This is the fifth of six posts (yes, I’ve added a post) about working on episode four, Paradise, during season four of Criminal Minds. I spoke with CliqueClack.com about some of my production experiences, and I have a gallery of images from the shoot at Flickr. Please note that I’ve done my best to recreate my interactions with the cast and crew, but this isn’t a perfect, literal translation of the entire experience.
The last two days of production were incredibly intense for me, because that’s when I shot all my torture/abuse/rape stuff. I was so focussed on the work, I didn’t keep good notes, and I was too exhausted at the end of both days to write anything down once I got home. My memory is even more imperfect than usual, but I’ll do my best to recall the time we spent inside cabin six, which had been built on a soundstage at Quixote studios.
This was the big day. This was the day I’d been waiting for since we began production. This was the day I got to really dive into Floyd Hansen’s well of evil and find out how deep it went.
I had a late call, and William and Robyn had shot a lot of their scenes before I reported to set. When I walked in for rehearsal, it looked like they’d already been through the wringer. Robyn sat on the edge of the bed, and William leaned against the wall by the fireplace. They both held small sets of sides in their hands.
The cabin set was a practical set, meaning it had four walls and a ceiling (most sets don’t have a ceiling on them, so it’s easier to hang lights.) I’ve always felt like working on a movie or TV show is kind of like playing make believe with the most vivid imagination in history, so the more practical – and immersive – the set, the better. My favorite sets on TNG were Engineering and Ten Forward, because they were the most practical sets we had. Right up until my final day on the show, every time they turned on the engine (which was a series of neon lights inside a plastic mold) I expected to hear the whoomp whoomp whoomp (there it is) of the engine pulsing through the room.
It’s easy to get lost in a set like the one they built for cabin six. Even though it’s a tiny room, and even though the real world is just a few feet away, when you spend a lot of time in a set like that, performing scenes as intense as the ones we performed, you can go a little crazy in the pants. I can’t speak for the other actors, but I used that sense of claustrophobia to inspire some of the choices I made for Floyd while we were in there. When I walked in for the first time, I let my imagination go nuts as I looked around the room. “I did [horrible thing] there, I did [other horrible thing] over there, [victim] put up a good fight over there, but I did [horrible horrible horrible thing] and put that fucker in a box . . .” Even though none of this was in the script, I figured that the more I could get into Floyd’s head, the more he would live in me, unconsciously directing some subtle actions in each scene. This sort of thing, as twisted as it sounds in this particular instance, is a lot of fun for me, and makes acting much more than just showing up and saying the lines.
I walked over to Stacy, the first assistant director, and said good morning to her. It was afternoon, but when you walk onto the set for the first time, it’s always “good morning.”
She smiled at me. “Hello! Thanks for coming in.”
Seriously. They’re all about the thank yous on Criminal Minds. It’s awesome.
“Cast is on the set,” she said into her walkie. “I need everyone to clear out of the room for an actor’s rehearsal.”
Everyone except John left. Stacy closed the door, and we were alone in the cabin to block the scene where Floyd takes Ian out of the bathroom, drops him in the chair, and gets ready to have happy funtimes with Abby. For very disturbing values of “happy funtimes.”
William Mapother is a huge guy, and I am an embarrassingly small guy. There was no way I’d be able to pull him around on my own.
“Uh, I don’t know if I can pull you,” I said. “In fact, I know that I can’t.”
William is one of the most intense actors I’ve ever worked with. Though he’s friendly, kind, and supremely professional, I was terribly intimidated by him.
We looked at John together.
“I’ll help him with my own legs,” William said.
“Okay, we’ll keep them out of the frame,” John said. I was relieved.
We blocked the scene over the next few minutes. We tried it a few different ways, but what felt most real and satisfying to me was the tiniest bit of sexual excitement, sitting beneath a lot of rage and hatred and disgust. See, there was dialog from the BAU team about Floyd being a “violent anger excitation rapist” and I used that information to develop how Floyd would interact with Ian and Abby. This was all about power, control, humiliation, and fury. While it could have been interesting and even fun to let Floyd enjoy himself in this scene – after all, he’s beaten the big guy unconscious, and after several hours of psychologically torturing them he’s about to, as the serial killers say, “get to work” – he wasn’t doing this because it made him happy. I suppose I could have gotten even deeper into Floyd’s head than that, but even this much analysis made me uncomfortable.
Once we all felt like we knew how the scene would play out, Stacy invited the crew back into the room to put down marks and see the scene for themselves.
Seriously. Invited. That’s the word she used. It seems like a small thing, but it’s really not. I’ve worked in television for most of my life, and I can honestly say that Stacy may be the best First AD I’ve ever worked with.
Allow me to explain: First ADs set the tone for the entire set. If a First is neurotic, the set is neurotic. If a First is disorganized, so is the set. If a First yells a lot, they lose the crew’s respect. Stacy was magnificent, though, and a great leader for this crew. She was calm, she was friendly, she was exceedingly professional, and above all she treated everyone on the cast and crew with respect, and it was clear that everyone respected her in return. See, working on a set is like being part of a team, and when a team is relaxed and working well together, they win a lot of games, making it look easy all the way. John Gallagher told me during a break one day that he believed the Criminal Minds crew was the best crew in the business, and with someone like Stacy leading them, they were like the ’27 Yankees.
We walked through the scene again, stopping and starting so the camera department could put down marks. We traded positions with the stand-ins, and had a few minutes while they set up the shot.
On our way over to the craft service table, I talked with William about Lost. I probably shouldn’t repeat what he told me, but you all think I’m cool now, right? Right? Hello?
Stacy invited us back into the set for filming. I remember being nervous about cutting William with the knife (which was dulled, but real and still moderately dangerous) and feeling sad for Robyn, who really was taped up to that bed frame the whole time. After each take, I would stand up, apologize to Robyn (who told me it was okay) and go back to my starting mark while they reset the scene. Even though it was a more intense scene than the stuff we shot in the office on location, I was more relaxed and comfortable. I felt like I’d shaken off all the cobwebs, like I did this sort of thing every day (the acting, not the torturing.) There wasn’t a lot of coverage, and we were done with the scene in just a couple of hours.
I don’t remember what it was, but they were filming a really short piece of a different scene that I wasn’t in when we finished, so I went to my dressing room to check my cell phone for messages. On my way out, I passed one of the assistant directors (there are like four or five of them, I think), who was coming into the stage with a stack of pink revisions for the next episode.
“Oh, that’s sad,” I thought as the reality that my time on the show was nearly over hit me for the first time. “They’re onto the next show, and I’m about to go back to stupid real life.”
I replayed some of the last week in my head while I walked to my dressing room. I reached up to open the door, and as my hand touched the handle, a production assistant said, “Um. Wil?”
I looked up and saw that, lost in thought, I’d walked past my dressing room, and right up to Joe Mantegna’s.
“Uh, looks like I upgraded myself to Joe Mangegna,” I said. “That’s embarrassing.”
The PA and I laughed together, and I snuck back to my own room, past the cast parking.
I opened up my laptop, and discovered that there was an open wireless network. I wrote a quick post for my blog:
Today is the day I’ve been waiting for since I booked this job. Today is the day that I get to really tear into this character, and mainline the good stuff that keeps actors coming back for more, chasing the dramatic dragon until we die. I was so excited to work today, I hardly slept at all last night, and woke up this morning before my alarm went off. I haven’t felt like this since I was a little kid at Christmas.
God, I miss this. I didn’t know how much I missed it until last week, but holy shit do I miss this. This cast, this crew, these writers, this director, this whole show is just incredible. I’m truly lucky to be here, and I’m so grateful that I can appreciate it, and not take it for granted like I would have ten years ago.
I realize that I keep making comparisons to being a kid at Christmas. The writer in me wants to go back and edit most of them out, but in this case, I think it’s the exception that proves the rule: there is no better way to describe the overwhelming joy and excitement I felt while I was shooting this show.
Next: The Big Day Ends
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I imagined that rage was a decision of sorts that Floyd had made a long time ago. He decided that for him the alternative to being dominated is to dominate; the alternative to being afraid is to frighten.
He had conditioned himself to be furious at the very sight of someone like Ian–someone much bigger than Floyd, who, in Floyd’s inner fantasy, thinks he’s superior to, and entitled to dominate, Floyd, and was about to be “taught a lesson.” In women like Abby (probably all women), he had conditioned himself to see someone who had allowed herself to be charmed/fooled by the Ians of the world; a repudiation and betrayal of the Floyds of the world (I guess that freaky mommy backstory the BAU members alluded to might work into this). In the run through the woods, he saw not only the infuriating prospect of having to set up a new shop of evil, but the infuriating thought that he was being confronted by a group of people and a situation that wanted to frighten and dominate him, and he wasn’t having it. He had installed an inner fear/rage switch many years ago and it wasn’t only switched over to rage; that sucker was welded in the rage position.
Uh…sorry, didn’t mean to freak anybody out…I’m really a nice guy…honest… 🙂
I hope you asked Fat Tony what you did to deserve a dry, flavourless Manhattan.
Take care dude,
Mark.
OMGRPGFTW:
http://somehedgehog.livejournal.com/245807.html
Well, for as uncomfortable as you found Floyd’s mind, you did a fabulous job!
Well Done!
It was an excellent performance, and I can see how being in that ‘brain’ for too long could be kinda freaky.
Also, if you follow aeditor’s link (which you should), know that the author is a young woman (from) near Boston who makes educational games. (and is a college friend of mine)
So…what happens to guest actors that the folks in charge like? It’s not like they can bring you back on CM again, you’re being pancaked by a semi and all.
Does word get around and you get more shots at parts on other shows?
I actually remember thinking “No way he’s really dragging that huge guy by himself.” Glad to see my perceptions are accurate.
Wil, reading your posts is like taking a graduate-level class. You get a POV from the actor, you get the reasons the various members of the production team are doing what they’re doing, and you get a sense of how it all ties together. And, you get it without some smarmy ego getting in the way of the telling. It’s the feeling of sitting down at dinner with a good friend who telling you about this Way Cool thing that happened to him today…except your buddy is giving you footnotes as he goes along.
Oh… and you scared the crap out of me in a couple of scenes while I was watching!
GcB
(Read obamausa.com TODAY!)
It would have been easier to pull William around if they had given you a “muscle suit”.
Freeman 🙂
I was thinking how I’d like to see more of your acting when I realized something…
I had this long standing dream of seeing Jackie Chan and Jet Li together in a movie… It finally came true with “Forbidden Kingdom”…
I think my new dream would be an awesome cheesy sci-fi flick staring Wil Wheaton and Bruce Campbell…
If one came true, why can’t another? 😛
I loved the performance, Wil. Right as the truck was about to hit Floyd, all I could think of was Cartman in the WoW episode saying “Pwned” and then when Floyd was bleeding out I kept thinking “Uber pwnage”. Keep ocking Wil!
Thanks for posting these Wil. They have been great reading while I’m bored at work and have provided a lot of insight into what goes into working on a TV show.
I’m wondering what a Joe Montegna upgrade would look like on you.
Wil – you did a great job with your character. Also, your write up about the experience is among some of the best writing I’ve seen on your blog lately. It’s clear you enjoyed the whole experience and found it inspirational.
One more thing: Floyd is the kind of guy that would wack at you with a Giant Ninja sword, and not even give a shit that it is actually an Orc Barbarin sword.
Wil – thanks for the insight and behind the scenes.. or behind the mind of the actor view into your world. Told my wife wasn’t convinced “Gordie” could be a bad guy.. I was mistaken.. nice work.
I have never watched Criminal Minds and I admit, I only watched it to see you.
You were amazing! I have seen you in a few different roles and I have never seen the sort of intensity you brought to the screen that you brought to Floyd. Reading your posts, I can see how you got from Wil to Floyd, but when I was watching CM, you weren’t Wil, you weren’t Wesley Crusher, you WERE Floyd.
I have really enjoyed reading about your process. However this was the first time I was able to read it after watching the result.
Thank you!
P.S. I think you also gained a level in Acting Specialization – Crazy Psycho.
Wil, I’ve really enjoyed this recap. I used to be in the biz, but it was a long time ago. I still miss being on the set. I don’t think I’ve ever been on one quite as nice as CM, though.
Hey, I also won the auction for your book on the CM blog. Can’t wait to get it.
Thanks for doing the series of blogs. As a person who has a heart for theater and when to school for it – it gives me a nice look at how things work on a show. I feel like am on the ride with you as you tell us how things happened and am very disappointed in myself for not DVRing the episode to watch it again after the final blog is posted.
I hope you will keep doing blogs like these for those of us who dream of being on a tv show but are stuck in the real world of jobs.
wil,
excellent, truly excellent! and i love hearing the insights into how the whole production happened. can’t wait for the next part of this series.
landileigh
I am digging these CM posts, not only for the great insight on the various processes that go into making good television, but also because I *love* CM. Can’t wait for the next (which is, sadly, the last, right?).
You were convincingly creepy. It was a great ep and it’s fun to hear about a show I love from an insider’s perspective. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I’m really enjoying this series of posts; I think because your passion and excitement are coming through in your writing. Even though the focus of the episode is one that I personally can’t grok (there is not enough Guinness in the world to make me watch even implied torture), it is really cool to see you so happy about something you love doing, and sharing it. It’s cool enough to make me read anyway. 😉
First — I watch this show all the time and you gave, without a doubt, one of the more successful creepy performanced I’ve seen on this show.
Second — it’s been great to read your disucussion of the goings on. I’ve spent a good chunk of life in “live theatre” and the more I read what you’re writing, the more I miss it (been out for the past few years) — You’re writing is good enough to make me want to go back. NOW. I really look forward to seeing you on screen more — It sounds like you like it enough to do more. And that’s good for all of us.
I just watched the episode (thank God for dvr.) You were awesomely creepy!
Hi, Wil. I’m here via Cherie Priest (I’m that pink-haired gal in her various group photos.)(And I missed meeting you when she did because I had a novel due the following Monday…curses!)
I just wanted to say fantastic job on “Paradise”. I’m a die-hard CM fan and you were definitely one of the creepier UNSUBs they’ve had on the show. Also, reading your blogs about the shoot has been great fun. Getting a peek inside the production of my second-favorite show has been a real treat.
Take care,
Caitlin Kittredge
OMG!!!! Wil you….were….soo…scary!!!
I really felt like I was not seeing the Wil Weaton from Star Trek or the Wil Weaton form PAX. In fact, you were NOT him. I’d be scared shiteless if I ran into the character you were. So evil, so physiologically freaky. I knew you were going to be on CM, but wow!!! You scared the crap outta me!!! Good going Wil!! It seemed like you had always played evil people your whole life, (which I know is not true.) And it was cool seeing the girl who played Abby too, I have recognized her from different things so that was cool seeing her. Anyways you were awesome. I bet it was a nice break from writing. Hope you do it some more. Now, if you exuse me, I gotta mess to clean up!! 🙂
It sounds like you had a lot of fun with the character (and no, I don’t think this is a reflection on you personally LOL). In my own experience, what little acting I did in drama (and the real life drama that always goes in in RL) and the role-playing I’ve done, I find I enjoy the characters most when they’re completely different from me. In writing, however, I normally like to relate to them, it’s a bit cathartic. Of course, I say this now, when some of the best scenes I’ve written were with a character that was my opposite. And then AGAIN, it was with a character that was my doppleganger. Maybe what I’m saying is, it’s fun being schizo, ent it?
I haven’t gotten to see this episode..yet! TV online is so great.
I just wanted to say that I have appreciated these posts because they have pulled the curtain back a bit and have given me a glimpse into how this story inside someone’s head becomes the riveting entertainment I enjoy in my living room.
http://www.goinggreenaccidently.blogspot.com
this is really random, has nothing to do with this post. But I just found this:
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/6342db2270
Ok sorry for ruining this vibe now, go back to what you were doing and talking about.
Heh heh heh. Reading these put me in that wierd place where I have to remind myself that you’re not actually a personal friend, you’re a dude who’s blog I read. This just read so much like conversations I’ve had with other freelance LightWavers down the pub when one of us has had A Good One. Really happy for you, man. Your writing style’s as informal and friendly as a shared plate of tapas when you’re writing about stuff you really love. Great stuff, Wil.
You know what? I’d really miss reading your posts and things regularly, but I kinda hope you get yourself a series soon. I think you’d get a hellalot out of it.
It’s great that you enjoyed yourself so much. It’s tough though, to do something, and ten realize how much you miss it, and how much it made you feel alive. And then before you know it, its over. Good thing is though, your a great actor, and there will be many more great guest spots for you!! Maybe even something more.
So goodbye, good luck, and thanks for all the fish. 🙂
In comparing this experience to a kid anticipating Christmas, I was curious if you had a slight depression when it was over. Obviously it was wonderful and exciting during the entire process, and it was overwhelmingly positive for you in every way that is humanly satisfying. Usually when something like that ends, there is an incredible let down. Like the day AFTER Christmas. Was it like that for you?? Did you have a difficult time getting enthusiastic about your “regular” life for a few days following the shoot??
There is a term that is used to describe this process for police officers. It’s called hypervigilance. It is when you experience something so exhilerating for a prolonged period, and it creates such a keen awareness, that you feel amazingly alive. That is the extreme side of the emotional pendulum. And what is the other side of the pendulum…. feeling down, lethargic, tired and detached. I was just wondering if these examples were similar for you??
Chipping in, alicein1derland – I don’ think it’s possible to complete any creative endeavour without getting a bum-out hangover. You can’t have a high like that without a crash.
Family, friends and thick frakkin’ steaks help you get over it. Gaming helps. Guinness helps. Not too much. Except when you need too much 😉
I loved your scene in the room, you truly were Floyd.
I remember a college acting teacher trying to teach us how to bring across the “anticipation of action”. It was a concept I could never quite get my brain around. But I saw it in Floyd. Yes, you were wrestling William around and taping him in place, but you were showing so much more. That wasn’t the action, that wasn’t the goal. He was an obstacle to your goal, a step in your process. I saw that while you were fighting him, your anticipation was on Robyn. Eager, yet restrained, knowing that the goal was close, in sight, and not going anywhere. You brought his evil to life. I really got the sense that this couple wasn’t your first. And it confirmed the reaction when the FBI showed up and chased you into the stupid poetic justice sunset.
It was an awesome job, Wil. And it’s nice to see you could still write these CM posts really well being road pizza. 🙂
Mmmmm, road pizza….
@alicein1derland:
I don’t know if it’s really “Depression” in the clinical sense, but it’s certainly a let down of some kind. There is *always* some kind of post-adrenaline letdown at the end of a performance, whether it’s an improv show, a sketch show, a performance on stage at a convention, or a particularly intense episode of a television show.
I feel a similar thing after being at a convention for a weekend, and I think the extreme other side of the pendulum is the perfect way to describe it.
I love these blogs… and I went over to look at your pics on Flickr, and I just have to say:
I wish Floyd had gotten away too!
Don’t get me wrong, he was an evil man and deserved what he got, but it would have been nice to have a character, Your character, best the BAU just once… of course they’ll catch him sooner or later!
Again, you did a great job!
*smiles*
It is Saturday, and I just watched your episode on tape, Wil. I also just finished reading the fifth of six posts here about the production. Your character was very disturbed, and you pulled it off brilliantly. Very creepy and cringe-inducing. I wonder, has the growth of your beard been in anticipation of this role? The beard really fit the character and the environment.
Your posts and pictures of the behind-the-scenes stuff are great and fun to read after seeing the episode.
You might remember me as the guy who gave you shiny gold rocks at PAX this year. I’ve finished “Happiest Days” and this year’s chapbook and am looking forward to more writing and acting from you. Keep up the great work!
P.S. – by “shiny gold rocks” I mean literal chunks of pyrite, which you recognized as worthless right away, but graciously accepted anyway. Thought I’d clarify since many people have given you figurative shiny gold rocks at various cons.
Wil,
This set of posts was great. Thank you. I have recently started acting in community theatre productions and it was great to get the vivid detail you described related to working on a television set. Thanks again. – Kurt
I finally got to watch it today (thank the FSM for BitTorrent) and I gotta hand it to you, Wil, you were a most satisfying serial killer. You were 100% NOT the typical 2-dimensional psycho that’s so easy to play, you took some great risks, and you were convincing enough that during non-Wheaton scenes, I had to remind myself that you are, in fact, a very cool guy, and not some whacked-out misogynist who likes to kidnap, torture and kill couples for a few larfs. So Floyd totally worked for me. Excellent job, Wil!
I don’t watch much tv and I’ve never watched CM but I did make a point of watching it this Tuesday and I so knew you were the “bad guy” before the credits finished. You were good and the direction and camera angles, made you even scarier. I’m really enjoying your behind scenes blog about it. I think it really enhances the whole experience. I love learning about the way these things are done.
You did a good job in Criminal Minds.
Playing such a evil character is such a huge step from playing shy kid (Gordie from Stand by Be) and playing a character on Star Trek.
I hope to become a writer like you someday!!!
Anyway, good job! Keep it up!!!
Lee
Having given that a thorough watch, it’d be criminal (aha) if you didn’t stay in acting. Bloody magnificent job – the high points for me were your gear-change with the guy trying to check in, the “real man” scene (which had me cringing back from the desk and reaching for a hammer) and laying into Ethan with the bat. You totally sold “How *dare* you?!?” rage with that.
Top job, duder.
Hi Wil, I’m a long time lurker, first time commenter… just wanted to thank you for this great series on your CM experience in particular (though your blog has long been “check often!” material for me).
I saw the episode itself before I saw any of your recent posts regarding the airing of your CM ep, and was pleasantly thrilled when I recognised you – I realised the rest of the show was going to be even more exciting than I’d expected.
Thanks again for posting your BTS diary entries – it’s wonderful to read about your process as well as the cast and crew you worked with.
Congratulations on a great, scary performance!
Can we just give you the “Nicest Guy in the Multiverse” award now? Even when you terrified me as Floyd.
In your posts you sound simply amazed that everyone is so nice to you on the set… You are an excellent writer, a favorite actor of mine from waaay back (I didn’t hate Wesley!) and so humble and grateful for life’s bounties… it is inspiring. *tear*
Thanks for writing!
nancy
I love hearing about the very nice First AD Stacy, because I’ve only met 1 other “Stacy” who wasn’t a bitch to me. I’ve met plenty of nice Stacey’s and Stacie’s though. 😉
Hi Wil, fascinating series of posts. I waited till you were done and then read them all in one sitting. Loved getting your view of how the whole production went, especially the experience of being a guest star on a regular series.
I know exactly what you mean about the AD setting the tone. I’m an extra in a city where there’s a thriving film/tv industry. There’s one guy I’ve worked with on a couple of productions who is a jerk and he really makes the experience much less pleasant for us. I could go on about him but suffice it to say that when you’re on the very bottom-most rung of the film hierarchy, the way the ADs treat you can make your day delightful or miserable.