Fred Weller

"It’s an extremely funny show. It’s created by David Maples, who use to be one of the head writers on Home Improvement. He’s just a very clever and very funny guy, and I think that he is able to find humor in every situation. There are some episodes that are a little bit more funny than others, or rather a little more light-hearted in tone in general, the plot and so forth, but overall I think you’d call it a dramedy in the USA vein. That’s USA network, not the country," laughs Weller.

Weller was attracted to this role mainly because of its uniqueness. "I think it's a very original project. You don't often get to do drama on television that has this level of humor. In that, it's similar to theatre, which I have spent most of my career doing. In theatre, most of the time, what you're doing is drama with humor. In television usually you're doing broad comedy like a sitcom or even a single camera, or you're doing a one-hour drama, which can be kind of humorless at times, but this is really closer to a theatrical tone. And the character is not the cookie-cutter television cop either. He's extremely original, to the point of being kind of weird, which I really enjoy," he said.

There is more to this show than its dramedy effect, however. "Another element that makes the show original is that there's no real formula from week-to-week because it's not a cop show. It's very different from the usual procedural, in that you can't begin each episode with somebody getting killed because then it would be kind of a lame protection program. David and the writers have to reinvent the wheel every week, which I think makes their job very challenging, but also makes the show very fun to the viewers. One week it's a family drama, the next week it's a who-done-it, and the next week it's an action adventure. I mean it really does vary from week-to-week," reveals Weller.

Fred prepared for his role in a number of ways, but none were as beneficial as his collaborations with the technical adviser. "Well, I had read a couple of books prior to shooting, but they really weren't nearly as helpful as talking to our technical adviser, who actually was the head of the witness protection program. He also took me out to shoot guns and was there on the set available all the time, so Mary and I picked his brains.

"At one point another marshal was helicoptered in, someone who's not retired, who's still active. It was interesting, she actually didn't know where she was going when she was helicoptered in to talk to us because their job is that secret, it's on a need-to-know basis, so she didn't know until she arrived what her mission would be, which would be to talk to a bunch of actors. I hope she wasn't disappointed. I really had no idea just how bad-ass the U.S. marshals are until I talked to these people. They do a lot of undercover work. They are the best in the world at protecting people...at kicking down doors. They're frequently borrowed by other branches of the U.S. Marshal Service just to do SWAT-related work. It's a really cool job."

What sort of questions do you ask a tech adviser that's been there? "They were forthcoming regarding any kind of SWAT-type situation, like how you approach with a gun, how you kick down the door, what you do to the perp. Anything like that they were very straightforward with, but anything that was more sophisticated regarding the witnesses, handling even how the witnesses were given money, like the procedures through which they were provided their weekly funds... I remember the marshal I was talking to suddenly got a little hitch in his conversational get-along and he started to be a little cagey about the process, I don't know why, but I remember that was something I was curious about, that he didn't quite want to be straightforward about the money process, about when they're given the money, where they're given the money. I don't know...he just suddenly got a little...on his guard," recalls Weller.

Of all the episodes thus far, Fred does have a favorite for this season. "There's one episode with Dave Foley, and I enjoyed doing that episode because it really explored my relationship with Mary and the tension between us, and Dave Foley was brilliantly funny. And Mary and I got to shoot our guns."

Tension? Between him and Mary? What's that all about, eh? "For me the romantic tension between them (characters Marshal and Mary Shannon) is one of the Escape from Gilligan's Island elements to the show. That's not to say that there won't be any payoff on it, I feel there actually is some payoff here and there in the first season. Mary McCormack doesn't acknowledge the extent to which her character reciprocates those feelings. There's definitely at least one episode in which her character gets a little jealous of one of Marshall's love interests, which to me is pretty telling.

"In terms of our relationship, I think our relationship off screen is informative of our relationship on screen in that we get along very well in a kind of brother/sister trash-talk way. I think she's an extremely attractive woman, obviously, so it's easier to imagine being in love with her because her character is very desirable, as is the actress. I think she's a very attractive, very intelligent person," confesses Weller.

One final insight into the talented Mr. Weller rests on his preferential location if he were ever to have to "relocate" himself.

"Well, let's see. The trouble with that is you have to go someplace where you've never been before. So all of my favorite places, New Orleans, where I'm from, or Charleston, I would not be allowed to go to. So just picking someplace where I've never been that I'm intrigued by in the United States... I guess Seattle, I've never been there. I hear it's fun.

"There's actually one episode in which we interview these witnesses and we try to get them to divulge where they've been and where they have connections by offering to send them someplace that they might like to go, and so they disclose well, we've got some cousins in San Francisco, that would be nice. Chicago, I spent some time there, I thought it was great. I spent a few months there. And so we write down all these places they've been and then we rule them out, and they don't realize that that is what is happening, and that's apparently a common practice in the witness protection program," he confides.

Hmm...where would you relocate? I think I am with him on the Seattle selection actually. At least, for now.

Don't forget to check out In Plain Sight every Sunday at 10 p.m. ET on USA Network!

---

Comments

Add New Search RSS

iloveusa   |2008-06-05 21:54:05 i saw this show and it was actually really awesome. thanks! Reply 0   0

Write comment
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
Title:
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."