James Spader on 'The Blacklist', fan theories, TV vs. Film, more
Credit: Will Hart/NBC
NBC is hoping to have a hit on its hands with The Blacklist, a drama centering on FBI's quest to capture the world's most wanted criminals, with the help of one of the world's most wanted criminals: Raymond "Red" Reddington (James Spader). The series has already enjoyed both critical and commercial success in its first two weeks on the air, marking it as one of the first hits of the new fall season.
Series star James Spader took the opportunity to participate in a conference call to discuss his role on the show, in addition to what we can expect from the series as the season rolls on, and theories on Red's connection to rookie FBI Profiler Elizabeth Keen (co-lead Megan Boone).
On whether we'll get into the specifics of Red's criminal past:
James Spader: Yes, I think that’s going to be sort of eked out slowly over the course of the episodes. As a sort of overall history lesson, I don’t think it will ever happen on the show. I think it’ll be over the lifespan of the show that you start to discover more and more about him.
On what initially drew Spader to the series:
James Spader: Well, that character. I mean, I just thought he was really - I just thought, first of all, that he seemed like he’d be great fun to play in the pilot, but he also just - he seems like he’d sustain over the course of the season and even over the course of multiple seasons. I just think, you know, there are so many unanswered questions and it felt like it would take a long time to answer the questions. And for me, just from a completely selfish point of view, that was enticing because it opened the door to all sorts of surprises as time goes on.
Credit: Will Hart/NBC
On how much he knows about the story of the season in advance, and whether he prefers not to know:
James Spader: It really depends on the medium I’m working in, you know. I mean, in theater, you know everything going in. In film, you know a little bit less, but still an awful lot. And in television, you know very little. And I think that’s fine for me. I mean, working in theater or film or television are three different sorts of jobs for an actor and I accept them as such. And I think that ... the volume of material on a television show is so vast that I think that it helps in a way if it’s surprising from week to week.
I’ve never been ... a big TV watcher. And so for the first time, when I first started working on the series, I got to feel what it felt like to be a viewer, and then I was so anticipatory about the next script that was going to come in, and then what direction we’re going in and how the story might unfold and how relationships might evolve, or what kind of mess we might be getting into next.
And with this show, it just seems like the possibilities for that are limitless. I mean, it really has such - it has sort of an inherent surprise factor in this show just because you know so little going in. So ... I like that aspect of it a great deal.
Credit: Will Hart/NBC
On Red's motives with the FBI, and his potentially-criminal agenda:
James Spader: I know that he still has criminal activity that’s going on. ... How much the FBI is going to serve that or not remains to be seen. And there certainly is an agenda in terms of the targets that he’s picking. ... But, you know, I think his main focus is really Elizabeth Keen and I think it was just much about having her join his life as he joining hers.
On Red's wardrobe, particularly the origins of his fedora:
James Spader: [The fedora] came from, first of all, just sort of what Reddington looks like. And that’s a byproduct of his life. We didn’t want him to look as if he’s from any specific style of fashion of any given year or from any given place because he’s someone who would compile his wardrobe from around the world. And people dress differently in different parts of the world. And he has been on the move for a couple of decades now, if not longer. And, you know, he travels lightly but he has to wear clothing that’s practical. He has to be someone who’s dressed to go straight from the jungle to, you know, a banker’s office and be able to be comfortable and appropriately dressed for both.
And we also wanted it to be timeless and difficult to place in terms of place or time. ... I think it was a look that came out of sort of the practicalities of his life. And that’s what we arrived at.
Credit: Will Hart/NBC
On the internet theory that Red is Elizabeth's father:
James Spader: I don’t really have any thoughts on that because I don’t think he is, but I don’t know for sure. You know, I think that’s something that, first of all, I wouldn’t divulge ... no matter what it was, because I think that’s something that the only way one earns that information is to watch the show. But ... I know that that’s been something that’s been posed to me in the past and ... I’ve always been surprised when faced with that as a possibility as an outcome because it seems too easy. But, you know what? Maybe it’s a very circuitous route back to the simplest answer of all. So we’ll have to wait and see.
On how long it takes for Elizabeth to start trusting Red:
James Spader: I think it starts happening quicker than she’s even aware of. I think it’s - I mean, first of all, it’s hoisted upon her so she sort of has to accept that lot. But I think also she finds herself sort of compelled to be doing that in spite of either her intuition or her better judgment. I mean, I think in a way, there’s something that compels them to each other and in subsequent episodes, she wrestles with that. She wrestles with the fact that he’s in her life, like it or not. And he’s not just in her life because of this work. He’s in her life because it’s becoming abundantly clear he’s part of her life ... that even if she turns away from it, it’s still going to be there.
On the possibility of a connection between Red and Elizabeth's husband, Tom (Ryan Eggold):
James Spader: You’re going to have to watch just a couple more episodes and you’ll start to see more and more. But I don’t think there’s anything that’s alluded to in any of the episodes that aren’t either by design for what’s going to unfold next or a purposeful misdirection to lead you down the wrong path so that you’ll be better surprised when you arrive at the right path.
Credit: Patrick Ecclesine/NBC
On what we can expect from the season to come:
James Spader: You know, the three episodes that follow the pilot are all very different. And I’ve now seen the fourth and the fifth episode. They’re all very different or quite different from one another in terms of ... the nature and tone of the different episodes but also the form of them are different from one another. And also, what you learn about these people as you start to learn more is very intriguing and compelling. And it involves everyone. It involves everyone. There’s no one who’s left out of it. And I think that the writers have done a great job in terms of that, in terms of balancing what you learn and what you don’t learn and then how you learn it and whether what you learn is right or wrong.
I think it makes for a show that is pretty unique to me just in that episodes can stand alone and yet they also feed a greater story and, therefore, for people who stay with the show, I think there’s much more satisfaction than just a straight procedural because of that, because you’ve got this greater story that you’re invested in and the characters are invested in. At the end of the day, I think that’s ultimately what the show is about.
The week-to-week episodes are to serve this life that’s unfolding in front of you and that life is Red Reddington and Elizabeth Keen, and that’s inclusive of every aspect of their lives. It’s inclusive of Reddington’s life away from her but also it’s inclusive of her entire life whether it be her background, her past, her parents, her childhood, her relationship with her husband, her future. I think it’s exciting that way, the way that the sort of standalone episodes can feed the sort of threaded story, and the threaded story also serves the weekly episodes.
Credit: Patrick Ecclesine/NBC
On the amount of research necessary to prepare for the role of Red:
James Spader: You know, I read some stuff about the world that Red Reddington lives in, and I just buried myself into the material at hand, and also people that I know that live and work in our world and also just a lot of conversation with the writers. And you spend a lot of time sitting and talking about back stories but also future stories and sort of the shape of things. And, you know, the great thing about a television story is a lot of those things start to take shape as you’re just making the show -- who people are and how they behave under different sets of circumstances. A television show seems to be more fluid than it would be in stage or in a film, it’s something that evolves and grows as the show becomes its own entity.
On how he approaches playing darker, more villainous characters:
James Spader: You know, I look to the story and I look to the influences or relations in whatever that character’s life happens to be. And I also look to see what their everyday life would be like and how that would inform who they are and also try and look at what sort of person can live that sort of life. And all those things sort of come together and marry with a given set of circumstances in the story and on the page. And there’s a character. And sometimes you sort of - I try and approach things from all directions. You know, I really try and - I try and be open to that.
Sometimes you look at somebody and how they behave in a given set of circumstances and it leads you to who they are. ... And sometimes you look at sort of who they are and where they come from and it leads you to how best they might behave in those circumstances.
On whether we'll see a different name checked off the Blacklist every week:
James Spader: I pause only because we’re at the beginning of what could be, you know, an indeterminate lifespan of a show. So it’s hard for me to answer that with any kind of absolute. But I know that there’s a very real desire that there at least be a case that’s pursued on a weekly basis.
But, you know, I presume also that certain cases might last a couple of episodes or longer. I just don’t know. As the tale unfolds, I’m sure that will change and develop and I’m not sure whether it’s always just going to be a Person of the Week.
Credit: David Giesbrecht/NBC
On Red's moral ambiguity, and his unique situation with the FBI:
James Spader: I mean, [Red] very often has to conduct business and he very often has to conduct his life on simply trust, because there’s no rule of law in his world. And so ... trust is something that I think he has a great understanding for. I think he knows when to recognize when it’s there and he can recognize when it’s not in ways that - oh, in ways that maybe others aren’t quite so facile at. And I think it just may be because of the fact that he’s faced with it with such dire straits so much of the time. I think he’s fully aware of the fact that he’s dealing with, in this relationship at least, he’s dealing with a whole group of people who don’t trust him at all. But it’s interesting to watch how he gains small, little finger and footholds into their trust and that’s something that develops with time. Probably with him, it takes a great deal of time.
On whether these considerations affect his portrayal of Red:
James Spader: To a certain degree. I mean, I’m conscientious of that to a degree but I also have the luxury of knowing when he’s being forthright and when he’s not. And I think that he’s much more forthright than I think people are aware of. I think it’s very easy to take him - to project an awful lot onto him that - and have preconceptions about him that may go unproven.
The Blacklist airs Mondays at 10/9c on NBC.