'The Blacklist' star Megan Boone and Executive Producer John Eisendrath Discuss Monday's Premiere
Credit: NBC
One of the most highly-anticipated shows of the new fall season is NBC's The Blacklist, starring James Spader as Raymond "Red" Reddington, one of the most wanted criminals in the world. When Red turns himself into the FBI to provide information on the criminals for whom he's brokered deals over the years, FBI Special Agent Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone) remains suspicious of Red's motives, particularly when he reveals that she's the only Fed he'll speak to.
The project has long been in development at NBC, and executive producer John Eisendrath joined star Megan Boone to discuss the series, which premieres Monday after The Voice.
Credit: NBC
On becoming involved with the project:
John Eisendrath: Well, I got involved in it at the beginning. I worked at Sony. I'm a writer and a producer there and they had done a project, I believe, the previous development season with [Blacklist executive producer] John Bokenkamp and that show had not gotten on the air, but that was a very good experience and they wanted to do something else with him. He and one of the other producers on the show, John Fox, had the kernel of an idea about, you know, what would happen if somebody who was a criminal had turned himself into the FBI and what would that look like, putting sort of an anti-hero at the center of a cops show. That was last July, probably.
We went through the development process together, John and I, in setting up the pitch, getting it sold. We went out to several networks selling it and developing it from the beginning. I got involved in it, I would say last July, and then we found Megan.
Megan Boone: My experience was that I had kind of resigned to not participating very aggressively in pursuing network TV pilots, but I continued to ask the people that I work with to send me scripts this year while they were casting. Once I got a hold of The Blacklist and I read it, I was immediately kind of drawn to the character Elizabeth Keen, and I worked really hard on it for about a week before I met with Eisendrath and Bokenkamp and Joe Carnahan, who directed it.
In that meeting, I just kind of put it all out on the table. I probably gave one of the better auditions of my career because it was one of the more important ones to me. I think they continued their search, but always kind of kept me in the mix as they were looking because obviously, it's a very important part of the show and they wanted to make the right decision. I kept going back in and back in and back in, kind of rediscovering or discovering new things about who she was in the rooms with them, because you know, you can't ever really repeat the same thing you did last time.
The audition process actually drew me closer and closer and closer to the piece. By the time they decided to cast me, I was already really sort of in this world and it was an amazing collaboration at that point because I felt so involved and then read with Diego Klattenhoff and Ryan Eggold and then they brought in James Spader. It just kept getting better and better - the quality - and all of the little pieces came together to create that sort of magic in a bottle that you need to have a successful show. Yes, that's how I got involved.
Credit: NBC
On researching her role as FBI Profiler Elizabeth Keen:
Megan Boone: I'm still doing research for the role. I don't think that will ever end. There's just an endless amount of information and new information that comes as you're developing it, I think. Every script that comes across the table introduces new elements of my character and personality. For instance, the episode we're going into, I found that she has a little bit more of a sense of humor about things, which I think is born out of some of the trauma she experiences prior to that episode.
You know, the character is always evolving and changing and, you know, I have the DSM5 [the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders] and I've read some interviews with prominent type profilers for the FBI that have, you know, interviewed her and so forth. It's always helpful to stay curious and keep an inquisitive mind about these kinds of things.
On what we can expect from the story each week:
John Eisendrath: I do think that one of the sort of great things about the premise of the show is that baked into it is the delivery of a good episodic story. It's an episodic story that has to sort of get over a certain number of hurdles in order to sort of merit being told on our show. I always think that shows work best when there's a certain specificity and ours has a lot of that because in order to be on The Blacklist, you have to be a criminal that the FBI does not know about and you have to be someone who would be worthy of Red's attention. Those are hurdles that regular cop shows and crime dramas don't have to get over.
I think that we have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what that means and what sort of characters would be good to dramatize as ones that would qualify as being blacklist worthy. Hopefully, the audience will get a chance to enjoy some ... or all of the characters ... existing in our world - but being smart enough, clever enough, devious enough to have avoided detection by the FBI. I think we will offer ... you know, the kind of characters who do things that the audience might be familiar with, but do them in a way that believably allows them to avoid detection by the FBI.
Credit: NBC
On what we can expect from the interaction between Elizabeth and Red (James Spader):
Megan Boone: I think that what Elizabeth wants from Red is to understand the connection and his interest in her, so my ultimate goal and agenda with him is to uncover that mystery. And his agenda is a mystery to me. I've kind of stayed in the dark about what it is he wants from me and I discover it through the scene work with James Spader.
It has been a really wonderful way to work because I'm always trying to read him through his performance and through, you know, and my response to him has always sort of grown out of that ultimate overriding question of what it is he wants from me. If I knew any more than I do know now or any more than anyone knows about what he wants from me, then I think ultimately it would dull my performance a little bit, it would dull my experience creatively in the show and that's what keeps it exciting for me.
On the character of Elizabeth Keen:
Megan Boone: Elizabeth Keen is a psychological profiler who is new to the FBI and it's her first day at work when James Spader, Red Reddington, requests to speak with her and only her in order to provide detail for catching some of the world's most dangerous criminals. She's stressed into these situations and she's not entirely prepared to be a field agent, however, it's required of her now to go out and seek out these criminals in some of the most dangerous situations that she may encounter.
What you ultimately discover about her is that she's very brave and capable despite her novice and there's always that question of whether or not she can handle herself. Sometimes she does, but a lot of the times, the mistakes that she makes are the things that move the drama forward because there are just so many overwhelming circumstances that she has to face that ultimately, she falls short and makes mistakes, and people have to come -- like Diego Klattenhoff's character, Ressler, and Harry Lennix's character, Harold Cooper -- they have to come in and sort of see just the sort of team around her and at the same time, question her presence in their department.
It's almost as if she has both an incredible force of support around her and almost no one to turn to. She's in a very precarious situation throughout the initial part of being curious.
On the bond between Boone and Spader:
Megan Boone: Actually when we were shooting the pilot, it was the day we were diffusing the bomb and I was having a difficult time and you know, I was kind of spiraling down this very serious mindset because it's a drama, so you think, you're shooting a drama, you should be very serious about your work. [James] just came up to me and he put his hand on my shoulder and he looked at me for a good minute. It made me feel like he was going to say something very, very, very serious. I kind of leaned in and he goes, "Just have fun. It's the most important part."
Ever since that point, his presence is kind of a reminder to enjoy myself in the process. I think that, you know, no matter what genre you're working in, even if it is a high space drama and a thriller, if you're not enjoying yourself and you're not having fun, then the curiosity dies. That is one thing that James has an abundance of. He's always, always working further into the story and there's just so much I can learn from working with him, so the joy, the fun and the way that he really is present, he brings that to the work.
You know, on the other hand, this is one of the most difficult experiences I've never had and without that difficulty and level of challenge, I don't think that the colors would be there to play Elizabeth Keen because she is entirely overwhelmed, so it's about funneling all of it and dumping all of it into the scene work as much as I can - the fatigue, the exhaustion, the feeling of being overwhelmed - but maintaining that inquisitive, joyful feeling for the work, that is what keeps me going and it's a huge lesson that I learned from James.
On the level of physicality required for the show:
Megan Boone: It's a combination of things. You know, they have me being dragged and they have me, you know - sorry, there are some things that I feel like I cannot say - but I definitely am like - I had a cake of dirt along my forearms one night that I had to kind of wipe off with a towel. I don't leave sets without blood all over my hair and face - not my blood, but fake blood. Every week, I leave set having to get rid of some kind of fake wound. I participate a lot physically in the show. I've been doing kaomagma and I've been doing weight training and I'm in the best physical shape of my life just to prepare to do this. It is very vestal and it is a very physical role.
On just how bad Red really is:
John Eisendrath: He is capable of pretty much anything. He has a moral compass. He has a point of view. He's not like Whitey Bulger - he's not like a thug. He's not like a mobster. He's not someone who is sort of random and sort of just - he's not a guy who commits crimes with passion. He's controlled, thoughtful, smart and shrewd. His capacity for doing any crime, including killing someone, exists. He is - but has, in his own mind ... a justification in the moment for the crime he's committing or as part of a larger part of his life and his career. He has definitely a point of view about the world he has come to occupy, the criminal world that he's a part of and why he went there, what his goal was. He's not, you know, any of the sort of great, notable, real bad guys, whether they're fictionalized or real, you might like think of. He's not Hannibal. He's not Whitey Bulger. He's smarter and shrewder and has, I think, more layers than a sort of just criminal. There's a great deal of goodness in him. There's a great desire to do good, mixed in with something that's self-serving, but he has turned himself into the FBI and while we don't know ultimately what his plan is for Liz or why he is actually doing the things he's doing - is he manipulating the FBI or not? We don't know those things, but one thing we do know is that a lot of bad guys are being caught with his help. He has both, very dark shades, but his actions - at one level if you just look at them episodically, have very good results.
Credit: NBC
On the most challenging and rewarding parts of playing Elizabeth Keen:
Megan Boone: Wow. The most - for me, the most rewarding things come from challenge. You get through a very difficult week and then you see a scene put together from that week and it's really good. That is a very satisfying and rewarding feeling. As far as my personal input and how much information I was given, these are all little pieces of the overall puzzle that you're constantly filling in. It never gets complete. I've never had an experience with an actor where I'm like, okay, I'm done, my painting is finished and it's time to hang it on the wall.
I feel like every day, I wake up and I read something - I try to engage in something new that will inspire a new thought that will inspire a new moment on screen that will add to the episode. That's a process and a part of the work that I love and I also find very rewarding. It's never-ending. It's a journey. It's not like, okay, I have all the information about my character now, it's all filed away and it's time to shoot this episode and once it's over, I'll just work on the intentions for the next episode and it will be complete.
There are the collaborative elements working with other people. The great thing about this work experience for me that I don't know that I've ever experienced is I feel like everyone around me has an intelligence that I can draw from and that can influence me and help me to do a better job. They also have a very - everyone on this show has a very generous nature and is willing to give and receive and trade ideas, so it's a very creative environment, so that's been extremely rewarding as well.
On advice for young actresses striving to break into the business:
Megan Boone: It's very easy to become discouraged as an actress in your 20's because the roles that are written for 20 year old girls generally discount the possibility that they could have intelligence or have struggled other than boy problems. Ultimately, I would - part of my career would be that I would like to find stories that change that and give young women an opportunity to express themselves in a different way. I found it very difficult to find a median for expression at a young age as a woman.
I'm entering into a period in my life where for one reason or another, there are female roles few and far between, but there are female roles that I feel like are interesting. I think the advice that I would give to young women would be to continue to develop themselves and continue to stay true to themselves, be patient and know that life can change in an instance in this field. You know, coming together with a project like this is a lot like finding, you know, a soul mate or falling in love.
It's like you wait your whole life and wonder if it's ever going to happen to you and one day it does, and then you've got a whole new set of problems, but at least your life is evolving and transforming and you're being challenged on a new level. You know, I look back at those times and I wish that I had known then what I know now because I would've not had gotten so discouraged, but fortunately, I had mentors like Jane Alexander and other wonderful men and women who are in my life that help me to feel like I should continue to move forward in this path.
If a young woman out there doesn't have that, you know, and is reading this, then I would hope that they would remember that that role is out there. Those experiences are out there as long as you keep an open mind and understand that life can change in an instance.
The Blacklist premieres Monday after The Voice on NBC.