В: Большое спасибо, что пришёл сюда сегодня. Ещё раз – Вентворт Миллер.

ВМ: Да, спасибо вам. Большое спасибо.

*****

«Вмешательство» («Intervention») – американское документальное реалити-шоу канала A & E о том, как люди, страдающие от различных зависимостей, пытаются справиться с ними с помощью семьи, друзей и специалистов.

*****

Перевод: Мария Родионова

 

Camera on: Wentworth Miller

PKO “Off Camera” International Festival of Independent Cinema.

Poland, Kraków

May 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUUiGjxZ5oQ

(Audience’s cheers and applause.)

Wentworth Miller (WM): (enters, mouths): Thank you. Thank you. Hello.

Host (H): (Enters.)

WM and H: (Shake hands, sit down.)

H: Glad I brought my own water with the four of the ones here … I got my cheat sheet. Hey, thank you so much for coming out to this special edition with the one and only Mr. Miller here. We will be able to turn this over to you guys for some questions partway through this, so be prepared. Er, where do we begin? You’ve been performing for a long time. I’d love to know about the early days, like what was the impetus, what was the motivation? Did you fall into it accidentally or did you always know that was something you were always interested in?

WM: You know, as a kid I was fascinated with acting, with Hollywood, and I loved TV, I loved films, but the older I got the more I understood how difficult the business can be. So after I graduated from college, I drove west, California, with the idea of getting involved with the industry behind the scenes as a producer. And it wasn’t for maybe a year and a half after arriving in Los Angeles that I realized I’d unconsciously moved there to act. It was just a matter of working up the nerve.

H: How did you know, what was that… that switch that went off for you?

WM: Well, I’d had the acting bug as a kid. And I realized that I had this “What if…” question. And I didn’t want to be 70 years old still asking myself, “What if I’d given it a shot?” “What if I’d tried to be an actor?” “Would that’ve worked out?” “Would I have found success?” I didn’t wanna be haunted by that. So I thought, “Even if it doesn’t work out, I gotta give it a shot.”

H: So, tell me about the quintessential struggling Los Angeles actor stories. So, I guess it was probably two or three years between when you moved out there to when you got your first big TV role, so what were the struggling years, the lean years like?

WM: The lean years? Well, I spent a long time as a temp, as a temporary executive assistant, working within the business, at agencies or production companies, studios, and I did that for six years. And essentially, as a temp I was warming strangers’ chairs (laughs), for eight hours a day, playing “Solitaire” on their computers. But in the end that served me because working for agents, working for directors, working for producers, I got to see how the business works behind the scenes, from a different perspective than, I think, your average actor gets to enjoy. So, when I started working as an actor, I had a different appreciation for how hard it is to make a movie, even a bad one – respect must still be paid.

H: You have to kinda be a masochist to wanna be a filmmaker, I’ve always said.

WM: It’s a hard job and I’ve been asked, you know, do I wanna direct at some point, and the answer is no. (Laughs.) Not unless I felt deeply passionate about one particular project and hated the idea of anyone else telling the story – that would be the only reason to really approach that with a certain amount of respect and seriousness.

H: So, let’s talk about when you first got into television and your first getting out there in the public eye. You managed to get onto a supercool, beloved cult series…

WM: Yeah.

H: …“Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” What was that experience like?

WM: Nerve-wracking. I spent the entire time waiting for the knock on the door on my trailer that I was fired. (Laughs.) Yes! I don’t think I’d been on a film set before and suddenly I’m doing fight choreography with David Boreanaz in the back alley at 3 a.m. – I mean, it just blew my mind. This was also a show that I was feverishly devoted to as a fan and watching every week. But I made it through by the skin of my teeth and was lucky enough to start piecing a career together in the years that followed.

H: For “Buffy,” though, for those who don’t know, could you just describe the role that you played?

WM: I was a fish monster. (Laughs.) I was on a high school swim team. And I think the story line was that our coach was spiking the water with shark DNA so that we would swim faster (laughs), with the unfortunate side effect that we all became monsters.

H: Then “Dinotopia,” that wasn’t too long after that. And that was a mini-series, so there was more longevity to it. How different was that experience up at that point, just for the fact that it wasn’t just a one-off thing?

WM: Well, that was eight months in London of shooting “Dinotopia,” that’s three part mini-series, huge budget, special effects, action adventure. It was real education for me because to work opposite something that’s not actually there – in this case, a dinosaur, takes a leap of faith, it takes a certain degree of imagination and bravery and commitment. You wanna believe that, you know, you gonna act scared, and that the editors in postproduction are gonna put something there that justifies you acting scared. And here we are, X number of years later, and I’m still doing action adventure, cartoon comic book characters, and that early experience has served me well.

H: You know, comic books and genre – this has certainly become… come to the front of popular culture. Where do your own interests lie, I mean, like, you’re clearly having fun with these roles but are these the kinds of things that you are ordinarily attracted to?

WM: I never imagined that I would have a career that looks the way that it does. I thought I’d be playing a lawyer on some procedural drama. Never imagined that I’d be (laughs) running around in a parka with ski goggles and shooting a fake cold gun that freezes people. It’s quite different than anything I’d expected, but I do believe in my heart of hearts that I’m meant to play the parts that I’m meant to play. I’m not meant to play the parts that I’m not meant to play. And that’s how I hold on to a degree of sanity in a business where you have so little control. The average actor walks into an audition, and it’s not necessarily about your talent, it’s about, you know, are you the right height? Do you have the right hair colour? Are you what the director had in mind when they are envisioning this character? So much is beyond your control. So, it’s been helpful to me to surrender as much of that control as possible and to say, “Whatever the universe provides, I say yes.”

H: So, you know, kinda continuing with some of these things like “The Flash” or “Resident Evil” movies where you’re playing a fictional character that is already beloved in another form. You know, what is that experience like as far as knowing that once the Internet gets hold of it, you’re gonna be under such scrutiny because the cult… that, you know, the audiences for these projects are very passionate people?

WM: Yes, they are passionate people, and I think if you care a lot about what other people think, you might be in trouble. I have my own artistic standards, I have my own creative sense of what is good, what is authentic, what is inspired, and that’s what I try and pay attention to more than how I am received or perceived by an audience. I had a great acting coach, once upon a time he told me that… and this was advice as far as auditions: “You cannot give people what they want, you can only give them what you do. And if what you do is what they want, then you’re in business. If it’s not, c’est la vie. ”

H: That’s very, very positive thinking.

(Audience laughs.)

H: One of your… one of my favourite projects of yours is an underrated movie called “The Human Stain”…

WM: Thank you.

H: …in which you get to play, you play a role that… you play the younger version of a role that is then played by…

WM: Anthony Hopkins.

H: Sir Anthony Hopkins.

WM: Yeah, Sir Tony.

H: (exhales) Man, that’s no pressure or anything. Could you talk a little bit about how you approached the character that is already just a character, but he is also going to end up being Sir Tony.

WM: Well, I’ve watched as many of his movies as I could. But my focus was mostly on the book, the Philip Roth novel, and honouring that characterization, and then it worked out beautifully because we shot my part of the movie first, and then I was told that Anthony Hopkins actually watched my footage, looking for pieces of my performance that he could then layer into his, as though he were watching, like, old home movies. 

H: It’s great that you were in that too. And I don’t know how many of you have seen that or read the Roth book and then know what it is about, but your background is, oh my goodness, between your mother and father, let me see if I got this right, your father is of African American, Jewish, English, German, Jamaican and Cherokee blood, your Mum Russian, French, Dutch, Syrian, Lebanese and Swedish.

WM: Um.

(Audience chuckles.)

H: That’s, I mean, such an incredible… you are clearly a man of the world. Does that play into roles for you, as far as just being such a… having such a multicultural background?

WM: Maybe. It’s hard to say because I’m not a part of the conversations that happen behind closed doors about my casting. I do know that when I got started in this business, I was really envious of the other actors in my acting class who were clearly like “the young Tom Hanks”, “the young Denzel Washington” because doors opened for those people, because Hollywood loves to stuff actors – everyone, really – into individual boxes and label their foreheads clearly, so Hollywood knows what to do with a young Tom Hanks, they know what to do with a young Denzel Washington. I don’t think they necessarily knew what to do with a young Wentworth Miller. (Audience chuckles.) So I spent a lot of time trying to be my version of a young Tom Hanks (laughs), my version of a young Danzel Washington, with not a whole lot of success. My hope is that I have helped create something that maybe didn’t exist before, so that in 10-15 years’ time someone in Hollywood says, (mimics the voice) “We need a young Wentworth Miller!” (Host laughs.) Maybe that will happen, maybe it won’t, but it did feel like it was part of my challenge as an actor to find my place in this business.

H: Has that ever worked the other way, in which case you’ve been offered projects – and maybe you can even talk broadly about them – that you thought, “Why would you think of me?” because it doesn’t necessarily seemed like it was the right fit or just… you know… or people are going chasing the wrong qualities because, again, those are the conversations you were not privy to?

WM: Well, post-“Prison Break” I was offered a lo-o-t of prison-related stuff. (Host laughs.) My character was in jail, or going to jail, or fresh from jail, maybe I’d had tattoos, maybe I did origami. (Audience and WM laugh.) There was just a lot of stuff that I had to say no to because I was worried about being typecast. But then “Resident Evil” came along, and the approach to that character, who is also introduced behind bars, was kind of tongue-in-cheek, it was playful, and I thought, “Ah, I think the average “Prison Break” fan might get a kick out of this, it’s a little “wink-wink, nudge-nudge,” that’s a good time, that’s kind of cool – let me say yes.”

H: Just curious – how many “Prison Break” fans are there out there?

WM: One of two.

H: One or two…

WM: Yeah. 

(Audience and WM laugh.)

H: “Prison Break” was obviously a stupendous hit, and you got a “Golden Globe” nomination.

WM: Yes.

H: Not too shabby.

WM: Thank you.

H: Did that specifically, did getting that nomination open up any new doors for you that you can tell that that was the direct connection?

WM: Probably not (laughs), it’s the honest answer. Which was fine, because I don’t put a whole lot of weight on awards and recognition of that kind. My one is to do the best job I can and be part of a story that touches and moves and inspires, and if that reaches a wide audience – great, if it doesn’t – also great, if I get an award – stupendous, if not – I’m doing it for the love, for the right reasons. Yeah.

H: You’re… way back when, when you were at Princeton, and you ended up in the English Lit major, so it’s fantastic that you’ve had such a strange career path since then. But you write and you’re a screenwriter, and, I think, most successfully, I think, what’s gotten out there the biggest so far is “Stoker” from a couple of years ago. You end up making Park Chan-wook, a Korean filmmaker’s English language debut.

WM: Right.

H: How did this come to be? I mean, from… We’ll talk about the screenwriting process in a bit, but that just seems like such an amazing, unusual, for you, stepping stone.

WM: Maybe. (Laughs.) For me it felt pretty organic. I’d been an actor for a while, and I’m kind of answering your screenwriting question anyway…

H: We’ll go deeper…

WM: …and then suddenly this door opened and on the other side of that was a potential career as a writer, and I enjoyed myself so much writing that first screenplay. I got to play all the characters and I was my own boss and didn’t have to leave the house if I didn’t want to, I could just kind of burrow down into this project. And what I wrote is what we sold “The Fox Searchlight,” and then they brought on director Park, kind of, after I’d left the scene. So I didn’t have anything to do with the production of the script and did not work hand in hand with director Park as he initiated a few changes to the script. So what wound up on screen is different than what I originally intended, but that too is the Hollywood story, it’s a collaborative business, the nature of the beast.

H: Director Park is such a… is known for being such a vivid stylist, and I’d love to know, like, that what is different to me, that film certainly looks like one of his films, his trademarks are all over it, and some of the visual flair… but… I mean, was your script, for instance, as baroque as it came out and how different was script to screen?

WM: I would describe my script as maybe Gothic as opposed to baroque, if that makes sense. And when I saw it, I thought, “Yes, it’s different than I’d originally imagined” but I reminded myself that 99.999 % of an audience coming to this film will have no experience of my script, will have no experience of what my original intention was. And that really doesn’t matter at this point, and the movie is in theaters, it’s being appreciated on its own terms, so… I’m grateful it got made. 

H: So, when you… how long ago did you write that script?

WM: That was 2010, maybe.

H: Was that the first one you had written?

WM: Yes, the first one, yes, I’d just filmed “Resident Evil,” and I was kind of at loose ends, not knowing what was next, and sat down to write this thing.

H: Why? Why, what made you, did you… just because… you felt like it was something…

WM: I’d had the idea for about four years, actually. But because I didn’t think of myself as a writer, because I put myself in my own box and labelled my own forehead, and it said “Actor,” I didn’t give myself credit, I didn’t believe that I could write a script. But I wanted to play a bad guy. I’d been playing Michael Scofield on “Prison Break” for four years, and I wanted to break out of the good guy box, so I’d try to convince several writers over the years to write this thing for me, and got no tractions, so I thought, “If I don’t write this thing, it’s never gonna get written.” So one night, I think, I’d exhausted everything on my TV DVR, like, there was nothing left to watch, it was too early to go to bed, I thought, “I’ve got this one scene in my mind, I know exactly how it’s supposed to go, let me sit down and try to write this thing. If it doesn’t work out I don’t have to tell anyone (laughs), I’ll just keep it to myself.” But a month later I had the entire thing, it was just sort of simmering, marinating within me for four years, and when I finally gave myself permission to be a writer, I wrote.

H: I could take some stabs on what I think that first nugget of a scene was, but I’d love to know what was it?

WM: It was a scene where Uncle Charlie is released from the Institute, and his brother comes to pick him up and tells him, “I love you, but you’re not coming home with us.”

H: And I’ve heard that there is a potential for a prequel that… I don’t know if this is a just a rumour or if…

WM: Well, I wrote a prequel. While we were negotiating the deal for “Stoker,” I had the idea for what these characters are up to six months before the action in the movie, so I started writing this additional script. And at first I thought, “Maybe I’ll get 20 pages, maybe I’ll get 30 pages,” but eventually I had enough that I thought, “I need to show this to the actors in this movie because it’s what they’re up to prior to what we’re seeing on the screen.” So, eventually I had the entire script, negotiated that too with “Fox Searchlight,” so they have the rights to it, they own these characters, this universe. Whether or not it’s gonna get made, I don’t know. I think a lot probably depends on how “Stoker” did at the box office which is not something I decided to pay attention to because there was really no point, so I’m hopeful, but it’s out of my hands.

H: I mean, would you want to have any more of creative control and something like that? Obviously, you don’t want to direct, but now this first one’s out there and it’s not quite what your script was but it’s its own thing and it’s appreciated by plenty of people, myself included.

WM: Thank you.

H: But, you know, in this world where there are so many franchises and sequels and remakes and reboots…

WM: Yeah.

H: …and it feels like there aren’t a lot of ideas. There is something to be said for something that is a continuation of a story that there’s just room to deepen the story.

WM: Sure.

H: So, do you feel, like, any sort of personal attachment that you would want to help guide it through? Or have you written it, you’ve written the words, it has your name on it, and you’ve moved on?

WM: I think it is the kind of challenge to let go of the thing once it’s been produced. I think, as an artist, as a creative person you do have a choice which is, “All right, I’ve written this thing, I hand it over to Hollywood, and I just know that it’s going to be changed, it’s going to be tweaked. There’s always a bunch of chefs in the kitchen. It’s a collaborative process.” So, either I get okay with that or I insist that this thing is gonna be sacred and intact, and I stick it in a drawer and no one gets to enjoy it. So I decided to choose the first. I’d be excited to see the prequel made because, I think, it would deepen your understanding of these characters, these actors. And what I respect about feature films in their attempt to, kind of, create these franchises is that they are actually, from a certain perspective, following a TV model, which is allowing the audience to spend more time with these characters and invest in these stories in a different way. TV allows you to go deeper as far as emotionality and character than your average two-hour movie ever could. So, the movie becomes about, maybe, plot first, characterization and emotionality second whereas TV, it has the time and the leisure to serve these things up.

H: I find it kind of troubling now that cinema had started to adopt this TV model. I mean, there are certainly, you know… plenty of people have talked about how much great television there has been out there in the last ten years plus, but, you know, television is also… there are commercials and there is a need to keep it going because, you know, there are corporate interests, and not to say that all TV shows are just about that, but I think when it comes to movies, I think they are a different animal and just like, you know, when one medium shouldn’t necessarily be adapted for another because it does not necessarily make quite the right fit. I don’t know if this is a good thing.

WM: If it’s done well I think there’s a lot there to appreciate. I saw the most recent “Avengers” movies. I could not remember at all what happened in the last one (laughs) but it didn’t interfere with my enjoyment and… like “The Hunger Games,” I think, that’s another series that’s done really well and, yes, it does kind of feel like TV and you’re getting to return to and spend time with characters that you’ve come to care about.

H: How would… what’s your… I mean, not that you have any one guiding philosophy to how you sit down in front of a brand blank page, but what are the things you start doing when you’re writing? Do you have any things that you do, do you make a lookbook or, you know, do you do anything to help inspire you?

WM: You know, usually I’ve to wait until I feel a story is sort of bubbling under my skin before I sit down and write – because it’s scary, facing that blank page. But what I do ask myself as I’m writing is, “Have I revealed something of myself that makes me a little uncomfortable, that makes me a little embarrassed to, sort of, put this out there to the world?” and that is also my philosophy as an actor. One of my coaches once gave us a little lecture in acting class on Thursday morning, and he said, “All right, who here wants to be a star?” And we all, like, raised our hands, like, “Of course, (laughs) that’s why we’re here, that’s why we’re waiting tables blah blah blah,” and he said, “All right, I want you to go home and make two lists. The first list you title “Things I Don’t Want Anyone to Know Ever” and then you make a list of everything about yourself – things that you don’t like about yourself, maybe something that you did that you’re not necessarily proud of, like who you are when the doors are closed and the shades are pulled. Just make a long list of all that stuff you’d never want anyone to know. And then in your second list – title that “Things That Will Make Me a Star” – and then take everything on the first list and slide it over to the second, because that’s what the audience wants to see. They want to see humanity, they want to see the edge, the darkness, the vulnerability that your average audience member may not allow themselves in real life because we’ve agreed that there’s a certain way of behaving and a certain way of interacting, but we’ll go and see those movies where characters do and say inappropriate things, because there’s that vicarious experience that can be cathartic and even healing.

H: Can you think of any examples of after you’ve done something like this that it’s come back to your own life, that you’ve written something that you’ve exposed yourself to yourself and you could tell that it’s made you a richer person for it?

WM: Well, I think “Stoker” is not a message movie, I don’t like message movies, I don’t like being hammered over the head by someone’s personal political agenda. It’s meant to be entertainment, but underneath that there are other things there if you’re looking for them. And it’s… frоm one perspective, it’s a coming out story, it’s, you know, a young person sort of coming into their own, so in the writing of that there was definitely a nod to and a reflection of my own life and where I was in my own journey, as a man, as a soul.

H: Speaking of which, I applaud you for what you did with the St. Petersburg Film Festival, which… I don’t know if you know, but you declined your invitation, and you did it in a very, very elegant and public way to, basically, show your support against Russia’s very anti-LGBT… we call it a “regime” (laughs) ‘cause, frankly, it is. What has come out since then, like, for you, like, have there been any opportunities, whether they be just activist opportunities, speaking opportunities, things of that nature?

WM: Well, there’s been opportunities to get involved with causes and charities that are significant and meaningful to me like “The Human Rights Campaign,” like “The Trevor Project,” for example. On a personal, artistic level I can’t say whether that’s really impacted my career because, again, I’m not privy to those conversations about whether or not I should be cast in a certain role. I will say that one of the things I appreciate about the character I’m playing on “The Flash” now, Captain Cold, villain from that comic book series, is that he is a man who is fully himself 24/7. He’s totally in alignment, and by alignment I mean what I think is what I say is what I do. So you ask Captain Cold who he is, he’s going to tell you, “I’m Captain Cold.” He’s never not Captain Cold. And in that way, I think, he is heroic because he is speaking his truth which makes things complicated by contrast with that guy over there, the hero of the piece, wearing this half-mask, who’s wrestling with secrets and a divided self. And if you ask him who he is, he’ll probably not tell you the truth. So in that instance this hero is acting in a way that is not quite heroic, and I think that’s one of the appeals of the comic book genre for the LGBTQ community, especially the younger kids, [it] is that they are gonna relate to a story about someone being… made to feel, like, how they are different is a drawback, a hindrance, something that they may be punished for, persecuted, but then stepping into that difference, owning it and discovering that, yes, in fact, this is special, this is unique, and this makes me feel powerful.

H: Beautifully put. I think at this point we can open it up to the audience for some questions. And if we have any other microphones about… yes, we do. So, yeah…

WM: I wish I could see y’all. [The stage lights are bright.]

H: Yes, we can barely see you. Any hands in the air? I see one over here.

WM: “How long does it take to apply the tattoo?”

(Audience and WM laugh.)

H: Next question.

(Audience and WM laugh.)

H: Did you figure it out?

WM: Do we have a microphone?

H: (addressing the first person to raise a hand) All right… we’ll get to you, I promise.

Girl: Hi, Wentworth.

WM: Hi.

Girl: (Laughs.)

(Audience laughs.)

Girl: First of all, I’m happy that you’re here…

WM: Thank you. 

Girl: … in Kraków. And my question is about your movie “Loft.” What was the influence of your private life, yours, some influence?

WM: I’m not sure that that particular part (laughs, the girl laughs) was influenced by my private life, but I did appreciate the opportunity to play something different than Michael Scofield on “Prison Break.” Michael Scofield was so… kind of, relentlessly earnest, and one of the conversations that I had with the writers playing that part was, you know, four years in, Michael’s got a lot of blood on his hands, he’s responsible for a lot of mayhem – all because he wants to get his brother out of a jam. So, doesn’t he have a chance to, kind of, get edgy, go dark? But their response was, “Yes, but he’s still the hero of the piece.” So, in “The Loft” I had the opportunity to play someone who is not the hero, and found a real, kind of, creative freedom there because to be the hero of the piece you have a certain responsibility on your shoulders. And I didn’t have that on “The Loft,” and it felt liberating.

H: Now that you are both performing and writing, you know, not to say that… in a desert island kind of way, you can only choose one, but certainly they both scratch different creative itches, and I think there’s something interesting about the fact that if you’re an actor, it’s in the service of, you know, a collaborative vision, it’s not just your own as far as control, but writing, same thing – it’s your own – until you give it off. How do you, kind of, reconcile that as far as what you want to do next?

WM: You know, they both have creative challenges and drawbacks and things that are issues for me in terms of control and surrendering creative control and being okay with the process. What I learned about myself as a writer is that I need people. It was a very lonely couple of years writing these scripts in my living room, it’s an isolating thing to be a writer. It’s something that I could only do by myself, and I started to miss being in a relationship, having a job to go to, being a part of that community. And on a film set, on a TV set you’re working together 12-14 hours a day 5 days a week for sometimes months on end. There is a kind of bond and connection that forms ‘cause it feels like you’re in the trenches together that I really missed, and that’s why right now the focus is so much on acting. And maybe I’ll write, maybe I won’t, but I know on a personal level I need to be around people, so that’s why it’s all about the acting for the next little bit.

H: All right, there’s a question over here.

Girl: Yes.

H: Got it.

Girl: Hi.

WM: Hi.

Girl: So, first of all, I thought “Stoker” was pretty fantastic.

WM: Thank you.

Girl: And I think there’s another movie coming out this year, which is “The Disappointments Room”…

WM: Yes.

Girl: … and that also will be a thriller, from what I heard.

WM: Yeah.

Girl: Is that your favourite genre?

WM: It’s one of them… yeah.

Girl: Okay, and also, do you take part in the casting process because I feel like the “Stoker”’s cast was pretty brilliant.

WM: Hm.

Girl: That was something that you’ve thought about, these actors were the ones that you actually thought about while you were writing it or it was, like, out of your hands?

WM: That’s a great question. I had nothing to do with the casting process on “Stoker” but, oddly enough, Matthew Goode was one of the actors that I was envisioning when I was writing the Uncle Charlie character. After I got past the point of seeing myself in the role, he is someone that I thought about as, “Wouldn’t he be a great Uncle Charlie?” And as a writer, that’s been really helpful to imagine very specifically who I might cast in the part that I’m trying to write because then I can kind of write for their voice and their sensibility.   

Girl: Thank you.

H: And she mentioned “The Disappointments Room which sounds really, really fascinating. Could you tease a little bit about what people are in store for it?

WM: Yeah. It’s a ghost story that is based on actual events. It’s based on how we as a society used to treat a certain kind of person. Can’t go into it too much ‘cause I don’t wanna spoil it for you, but D. J. Caruso is directing or did direct, Kate Beckinsale is our star, and I believe it’s coming out in September of this year.

H: Sounds good. Any more questions for Wentworth? Here’s one right here. Can we get a microphone? Third row centre. My apologies for anybody’s raising their hand at the back – I truly can’t see you. Yell out next time.

Girl: Okay, first, these are for my voice, because I have a cold.

WM: It’s all right.

Girl: So, there’s my question. Okay, first of all I just want to say that I really admire, I think, what you did with Captain Cold. Me and my friends, we think that the way you play that character is one of… probably this is one of the best villains in “The Flash” universe.

WM: Thank you.

Girl: And my question is, did you expect that Captain Cold will be… that you will be in “The Flash” for more than one episode and that you will get a spin-off series? (Laughs.)

WM: (laughs) I had no idea where that character would go. The producers told me that he is a significant villain in the comic books, so there’s the potential to come back, but there were no guarantees. So I thought, “Let me just do my best and we’ll take it episode by episode, and in addition to the humour and the edge and the villainy let me also find what is human about these characters.” Because at the end of the day, in addition to the special effects and the super powers, they are meant to be believable to a certain degree, to have some sort of root in a real, authentic human experience. So, to find the pieces of my character, who is this out and out villain, that are human, that speak to what it is to be a man, were important to me. And what I liked about Captain Cold, as far as his relationship with the Flash, was that the Flash has father issues. And it turns out that Captain Cold has father issues as well, so I think in that way they kind of connect and even mirror each other now. And that was interesting to me.

H: Is it harder to find the humane qualities in characters that are known for being, you know, over-the-top, superhuman, supervillain, et cetera?

WM: Well, it felt like a logical question that I had to answer. They are doing these villainous things. Why? What is up the root of that? I remember Anthony Hopkins talking a little bit about his process as far as getting into Hannibal Lector’s brain, and it wasn’t about making this fantastic, boogie-man-beneath-the-bed character of flesh and blood totally sympathetic human being – but he is meant to be a man and he is meant to reflect some darker part of ourselves. And for me acting, being on a set, it’s an opportunity, in a very safe, structured environment to go to those places that I wouldn’t normally go in my day-to-day life because I’d be, you know, thrown in prison, probably. (Laughs.)

H: All right, look, let’s get a question from the back, I feel. It’s like I can barely see.

Girl: I hope you can hear me know. I hope you don’t mind if I add a bit more queerness…

H: (Laughs.)

WM: Bring on the queerness!

Girl: Yes, thank you, because it’s really important for me personally, and big respect what you have done according…

WM: Can you wave your hand? I can’t…

Girl: This here.

WM: …see… Oh, there you are. Hi.

(Audience laughs.)

Girl: (laughs) Hello. So, my question, in your opinion, how can public figures help to improve situation of LGBT people in countries like Russia, for example?

WM: Mhm. I think that’s a great question. I think there’s a lot of answers. It’s a complicated question, for sure. You can advocate. You can show up at certain events, lend your voice to certain causes. That’s been important to me. But you can also keep working. (Laughs.) As an actor, you can stay visible. I’ve thought a lot about what it is to be an openly gay actor on a TV show. And, I think, for me it presents a unique opportunity, because as a fan, if I’m watching someone on TV, they are coming into my home, week after week after week, year after year after year, and they start to feel like family. And so if that actor decides to come out of the closet, I feel like you are challenged to create room for that, just as you would [for] a family member who’s decided to say, “Hey, I’m gay,” “Hey, I’m lesbian,” “Hey, I’m transgender.” So, people who are growing up in communities where maybe there aren’t any gay people or there “aren’t” (makes an “air quotes” gesture) any gay people… to see someone on TV that is openly gay or maybe a character that is gay or lesbian or what have you, creates a certain awareness and I think, challenges them to accept and be open in ways they might not ordinarily be.

H: It’s a great question, thank you. I thought I saw another one in the darkness back there. Give a shout out. Here we go. 

Boy: (speaks in Polish, checking the microphone) Raz, dva. [Eng. “one, two.”]

(Audience laughs.)

Boy: Okay, it’s working. I actually have two questions, it’s okay? The first one is pretty quick. I’m Jacob, by the way, how do you like it?

WM: All right. Hi.

Boy: Concerning that I have the microphone, finally. Is it okay if I asked you, it’s a little request for the picture after the show, it’s, like, you leave this seat…

WM: (Laughs.)

Boy: …I believe the security guards have everything scheduled out, and then might be…

WM: We’ll see, I’m not sure I have time, we’ll see.

Boy: Okay. Okay, I’ll take your word for it.

WM: All right.

Boy: And the second question. Going back to “Prison Break”…

WM: Yes.

Boy: As there has not been much said yet. I’d like to ask about the very ending. As we all know, it was pretty emotional, and did you actually have any influence on the ending, considering the…

WM: You mean, it was my fault? (Laughs.)

Boy: I mean, yeah, did you actually come up with the idea of end, or if you were to have some influence on it or to create another one, how would you end, if you were not to kill Michael Scofield? How would you end the TV series, that’s the question that’s been bugging me for a year or so.

WM: All right. One of those questions, I think, was did I have a say in how “Prison Break” wrapped up. The answer is no. I don’t think any of the actors had that kind of influence. But I did have a conversation with the writers that was sort of ongoing, which was, you know, Michael’s done all these things, people are dead because of him… does he deserve to ride off into the sunset with his girlfriend and a child on the way? Is he worthy of a happy ending? Or it… does it make sense for him to somehow balance the scales? And I think it is very Michael Scofield to sacrifice himself for others… I’m ruining it for anyone who has not seen it (WM and host laugh), I’m sorry. So, the ending for me made sense on a character level, on a story level, but I can also understand that for audiences, for audience members it was challenging and maybe even upsetting. But here’s the good news – there is a conversation about bringing “Prison Break” back. It’s early days, there’s a lot of things that need to be ironed out before that’s a reality, but people are talking about it, it feels like the fan interest is there, but priority number one would be coming up with a story that’s worth telling. Because if it’s not worthy of standing alongside what we’ve already created, then we shouldn’t bother because it would just be a letdown for everybody. But yeah, there’s a possibility of a “Prison Break” limited series or reunion, we’ll see. 

H: And we have time for one or two more. How about right here in the front row?

WM: (to the girl asking the question) I can’t hear you out of here.

H: Won’t, won’t, won’t repeat it back, go ahead now.

Girl: [the beginning of the question is too quiet] … about franchises as well. And I was wondering with both the “DC” universe in general and also going back to “Buffy.” Though “Go Fish” was very early in mythology, but still. Dо you think those big transmedia universes composed of so many elements helped the actors with the performances, or hindered them, or they have no influence? What do you think about this kind of net?

WM: Could you elaborate, sorry?

Girl: For example, with the “DC,” the baggage of the characters from the comics, or, for example, with the mythology and transmedia elements that build up around. We have the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” which is composed of so many elements around, and this is something we’re just having with the “Arrow” and “The Flash,” and the new show, and probably something else soon. Do you pay attention to what’s happening in the larger universe of “DC” or any other show, and does it influence your performances in terms of emotionality of your character?

WM: I try not to pay attention unless I have to, unless it becomes critical. At the end of the day, I try to keep it very simple: I’m an actor, I show up, I say my lines, I give life to this character, and then when I show up on set to do something like “The Flash,” I’m there to colour in a very small corner of the “DC Comics” universe. The larger stuff – the trans- and transmedia, what have you – I’m not even sure what that word means, really, (laughs) but I trust it means something (audience laughs) – those things I don’t pay attention to because, I think, to lose yourself in audience expectation, to sit with all these characters [that have] been around since the 1950s, and I need to read all those comic books, and… ”How does this gel with the TV series?” “Does this make sense?” “Am I paying the proper respect?” I think that can gum up the works, I think, that can really get in an actor’s way, so my approach was, I understand that this character already exists, I understand that this character already has a fan base – I have respect for that. But I’m gonna take the approach of whatever shows up in the script is true. I’m gonna take my cue from the writers, because I also know that they wanna tweak the existing mythology. They don’t wanna give you everything that you expect because I think that inevitably leads to disappointment, because it’s exactly what you thought it would be. I think the thing to do is to twist it, to create something new while respecting what was there, and that process is so complicated and, kind of, above my pay scale as an actor (laughs) that I’m happy to leave it to the powers that be and trust that together with them and their creative vision I’m gonna serve up a Captain Cold that is both respectful but also something you didn’t necessarily expect. 

H: I’m sad to say we only have time for one more question.

Girl: Hi! My question is more of a personal one. I’m here at the back.

WM: Where are you? Can you…

H: I love that it’s just voices in the dark, yeah, somewhere!

WM: Yeah.

(Audience and the girl laugh.)

WM: …wave your hand?

Girl: I’m here.

H: There she is.

WM: Ah! Hello.

Girl: So, my question is of more of a personal matter, because I’ve done some research and I’ve read that you acted the role of Paris in Shakespearean adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet,” right?

WM: Yes.

Girl: So, are you, like, into Shakespeare a bit or…

WM: (Laughs.)

Girl: You studied, like, literature as your major, yeah, so…?  

WM: Yes. I was an English major at the uni.

Girl: Yes, exactly, and I’m in the middle of writing my own MA thesis, in fact, and my topic is, like, Shakespearean villains.

WM: Hm.

Girl: And so I would like to get to know your opinion, if you have, about Shakespearean villains. Who do you consider one? The villainous, most villainous 16^th century character?

WM: The most villainous?

Girl: Yeah.

WM: Well, I’m not a Shakespeare authority.

(Audience laughs.)

WM: I did take a couple classes in college, and I have an appreciation for his work, of course. I was happy to get hired (laughs), I was happy that I have a check coming in, but I… again, I just focused, and I think, you know, you could consider Paris to be a villainous character from a certain perspective, of course, depends on interpretation. While he’s being villainous, while he’s being someone that you love to hate – and I think we always need characters that you love to hate, they are a lot of fun. Why is he doing what he’s doing and how has he justified that to himself, like, what is his pathology, what are his delusions? We all have pathologies, we all have our delusions, we’ve all spent time convincing ourselves of something that may or may not be true so that we can get through the world. And in that way, once you find that thing, you’ve made this villain a human being. Maybe not sympathetic, but understandable.

H: So then I’ll end here. I’m just going to, kind of, just kinda follow up on that because, I’m sure, because you’re working in film and TV you get asked about your own habits when it comes to that, but considering that you have done Shakespeare and you do write and you were an English Lit major, what do you read, what do you like, what are your favourites, what have you read recently that you liked, et cetera?

WM: Sad to say, I used to read, you know, classics in college… I was an English major, and those were my bread and butter. Nowadays, it’s mostly magazines – that’s all I seem to have the attention span for (Laughs.) Big fan of “The New Yorker.” And as far as what I watch – love documentaries, and I tend to gravitate toward reality TV now (laughs) more than scripted dramas… “Reality TV” (makes an “air quotes” gesture), I guess, you know, most of it is scripted but… Big fan of shows like “Top Chef,” “Project Runway”… there’s a show called “Intervention,” that I watch, that breaks my heart each and every time.

(Audience laughs.)

WM: The older I get the more interested I am in the world as it is and in enjoying stories that convey that rather than something that is, kind of, pure escapism and not about the world, that is not about informing me about what it is that’s out there in my day-to-day.

H: What I think is interesting about the choices that you’ve just said, really, ‘cause I don’t usually care for much of reality TV myself, but all the ones that you’ve said are all about things where something is made or something is accomplished.

WM: Right.

H: And those are the ones that I can actually wrap my brain around…

WM: Yeah.

H: …they’re not just like stupid dramas about annoying people.

WM: Why, I used to watch those too. (Laughs.) It’s my dirty little secret! But…

H: (laughs) And we ended up on the Kardashians.

WM: (Laughs.)

H: Thank you so much for coming out here, once again – Wentworth Miller.

WM: Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much.  

*****

Transcript: Mariya Rodionova