Jarod's Safe House Presents... Exclusive Interviw with Steven Long Mitchell about working with Michael T. Weiss

Interview Date: July 20, 2013
By Karen Phillips of Jarod's Safe House

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I had asked Mr. Steven Long Mitchell if he would be so kind as to answer a few questions about working with Michael, and he did! While he wasn't very forth-coming some of his answers were quite funny and I'd like to thank him very much for his time and the insight.

Question: Loved the announcement yesterday. Do you have a timeline when you expect to release tP in each of these medias?*
SLM: FIRST NOVEL EARLY FALL (SEPT/OCT at the latest) More to follow after.

Graphic Novel – just in the idea stages and meeting with artist etc – our guess is spring of 2014.

The Movies will be after the books have laid the ground work (think Hunger Games) and we have written the first scripts.

Q: In your recent interview with Jenna Busch, you stated when asked about casting, "As for Michael T, he's the only actor, and we looked at hundreds of actors, and he's the only one we wanted and he's the only one we brought to NBC, which is a no-no. We brought one and we said, if it's not him, we don't want to do this show." (1) Were you aware of Michael's previous work or did you see him for the first time during the audition process? (2) How did he come to audition for the role, and (3) what was it about Michael that convinced you he was the only one you wanted to play Jarod?
SLM: (1) We had seen movies he had done (and as he reminded us a year later he had auditioned for us for an earlier pilot – that we didn't cast him in!) But we were fans.

(2) He came to audition as every other actor – our casting agent brought him in and we were mesmerized as soon as he started. When he walked out we shared a look and said – "that's Jarod."

(3) That he could be both a strong intelligent man and an innocent, damaged little boy at the same time.

Q: What did you enjoy most about working with Michael?
SLM: The things he brought to the character that we hadn't expected but allowed us to find even greater facets of who Jarod really was.

Q: My friend and I have had the pleasure of meeting Michael several times. He is quite the character and always seems to be in "performance-mode" or "on" as my friend calls it. Is this your experience or is professional, working Michael different?
SLM: We were blessed with very genuine human beings in all of our actors – a rarity in Hollywood. Michael is one of the best people I know. But he also has a shyness about him that allows him to keep part of himself to himself.

Q: Actors make mistakes all the time during production, do you have any favorite moments of bloopers Michael made while filming episodes of the Pretender?
SLM: That we can talk about and not get in trouble about?

Q: Do you have any favorite scenes and/or episodes where Michael's acting talent went above and beyond what you had visioned?
SLM: More then we could ever say – we actually will be putting all of this in an official compendium of the series one day. We think we'll call it The Ultimate Compendium Guide to The Pretender.

Q: Did Michael always stick strictly to the script or was he known to improvise on occasion?
SLM: He was very good about sticking to the script – and when not the exact words the spirit of the words. But as all good actors do, sometimes they bring something special that was not on the page but since they know their characters so well it makes what was there even better.

Q: Michael seems to be a funny and playful person .... did he ever get up to any mischief on set during down times?
SLM: Oh yes – especially on the fun shows – with Argyle especially.

Q: Do you have any fond memories of working with Michael that you'd like to share?

SLM: There will be many in the Ultimate Compendium Guide to The Pretender – including the times on set with Wayne Newton in the episode Cold Dick or the two of us were chased by a wild wolf on the set of At the Hour of our Death when we wondered if our time was up! At least I think the guy who outran me through the woods was MTW.

©2013 Karen Phillips
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Thank you!