James Spader: I work to earn a living

James Spader stars as Raymond “Red” Reddington in Sony Picture Television’s action thriller The Blacklist (season three  airs every Tuesday at 9:45 p.m.).

Spader’s extensive career includes award-winning performances in Steven Soderbergh’s Sex Lies and Videotape, David Cronenberg’s Crash and Steven Shainberg’s Secretary, plus his Emmy award-winning performance as Alan Shore in The Practice and Boston Legal, the only actor to win consecutive Emmys playing the same character in different series.

Here are excerpts from an interview with Spader conducted by AXN.

How did you feel about the shocking end of Blacklist’s Season 2 and the high-adrenaline start of Season 3 that showed Red on the run with his FBI protégé Liz Keen?

“I don’t know if I have a boost of energy or not but Season 2 ended with Elizabeth Keen and Raymond Reddington on the run and real divisions in the task force. All the balls are in the air -— where they fall will be the fun of it, I think. I’ve seen the first two episodes now and the divisions in the group are really my favorite part. I thought that the show had a vast array of paths that they could take when I first read it. I’m excited by that. It’s a thing to look for in a television series…at least for me… something that can sustain your curiosity and interest for over the long term, so I’ve been very happy.”

It feels like the third season is about the story of Red and Elizabeth in a more serialized way than before.

“In the first season, the network and the studio wanted to have a balance between a serialized show and a procedural show simply so that an audience could filter in more easily. If you’re building an audience, it’s just easier for people to access the show at different times in the season if it’s not too heavily serialized. It has become more and more serialized as it’s gone alone.”

The Blacklist seems to mirror contemporary fears about government conspiracy. Is that deliberate?

“I think that elements of what’s happening today in the world are certainly something we draw from for the show. But it’s not at the core of the show. There are other shows that do that very successfully and we’re not in that competition. It’s a parallel universe that takes just enough things from real life to make the show have the appearance of being something that’s somewhat believable. But in terms of the sensibility about government and the intelligence community being purely contemporary, I beg to differ. I think it’s always been a little grey. It depends who your friends are.”

Do you think Red would be more of a villain if he were in an ‘80s show?

“Red’s a bad guy. I don’t have any illusions about that. Although he is nice to old ladies.” (Laughs).

A lot of actors say they don’t judge the person that they’re playing but you’re okay with saying he’s bad. Can you play him and judge him at the same time?    

“Yes, of course. You’d be an idiot not to have a sense of when he’s behaving very badly.”

Does that explain many of your career choices? You tend to choose those dark and more complex characters.          

“Yeah, I like dichotomy certainly. I remember the first time when I read Secretary and I thought, ‘God, this is great.’ What a great idea to have this sweet love story in this incredibly masochistic, sadomasochistic relationship, you know? It was really the sweetest love story I thought and I love that.”

It’s interesting that you’ve chosen a character you describe as comfortable with chaos. Is there something about playing someone who’s fine with chaos that’s liberating for someone who’s got OCD issues?

“Maybe. I don’t know. Maybe… “ (Pause). “That’s nice if so.”

Is there any way in which you’re becoming more like him, or him more like you?

“I don’t really think about myself when I’m working in any way. I’m always just thinking about that guy I’m playing. I couldn’t really care less how it relates to me or doesn’t relate to me, you know? I have a very full and vital life outside of work so I don’t really need life fulfilment from work. I work to earn a living.” (Laughs).

Would you like to be more like him in real life?

“Oh no, I don’t think I would like that very much. I’m not over keen on putting my life in terrible danger. Although, with the whole me and Red thing, I will say that I do try and inject humor when I can within the script, and whether it has anything to do with myself or not, I don’t know. I mean I’m trying to do something that’s appropriate for the story and the scene and the circumstances. But I don’t know whether Reddington has the same sense of humor as I have.”   

Why do you try to inject humor?

“I was very lucky the last time I was on a TV show for any length of time -— in Boston Legal. It was very hard to categorize the character that I played and even the tone of the show was constantly shifting. And so when I was looking for another show I was looking for something that had the possibility for a lot of different tones. I mean, I work on it all year. I like to have a mix of things.”

The show has a lot of younger viewers -— has it opened up a new audience for you?

“You know what? That started in The Office. All of a sudden the age of the people coming up to me in the street had dropped. When I’m doing movies that fluctuates, although in the past there haven’t been that many movies I’ve made that younger people could watch.” (Laughs). “The Lincoln film was shown in lots of schools so that gave me a very young crowd all of a sudden. If I’m going base it on who comes up to me in the street and I live in New York and I like walking, so everybody comes up to me in the street. There’s no age group, no economic strata. It’s seemingly completely democratic and inclusive.”

You have an incredibly distinctive voice. How important has that been in your career?

“I mean, I guess that’s turned out well for me. But for being a performer of any kind, your voice is one of your strongest tools. I haven’t had formal voice training but I do have a good ear and very, very good hearing. I got that from my mother. She had the most incredible hearing… I mean, so good we had to be cautious. Maybe there’s something to that, but I’ve tended to think less about that in terms of work and more in terms of my life with my seven-year-old.” (Laughs)

But more than lots of actors your voice can go from terrifying to soothing in an instant. Do you think it’s a Boston thing?

“No.”                 

No?  

“Probably not. I’m sorry.” (Laughs). “I think the most interesting change or challenge for a voice is working on the stage. After I finished Boston Legal, I did a David Mamet play for a year on Broadway that involved nuances and modulation. That must have gone okay.”

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