Interviews

James Roday was a lot of fun to interview during a recent set visit on the set of Psych. James plays Shawn Spencer, fake Psychic detective with a keen observational skills and a penchant for goofing off. While the real James loves pop culture and films, he is serious about his job on set. Whether it be acting, directing, or writing (or all at once), James is incredibly busy and incredibly talented.

Which role have you found the most challenging – writing, directing, acting?

James: I think directing is definitely the most challenging, because it’s sort of like my newest toy, that I know the least about. And at least, especially within the context of Psych, I feel like the acting is sort of second nature at this point. I mean, I don’t think there’s a whole lot left to throw at Shawn that he’s not going to know what to do with.

And then the writing [is] just a fun collaboration. It’s like, having a putt putt course behind your house. You just go out and mess around, and that’s fun. But the directing is something that I’ve always been very serious about. I take the opportunities very seriously. I really want to get better. I want to be able to go back and watch each episode and see that I’m moving in the right direction.

Do you think it’s a natural progression for an actor in a long running TV series to turn to directing?

James: I think it depends. I mean, I think sometimes a show will run so long that it’s sort of a like a “What the hey,” situation. “Let me see if this is something I might be interested in doing,” and if you run long enough, you might get a shot. For me, you know, it’s something that I’ve known I’ve wanted to do for a really long time. And it was just matter of getting the opportunity and making the most of it.

And then there are some actors that I don’t think have any interest in directing. I mean, if you ask Dulé, when is he directing, his answer is probably “never.” He’s just not inclined. But I grew up a cinephile, and I love movies. And I love European cinema. I love different styles. And I love having my breath taken away in a movie theatre the way I love being transported when I see live theatre.

I heard that there’s going to be a Twin Peaks themed episode.

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Dulé Hill was incredibly fun to interview during a recent set visit on the set of Psych. Dulé plays Burton (Gus) Guster, best friend and partner to Shawn Spencer (James Roday) and the Psych (fake psychic) Detective Agency. And Dulé may not be as geeky as Gus, but he and Roday certainly have an amazing chemistry.

The chemistry between you and James is fantastic.

Dulé: It’s also been a work in progress, too. I think if you watch from the pilot to now, the show is-the show has grown.

Gus doesn’t throw up as much. You know, as individuals, like myself and Roday and all the actors, we’re, I guess, becoming more comfortable with our characters, and moulding them more and, finding new things about them. So it’s been a work in progress, which is why I like doing series television, though, because you’re not stuck with just, “This is it.” If you’re blessed to have a show that runs a long time, you can continually keep working on it. That’s what’s fun about it.

It seems as if Gus is becoming more of an equal partner to Shawn.

DuléYou could be right about that. I mean that’s more of a writer’s question… Steve had always said he had planned to do that as the show went on, that they’d be more equal partners. And he would be less of a sidekick.

I feel like now, it’s been, obviously – Shawn Spencer is the main guy, but I do feel that it’s a two-hander. I feel that we play off each other a lot, and that kind of gets through.

How do you feel about your comedic role between Shawn and Lassiter?

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During a recent set visit on the set of Psych, various other media outlets and I were able to interview C. Thomas Howell, who happened to be filming that day as well.

Can you tell us about your character in this episode?

Howell: I play Federal Agent Driggs, who is put on the case to search for [an] international mystery woman. And I’ve been tracking her down and following her to Santa Barbara. You’re thinking as I’m going through things that maybe I’ve got something to do with the shenanigans here. Because I’m sort of a hard a**, and it looks like I might be the one driving the problems.

Is there a bit of a friendship then between your charater and Lassiter, since both are so tough, or is there tension?

Howell: Well, I’ll tell you a little secret between me and Lassiter. The original pilot that was shot, the screen test came down between me and Tim to play Lassiter. So there’s definitely some hate between the two of us. And on day one over at the studio, take one, day one, I accidentally stepped on one of Tim’s lines and cut him off. And he said, “Howell, give it up. You didn’t get the role, for god’s sakes. Okay, get it over it.” So when they asked me to come up, I couldn’t wait to come up and do evil things to Tim when he wasn’t looking.

You’ve been acting forever. Was there ever…

Howell: Pretty much. Methuselah Howell.

Was there ever a time in which you contemplated another career, or was it just always this?

Howell: You know, all of my family are stunt people – my father was one of the top five stunt men in the business for years, and years, and years. He’s semi-retired now. My sister, my mother, my cousins, my uncles – all stunt people. So at Thanksgiving when we’re sitting at a table like this it’s all stunt people.

And somebody inevitably is like, “Would the sissy pass the potatoes?” That’s what it’s like in my house. So if there was a career change, I probably would have done stunts. So I would have been in the same business. There was never an inkling of going off to college to become, a doctor or something. I always knew I would be in the business. I just thought I would be doing stunts. And when I was a young man I did stunts with my father all the time.

And when I was 12 I got the role on ET because I could do stunts on the bike. I was one of the only kids that could actually do the stunts on the bike, so that’s why they went with me. I was sort of the stunt kid, the other kids were the acting kids. And, that sort of lead to the audition process for The Outsiders, and I was cast in that. So I went from Spielberg to Coppola, and then some agents started scratching their head going, “Maybe you shouldn’t do stunts.” And the rest is history.

Is there a specific genre that you prefer working in?

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