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Print Andrew Eccels |
Q. Are people more likely to recognize you by a character you played or your real name?
A. Well, sometimes they might actually know me by name. Up until just a very few years ago it was always, you know, "Yo Oz" or "Hey Spider-Man." But 10 percent of the time, now, somebody will come up and go, "Are you J.K. Simmons?" They'll also come up and go "Are you Donald Sutherland?" [laughing] Basically any bald character actor [he wore a wig in Spider-Man].
Q. By the way, you are one of those lucky men who look good without hair.
A. Well gee, thanks. You know, the good Lord created very few perfect heads. The rest of them he covered with hair.
Q. It's not often you are cast as a romantic interest. I understand your luck might change this season on "The Closer."
A. Not often. Not since my summer stock days in my 20s. There certainly has been hinting at that. It's a really well put-together show; the producing team and the writing team are just the best. I [the character] haven't come all that close to actually getting lucky in the classic sense yet. My hopes are high.
Q. Would you be opposed to doing some love scenes?
A. [Laughing] No, I would not. My wife might not be thrilled about it, but she would be fine, too. She's an actor too.
Q. So what happened to your musical ambitions?
A. Well they sort of got derailed by a segue into theater. Although it was originally my goal to be Leonard Bernstein, I don't think I had Leonard Bernstein's talent frankly. I just started doing art song and opera and oratorio and stuff and segued into musical theater and then into theater and then into film and TV.
Q. Do you have any desire to do a Broadway musical?
A. You know, I'm not one of those guys that's dying to get back on stage. I had just been offered a wonderful play, but I passed on it simply because my kids are at an age where I want to tuck them into bed at night, you know?
Q. Other than a paycheck, what do you get out of acting?
A. I started doing this because I just got bit by the bug when I was in college and fell in love with the whole idea of creating characters and doing great plays. It's just to tell good stories. I think actors are sometimes overrated. I guess we are sometimes underrated, too, but we are just sort of cogs in that wheel of storytelling. To me it all begins with the writing. Once somebody writes it then I'm very good at, you know, criticizing the minutia of it (laughing). And bringing it to life. That's the same thing I mostly did as a musician. I was a composer, but I was also predominantly a singer.
Q. Have you ever had trouble playing a part because you hate the character you are playing?
A. No. I love playing freaky bad guys and annoying bosses. I mean I like playing good guys, too. Because a character is evil has never been something that's turned me off. If a character is evil and badly written, that will turn me off.
Q. What character has been the most draining emotionally or physically for you to bring to life?
A. Probably Vern Shillinger [a Neo-Nazi prisoner on "Oz"]. Early on when we were doing "Oz," I think it was pretty tough for a lot of the guys. Aside from Chuck Zito, none of us were tough guys in real life. You know? It was just a bunch of musical comedy sissies trying to be all these evil bad guys. It was hard to get into it at first and hard to get out of it sometimes. Hard to shake it off every night. Physically I would say it's got to be one of the theater parts like Captain Hook, where you are flying all over the stage sword fighting. Twice a day on matinees and you never know when Peter Pan's sword is going to slip and you are going to need another 12 stitches in your forehead.
Q. So, are you happy with where this career has taken you?
A. It's a yes/no. It literally never occurred to me until I was in my 30s that I would actually have a big fancy house in the Hollywood Hills and a happy family and be making what is ridiculous money to me compared to growing up the son of a public school junior high teacher. I am really lucky and really blessed. Having said that, there's still lots of opportunities that don't come my way that I wish did.
Q. But what you do have is lots of steady work and offers.
A. Oh yeah, I turn down a lot. There's enough other kind of work, you know? I do some voiceover stuff that I've been kind of lucky with, like the yellow M&M (in commercials). That's been paying the mortgage for a long time. Now that I'm a family guy it's very, very rare that any job would be interesting enough for me to travel. I'm going to New York for "Spider-Man," but I really, really try to stay at home now as much as I can.
