Nick Sandow – Orange Is The New Black

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

A) Right now I’m just finishing editing a film that I wrote and directed. It’s called The Wannabe and it is Executive Produced by Martin Scorsese. It’s my second feature and I’m just finishing it up. I’m really excited about it and it has a great cast with Patricia Arquette and Vincent Piazza. I can’t wait! We started up shooting the third season of “Orange Is The New Black,” so I am doing both right now – editing and acting on the show. So, I’ll be happy to retire the film to get back to “Orange.”

Q) How hands on has Martin Scorsese with the film?

A) He came on board early and read the script. He was a real supporter from the beginning. I think with that it helped us to raise the money. Our other partners are Dean Devlin who has Electric in Los Angeles and they financed it. Martin has been watching and giving notes. I met with him about two weeks ago and discussed him watching. He gave some great notes. He’s been a real sweetheart and a great supporter. He’s been really behind it and gave us the opportunity to make it. He connected to some of the bigger scenes and the genre. It’s a gangster genre, but I think there are some twists on it that make it very unique.

Q) How was your character on “Orange Is The New Black” originally described to you?

A) It’s very funny because he wasn’t really. He sort of was on the page and right off I think I was only signed on to do two or three episodes. On the page he wasn’t looking too good. As an actor, it’s been a great learning lesson. Usually with a role, whether you are working on a film or a play, you are working on the beginning and you know the middle and end. So, you sort of formulate everything in between. With this, you just don’t know. The writers are back in Los Angeles cooking up the soup and you have no idea what is coming down the line. They just are consistently surprising me with Caputo. I think they are also relating with what I’m doing with what I brought to it. I think they are inspired by that and there is an unspoken conversation that way with what I’ll bring to the scene and what they formulate for the next episode. I think that’s how it’s evolved.

Q) You have gotten to work with a number of the girls. Who haven’t you worked with that you would like to see share a scene with Caputo?

A) I work with Taylor Schilling mostly and I work with Michael Harney a bunch and Matt McGorry. I don’t get to work with the girls that much and if I do, it’s usually me dressing down a bunch of girls and not really communicating with them or having moments. Usually, it’s me stopping and saying, “blah blah blah” when there is a bunch of girls. I really haven’t gotten to work with a lot of them. That’s the amazing part of it. I don’t watch the show. I chose not to, but I’m dying to. Although, I read all the script, but I didn’t want to be influenced by it. I loved the first season not knowing anything and then when it came out I decided not to watch because I didn’t want to be effected by or influenced by this idea of the TV show. I decided not to watch so I just read the scripts. There are a lot of girls on set that we give each other passing hugs, but I’ve never worked with them and hardly know them because we split the sets. We shoot in Queens and Rockland County. A lot of our exteriors are up in Rockland County. Also, the administrative offices are up in Rockland County. I’m mostly up in Nyack and not too much in the studio where the main prison is. So, I don’t get to see a lot of the gals, which is very, very strange – to be on this incredible show and not know some of the characters. Like, I’ve never met Jason Biggs. Of course, I’d love to work with Uzo Aduba. I think she is on the top of the list. I had a small little scene with Taryn Manning. I had a small little moment with her and I think she’s really amazing. So, I’d love to work with her.

Q) You have worked a lot this season with Alysia Reiner (“Fig”). Talk a little bit about working with her.

A) She’s great! She’s just a great gal and a lot of fun. She’s a real sport and really goes for it. She’s really committed and very easy to work with. We sort of hit it off and had a dynamic right off and stuck to that. It just grew from there. She’s a great pleasure to work with.

Q) As a director yourself, have you learned anything from working with the directors on the show or enjoyed working with one individual in particular?

A) I love working with Constantine Makris. I love working with Andrew McCarthy. He is a lot of fun and great to work with. I’m constantly watching. To say no wouldn’t be right. With my film I directed square in the middle of filming the second season. So, I had to take a month and a half off to shoot it. Then, I came back and the episodes I missed they loaded up for me. So, I shot like three episodes in a week when I got back. I was constantly preparing and watching those guys like with where they were placing a camera and how they were expediting a scene. I am constantly watching. I think for the most part with TV it is watching how they navigate big numbers of cast members. For me, that’s always a little daunting because I come from acting. To me, most of the stuff I have directed is pretty intimate. All of the films have two characters and watching them where there are eight different people speaking and fifteen different people in the scene and watching them play traffic cop is pretty amazing. Just pulling off the logistics I think has been most helpful watching.

Q) This season we’ve seen Caputo get closer to Sister Ingalls. What is it about her that Caputo connects with so greatly?

A) In my head I believe (and I don’t know this to be true) he probably went to a Catholic school and high school. I think there is something to that upbringing. I think he is a fallen Catholic and he definitely doesn’t go to church. He probably hasn’t been to church since high school, but I think he grew up and he can’t fully turn his back on that. I think he knows right from wrong. That’s part of why he struggles so much being in the position he is in. Jenji [Kohan] has set that up. She has set up this man who is the same perfect being and at the crux knows right from wrong. And being in that kind of system and knowing right from wrong, is not a great place to be. It’s that the whole foundation of the prison system is so corrupted. There is no really setting it straight, unless you started from scratch.

Q) Caputo has ambitions for being Assistant Warden. In what ways do you think he could make a difference?

A) I think the major way is he is going to try. I think at the end he is trying to do the right thing. I think that’s first and foremost. He is looking out for the girls.

Q) This season has had some major moments. What was your favorite to film?

A) Of course, I loved the stuff with Fischer (Lauren Lapkus) because I think it was able to show a different side of Caputo. I also loved doing the Side Boob stuff. That was just fun!

Q) Caputo fires Fischer this season. Was that truly punitive or because she isn’t romantically interested in him?

A) I think he regretted it the second he did it. That’s the way I looked at it and that’s the way I tried to play it.

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

A) I’d like the work to really speak for itself. I think Jenji’s voice and what she is doing with these characters. It’s just sort of how they humanize the characters and they are making characters that are vulnerable, destructive and violent have many different sides. I think if it is anything for the audience to take away it’s just that individuals aren’t just one thing. There is a lot to us. There are a lot of sides to each of us and to me that is the most exciting thing about the show and Caputo.