Master of None - Men of Desperate Housewives Panel Recap...

Here is my recap of the panel discussion with the "Men of Desperate Housewives". It’s a mixture of stuff culled from memory, approximations,et.

I fully expected Jamie not to attend because at the Paley, he didn’t seem to interested in the process, but he came. Sadly Mark Moses wasn’t in attendance. Another surprise was that I left the Paley fest a big ‘ol Steven fan, so imagine my surprise when I left the Men’s panel loving Doug Savant! Doug is so funny, so extroverted and gregarious, he’s a joy. They were all really funny and good natured, to be fair, but Doug is a revelation.

The panel was put together by SAG, so a lot of the questions, discussions were based around acting.

The moderator asked the cast what they thought of the script when they first saw it.

Steven: (to audience) Can you hear me without the mic? Yeah? Good, then I won’t use the mic. I knew it was about the women, not so much about the husbands, but I didn’t really care. I thought the guys would just be upstairs or hanging around, but I think we’d all agree that the men are more fleshed out than that. It’s a pleasant surprise.

Moderator: There’s kidnappers, murderers, yet people say the show is so realistic what is that about? What is it about this show that works so well?

Ricardo: I was talking to my father about this. He and my grandmother watch a lot of Telenovelas and they all say it has that same feel to it.

Steven: Well you have the characters that you can relate to: a stay-at-home mom, you got the single woman trying to find love, raising a daughter, you have my wife and I, in their odd way, trying to keep a marriage together after 18 years, trying to keep love alive. I think, as heightened (the theatrics) as we are, I think there is a basic reality and resonance. We don’t put quotation marks around it, we try to play it for real.

Doug: (taking the mic) I"ll use the mic, because I have a god complex. I don’t think the show is real in the least. I don’t think it bares a resemblance to reality, but it sets a reality for the show. The issues are real and the seeds of them are real enough, but the level to which they are played, the comedy that is sought, is at such a level that is not real, but there is a consistent reality in the show.

Steven: It’s a basic comedy of manners. The duality of people.

Moderator: What is it like to work with Marc Cherry? What goes on in the mind of a crazed genius like that?

Steven: Where do I start? If we could bottle it, we’d be rich. He has a great mind. Has a great deprecating sense of humor. He’s wickedly funny. Now working with him is different because he has, not a half-hour approach, but he rewrites, rewrites, rewrites. The problem is that it cuts close when it time to shoot, but you can’t argue with the product.

Doug: Honestly, if Marc was here tonight, we’d all pale in comparison.

Jamie: We’d never get a word in.

Doug: Which is why we were really excited to be here tonight, because Marc’s not here.

Jamie: Marc’s not around much (on set). But when there’s a problem, he suddenly drives up in a golf cart, fixes something and says (mimicking Marc Cherry) "Oh, that works" and drives back off. He gets there so quickly at all hours of the night: midnight, 6am. I’m like "If it’s that easy for you to get here, just stay here!"

About their characters:

Ricardo: Someone didn’t want me to do the role. They said I wasn’t suave enough. And I love proving people wrong. Carlos is older than Gabrielle. I took bits from people that I know, like my tios, men who are proud; some are men who treat their women as possessions. Carlos views Gabrielle as a possession. And when Carlos grabs Gabrielle out of anger--, I try to convey the anger, but also the love, because Carlos does love Gabrielle…which makes their relationship that much fucked up.

Jamie: Playing Mike isn’t brain surgery. It’s basically remembering to kiss left or kiss right. (laughing) The DP pointed this out to me, maybe I should’ve trained more, but the scenes where Mike is talking to Kendra and her dad, and the bad cop, the DP pointed out that my voice gets deeper and I raise one eyebrow. ::laughing:: So that’s my acting technique: bad Mike’s voice is deeper and he raises an eyebrow.

On being an ensemble show:

Jamie: We never see each other. What attracted me naively was working together as a group and we don’t really work with each other. My scenes are mostly with Teri. I’ve done two scenes with Ricardo. One with Steven.

Steven: Yeah, we did the dinner scene together, you know when Bree has the dinner party (to Doug) you weren’t in that scene.

Doug: Thanks for bringing it up. Can we drop this? Moderator, moderate!

Question: Why isn’t Doug listed as a regular?

Doug: (hmms and haws) See, I’m married to the show, but me and ABC…we’re dating. ABC hasn’t made that commitment. But hopefully one day.

Question: Has life changed for you since the show? How do you handle the attention?

Jamie: It’s been fine. It’s just the reaction we get is…Ricardo, Jesse and I were in New York recently together, if you can believe that. And we were at a crosswalk and the light was red and we’re waiting and this woman kept looking at us. So the light turns green and before we can walk, she says "So, you’re just going to walk around like that, like it’s no big deal?"

Ricardo: So we held hands and walked like that.

On being actors:

Doug: I hope that I’m growing as an actor. I hope that after 22 years I’m better at being more about the truth, than being entertaining.

Ricardo: You have this one who’s been at it for 22 years (Doug), this one longer than that (Steven) But I’ve only been at this professionally for 5. I got my Masters and my first year in LA was crap. This is the most successful thing I’ve been in. This whole first season is a learning session for me. Especially when they’re in their trailers. Ebay anyone? Just trying to get as much advice and knowledge as I can. One thing that prepared me was going into my graduate program. It refined me as a person. There I realized that every audition is an opportunity. Be ready for it. Not only by knowing your lines, but by being physically ready for it. Every aspect of your being, your mind, your body has to be ready. If not, they’ll know.

Steven: (takes the mic) Now I’m god. I remember coming off of "Angels in America" at ACT in San Francisco and resolving that it was going to be the best role I’d ever get. But, whenever I think I’ve peaked, it keeps getting better. You just have to be open in your work. I don’t feel like this is my one shot. I think of it as one stop along the road to other roles.

Ricardo: You did 5 shows last year.

(Question progresses to Steven doing multiple shows last year: Enterprise, The West Wing, JAG)

Steven: It all worked out. They (the DH producers) were very good about it. As a matter of fact, ABC was throwing this big function and wanted all of us to be there, but I was doing work for Enterprise and I just couldn’t get away, so I told ABC, "I’m sorry, I can’t." And the only one who had a problem is, and I won’t say who, the person who heads the show that when it has a first-run episode, gets bigger ratings than us.

Jamie: I hear Simon loves you.

Steven: (laughs) I did make out with Paula Abdul.

Question: What do you take with you or bring to the job.

Jamie: I don’t know. I never knew anything about acting I still don’t think I do. (Jamie began acting at 28 years of age). I learned more about the technical aspect, the business side of it: how to be on at TV show saving money, how to think that your last job is your last one. I find, I carry with me to the next show is how to look at the Matte box so that the editors don’t screw me. How to think technically on a set. Continuity. Giving them more options. Little things that you don’t know you’re thinking about. Because if I thought about acting, I’d get a headache. But the technical points are what I build up. If that makes sense.

Ricardo: That’s something I’ve been learning because I’m very green. I watch these guys and see how comfortable they are and I go, "Oh, now I know why he does that." I try to be a sponge. Everyone in this environment can teach you something if you allow them.

Steven: I want to add, it’s important to show up and not depend on someone else. Get inside the characters skin. What’s my relationship and go through it. A lot of times on a show, no one will tell you what to do. I’m use to playing agenda driven people who know what they want, but Rex is a person who doesn’t know what he wants. And I would walk on the set and not know what I was doing and I realized that it was coming from the script. That the character engendered that and once I knew that, I embraced it.

Jamie: If you don’t come in with your game-plan, then it never gets down. Which is maddening on TV. If you don’t show up, like Steven says, you can’t even know how many guest stars come on and don’t know, well not our show, other shows I’ve been on, and they don’t know their lines and if would be mortified if I walked on someone else’s show and not know my lines. Because if not they’ll just mark your spot shoot and cut. And then you watch it on Sunday night and go, "That’s why I suck! I didn’t do my homework and neither did they!"

Steven: DH is different. We have much better directors. They won’t let you fall on your face. But it’s better if you do your homework.

Doug: You should come on with a point of view. But when you’re a guest, it’s the hardest thing because you don’ t know what to say or not what to say. You come in and say, "I think this character has a limp" and they go, "Uh, not so much". You must then disavow yourself of those things.

You may think, "Shit, I did all this work: I have this bit, I have this behavior, shit, I’m doing this thing here… I’m fucking juggling here!!" Do your homework, come to work with a strong point of view and sometimes if you’re lucky, the director may be open and go with what you think, but if not, you should learn to adjust. And it’s not easy to disavow yourself. You go, "But I did it this way in the audition and it got me the job and now you’re telling me what, that it doesn’t work all of a sudden?" So you need to go with the flow.

Jamie: He’s exaggerting the limp as a behavior.

Ricardo: No he’s not. Not with me.

Steven: But it’s also about coming in with strong actions. Strong actions can be done with a walk and talk. Or at a desk or underneath a car. Just adjust your act.

Moderator: Ricardo, do you have something to add?

Ricardo: No..it’s just that Doug was looking really sexy right there.::fans himself::

Fave audition story or terrible audition:

Steven talks about an audition that he felt wasn’t going well, so he walked out of it.

Ricardo talked about how actors have to make auditions work for them. Don’t rely on the directors or the person reading the sides. Don’t be afraid to take charge of the audition.

Jamie: Most mindblowing. It was for a war movie, use your imagination. Big director. So I had to play a soldier in a bunker with a walkie-talkie. So the casting director throws me the remote control to her TV and I hate faking props. Then she says lay down on the floor like you’re on a bunker. So I’m lying on the floor with her remote control. And she says Bob, my intern here, will make bomb noises. ::goes on to mimic bombs going off:: I should’ve left that audition. I didn’t get the point.

Question: Doug, was it hard for casting directors to see you as straight after Melrose? And how is it working with Felicity Huffman.

Doug: It’s still hard for Jamie, if you know what I mean. Here is the honest truthful answer. I’m not sure. I’m still proud of playing Matt on Melrose all those years ago.

He goes on to talk about asking a casting director if playing gay hurt him and the director said yes. Before Doug got the words out of his mouth, the guy said yes. And how even on the set of DH, a friend of a friend visited the set and said how she still had a hard time seeing Doug as straight:

Doug: So I said to her, well I guess I have to grab your ass. So yes, there were issues. Thanks for asking. And Felcity Huffman..that is just a freakin’ joy. I was fairly intimidated when I first met her,she’s a strong woman, she has a strong presence she can throw down with the guys, she can throw a baseball, she can drink and she can cuss. She is a gracious..she’s a brilliant actor. She brings depth to things that were it wasn’t expected. I love her very much so. I have great affection for her.

Other things that I don’t remember where they fit:

Doug: I’m an actor, I think I can play anything.

Jamie: Even "Ray".

Doug: Even "Ray". (mimicking Ray Charles, quite well, I might add) Oooh!

(audiences follows "Oooh")

Doug: See! Jamie Foxx isn’t the only one who can do that. Know why? Because we’re sheep!

Someone brought up thongs:

Jamie to Ricardo: Remember, wait after the second season to come out.

Ricardo (about ethnicity): When I was in college, I started going by Rick, but when I knew when people got to my last name, I couldn’t hide what I was. I think it’s great that Carlos and Gabrielle are Hispanics and are the richest people in that neighborhood. That’s huge. But how do we follow it up? With Carlos getting arrested and going to jail. I had a real problem with that. I understand the need for it storywise, but you have this character in a stereotypical position: person of color in jail. So when someone asked me how they felt about DH getting a Heritage award, sure they deserve it, but I told the person, "I’d like it more when there’s a day when we don’t have to give out those type of awards."

Jamie: (Their’s) It’s not a very fun set, in the sense that there’s no blooper reels or practical jokes. The writers are constantly writing, constantly changing the script that a lot of times I’m just in my trailers trying to learn my lines.

Moderator: Ad-libbing allowed?

Jamie: No. I actually got taken to task for going off-script, but it was because I had just gotten the lines and didn’t know them.

Steven: It’s true, that we’re constantly having to learn our lines, but we do enjoy ourselves.

On Matt’s Gay Kiss:

Doug: I’m trying to see how honest I can be here. Darren only wanted to do the kiss if it can be done the way he wanted it to. I mean, all of that time Matt was just holding hands, so I really wanted to show that kiss. Fox said that Darren can do whatever he wanted and we shot it and when they aired, they cut away to Billy’s reaction. I was really pissed about that.

On Opportunities:

Jamie: I was passed over for a indie film. It was a small one. Practically no money, and they told me that they wanted to go with a bigger name. I know I’m not well known, but I thought they’d at least try to capitalize on Desperate Housewives, but…

My thoughts:

Jamie is a pragmatist. Enjoys what he does, but he ultimately knows it’s a business, evident by his remark: "We could very well have a scene at the start of season 2 where someone walks through the door saying, "Man, that's sad what happened to Mike."

I think it goes along with Jamie being on so many promising shows (The Pretender, Threat Matrix) only to have them cancelled. So I think he has no time for all of the critical oohing and aahing because at the end of the day, the show’s livelihood is at the whim of the network.

Steven: ACTOR extraordinaire. Large theater background, loves theater. Would be still doing it, but he has 3 year old twins, so he doesn’t want to miss out. He’s all about the craft. Would be a great acting teacher.

Doug: He kept talking about honesty and truth. How he’s able to discern who’s blowing smoke basically. When he was asked why he took the show, he was very upfront about how he would’ve taken anything. He wasn’t working. Hadn’t been working steadily. But you can tell that he loves acting. He does it not for the fame, but for the craft itself.

Doug stayed behind taking pictures and signing autographs. I shook his hand (he has big hands) told him how much I enjoyed the panel and that I was also at the Paley fest and he got a kick out of that. He said that they get nervous before these things because they’re afraid they’re not interesting enough or that no one would have questions for them.

Ricardo: Very open about his shortcomings. As a person who watched the first night of the show and thought "Man, he’s so stilted and wooden", I’m glad to see that he has come so far.

Current Mood: exhausted