Michael Weatherly: From secret agent to ‘ultimate puppet master’

BEVERLY Hills, California — Last month, CBS Studios International launched nine shows during a two-day press conference held at the function room of Beverly Hilton. The Philippine STAR was the only Philippine paper invited to cover the event together with more than two dozen other journalists from around the world.

First on the list is Bull (set to premiere same day as in the US on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 9 p.m. on RTL-CBS Entertainment HD), starring Michael Weatherly as Dr. Jason Bull. Weatherly gained fame as Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, the charming, womanizing, former police detective character he played on NCIS for 13 seasons. He is also known for his role as Logan in the series Dark Angel and for his role on the popular soap Loving.

“We’re excited to have fan-favorite Michael Weatherly on RTL CBS Entertainment HD,” said Jennifer Batty, EVP Programming, RTL CBS Asia Entertainment Network. “We know his huge fan base in the region will be ecstatic to see him on his very own show.”

Bull is a drama inspired by the early career of Dr. Phil McGraw, founder of one of the most prolific trial consulting firms of all time, Courtroom Sciences, Inc. (CSI) which has provided trial consulting services for Fortune 500 companies as well as Oprah Winfrey. Brilliant, brash and charming, Dr. Bull is the ultimate puppet master as he combines psychology, human intuition and high-tech data to learn what makes jurors, attorneys, witnesses and the accused tick. Bull employs an enviable team of experts at Trial Analysis Corporation to shape successful narratives down to the very last detail.

Excerpts:

There was a certain level of smugness that you have to play with this character, and yet we have to like him as well, because there is a scene towards the end where, you know, you are exposed a little bit more. How did you find the level of Dr. Phil-like smugness that this character has to have, but we can’t dislike him at the same time?

“Right. So Bull from the outset is a totally fascinating conceit, because when you have a master of behavioral analysis or psychology, whatever you want to call it, that means that that person knows what you will be thinking as you see them. So being a smug for instance may just be what Bull presents to create the perception of how you will react to a smug person.” 

It’s every actor’s dream to be a lead, but how scary is that? And how is Bull different from Anthony DiNozzo?

“Well, luckily when I was doing NCIS, I was given the opportunity to direct, and that put me in a sort of driver’s seat in being in-charge of a crew. I have a four-year-old and a two-year-old, and even though my wife will be the first to tell you that I am not in-charge at home, it is a lead role to be a parent. But there is a different dynamic, and that shift really started happening for me in my 40s, and it has been very comfortable to step into Bull. And it is a dream to play a titular character. “Bull is different than DiNozzo, because DiNozzo had a sort of deep-seated insecurity about him. And a lot of his tomfoolery and his sense of humor, which was a delight, came from his need to perform and get validation and approval. And Bull has none of that. But he has a sense of humor which comes from a deep understanding of why something is funny. And I think as I have gotten older, my sense of humor has shifted somewhat as well.  So it was a very natural transition for me.”

How much of the psychology on the show is real? And the name. Is it kind of tongue-in-cheek?

“The name of the character is obviously a play and all those things. But I think Bull also connotes strength, or if you know any Tauruses, they might just tell you, difficult people. And I think that there is a degree of Bull, and when I was starting the show, when I was making the pilot, I watched Fellini’s 8½, every day on a loop. And I had Marcello Mastroianni foremost in my mind as an example of a leader, a charismatic leader of a troop of people searching for an answer that not even he was quite aware of what it would be, right? 

“And that is — that was the beginning for me. It was more oblique and mysterious. But I never just got hung up on the name, and maybe it’s just four letters have worked for me in the past. NCIS. I don’t know maybe if we put periods in between each of them it would be better.”

There has been some news about Dr. Phil recently and his previous behavior, maybe not that ethical, maybe even borderline illegal. How much is that dealt with in the show?

“Well, I have to say first of all that I have very little knowledge of any of that. Maybe at a checkout stand I have seen like Dr. Phil’s head on the National Enquirer but I have also seen Robert Wagner’s head on the cover of those kinds of things.  And I think it’s total baloney.  So I don’t put a lot of credence into that to begin with.”

What were some of the conversations you had with Dr. Phil about this character? Did he have any insights that he wanted included on the show? Did Dr. Phil shrink your head at all?

“Dr. Phil is a physically imposing guy. He locks eyes on you like a barracuda, and he listens in a funny way. And so you start to hear what you are saying, and then you start to question what you are saying and then you start to think you shouldn’t have said that, and then in those moments he’s learned everything he needs to know about the degree of confidence you have and certainty you have about this, that or the other. So he is fascinating but I am not playing him so I don’t use him as the prism that I push the character stuff through.”

As an actor, how do you prepare for a role? 

“It’s always in the script because that’s your source. I mean I think I read it once at face value. And then after that I pick up a pencil and I write glasses on the top of it, on the cover page.  And then I read it again. And then my wife comes out, and says, ‘Are you ready to go to bed?’ And I say, ‘No.’ And we have to talk in the morning because I think I’ve found a new show that  I want to do, but let’s talk about it tomorrow. I usually read something 10 times, and keep reading, and keep reading.”

(The eight other CBS shows are: Doubt, Jane The Virgin [new season], The Great Indoors, MacGyver [reboot], Man With a Plan, NCIS [reboot], No Tomorrow and The Affair [now on Season 2 airing Tuesdays at 9:55 p.m.]. RTL CBS Asia Entertainment Network is a venture of two of the world’s largest content producers, RTL Group, the leading European entertainment network, and CBS Studios International, the leading supplier of programming to the international market place. The network has two channels: the general entertainment channel RTL CBS Entertainment HD and the male-skewed entertainment channel RTL CBS Extreme HD. Both channels are widely distributed in the Asia Pacific and are localized in five languages.)

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