411mania Interviews: Eddie McClintock (Warehouse 13)
Posted by Al Norton on 09.15.2009
411's Al Norton sits down for an exclusive interview with Warehouse 13 star Eddie McClintock
Previously Eddie McClintock was best known for his guest spots on shows like Bones, My Boys, and Desperate Housewives, but all that changed when his new series, Warehouse 13, set ratings records for Syfy this summer.
Eddie McClintock: I was just thinking that you have the greatest title for a web column ever.
Al Norton: That's so great – thank you so much. I came up with the title before I even started writing the column.
Eddie McClintock: I've got Two Tivos To Paradise (singing). It's kind of like if you are going to make a movie, you do the poster first and then work back from there.
Al Norton: I don't want to sound like I am being a wise-ass because you've worked pretty steadily in your career…
Eddie McClintock: I love wise-asses…
Al Norton:…What does it feel like to be a show that you love, that gets strong ratings, knowing you've got a second season locked up?
Eddie McClintock: Because I am such a damaged human being (laughing)…To the normal person it probably feels better but it feels pretty good. I am constantly waiting for the other show to drop; I'm always waiting for someone to say, "just kidding." I am cautiously optimistic. I'm going to New York in October to do the Wizard convention, and then from there we're flying to Paris, and then to London to do an expo for five days…These are things I've never been asked to do so it's pretty cool. It's good to know I've got some job security to go back to. Those are all great things but because I'm an egomaniac with an inferiority complex, I always want more.
Al Norton: What drew you to the character of Pete Lattimore?
Eddie McClintock: The money (laughing).
Al Norton: I always think that's a very underrated answer. You're in the business to earn a living, right?
Eddie McClintock: I mean, come on! The script came to me just like any other audition and I read it, my manager reads it, and we decide if we want to go. I thought it was a lot of fun, the script was cool and it wasn't Pterodactyl From Outer Space, which I love, but...I thought Pete sounded like an exciting guy. Coming off of Bones, he was very similar to the character I played on Bones, and I thought it was a great opportunity to do a show where I would be "the guy."
Al Norton: What was the audition process like?
Eddie McClintock: Oh, it was a nightmare, an absolute nightmare. The audition process in general is a horrifying experience. When you get down to the final callbacks and you're going to the network and the studio, you go into a little room and the executives are all sitting there…Some are standing, depending on the room size…I've been in rooms at Fox or NBC where there are like 30 people in there. This was a smaller room but still, the stakes are so high. It's a tough deal but luckily Joanne (Kelly, McClintock's co-star) was there. She was talking to me before we went in the room because I was kind of having a melt down. I hadn't worked in a year but it was ok; Joanne kind of talked me down off the ledge.
You usually find out within a few hours whether or not you're going to get the job, and Syfy waited two weeks to tell me. Every time the phone rang my heart would drop and I'd go, "this is it." For two weeks that happened so when they finally called and said I had the job it was like, "oh, ok. At least now I don't have to have a heart attack every time the phone rings."
Al Norton: You mention Joanne; how long had you been working together before you realized there was quality chemistry there?
Eddie McClintock: I think before we even got to the job. During our test, the camera operator forgot to turn the camera on so they called us and said we had to come back and do it all again. We got to spend some more time together that next day and it was just easy. I'd make some juvenile remark, she'd punch me in the arm, and we would laugh…It was that kind of relationship, where it seems as though we've known each other a long time. That chemistry that everyone is talking about was there before we even stepped on the set.
Al Norton: Was this your first experience working with this level of special effects?
Eddie McClintock: Yes, I would say so. My very first job, before I even had a SAG card, was on a CD-Rom game and I was supposed to be a World War 1 fighter pilot, and I had to pretend a lot during that, but this was the first job where there was an actual budget.
Al Norton: That must present a unique set of challenges to an actor; I know you are pretending for a living but when there is nothing there and you have to pretend that there is…
Eddie McClintock: Saul (Rubinak, another co-star on Warehouse 13) coined this term, "schmacting". The "schmacting" started in the Claudia episode, where her brother was floating around the room in front of us. I said, "that stuffs not easy" and he said, "oh, you mean the schmacting?" Especially when you don't know what you are going to get; you try to be a professional and do the best job you can but you don't know what it's going to look like when it's done. Luckily the effects guys have done such a great job that when I go back to do season two, I'll be a lot more at ease that I'm not just out there hanging by the seat of my pants.
Al Norton: I know a lot of actors say they avoid watching their own work but do you go back and watch to see what the finished product with the effects added in looks like?
Eddie McClintock: I watch for a few reasons. I watch because I want to see if the show is any good, I watch because I want to critique my own work and I think there is a lot to be learned watching yourself. Going into the second season there are things I don't need to do and things I maybe need to do more of. I think it's a good learning tool.
Al Norton: Saul has a big following on 411mania.com. What's he like to work with?
Eddie McClintock: Saul is fantastic. I know the word genius gets thrown around a lot but I really think he's just brilliant, genius, fantastic. Before we even started to shoot the pilot he had rented a convertible and we were coming back from Jason Alexander's place in Toronto after a night and we just sat in his car talked. I had done a few episodes of Bones but there are things that go through your head when a huge responsibility is put on your shoulders and you think, "am I up for this? What if they all think I'm terrible?" He told me about working on Against All Odds with Jeff Bridges and how the director made Saul do 50 takes of this one scene and Saul said to Jeff, "am I that bad that I have to keep doing this over and over again?" and Jeff said, "Saul, you're fantastic. That's this guy's problem, not yours." He told me that he knew I had it in me to do this show and that I just had to believe in myself. It's been that kind of stuff that keeps coming out of his mouth and into my brain that has given us a great friendship.
Al Norton: Do you have a favorite artifact from the show?
Eddie McClintock: I guess it would have to be the "spine of the Saracen" because it gave me my greatest acting challenge. It forced me to make some big decisions in regards to my acting, probably the biggest I've had to make in my career. The scenes where the spine attaches itself to Pete and then when he decides to commit suicide in order to save the world, the way I decided to play that was my biggest acting challenge so far.
Al Norton: It paid off.
Eddie McClintock: Thanks. My Dad was kind of shaken up by it all. If I had gooned out and soft sold it and didn't do what I should have done with the scene, he would have said, "oh, that was really neat." If he had come back and said, "that was really neat", I probably would have just quit the business (laughing).
Al Norton: This isn't really a question but the episode a couple of weeks back where Pete tells his Dad that he's not going to feel guilty anymore, that was just great work by you.
Eddie McClintock: Thanks, thank you. I was really worried about that scene. I don't know what it was but I remember looking over at (director) Michael Watkins and going, "is this right?" I didn't want it to come off as being too saccharine or too overly dramatic. Michael Watkins is a brilliant director and he told me, "just talk to your Dad." I am happy to hear you say that because I trusted Michael Watkins to guide me through that and it sounds like he did a great job.
Al Norton: Can you give me a preview of the last two episodes of the season?
Eddie McClintock: This week Myka's Father becomes infected by an artifact - Edgar Allen Poe's notebook - and she stays with him so Claudia and I go off and try to solve the case together. Claudia and Pete have a lot of fun. The last episode is called McPherson and Roger Rees, who plays McPherson, is just such a great bad guy without having to twirl his proverbial villainous mustache. He does such a great job and the stuff between him and Saul is just tour-de-force. We do our best to capture and put away McPherson and unfortunately it looks like we may lose a cast member.
