John C. McGinley – Stan Against Evil

By starrymag | November 21, 2018

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?

A) I’m in Chicago now doing a really delicious arc on “Chicago P.D.,” for my friend Eriq La Salle, who I went to NYU with. Over the weekend I was lucky enough to be included in a “Scrubs” reunion with all my castmates. I flew back to Hollywood and we were at the Roosevelt Hotel with a couple thousand people in a room. It was the most fun thing I’ve ever done! It was a Q&A and it had a moderator. It was great to see everybody for the first time in forever. Then, when you see the season finale of “Stan Against Evil” you are going to drop! You’re going to drop because the format for the show, the way we lay it out, there are four stand alone episodes that are usually pretty hilarious. Then, there are four that are committed to the mythology and moving the overriding arc of the show forward. So, the last two are mythology episodes that move the show forward and they are insanely ambitious. You’re not going to believe where we leave at the end of Season Three.

Q) What keeps challenging you about your portrayal of Stanley Miller on “Stan Against Evil?”

A) What was great the first two years was how damaged this guy was and how hurt this guy was at the loss of the two things that were his true north – his wife of 28 years and his job of 27 years. And in the pilot we take both of those away from him in the first three minutes. So, to see men trying to reconcile loss…The human condition deals with loss a million different ways. What can it do? What tools can people use? What are they willing to use? So, to apply that to Stan was really fascinating. Then, by the end of Season Two it became clear to him that when he saw his wife in the finale that it wasn’t going to work out. The mistake was that he leaves the portal to hell open so now he has to reconcile with that! So, I asked Dana Gould (the Executive Producer and the guy who ran the writer’s room of “The Simpsons” for ten years, which is just the amazing resume in the history of the planet) how he was going to get himself out of the corner that he painted himself into at the end of Season Two. He said, “Well, I’m working on that because I don’t know.” [laughs] He called me back a couple of months later and I asked if he had anything. He had this epiphany that was focused on Stan. He said, “What I’m going to do with Stan is that Gerard Duquette (Emmett Hunter) is going to tell him that everything you’ve ever known in your life was wrong and everything hard lined decision you’ve ever made was wrong. The only way you are going to be able to move forward is to change all of that.” Of course, Stan is not given to change lightly. He’s a stubborn guy and pretty set in his ways. So, that’s how Dana crafted Stan for Season Three. And we also let Deborah be the A story with Vampire Creek this year when she’s battling the escaped convict. So, we let the ensemble really shine this year because they are working so hard and that whole group is amazing. Then, when you see what Janet [Varney] does in 308 in the finale you are going to drop! She’s just unlimited. She’s astonishing!

Q) Do you get much of a say in how Stan evolves throughout the seasons?

A) Oh sure. I didn’t want to be the producer on this thing by mistake. I am obsessed with the tone of the piece and how the different characters are going to progress. Don’t get me wrong, Dana writes it, but we have this lovely collaboration in shaping it. I think it’s in your best interest as the producer…I think the titular character of your piece, if he’s just flailing against the wind that if that actor isn’t included – or if he wants to be included – than that’s great. If he doesn’t than he lets the pro’s come in and take over. I didn’t sign up for this thing to be on the sidelines. And I believe in Dana more than I believe in myself. I want to empower his instincts and I want to be able to facilitate the different eccentricities and arcs that he puts on the page for this ensemble.

Q) What have been some of your favorite moments from filming Season Three?

A) I love watching Deborah in Vampire Creek. I love when we did the Kenny-pillar. I loved watching the puppeteers come in and do The Nubbins. These puppeteers came in to do The Nubbins and they were just so game and so expert at their craft that it was astonishing because it was a really preposterously ambitious episode and we got it done. What Dana wrote for Maria Bamford in 307 is so scary! What he does in the finale in 308 are the two best episodes we’ve done. And he wrote them as continuous episodes, so they are locked together. As I said, they are the mythology episodes. Everything that we’ve learned from the first two and a half seasons we poured into the last episodes of Season Three. And it shows, and it is unbelievably well executed. It is scary as hell. It’s funny as heck. That’s what we’re always aspiring to do – we’re trying to make the witches scary and the jokes diabolically subversive.

Q) You do a great job taking on roles in both comedy and drama. This is such a perfect vehicle for both sides to you. Do you prefer to work in a specific genre?

A) No. No. I just like it when you’re lucky enough to be around writers like Dana Gould, Billy Lawrence or Oliver Stone. I just like to be around writers. I did a revival a few years ago of the David Mamet play Glengarry Glen Ross with Al Pacino and Bobby Cannavale. The only reason we all signed up to do it is because of the words David put on the page. So, to answer your question, if it’s a comedy and it’s not funny on the page then it is not going to be funny. And if it’s a drama and it doesn’t move me on the page then you’re dead in the water. You can cry your heart out, but if it is not supported by a three-act structure and something solid on the page I’m going to change the channel. So, more and more I sign up to do stuff if it’s on the page. If it’s not, I’ll just keep dropping people off at gymnastics and pottery and picking people up from ballet. I’d rather just be “John The Driver” than go relocate myself and be away from everybody. If we don’t have a ghost of a chance because nothing is on the page, then I’m out.

Q) Do you then have a preference for TV over film?

A) Naw, it’s all the same. Somebody has to call “action” and you have to find some kind of aggressive verb that supports a thruline through the text. It’s all the same. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing Glengarry Glen Ross on Broadway or if you’re doing “Stan” or Platoon. If someone is calling “action” you’ve got to do something. It’s all the same. The curtain is going up or somebody is calling “action” – it’s all the same. It’s all storytelling and as long as you have the discipline to deconstruct the script and put it back together and see where you function in the storytelling process, you’re going to be okay.

Q) As you mentioned, coming up we’ll be seeing you on “Chicago P.D.” as Police Superintendent Brian Kelton. Was there something you added to him that wasn’t in the initial breakdown?

A) I’m working that out with the writers now. It seems to be the drill out here in Chicago that you get out here and as the writers put the antecedents of what the arc is on the page and then what is lovely about doing an arc is the writers can become familiar with you and what you can do and what your eccentricities are – what is interesting that could be mined that has not been excavated before. So, that’s what we’re doing now. We shot the first episode and now we’re doing the dance of adjusting storylines and trying to dig into stuff that is germane to bringing John C. McGinley out to Chicago. So, we’re doing that dance right now.

Q) You noted you were excited to reunite with Eriq LaSalle. Was there anyone though you were looking forward to sharing a scene with when you joined the show?

A) I think Jason [Beghe] is really special and I’ve known him for a really long time. Eriq and I spent every waking minute of our lives together for three years at NYU grad for ’82, ’83 and ’84. There wasn’t a waking moment where we weren’t working on something together, which is a thrill and a privilege. Those bonds never break so I think I’ve done all four of Eriq’s independent films that he directed, and I’ve hired him as an acting coach on a couple of different films. So, we’ve never ever let that get too far away. For the first couple of years of “Stan,” he was nice enough to give me a call and say, “Come out to Chicago,” but because we were pushing that promotional boulder up hill for the first couple of years I couldn’t come over. I was flying all over the place trying to get this thing going and now “Stan” is going pretty great and we did all the Comic Cons. All of a sudden, this window opened up between now and when, God willing, we’ll do Season Four when Dana writes those scripts and they start coming to you at about the end of March. This was a nice little window to do something fresh and get back with Eriq, which is nirvana for me.

Q) It is so great you got to meet up recently with your former “Scrubs” costars! What did you personally take away from your time working on the series?

A) What I took away was that Bill Lawrence, who was the Executive Producer and the engine that drove “Scrubs” how he managed over nine years with Dr. Cox not to write him as a collage of redundancy was the biggest gift in the history of the world. If you’re lucky enough to have a gig that goes that long, one of the traps you hear actors whining is that they are doing the same thing over and over. And Billy wrote Dr. Cox as such a collection of damages that the writers can write damages and Dr. Cox was a really damaged guy. So, the writers (Billy primarily) were able to keep this guy fresh, challenged and challenging – that to me was thrilling. To get a script every week that wasn’t a retread of three episodes, but something that we’ve never done before was completely thrilling and very fulfilling.

Q) Who do you stay in touch with from the cast?

A) Everybody. I see Donald [Faison] every once in a while. I see Zachy [Braff] all the time. Judy [Reyes] works nonstop and Neil [Flynn] went right to “The Middle” and now he has a new show. I haven’t seen Sarah [Chalke] in a while and Kenny was in New York for a little while. I love me some Kenny [Jenkins]. The only legitimate excuse not to stay in touch with somebody (and every actor knows this) is if people are working. That has to be okay. It’s nothing personal, but people are working. I want all of my friends working. I want them not to be able to call me because they are working so darn hard. That makes me happy. All I want is my friends to work however many hours of the day that makes sense for them. But Neil has not stopped working since wrapped! He got that Patty Heaton show and he’s been killing it! Donald is just forever working. Sarah is voicing one of the most popular cartoons on TV. And Zachy is directing films. That ensemble is just bulletproof!

Q) You are on social media. Do you enjoy the instant fan feedback you receive to the work you do?

A) Oh, I’m late to Twitter. Twitter makes sense to me and I think it’s fantastic. I love it. I don’t get Facebook. Facebook is lost on me because I’m a little confused by it. I’m not so great at Facebook, but I think Twitter is fantastic. I dig the hell out of it!

Q) Why is it so important to you to connect with fans that way?

A) Because I think it’s great! It’s no skin off my back to write a hundred and sixty-two characters and connect with people. I mean, look, we don’t do “Stan Against Evil” to show it at Thanksgiving in a closet for our cousins. We want people to consume it. So, I love when people watch the show and the Comic Con of it all gets people together. We bust our tails on that thing so when people consume it and the dig it or they have some issue with it, I’m good. I can hit the ball around. I’m a big boy. I don’t put up with bullies. I just get rid of them. And I don’t put up with foul language. Not that I’m a saint, that’s just not my thing. Whenever anybody uses the “r word…” When public figures use the “r word” I like to call them out. I’m over it, man. I’m over it. So, if people want to use the “r word” or say the word “retarded” I’m going to call you out. On Twitter, I’m going to call you out. Then hundreds of thousands of people are going to be hip to sloppy use of language.

Q) I love how active you are with charity work for children with special needs, especially Down Syndrome. Do you have any upcoming events?

A) I got invited to give the keynote address in Washington, D.C. on November 30^th by The Special Olympics. So, I’ve written a piece that I’m going to go…It’s a big black-tie event. It’s going to be all fancy blah blah. I wrote a piece that is really special. So, I’m going to share it with some people at that dinner and I’m really looking forward to it.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and the work that you do?

A) Check out “Stan’s” finale on Wednesday night on IFC! It’s going to blow the back of your head off.