Interviews

Paget Brewster – Criminal Minds: Evolution

By  | 

By: Mariah Thomas

 

 

Q) Last season was a roller coaster of emotions for Prentiss. What is in store for her this season?

 

A) Oh, there’s so much more coming. Yeah, it’s different roller coasters, but it’s more roller coasters. Last season, Prentiss being kidnapped again. Cattle prodded; zip tied to a wheelchair. This season, the focus is Prentiss is doing her job. But there’s more focus, I think, on other characters and their journeys because we did see a lot of Prentiss and what’s nice about our show is, it’s an ensemble. And you want to parcel it out. And so luckily our writers did that. So, there’s some questions this season about what is Rossi’s (Joe Mantegna) mental state? How is he doing? Is he in trouble? He keeps having to report to the internal affairs, breathing down my neck kind of thing. Some journeys are coming up that involve spoilers that I don’t know what I’m allowed to talk about. So, it’s definitely a roller coaster season.

 

Q) We know that there is a spotlight on JJ and Tara this season. How does Emily navigate being their boss while also being their friend?

 

A) Oh, yeah, that’s interesting because you see, after [what] JJ (AJ Cook) and Lewis (Aisha Tyler) go through that they are both devastated by these life-changing moments, but they’re both so strong and so independent and so “I don’t need any help” that they have a similar reaction to the team wanting to help them. And it’s Prentiss’ job to tough love them into the place she feels they need to be to be better. Now, is that always right? I don’t know. Is any one person always right about “Oh, I know what will help JJ?” Maybe, maybe not. And I think Prentiss is just trying to do her best to help everybody do their jobs and be healthy and happy. It’s a big juggle because lives are at stake and the clock is ticking on trying to find people who are in peril. Meanwhile, everyone has personal problems and loss and grief and rehabilitation or questioning themselves. So, it is a great high wire act that Prentiss has to pull off, and that’s all writing. And then, if I’m not getting it right, the director tells me, “Try it again and do it more like this?”

 

Q) Notably, last season Prentiss referred to herself as Unit Chief and not section chief. Does she still hold that title or is that unknown right now?

 

A) Oh, no, I am the Unit Chief, aren’t I?

 

Q) Well, Section Chief. She was made Section Chief in Season 16.

 

A) You know what, I’ve been demoted and then almost fired so many times. I actually, I bet you know better than I do. I’ve had to do dialogue where I’m fired. I think the mayor got mad at me. I don’t know. I don’t know what I am. My badge still says SSA, so I’m Supervisory Special Agent, which now I know takes ten years after you graduate from the FBI Academy to get to SSA. But I don’t know if I’m Section Chief or Unit Chief.*

*Confirmed to be Unit Chief after the interview.

 

Q) So, you have been posting set selfies, and a lot of people have been wondering, because you’re wearing glasses in the selfies, if Prentiss will be wearing glasses this season.

 

A) Prentiss when she’s reading from a file, and it’s nighttime needs her glasses. Now Paget, who plays Prentiss, I did just get contact lenses. I’ve never worn contacts. And as time went on, I’ve needed my glasses, and so I’ve been walking around on set, not wearing glasses because I didn’t want to dent the makeup and make the makeup artist…I don’t want poor Lori [Fenton] to have to keep fixing this because I’m putting my glasses on. So, I went to Erica Messer, our boss, and I said, “Please, please can Prentiss wear glasses?” I’m just walking around on a dark stage with…I got one of those like magnifying glasses with a handle on it on Amazon. So, I’m holding up these big scripts and trying to read it with a magnifying glass. And it was exhausting. So they said, “Okay, you can wear your glasses.” I said, “I won’t wear them all the time, but if it’s a lot, if it’s a whole lot, I’m going to wear the glasses.” And now I’m kind of wondering, I don’t know, I think maybe I like those glasses better than mine. These are mine for Zoom, but I like those dark glasses that they got me at “Criminal Minds.” Yeah, no, they let me bring them home. I love them, and I kind of think Prentiss looks good with the glasses on, so I’m going to keep them. I won’t wear my contact lenses all the time. It’s part of aging. Your eyes are going to give out.

 

Q) We haven’t seen much of Emily’s actual home life in the evolution era. Is that something we’re ever going to see? If not, what do you think she does to unwind after work.

 

A) I think we have established in the past that Prentiss has gone to Vegas. I think we’ve seen her enjoy wine, which I don’t know if they got from me. Personally, I don’t know if that’s a Paget or Prentiss situation. But, no, her home life is a mystery, and I think what I had said to them in the in the past, the writers…They said, “What do you think about a love interest or anything,” and what I said to them was, “I think it would be nice, and it’s up to you. I’ll do whatever you want, whatever you write I’m up for.” But I think it’s interesting that there is a single female, hard worker boss who doesn’t have kids, doesn’t have a spouse or a partner. We don’t know if she’s dating, if the job is all important to her and I think that is as valid as any life decision anyone makes. I mean, if Prentiss decided she just was celibate, that’s as valid as getting married or being in a throuple or being at whatever. So, I just said, “I like Prentiss working. I’ve had a bunch of boyfriends, and it never seems to gel. It never seems to go anywhere.” So, maybe Prentiss is just like kind of…She just keeps her private life private and maybe she goes to Vegas. And who knows what Prentiss does. I think there is a mystery to Prentiss and I don’t mind keeping it that way. But again, I’m up for I’m up for anything they write, because I think our writers are brilliant.

 

Q) Throughout the entirety of the show, and specifically last season you have many powerful, silent, acting moments. What is your process for getting in those headspaces?

 

A) I guess you must be talking about a reaction shot like I’m not speaking? Well, what I will say. One thing I learned about acting is give everything to the person you’re in the scene with, so I can help the person or people I’m in the scene with. If I’m really listening and paying attention and thinking about what they’re saying and feeling what they’re saying because it helps them continue. It’s not just memorizing lines. It’s telling a story. And it’s following an emotional journey. So, maybe I’m more talented than I thought I was. I think I tend to disparage myself. But I do know I do that well. I like to be in a scene with people, and I like to listen and I used to try to “make sure you’re not bending your neck” or “how do I look pretty?” Your only job is to pay attention, to listen and be present for the people you’re in the scene with and that makes acting so much easier if you just give up on – hit your mark because they lit you. The crew lit you. You don’t worry about how you’re standing, or if you’re sucking your stomach in, that’s not acting. That’s like vanity, and it’ll mess you up. So, if I’m good on the reaction shot, you’re making me feel really good. I think that makes me feel really, really good, and I appreciate it.

 

Q) That’s something people point out. Those more emotional moments where she’s just like crying for a second or collecting herself.

 

A) Well, I mean look, it’s great writing. I’ll tell you, what if the writing was garbage, and I had to listen and cry? No. No, I’m no Meryl, but I mean I think Meryl Streep gets pretty good material but it’s if it’s not written, well, it’s hard to get anywhere, emotionally connecting with stuff.

 

Q) On that same subject, Prentiss is a character you’ve played for almost twenty years. What do you hope for her story, as the show continues?

 

A) I’ve always said to them, I’m up for anything. I think I texted in the middle of production like…While we were shooting this season, I think I texted them, “I would like to do a big John Woo type fight out in a kitchen where Prentiss is physically confronting someone younger and tougher.” Prentiss and I are 56-year-old ladies. You would have to win the battle by cunning – you would have to. You would have to stop your opponent, not by sheer physical force, but by ingenuity. And so, I did ask them to write that. I haven’t seen it. I don’t know if they have or will. If they did, and I just blew it, I’m in trouble. But I like the idea of seeing where it’s not just stopping someone with a gun. How are ways that the people in law enforcement use their intelligence and wit and wiles to affect change? That’s interesting to me, so I hope they’ll do it. I don’t know. I hope they’ll do it.

 

Q) Hopefully next season we’ll see that. You all start filming Season 19 soon. Do you have any little rituals or things that you do to get back into Prentiss mode after a filming break?

 

A) Yeah, I start watching…every – all of it. All of the crime podcasts. And you know, social media murders – just everything, all of it. I start watching it to have it in there, and my husband laughs because when we’re not shooting, I’m just watching cooking shows and like romance. Then, he’ll come in the kitchen and go, “Oh, no, you’re getting ready for ‘Criminal Minds,’ aren’t you?” Because he doesn’t want to watch all the creepy stuff. But, yeah, I start watching that stuff and then reading, I read a lot. I’m reading a lot. So, I’m gonna read again. I’m gonna read Gavin De Becker’s The Gift of Fear. I don’t have those FBI manuals anymore. That was when I joined the show, and they let us have the actual FBI training manuals. Those are out of the house, and I think everybody did that, including Erica. Our showrunner, when she was on the writing staff before she became a showrunner. She had those books, and in the writers’ meetings when she was pregnant with her kids – who are growing up so fast. I can’t even stand it. She would put headphones on her belly playing Mozart so they wouldn’t even get a whiff of serial killer stuff seeping in from the room, and some of it’s dark. Some of it’s very, very dark.

 

Q) What would you like to say to the fans and supporters of you and “Criminal Minds?”

 

A) Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Please enjoy Season 18 of “Criminal Minds” – “Evolution” Season 3. We owe you for our jobs. Your support is how we’re able to continue telling these stories, and your support of each other is so beautiful. It’s a really extraordinary community, and I’ve never seen that from any other show. I’ve never experienced how much our fanbase talks to each other, and enjoy each other, and reaches out to us, and likes what we do. And there’s some weird thing about “Criminal Minds” that’s like a blankie. It’s like a comfort blanket. And I get that from other shows. So, I know what it’s like to be a fan. But our fans are just a world of their own and we owe them for supporting us, and I think it was because so many people watched it on Netflix during the pandemic that we were asked to come back. Because we came back from the dead. That’s amazing. And that’s all because the fans were watching it. So, we owe our fan base everything.

 

 

You must be logged in to post a comment Login