Early feedback from tonight's episode of Leverage is overwhelmingly positive, which delights me. I'm so happy to hear that so many people liked it.
If you've seen the show already, you may get a kick out of the pictures I took during production and just added to Flickr, but there are spoilers, so don't look if you don't want to see them. (And no fair complaining at me if you don't listen and get spoiled.)
I'm sure John will have a post at his blog in the very near future where you can ask him questions about the spin-off (with robots!) that I'm getting.*
If you have questions or comments for me about the show, feel free to leave them here and I'll do my best to respond in a timely manner. Seriously, I'll really appreciate the distraction.
*I'm not really getting a spin-off. That's my little joke. Ha! Ha! I am using the Internet!
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Great episode, Wil, I really enjoyed it. =]
Cool seeing you in HD. loi
So, will you be back on the show from time to time? Or has your character been written off because of your arrest and inevitable incarceration?
I think they deliberately left it vague. I know that it’s tough to keep a guy like Chaos in the slammer for too long, though … especially since he needs to get to work on that evil robot armada he’s wanted to build for so long.
I thought it was really cool…! So did they just grab stills on set or did you have a photo session as well? The headshots and such… Did the stuff come up on your screen while you were shooting or was that done in post? If it was practical, did it ever not work?
I ask really lame questions… also– you know how you invent backstory (like for Walter..) What did you imagine for Chaos?
Hey Wil! Ken from GeekDad here. First, nice job on a great episode!
[Spoilers below!]
One question, and one comment.
Are you starting to get a little worried about being typecast as the geeky/nerdy killer types? Of course, you do it so well…
And it just struck me at the very end, when “Chaos” gets his comeuppance and is standing dumbfounded at the airport, the perfect inside-geek thing (which the show is good at doing) would have been for him to exclaim “merde!”
Anyways, well done! I expect to see you on Psych, Eureka, and the rest of my favorite shows soon! Cheers!
I had never seen the show before. It was okay, but not something I would watch every week. It seems like this was an episode that is different than normal ones, so I might give it another shot.
You were good, though. Funny.
Awesome episode! Part of me really hopes to see another Chaos and Hardison showdown.
What was the best part of working with the Leverage crew?
They were both taken on the set.
When I was in the airport waiting for my flight, I got a call from the production office asking if I could get a headshot e-mailed to them, because they wanted to use it as a mug shot in that scene.
I suggested that I could take a picture of myself against a wall at LAX with my own camera, and tether my Blackberry to my MacBook to e-mail it up to them. We all thought it would be such a cool way to make movies in the future, but my computer’s battery chose that exact moment to completely die. I ended up replacing it while I was in Portland.
All the stuff on the screens is practical; it’s animations that we can advance by clicking the mouse or hitting certain hot keys. There’s also a guy who sits off camera and has a remote desktop session running so he can control it, too. I watched it a lot and while the animations aren’t of any *actual* OS, they “felt” very *nix-like to me.
Thanks for the reply and a good laugh. So, was that really a HP mininote he was … um, I mean you were using in the “showdown”? Playing Spider solitaire or dogging Twitter spambots while shooting that scene? Sorry, too soon?
Oh, that would be telling…
I loved this episode!! The showdown was fantastic. And “He’s the Kobayashi Maru,” had me howling!
I can’t wait for your next guest appearance.
Thanks, Ken!
At this point in my acting career, I’m happy just to be _cast_ in something where the writing is good and the character is well-formed. Lately, I’ve been able to play some bad guys, so maybe that’s where I’ll settle in during my 30s and 40s. To be honest, I’m really happy in that space.
Dean calls that moment at the end of the show the “LEVERAGE!” moment, where you imagine the bad guy clenching a fist and hollering at his bad luck.
Everyone in the cast and crew seemed to be having a good time, and seemed to genuinely enjoy working on the show.
I’ve worked on shows where it’s not like that, and it really makes a big difference for me when it’s a positive environment.
I love leverage!!! First Brent Spiner did a guest spot and now you..I couldn’t be happier. Did you have a lot of fun shooting? I’m a big fan of the show..love “Elliot” from previous shows (Lindsey on Angel). I hope you come back!
Yeah, it was. I dug it, and may pick up a netbook for myself … and put Linux on it, of course.
So, IF they were to ask, you’d do it again?
Without even seeing the script.
🙂
I enjoyed this episode. It was fun to watch. Funny thing is that every time they used your hacker name I kept thinking K-A-O-S not C-H-A-O-S…you know…one less character to type (along with an homage to Mel Brooks).
You totally rocked this episode. I would love to see a rematch with Chaos. I was so impressed w/ how well you fit in with the rest of the leverage team…..like you had always been part of it.
Q: Was being part of the team as easy as you make look?
Best of the season. BEST OF THE SEASON. Thanks to you!
@alikitty619
Between this and your role in The Guild, you’ve managed to appear in two of my favorite series in the past week (and been awesome in both). Are there any other upcoming guest appearances or roles we can expect to see you in?
Heh. I kept thinking cha0s, myself.
I didn’t really think about it at the time, but now that you mention it … Everyone in the cast was really easy-going and fun to work with, so I just took for granted that it was so easy to fit together as a team.
Like I said before, that relaxed and professional attitude on the set – which starts right with Dean and John, who were the most senior producers on the set when I was there – makes a huge difference.
I’m glad it came across that we all liked working together. That’s cool.
Yes. I’m making a HUGE announcement at PAX.
I was waiting for you to yell ‘KAAAAHHHHNNNN’ in the van at the end when you realized you had been busted…
You’d tell us, but then you’d have to send us flowers?
I was totally doing that inside my head!
HP has a nice shell, as does the Dell. Recommendation, if I can offer it, make sure you get the one with the highest resolution without the glossy screen. You’ll see in the reviews. I have a Lenovo S10 Hackintosh (w/Win7+Ubuntu too, just in case) and I highly recommend it. Perhaps an Apple table in a few days …
DUDE! As if I didn’t have enough to look forward to at PAX already!
I have no question at this time, just wanted to say judging from the questions so far, I feel as if I am missing out on something full of awesomesauce.
Congrats on yet another successful guest appearance! As if there was any doubt you would rock it! (besides the normal self-doubt stuff)
I loved the geek showdown scene. Great episode! I’m hoping that your character, in addition to the rest of the second team, makes another appearance in the series.
I’m a television student, so hearing methods such as the way the computer animations advance really intrigues me. Are there any other interesting aspects from this shoot particular to production techniques? Anything unusual?
Hope to see you on the show again! 🙂
@ericaarielle
I really loved this episode. The geek showdown has to be my favorite. I am a geek and anytime I can watch two go at it, it warms my heart. They seemed to have left it really open for you to come back. Especially since it was mentioned you should already be in jail but weren’t. I think Chaos has a score to settle, what do you think?
im still kicking myself for not saying hello to you on set and my open challange for some ground kontrol action is still open anytime you come back.
episode was great! you can catch me coming into the bar as griffin is trying to leave with his painting 🙂
you rock wil.
Great episode, as always it is great to see you enjoying your work.
My question is a simple one, what were you drinking in all those scenes? Looked to b Code Red Mt Dew.
CONGRATULATIONS! Your new Leverage spin-off “With Robots” sounds great! Best of luck with that. I hope your “With Robots” series has a nice long run.
Dammit, the one year I’m missing PAX!
Oh, who am I kidding? I never get out of our exhibitor booth anyway.
One of my favorites so far! What other projects are you working on now? Would like to see more of you in the future.
So, with such a successful episode, do you think you will be able to overcome your difficulties with playing the Green X?
Wil,
Stopped everything I was doing when I saw your Twitter post that your epi of Leverage was on (since I DVR it) and started to watch the recording.
Leverage is one of my fave shows so congrats on being on it! It looks like it’s tons of fun! I’m a big fan of Christian Kane (due to Angel) and was thrilled to see he was in this.
Have to admit…I replayed the Star Trek joke…almost choked on my drink the first time! I laughed hardest though at two section; 1. When the guards are talking to Nate about how men keep emotions inside and 2. When Parker describes the guy with her same talents as “those type of people are unstable” and has no idea she’s talking about herself. Hilarious! GREAT WRITING!
I know you had fun with it! Hope you get to work with them again! Any chance you’d ever write for a TV show? (or have you and I’m an arse for asking?).
Alexis 🙂
And I leave you with this Leverage quote: “That’s twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag!” Love it!
Would you write or direct an episode or two of Leverage if you could? I know Jonathan Frakes has directed a couple. Would you?
p.s. If you do direct, try to get a Christine Boylan script. She’s amazing.
Great episode! I was wondering if you were drinking the World of Warcraft Mountain Dew in the ep (seems appropriately geeky) and if the Kobayashi Maru line was in the script originally or if they added it in for you?
Yeah, Chaos isn’t going to be in a big hurry to forgive and forget, I don’t think.
It was Jaritos Strawberry soda, I think.
As with all of the above, loved the show. You did a great job, very fun to watch. Continuity issue (absolutely not your problem, but bothered me): tombstone at the funeral said Katherine and at the end said Sophie. Understand why they had her name at the end to fit in with the “moment”, but no mention of the change in the script.
I’m working on a few things, but they’re all things I can’t talk about. I’ll be making announcements as soon as I can.
In fact, there’s a book-related thing scheduled for tomorrow!
I can only hope that I can apply the lessons I learned while creating the Orange X to the Green X … but the master of the Green X is Barry Williams, and that guy is a legendary frakking *veteran*, man.
I would love the challenge of writing for the screen someday, but television is HARD, and I’m not nearly experienced enough to even consider it.
Did you know that Boylan and I both wrote stories for the Star Trek manga? She’s awesome, isn’t she?
I’m not interested in directing; I’ll leave that to the people who are really good at it, like Frakes.
Hardison is a Trekkie, and he’s always dropping Trek and other geek references, so it was already in the script before I was cast. The meta joke was just a nice bonus.
John said that the name change was a deliberate choice. He wouldn’t say anything beyond that, as it would be spoilery.
I’m just as anxious as anyone else to find out what it’s all about, and even though I could probably just call John and bug him until he told me, I think I’ll let it unfold on the show for me.