BIENVENUE!

INTERVIEW MICHAEL T. WEISS November 2nd 2001

It is in the famous Rose Cafe, at Venice Beach, in Los Angeles, that  Michael T. Weiss spent a moment's relaxation in our presence before going  back to his occupational job . With long hair and a rather ordinary look,  smiling, Michael arrives like any customer, in all simplicity. After talking with him for a while in order to present our magazine, the interview started in one of the warmest atmosphere. The most television well-known Pretender answered our questions with humour and carefully. He talked to us about his character Jarod, his plans, and his passions. It is with a certain emotion that Spirit Magazine gives you this open heart interview. 

1 - Question: How did you choose to play Jarod? answer in MP3
 I had been doing a lot of film work in America. They approached me to play this role and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do television because it’s such a huge commitment. But the character was so intriguing; you know I get to play a different character every week. I really like the writers, Steve Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle. So I took a chance, and here I am. Like I can’t believe it’s still going on. We never expected beyond the pilot that it would go any further and now it’s in like 52 countries around the world and it’s crazy, websites and movies. It’s all crazy.

2 – Do you know why they choose you than an other one? answer in MP3
That’s  a good question.  You know I asked them that once, Why they picked me. They said,  I think it’s because I understood his innocence and his dark, sinister side. You know sometimes a role is made for you and that’s it.

 3 - Question:  What are the pros and cons playing Jarod because he is both dark and light?answer in MP3
 I complicated to find the balance between being too innocent like a little boy and being a dark man. I tried to find the balance like ‘Oh wow, an ice cream’ and ‘Oh wow, I’m going to kill you.’ (Laughing) And that was a lot of fun and intriguing and it was also a big risk because most of the time we’re used to our hero being very macho. I took a risk and I guess it worked.

4 - Question: What is the difference for you to be a Pretender and an Actor? answer in MP3
 I think we’re all pretenders, everyday we pretend to be something, which is fantastic because it gives you great freedom to pretend to be different things. But an actor is like a pretender, but as an actor, we try to be truthful. As an actor we try not to fake it we try to be it. But then Jarod was always twinkling in his eye to the audience that he was faking it.

5 - Question:  Do you agree with Jarod sometimes going above the law and not respecting it in he’s efforts to bring to justice?answer in MP3
 You know he’s a pathological lier and he is completely without his morals or his own sense of morals and if we all had a morality like Jarod we’d all be in trouble these days. Luckily he wants to help, but his way of helping is completely illegal. We call is vigilante here in America.

6 - Question: From the beginning Jarod is very nieve, but he lost his innocence, how do you feel about that?answer in MP3
We had to do that. I think you have to loose your innocence. And if I played Jarod like that innocent all the time it would have been silly because he’s smart and he was out in the world for four years so I couldn’t continue to be innocent. But there are still things that come up that he doesn’t know about. So it couldn’t be ‘Oh my god, an ice cream cone’ or ‘Oh my god, PEZ’ but now it’s like ‘Oh my god, Sex’ (laughing) Which is much more fun then ice cream!

7 - Question: What was missing from Jarod’s character?answer in MP3
 What was missing. That’s a very good question.  I mean he’s a really sad character to me. I mean he was always very very very sad, the core of him was beautiful but he was sad a lot of the time. I think he needed love.  Maybe he’ll find it with Miss Parker in the movie.

8 - Question: Did you ever make any suggestion about the story or the scripts? answer in MP3
 Oh of course. We were all very opinionated. We were a lovely group of people; we all got along very well. Loving, lovely, I think we loved it.  We all got along really really really well. Andrea and I are great friends. It’s a shame we couldn’t have done more, because we really enjoyed working together, which I miss.

 9 - Question: What is it like for you to act with children? answer in MP3
 There’s an expression in America, in the film industry, ‘You don’t want to play with Children or dogs’ (laughing) No I love kids, are you kidding? I love kids, I love kids. I love kids. They’re the best and child actors are usually really open and they don’t have a lot of self consciousness like we adult actors do and that’s half the battle to be a good actor. And the kids on our show have been so successful, we had ‘Darth Vader’, and we had the boy from ‘The Sixth Sense’, Haley Joel Ostment. He played the young pretender. So if you want to be a child star you worked on my show  (laughinh). The girl from ‘Traffic” too.

10 - Question: Did the philosophy and human values in the TV series lead you to question yourself? answer in MP3
Oh Yeah, absolutely. It’s really interesting because of what happened in the world, it questions your own sense of heroism. Because Jarod is such a hero, I would like to think that I would have run up to the top of the World Trade Center to help people as well. So, I learned a lot about what I would be like to in a situation where I would be needed as a hero, as a person hero not as an actor hero.

11 - Question: You made your first steps as a director on The Pretender, What kind of an experience did you get from that? answer in MP3
I loved to direct. Are you kidding? I got to tell everyone what to do. I’m a big boss. (Laughing) It’s fantastic and now that I have time off, I’m pitching TV series to the networks as a producer, which is kinda fun.

12 - Question: How was it to do your own stunts? Did they let you do your own stunts? answer in MP3
My stunt double was the same one from the “Matrix” so he was fantastic. I did a lot of things that I could do, I learned how to do the fight scenes from my stunt double. So I did a lot of that stuff my self but they’re not going to throw me off a fired building.  

13 - Question: Do you have to be in good condition to do your own stunts? answer in MP3
Yes I worked out with my trainer and the stunts guys to do fight choreography all the time. But I work out all the time, just to be sane.

14 – You turned two TV movies in Toronto for the Pretender. What were the differences between turn TV movies or turn a simple episode? answer in MP3
We didn’t have the same crew and we missed them. It was in Toronto, which was very different. And it was cold. It was beautiful there. It’s a fun place, very French. Lots of French people. Vancouver is a very nice place too.  

15 - Question:  Are you afraid of being typecast as your character, Jarod from The Pretender? answer in MP3
Not after they see ‘Bones’, I imagine they will all be like, Oh my god look at that pig! (Laughing) Well you know, we’re all actors and when I do the next thing maybe they’ll think of me from that then. But if they remember me as Jarod then I’ll be very happy, because I was proud to play Jarod.  

16 – What kind of projects have you after the Pretender? answer in MP3
 Well, I’ve been working a lot of movies….so I’ve been very picky as they say.  I did the film with Snoop Dog and now I kind of have a few film projects in the works and I’m trying to produce a television series as a producer. And I’m playing golf. Lots of golf.  

17 – Talking about “Bones”, Why did you choose to appear in this movie? answer in MP3
Because it was so different then  ‘Jarod’, It was so horrible and mean and I didn’t want to be… because Jarod is such a nice man and so good, I wanted to play something the was so completely polar opposite…because I’m an actor and I don’t want people just to think of me as that, I’m not Jarod, I’m an actor.

18 – Takling about the charcters you played in your carrer, why did you choose to play so many strange characters? answer in MP3
Well, I’m an actor and I like to stretch my actor muscles. And playing is hero is always fun, but they never have anything wrong with them. They always do the right thing, so it’s fun to do the wrong thing sometimes. I want every role I play to different then the one before so no one can understand anything about me every. (laughing) I was just teasing.  

19 – certain roles are very difficult to accept to do, like Steve in “Jeffrey”, what is your point of view?  
You know I never worry about what people are going to think about me, ever. After “Bones”…They’re going to think “My God, Jarod let himself go. He ate up too many crusaunts.  

20 – You wrote a piece of theater few year ago, will you return on stage one day? answer in MP3
Oh absolutely. I live in New York as well so I’m going to pursue the theater probably this year. So everyone who lives in France can come visit us at theater.

21 – About the ecology, we know that you work with ECO to defend the planet, but why did you choose to take a part of the ecology? 
Well to me, the way we treat the planet is the way we treat each other and the way the world is right now, with what’s going on with the war and everything, I think it’s just an example of how we treat each other. If we cared for our planet and our own back yard and the way we cared for the animals and the rivers and the streams and the mountains and the air. If we all cared for each other the same way we care for the then we would have a very peaceful world. We only have a certain amount of resources on our planet, and if we abuse them we won’t…..the planet will survive, we won’t. It will just shake us off…You know, with a virus or poisoning and so I believe it’s our job as people and  human beings and to protect the planet because it doesn’t have a voice, we do. And we in the western world are completely consumptive. So we need to learn to be more gentle with the way we’ve been with the world. So I drive an electric car and live a small and quiet live and try not to be too consumptive. 

22 - As an American Citizen how did you live the events of September 11^th? answer in MP3
It was the most horrifying thing I’d ever seen.  I’m from New York and I knew at that moment the world was about to be changed forever. Which I find to be very very sad. I find it sad that people can’t treat each other with more respect. We all are different, we all have different religious views and we all have different ways of viewing the world and if we can’t learn to respect each other’s differences, we will always have conflict. I hope that we can learn to rise above it. I’m not a nationalist, I don’t believe in US and them, America vs. whom ever. We’re a gobble world; we only have one planet, one sky, and one eco system. It was a horrific thing, innocent people went to work and…It touched us all in a place…. it’s crazy to want to hurt other people, that’s not the way to make your point. If you want to make your point, make it peacefully, then people will listen. It’s just very sad to me that this is the state of affairs in the world today. But hopefully we will all learn to live in peace and I think out of this experience maybe we will learn to respect each other more in our religious and cultural differences.

23 -  Question: In 10 years how do you see yourself? answer in MP3
I’m not going to look like I did in ‘Bones’. (Laughing) That was a glimpse into the future and I didn’t like it. (Laughing more) So I will be NOT looking like that. I think it will be a lot of the same, you know, always trying to find new things to do. I hope I’m be working, I hope I’m still kicking around, I’m hope the planet is peaceful. I hope I have clear air to breath and clean water and I hope I’m still getting lucky. (Grinning)

Interview by Nadège Tonnelle for Spirit Magazine