candidate, I think, is a great idea. But, in fact, a lot of it is going to come to a head in this next episode in a very shocking way, a very – the episode opens quite shockingly, I think. That’s about all I can – that’s all I can tease.

Q) I’m sure you’ve been asked this question probably a million times but do you think there’ll ever be any of your former costars from, “Will & Grace,” appearing on your show?

A) Well, it turns out my main costar, Debra, is about to solve crimes herself on her new NBC show, so I think eventually all – everyone from, “Will & Grace,” will solve crimes. I do think that’s the fate of all of us. But I don’t know. I know Sean’s going to do – he’s going to be busy with, “The Millers,” but I’ve always said I’d love to show America what Megan can do when she’s not being funny because she’s such a good actress. I’d love to get Megan on in some form if we get another crack at it.

Q) Earlier this season you filmed an episode in Paris. What was that like to sort of go on the road like that? And do you think in the long run that Dr. Pierce might’ve been happier had he just stayed there and tried to live his life as it was going there?

A) Well, I mean, the experience of doing it was fantastic because of the nature of the show, because he is an intellect and an appreciator of history, the fact that he could walk the streets of Paris and be a fish out of water, be a – in terms of his disease, but be very much at home to – when we shot the scene where Pierce lectured at the Sorbonne, it was just magical, just magical. But, in fact, I think that was – what turned out in the end with this episode, was the idea that he did believe he could be there. He did believe he could change his life, again, without meds, but he could just make a giant shift and everything would be all right. And, in fact, it went completely wrong. And I think that was a good thing to show the audience, to remind them that this man that so often seems quite confident is, in fact, at the whimsy of his disease and can’t just ride the horse any way he wants. And so Paris was a great reminder that there’s still a lot of adventure out there but he can’t – he’s not necessarily able to handle it all.

Q) Well, we’ve talked about what’s in store for the remainder of this season, but what would you like to see Daniel explore next season?

A) Well, with the way TNT sort of teases it out. We have five more episodes that we’ve already shot that will air in the winter which is technically part of Season 3. Season 3, the last five episodes will air this winter and we’ve – those get into a new area which I think is a logical extension of what happens Tuesday. But as Rachael and Scott’s characters start to head towards a second marriage, a second wedding, Daniel, as a result of what happens in this episode next week, starts to come out of his own emotional shell and starts to speak up a bit more. And it’s an interesting dilemma with people online in terms of how happy they are or not happy they are, or that Kate may end up with Donnie again and there’s a whole contingent – the shippers – I love the shippers – the shippers that want Kate and Daniel together. And there are those that actually like Daniel meeting these few women he’s had over the course of the season and actually getting some action. So, as much as I love our crimes of the week, I do love the emotional territory that we’re starting to get into, particularly with Kate and Daniel.

Q) You mentioned there’re five more episodes to the rest of the season. So I hope you get more seasons, but if not, will the final one from this season be satisfying and a good end?

A) Well, the honest answer to that is no, it will be much better to have another season. We certainly didn’t shoot anything with the idea that this was the ending. It’s an ending to an element of the story but it, in fact, sets up a lot more stuff for a hopefully future season.

Q) You had mentioned earlier that LeVar Burton had directed the last episode. What was he like to work with in that capacity compared to working with him as a costar?

A) It was honestly, I think, everyone – the whole crew would probably agree, everyone’s favorite experience. He’s so much fun, LeVar. He’s so full of joy and it’s always fun when he drops in to play the dean for a scene or two. But when he’s in charge, he – there’s a tremendous sense of trust of everyone. He’s the guy that’ll print after the first take and everyone’s like, “Wait, wait, wait. No, wait. Give us one more.” And he’s like, “What? That was great. And he’s very often right and we – it’s that kind of confidence and positive energy is such a thing, particularly in television where crews can get so worn out by people doing six, seven, eight takes, you know, over and over and over again. He was a real leader and he was a joy.

Q) Eric, there are so many shows now on cable, on television, period. And there’re so many things to choose from, but why do you think “Perception,” is such a great show? Why do you think people are honed into watching it every week when they have so many other choices? To you, what do you think makes a show great, and to fans?

A) Well, you know, I mean it’s – my hope was always that it would bring in a whole different kind – different groups and it sort of is. I mean, I’m hoping we can build on what we have, but it certainly is, to anyone that likes “Castle,” and, “The Mentalist,” there’s all of that crime solving and chemistry. But a lot of what I get is college students who maybe don’t watch a lot of television, or at least not this kind of traditional mystery show, they like – they love the opening and closing. They love the lecture scenes. They love that it’s an academic setting. There really aren’t a lot of shows, ever, set in universities, and with such an unabashed, unapologetic academic approach. And I think Daniel is that. Daniel gets to be our crime solver, our Sherlock Holmes, but he also gets to be terrified. He gets to be academically brilliant and not just forensically or going from his street sense. He’s a very different character and I think it’s appealed to people in ways that they maybe didn’t see coming.

*CONFERENCE CALL*