Transcript: Luke Wilson Q&A about Bad Blood
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Luke Wilson
The X Files
[Luke photo]
IT IS RARE when an actor guest-starring in a television series gets to play two
decidedly different characters. In TXF vampire tale Bad Blood Luke Wilson
portrays two versions of Sheriff Hartwell, one hunky, one hayseed, both of
which are hiding something from Mulder and Scully.
How did you first become involved in TXF?
There's a writer and producer who works on the series named Vince Gilligan. He
wrote the screenplay for the Warner Bros comedy Home Fries which I did with
Jake Busey and Drew Barrymore. It was filmed in Austin, Texas and Vince came
down a few times while we were shooting. He and I hit it off and since then
we've seen each other occasionally at movie screenings here in Los Angeles. It
was during one of these times that Vince asked me, "Would you be interested in
doing The X Files?" I said, "Definitely." Three weeks later he sent me the
script for Bad Blood and that was it. Mercifully there wasn't an audition. I
wish that it was always that easy!
How would you describe Sheriff Hartwell?
Well, there's Mulder's perspective of the character, which is this kind of
airhead hick with buck teeth. Then there's Scully, who sees him as this nice,
attractive Southern gentleman who's a good listener and who seems impressed
with her medical knowledge. One of the nice things about Hartwell was that he
wasn't someone who starts out one way and then changes halfway through the
story. I had to present two totally opposite interpretations of the character
and that made him a challenge to play.
Did you prefer one version of the character over the other?
Definitely Mulder's. I mean, there were times where the director [Cliff Bole]
would say, 'OK, Luke, you need to take the buck teeth out of your mouth,'
because I was enjoying myself way too much. It was terrific working with
David, too. I wasn't an avid viewer of The X Files but I had watched it from
time to time and I liked it. I didn't know much about David, though, but I
discovered that he's a great guy. I remember feeling a little uncomfortable
about ad-libbing because in television your schedule isn't as flexible as it is
when you're doing a film, so I wasn't sure if we had time to spare. At one
point I found myself talking fast just to try to speed things up and David
said, "Why not use that line that you were kidding around with before?" I
asked, "Really? Do we have time?" and he told me, "Sure." The next thing you
knew we were doing these mini-improvs and a couple of them actually ended up in
the episode.
What distinguishes your role on TXF from your other work?
The X Files was the first television work I'd ever done. Up to that point I'd
only worked in motion pictures. The big difference I found between features
and television is that in television you don't have the luxury of getting too
comfortable with your dialogue or doing take after take until you get it just
right. You have to know your lines and know exactly what you're going to do in
front of the camera. Working on The X Files was a great introduction to the
medium. I said to Vince Gilligan that as far as I'm concerned I've appeared on
this generation's Twilight Zone and it's going to be tough to top that.
- Steven Eramo
Bad Blood
BBC1: Saturday 5th, 21.25
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