ROUND-TABLE: 'Bright Star' director Jane Campion

We have already spoken glowingly of Jane Campion's new film Bright Star, but it bears repeating: this film might just be the best of the year. Despite its centuries-past setting there is something astonishingly timeless about this beautiful depiction of the affair between great poet John Keats and his neighbor Fanny Brawne; long story short, Miz Jane Campion has done it again. Last week we spoke with Ben Whishaw, the actor who plays Keats, but this week we are thrilled to present to you the thoughts of the director herself.

Would you talk about the casting?
We’d auditioned Ben quite early on and we’d heard a lot about him, especially his Hamlet that had been done in the United Kingdom. We didn’t see it, but everyone was talking about it. There were a few people that were auditioned but fundamentally he was the best and he was very much Keats. It was pretty clear pretty quickly clear that Ben was very much like Keats, even though there were other people early on as well. Strange thing was when people said “You’ve gotta meet Ben Wishaw”… he’d been in this film called Perfume and we went to see it and were like: [grimaces] “Aughhhh!” [laughter] It was, uh, far away from our visualization of Keats! [laughter] And then his agent very nicely sent me some photos and he looked so dreamy. I mean, he can do the rock star thing, and… [laughter]

Yeah, well, the poets were very much like the rock stars in their day.
Absolutely. And I think the thing that’s most surprising and charming is the Ben’s got this real kindness in him. He’s very, very sweet and strong. We were going to get into trouble when we get into customs. There was a woman taking her job and telling me to stand behind the line very seriously. You know, like, a little power can do horrible things! [laughter] It was kind of horrible, actually. She was treating us all as if we were at a concentration camp or something. “Get up there!” [laughter] And he says— “I don’t like to be talked to like this. Can’t you speak more gently?” [laughter] He stands up for what he thinks is… what’s what.

What can you say about Abbie Cornish and her joining an amazing line of Campion women? How did you know she was Fanny?
Well, she did an amazing audition but I’d met her before that, and she is a person with a special quality that people talk about once they see it. It’s that rare thing where there’s a mystery to them, a strength, and it’s the element of surprise, you don’t know what they’re going to do. And Abbie apparently liked the script; she said she felt it was alive and it was breathing. What surprised me is that she could do the kind of sassy young Fanny, but she did it in a way where… she was just so pleased with herself! [laughter] And it wasn’t cheap or irritating, she just loved being young and alive and beautiful and gorgeous.

And very well dressed.
And then on the other side of it she had this heart, so it wasn’t like a hollow thing. She could really travel that distance and when the game-playing started to hurt them and they didn’t know where they were and Keats was like “I just can’t take it anymore, be sweet to me, be kind, I’m just too vulnerable,” she got it, you know. And I think the connection was pretty profound in anybody’s book and very loyal. And meeting different girls, it made me realize that something about Australian girls is they’re brought up in a much less submissive way than English girls and, sure, even Americans! [laughter]

What were you like as a teenager?
I was hiding.

From what?
From myself. I was trying to be submissive, I guess. I was trying to be what it was okay to be. To be liked, I guess. And it was not in a very inspiring place to be, but I think that’s why I love the work so much. It was a place I felt free to be my whole self. I had kind of made the mistake of creating an identity that wasn’t me as I was growing up, and I think being involved in the filmmaking world has liberated me and I’m less afraid because of it. More relaxed about being myself.

It’s interesting, because Fanny, when we see her first, is completely dressed to the teeth.
Yeah, well, she’s more liberated than me. [laughter]

But it seems as though as the film progresses Fanny’s relationship with Keats becomes more and more serious.
Yeah. I guess she’s under his influence after a while. We imagined, as he got iller, that she would probably tone down, but in actual fact she used to dress up for him. You know, say “Oh, I’ve got a new black dress on, come to the window and I’ll show it to you!” [laughter] But I do imagine that it became a little more sober; you just don’t necessarily want to concentrate on it.

Were those costumes based on reality?
Reality, yes.

Really? Those wild colors?
Yes, they wore incredibly wild colors in those days. And they’re almost all hand-made costumes, and that’s why we almost didn’t have them. [laughter] We have a quite brilliant costume designer called Janet Patterson who is a three time Oscar nominee and who did the costumes and the sets so that was really great and was collaborated fro the beginning and she works a lot from the character and from the story other than thinking “That’s a great costume, I’ll just put it on that person.” She really tries to work out their world and what they might have had and also work with fabrics and textures and the control of the colors and the look of the sets. But I think what I love about Janet as a designer is that she works for story, not just for look.

There’s a sense in the movie, even though it’s a period piece, despite the technical chasteness of their relationship it does feel very modern in the way that the characters interact with each other, it doesn’t have the stiffness that you find in most period pieces. Like the fight with the celery sticks.
[laughs] I read in one letter that Keats was talking about having a celery fight with Mrs. Duke in the corridor and I just decided to put it somewhere else. I thought it was so funny. But that’s what they were like, they were playful. And young, you know, and I think the mistaken thought when people make a period film is that people weren’t normally human. They weren’t real or crazy or they always wore completely whatever buttoned up clothes, and I’m absolutely sure in saying that’s not true; they were just like us: messy, wearing shirts three or four times, sloppy, lounging around on the floor, and to me one of the special moments is when Keats and Fanny have gotten rid of Brown… [laughter] And they’re sitting together on the couch and they’re just newly in love and having that time together and—just that relaxation and the intimacy. People want that connection. People don’t want just sex, they want affection. They want affection, a connection, I think. And sex. I’m sure they wanted sex. [laughter] I think what’s interesting about this film is that sex is off-topic. It’s just not going to be.

Were there any directions you gave to them?
Please don’t have sex. [laughter]

It’s just a completely different frame of mind; it’s hard to wrap your head around the sort of heaving-bosom chasteness. There’s so much restraint.
Well haven’t you ever felt that restraint yourself? [laughter] When you like someone and you’re not sure they like you… well, that probably hasn’t happened to you! [laughter] You know, when you’re not sure how you feel about them and I think that’s the tensest moments in a relationship.

It can be electric.
Exactly. Totally electric. I mean, a first kiss really does seal a relationship. It’s hard to go back from that. Anyway, we all know that, so.

The website is so much fun. What was the inspiration there?
My friend and assistant is sort of an unstoppable force of nature. [laughter] She’s a young director as well and we both discussed, looking at websites, how impersonal everything feels and how disgusted we feel that everything looks the same. And it’s sad to me! You know with handwriting you used to get an individual feel for different people and… So I think what we wanted to do was to create a website more after our own liking. And she took the job on with a lot of energy.

In terms of women, do you think there’s a different energy when there are more women working on a project?
I mean, there were men too of course; I think it was about 50-50, and perhaps there were more men on this one too.

Well, there are generally women doing the crafts and the hair and makeup and… but on a higher level it’s rarer and I think it does make a difference and so it’s nice to see that.
I think there’s more attention to feminine details… I think also it’s a kind of set that—actors say, you know, when you’re on a high-octane set it feels difficult try and express emotions and they wouldn’t want to be in that position whereas we can make a much… kinder set? A much softer set.

Bright Star is currently in theatres. Go see it.
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ROUND-TABLE: 'Bright Star' actor Ben Whishaw

Bright Star, Academy Award-winning director Jane Campion's new film about the love affair of the young Romantic poet John Keats and his 18-year-old neighbor Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish), will by the end of the year probably have been the best film of 2009. Lyrical and chaste but shockingly modern in atmosphere, excellently executed not only in terms of acting and writing and directing but in terms of costumes and cinematography as well, Bright Star is a true gem. Up-and-coming English actor Ben Whishaw is the actor who plays Keats; herein we are so fortunate as to be able to speak with him about his character's poetry, his background in theatre, and his on-set naps. Enjoy.

Considering the background of Keats and how distinctive and well-chronicled he was, how did you prepare to play him?
I suppose I just tried to understand as much as possible and read as much as possible. I did a lot of reading. I read about four biographies and all the letters, which are really the best way in because they’re so incredibly intimate. They must be the most intimate kind of literature, really. So—letters, poetry, biographies. And then I suppose we never wanted it to be academic about it so we just—both Jane and I, we read a lot and then we found the right key for our story, our poem. It’s a poem, really, on a story, which is all it can be. So I think Jane was a big influence as well on the way we represented him because I think she had a very particular film in mind.

So how familiar were you with his work before you started working on the film?
Not at all familiar. I think I’d read something at school, one of the sonnets maybe, but other than that really nothing. So it was a journey into the unknown, but I really was totally, totally won over. I’ve always enjoyed poetry, but I really had a prejudice against that era of poetry because I always think it’s not going to—I don’t know, I just made the assumption that it wouldn’t really be for me. And I’m really grateful that I’ve had this sort of privileged way into the poetry, understanding it through a human being who wrote some of it; it makes it more accessible.

One of the things that’s really interesting to me about the story is that it’s kind of like a love story in a straitjacket. You’re so limited as to what you can reveal and you’re supposed to convey this passionate love of two people’s lives in face and in gesture and I just wondered what kind of how you worked that. Did Jane ever say if you were going too far, or—because there’s so much restraint in the role—how did you play with that?
It’s funny because until we started showing the film to people I never even thought about it being chaste. I knew that there were limitation on the relationship, but they always felt more like limitations that were on most relationships in those days. I remember in one scene where Abbie and I were sitting together surrounded by my friends and Abbie and I instinctively put our hands on each others knees and then Jane was like “No no, there’s no way you could ever do that.” [laughter] It’s ridiculous. So I was aware that there were restrictions, you know, but actually when we were rehearsing and filming it always felt, like, very passionate, very sensual, which is perhaps something you don’t see very much now. But I think just because it’s only a kiss doesn’t mean it’s not as powerful and sensuous—as electric and explosive as something more obviously, um, fulfilling. [laughter]

My theory is that calling it a chaste love affair is part of the marketing to distinguish it and associate it with Twilight and it is exactly what you would expect from that time. There’s the line when you won’t go any further with her and you say “I’m a man of conscience.”
Yes, that’s when Keats is about to leave and Fanny says “I’d do anything” and he says, “I have a conscience.” Yes, that’s true.

That was actually a shocking line to me. Did it feel that way in the writing?
It’s interesting to hear other people say so but, no, it didn’t feel that way to me, no.

Do you think Keats knew that he might not return back and that another man might come and marry her?
Well, I think he absolutely knew he was going away to die, and that’s what they say in that scene: “Let’s pretend I’m going to come back.” His whole family had died that way, of illness, and there’s absolutely no doubt in his mind.

One of the things that I find absolutely fascinating is that Keats’ circle of friends is sort of like a collection of misogynists in a way—it’s like a no-girls-allowed club. And I was interested in what your take was on Charles [Brown, played by Paul Schneider], because there’ a lot of ways you can read that friendship.
Well, when we were preparing the film and discussing it, we just thought that they were great chum. And I think that of Keats’ friends it was a peculiar friendship and some couldn’t quite see what Keats thought of this guy, because he was Keats’ best friend, but I always thought Charles grounded Keats; he kind of stopped him disappearing into the ether. And I think he had an earthiness as well, Keats, which is shared in the letters. And I think there was jealousy, perhaps, because there’s a strong friendship and then there’s this third party who’s getting more attention, and I think that’s something we encounter all the time in our lives—a love which is invaded by a romance. It kind of alters the balance.

And Keats is investing in this girl and he’s taking care of her and Brown came off as more of a jealous wife than as a friend.
Well, that’s something we talked about, and Paul would have his own things to say, I’m sure!

Even though we’ve referred to it as very chaste, at the same time it kind of seemed to me like an un-corseted period piece (pun intended) because, even though there was very little physical romance, the language and the way people interacted was so much more relaxed. For example, Keats and Brown are dueling with celery sticks at one point! I wondered if it felt like that as well while working on it.
Well, Jane definitely didn’t want it to be stiff and formal or in any way like we were acting in a period film. I think she absolutely wanted it to be relaxed and natural and she is very interesting to watch on set because she sort of gets herself relaxed and then just listens and sometimes I’m not even sure if she’s watching but she’ll sort of go “I listened. I listened to you that time. I heard what you were saying.” And that was totally what she was working for, that it should just speak beyond the period, and she’s also interested in everyday-ness and domesticity much more than in the kind of social side of things. And Keats was famously uncomfortable in those sorts of situations, which is why I think she honed in on the private and the intimate.

What was uncomfortable with Keats? On the set—what you just said about Jane being very relaxed, you can sort of see it in the eyes of each person in the film—and I wondered about that. Did you have a long rehearsal period?
We had over three weeks’ rehearsal, which was amazing. Quite rare on a film. And it was great. It was a strange kind of rehearsal because we spent a lot of time lolling around on couches, looking out the window. Because I come from theater so I expected something more disciplined and rigorous. And Jane encouraged us. I had a headache one day and Jane said, “Well, sleep,” so I slept for three hours. [laughter] But there was a kind of strange method in there and it was to do with just being present, not forcing anything, being relaxed with each other, able to be completely vulnerable with each other.

I think we see really clearly when Keats is interacting with family members. Tell us about interacting with the younger cast. You don’t get to see the brother too much.
Well, you don’t get to see him too much, but he’s kind of hovering around!

It’s very naturalistic.
Yeah. Well, Keats had a younger daughter—no, sorry, I’m not talking about a younger daughter, I’m talking about a younger sister. Frances Keats, whom he was very protective of; I believe he left everything to her. And even though it’s not mentioned in the film, I think that Fanny’s sister Toots is a little sister—it’s a little sister relationship. And Jane is also magnificent with children. She loves their energy. And, if anything, I think she wants us all to have the purity of little children because they can’t lie about things.

I thought it was very interesting that scene when you two were doing that very chaste kissing—just like any two teenagers do—and you were trying to keep Toots from finding out.
Yeah, absolutely.

Where were you filming? Did that sorta do any work in terms of immersing yourself?
Well we were filming in Bedfordshire, which is not that far north of London and probably looks a lot like Hampstead would have looked in those days. Definitely fed the work we were doing. In the spring you feel that kind of… you feel romantic in the spring. [laughs]

I just wanted to break away for about five seconds and ask you about… you played Hamlet in a production that was probably one of the first age-appropriately-cast Hamlets ever and I just wanted to ask you what that was like, especially knowing that there’s not exactly a precedent of Hamlet being played by college-age actor.
It was amazing. But it was about six years ago and I had a wonderful time but I was very, very inexperienced, which was probably a great thing. It meant that I wasn’t really aware of—you know, of how badly it could go wrong. [laughter] But I was kind of flying by the ssss…skin of my teeth, or whatever the expression is. I think now I look back on it. If I were to do it again I would probably do it very differently. But I think not knowing what I was doing actually was perhaps key to the way I played it and the way the whole production kind of played out.

Back to this film—I wanted to know, when you were researching Keats, what sort of stuck out? Particular poems or letters that sort of colored your portrait?
So many things, and I keep forgetting, but they’re so rich in literal gems in phrases he’d coin or things he’d come up with. I suppose the one that became a kind of philosophy for the whole way we approached the film was this idea that he mentions in a letter called negative capability, which is sort of talked about in the film when Keats is talking about diving in the lake. And it’s this negative capacity to be in uncertainties or doubts without any irritable reaching after fact or reason. That was what he admired in great writers, but I think it’s kind of a philosophy of life or of being present in the mystery and being happy with not understanding everything. And that became a very important thing for me to remember, for all of us, actually, in the atmosphere on set.

Ah, I think we only have one more question left so I’m going to try to sneak in two. <[laughter] What’s coming up for you in the future, and what do you think Bright Star is going to say to audiences?
I’m doing some theater next. I’m doing a play in London, and then I think a play in New York. I hope that what I love about the film—aside from the fact that I find it a very moving story, and I’m always moved to tears when I see it, and it seems to have that effect on people, not just me or the people who made it, but it seems to move people, which I love. And I think that’s what Jane wanted, for people to feel kind of sensitized and in touch with what they feel, which is what I think the romantic poets were all about, really. They were all reacting to what was happening in the world, which was this mechanization and industrialization of human beings, and they were putting people back at the center and nature back at the center of life. Which i what I think the film is trying to do, and we’ll see how the world will take it or be interested in it. I don’t know. We’ll see.

Where did you train?
I went to RADA in London.

What play will you be doing in New York?
It’s called The Pride. Directed by I think Joe… Mantello? Yeah.

Well, thank you so much!
Thank you!

Bright Star is now in theatres. Go see it; it's positively excellent.
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American indie band Chester French

In all likelihood you've already heard their breakout hit She Loves Everybody or have seen the condom-wrapper packaging for their first single. D.A. Wallach and Max Drummey, the boys of indie pop-rock band Chester French, sure like to get crafty with the trimmings. But beyond all the fun, futzy stuff is a band that makes really good indie pop-rock music. And they like to get fun with questions, too, much to my own enjoyment: enjoy this interview.

Tell me a story. Any story.
D.A. WALLACH: I just took a shower and cut myself shaving.
MAX DRUMMEY: I just cleaned blood off of D.A.

What’s your philosophy for music? For life?
DW: Have fun, have integrity, make a positive impact.
MD: Make art. Don't be mean.

What was the aesthetic behind the sound of your album Love the Future?
DW: I don't think we set out with a clear aesthetic we were trying to achieve, but one definitely crept in as a result of our influences, the studio at college where we recorded most of the record, our naivete. I think it sort of sounds like we're young.
MD: It was the first time I had made pop songs without a predetermined instrumentation. That kept the project open ended.

What were some of your biggest inspirations (musically, literarily, and otherwise) for this particular album?
DW: We took a lot of cues from 60's pop on one hand and 90's hip-hop on the other.
MD: Godsmack.

Where is your favorite place in the world to play and why?
DW: We've had a lot of fun playing in Detroit, but we enjoy lots of different crowds. We just had one of the best shows ever in Iowa yesterday, right near Omaha.
MD: The studio. You can do it again if you fuck up.

How did you meet? I mean, I know you met at Harvard, but how and why did you decide to make music together?
DW: We were both looking to be in a band and we identified with comedy.
MD: I had a dream about starting a band with orphan Annie.

How was it, making music at Harvard, in that particular environment?
DW: It was fine. You're surrounded by very highly motivated people, so it's hard to not catch that same sense of urgency and push yourself.

Do you prefer it to the way you work now or vice versa (or is there even a significant difference between your process then and your process now)?
DW: It's nice that we now don't have class to contend with at the same time. However, now we have lots of other stuff to do that takes up our time and makes it difficult to write and record.

I heard you initially wanted to name the band Marilyn Manson so what made you decide “Actually let’s name ourselves after sculptor Daniel Chester French”?
DW: We just thought the name was cool and distinctive.

Did the condom-style packaging of She Loves Everybody piss people off? Or what were some especially interesting reactions?
DW: It got great reactions and people remember it. You're asking about it a year late. ;)

Abstractly, which is better: to confuse people or to piss them off? If you were to choose to do exactly one of those things with your music, which would it be?
DW: I think I would choose to confuse, because I don't ever intend to piss people off.
MD: In what context? With art, it's sort of out of your control. Interpersonally, I prefer not to piss people off.

It’s been said you “get belligerent when the subject of indie rock is raised”—this is a direct quote, mind you—so what about the subject do you find so irksome?
DW: I used to be threatened by that scene because we didn't have many fans and I felt as if lots of esoteric, arbitrary music was getting appreciation that we deserved. That was immature, though, and I don't hold any band accountable for the critics who support it.
MD: I like a lot of indie rock bands. That's D.A.'s beef.

After all the dissecting you have done of iconic music, have you managed to distill a songwriting formula or pattern that at least works for you?
DW: I think we've converged upon some general tricks, but nothing like a formula. We try to balance familiarity with surprise.
MD: I prefer to always keep moving, learning from different sources, and trying new things.

Your music quite clearly isn’t hip-hop, so why and how do you try to ape the production of skilled hip-hop music?
DW: Music is music. We don't believe is any sort of concrete boundaries between styles of songwriting or production. We've learned from hip-hop producers just as we've learned from jazz or rock producers we love.

How have the sorts of sounds and songs you are working on now changed or developed from those on your album?
DW: They're a little harder and more beat-driven.
MD: They have better drums and bigger sounds.

For more about Chester French and their music, check out their website or their MySpace.
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ROUND-TABLE: 'Monk' actor Tony Shalhoub

After what will have been eight spectacular seasons, Monk is finally packing it in... and you can bet he's doing so as neatly and methodically as possible. It's a sure bet, truly, that the final season will leave no loose end untied. Tony Shalhoub (the actor responsible, over the past eight years, for the portrayal of Adrian Monk himself) certainly intends to do his part to ensure this. This week Good Prattle has for you a conversation with him for your reading pleasure.

Hello. It’s such a pleasure to speak with you. Thank you.

I was wondering, what’s the lasting impression you want audience members to take from watching your show and watching you? That’s a great question. I think, if I had to choose one thing, I would say that I would want people to take away this idea that sometimes people’s problems or neuroses are really the things that are kind of a blessing in disguise, and even though there’s, you know, sometimes there’s pain associated with these things that sometimes in the face of adversity with obstacles to overcome, people can really kind of soar and find their higher selves and I think that’s what we’ve tried to do on the show is we’ve portrayed this character as someone who turns his liability, his liabilities into assets per his life. And that there’s – and I hope that when we get to the end – I don’t know this for sure, but I hope when we get to the end of season eight that we’ll have seen some real healing from Monk, and I believe in that. I believe that there is healing and that there is change, and that all of those things are – they are just really, really key to all of our lives.

I wondered if you had any input into the new changes of Monk, because from the ads it seems that he’s sort of looser and more comedic. And I wondered if you have a preference for comedy or drama or horror? I don’t really have a preference, to be honest. In fact, my preference, my only preference is to have a lot of variety and diversity in the material that I work on. I’ve been so fortunate throughout my career, when I was doing theater, more theater than anything else, and when I was doing films that I got a chance just to do a broad range of things. In fact, a lot of my choices that I made were about that very thing. Every project that I had an opportunity to do or chose to do, I wanted it to be different from the last thing I did, and I think that’s why I have a good, you know, I had kind of a diverse kind of résumé. I’m really – it’s what I set out to do as an actor originally.

You talked about the character and what he sort of means, but in terms of the pantheon of great television series, what sort of legacy do you think this show leaves, and what do you sort of take away from it in that regard? Well, I think one of the things that will be remembered about this show, I hope will be remembered, is that at a time when there was, in a lot of television, especially with the onslaught of cable and in a period where television is kind of redefining itself, that there were precious few shows on the air that were suitable for a wider audience, like a younger audience, you know, people in their 30’s and then people like elderly people in the 70’s and 80’s. That there was a show that all those different demographics could tune into and appreciate, and would appreciate on their own level. And I think there aren’t a lot of shows like that. There haven’t been a lot of shows like that in the last decade. And I hope that that’s something that people will focus on and remember for a long time, you know, that it’s still possible to do interesting stories and good comedy without having it have to be all exclusively adult themed kinds of things or super violent or with language that some people might feel is inappropriate for younger audiences, and that this show was kind of able to stand out and do that.

One time you mentioned that you’re the only one at your home who knows how to absolutely – the only right way to load the dishwasher, which struck me as a kind of Monk thing to say. I’m not the only one in my home. I’m the only one in my community, I think, my entire neighborhood, I’m pretty sure.

Who knows how to load the dishwasher right? Well, have you found that the longer you play Monk, that the differences between you, Tony, and the character has eroded, which is to say, have you become more like him, and he more like you, over the years? I would say yes, absolutely. I mean, I resisted it for a long time. I wrestled with it. I fought with it. I was in denial about it and all of that. But inevitably, you know, there have been some – you know, as I said, in interviews too. I feel like I’ve been infected in some way by this character. Tendencies, you know, minor tendencies that I’ve had in my life prior to Monk have just kind of ballooned and expanded and it’s inevitably. I mean, I just, there’s no point in trying to – I’ve given up trying to resist it. I’ve had to just surrender to it. I mean, I’m hoping that when Monk is over that I’ll have some period of recovery, but I’m not holding my breath.

How is the final season structured? I mean, the season premiere seemed like a very standard, great, hilarious episode, but when do we kind of get into the wrapping of things up? What the writers have in mind is to do, as you said, our normal standalone episodes for the first… I would say 11, because we’re doing 16, as usual. So the first 11, I would say, are going to be standalone, and then the last 5 is when we’ll be kind of connected. They’ll have a connected tissue, and we’ll start to get into the wrap up, not just of Monk, but of some of the other characters as well. Then what they want to do is the final two episodes, number 15 and 16, it’ll just be one story, a two-part, you know, aired in two segments. Just to follow – that episode, I mean that two-part will involve the wrap up of Trudy’s murder, you know, the solving of Trudy’s murder.

What was the deciding factor to make this season the final season? I think there were a lot of things at play there. I mean, long conversations that I had with Andy Breckman, you know, one of the co-creators and the main writer. We’ve been talking all along about how many seasons to do, how many episodes that he had in him, you know, as the writer. He, at one point, said that he didn’t think really he had more than six seasons, and then he kind of got a gigantic second wind, and we did the seventh, and we weren’t sure when we were doing the seventh if the network was going to go with us on the eighth. But to make a long story short, we all kind of agreed that the eighth season would be it for all of us. I think it will have 124 episodes by the end of the eighth season, and I think we’re all ready to resolve the storyline and move on to other things. We certainly don’t want to go too long and have the quality start to wane and just limp to the finish line. We want to go out while we’re still really, we feel really that we’re doing great work and delivering really strong episodes. We want to go out on a high.

How many of the old faces for past episodes are we going to see as a way of saying good-bye this last season? Well, I’m sure you’ve probably read because there’s been a lot of publicity about Sharona coming back. Bitty Schram is going to come back for episode – I believe it’s episode number 12, which will start shooting in September. And they want to bring that character back and kind of wrap it up and kind of give that a good send off. A lot of people really missed that character and the dynamic between Monk and Sharona. And so we’re all looking forward to that. Of course, we’ll see Harold Krenshaw comes back, one of my favorites. He’s the other OCD patient who is always kind of in competition with Monk, played so brilliantly by Tim Bagley. He’s going to return for at least a couple of episodes. And, well, that’s it. I mean, of course, Dr. Bell the psychiatrist will be in a number of episodes. I don’t think – people have asked if we’re going to see Ambrose. I don’t really think that's in the cards simply because that’s … John is so busy. It’s difficult to schedule him in. I mean, if I had my way, we’d do kind of what Seinfeld did and bring back almost every guest star there ever was on the show, but ours is going to go in a different direction.

I was wondering if you had a favorite guest star over the years and maybe a favorite you’ve worked with so far this year. It’s so hard for me to pick a favorite because there have been so many great ones, and I’ve had the chance to bring friends of mine on the show, I mean, people that I’ve worked with in the past like Stanley Tucci and John Turturro and people that I’ve always wanted to work with like Laurie Metcalf. But I have to say, of all of the seasons, and of all of the guest stars, the most thrilling for me was last season working with Gena Rowlands on "Mr. Monk and the Lady Next Door". She was such a tremendous influence on me when I was a student and studying acting. I was a devotee of John Cassavetes movies and the movies she did even separate from him. I was the one who actually when we were casting that particular episode, "The Lady Next Door", there were a number of names on the list, and I pitched her name. And I was stunned and thrilled to find out that she wanted to do it. And then working those eight days with her was just, you know, I felt really, when we finished that episode, I felt like I could retire, that I had done everything I needed to do now. She was so gracious and so good, and of course she’s been nominated for an Emmy for that episode too, so I will hopefully see her at the Emmys in September.

Being from Wisconsin, how did you make your way from Wisconsin to Hollywood, and do your Midwestern roots impact your acting at all and how? Boy, I think so. I think they do. I went to college on the East Coast in Portland, Maine. I went to graduate school at Yale Drama School. I worked in the theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts for years, and moved to New York, and then to Los Angeles. I mean, that’s kind of the – that was kind of the roadmap of it. But I also come back to Wisconsin every year, and I have family here, of course, and I don’t know. I just think there’s a – you know, this place kind of was a fantastic place to grow up and kind of keeps me kind of grounded and keeps me somewhat humble just to kind of return to it. Yes, I think it just keeps me balanced. I still have great, great friends and feel like it’s home.

So have you learned anything from your years with the character of Adrian Monk, and do you think Adrian has learned anything from you, from Tony? I think yes. I think I have learned something from Adrian. I think I’ve learned to – sometimes, you know, hyper-focusing on things is actually a good thing to do. Not all the time, and I wouldn’t want to be as kind of fixed – you know, get as fixated and as obsessed as Adrian, but sometimes, you know, I’ve found that it’s really helpful to look at things in my own life with the same kind of sort of relentlessness that Monk does, just turning something over and over and over and trying to see it from all angles, and not being too quick to judge something or label something. So in that sense, I feel like I’ve gained a little real life wisdom. What has Monk gotten from me? Boy, I don’t know. That’s a really good question. I feel like Monk has maybe become a little more – because I was playing the role, maybe Monk has become a little more open to others and embraces to the level, to the degree that he can, embraces other people’s point of view. I feel like I’ve been that kind of a person in my life, open-minded.

How involved were you with the development of the character of Monk? Well, I wasn’t really there when the character was created. The script was around for a number of years before it came to me, although I do feel that I’ve had some significant input. When I came to the project, the script and the character was somewhat different, and I had long conversations with Andy Breckman about kind of morphing the character more towards to what I wanted to do, more to my strengths. The original script that I read was somewhat more – was a little more slap sticky, and I wanted to emphasize the kind of darker aspects of this character and more … and so that was a conversation that a lot of the producers had in the beginning. And I think Andy did such a great job morphing what he had originally written to fit me and what I wanted to do.

You’ve already talked about how, through the years, you’ve become more similar to Monk, and I was just wondering if, in your own life, you found some of his compulsions entering your life in small ways and, if so, kind of what they were. Well, you know, they take so many different forms and kind of crop up at the oddest times really. Sometimes I feel like – there are moments when I feel like I’m just nothing like the character. But then something will happen, and I’ll just realize that I’m rearranging something on a table at a restaurant, which seems that in that particular moment, seems like it’s absolutely essential that the sugar packets are facing one way and that everything else has to stop until this particular task is completed. Then I realize, what the hell am I doing? I’m channeling the character again. So it would take me about an hour and a half to describe all of the things that occur, but just trust me. It just kind of comes over me in waves, and I have to really, really check myself and try and pull myself out of these things.

Lastly... listen, I know that of course a big loss for your show and for everybody on it was the loss of Stanley Kamel as Dr. Kroger. Yes.

We know kind of how Monk is dealing with the loss of the character, but how are you and the dealing with the loss of Stanley? You know, it’s been really tricky, and we all speak … it’s almost as if he has never left us because his name comes up in stories, and anecdotes come up about him all the time on the set. And he’s missed, but we try to sort of keep him alive in our – you know, keep in our midst. He was there from the very, very beginning, from the pilot episode, and I have to say, you know, those scenes, those Dr. Kroger scenes in the pilot were so important, just in terms of my process, my discovery of who Monk was. I think those scenes in particular were the most informative for me and the richest. They really, really helped me to kind of define the parameters of this guy, of my character. So, yes, I kind of carry that with me and have for all these seasons. And now, when I’m in these sessions, these scenes with Hector Elizondo, who plays Dr. Bell, I can’t even go into these scenes without just this little – I sort of do this little internal toast, as it were, to Stanley Kamel because he was the original doctor. I like to think that he’s kind of there in those sessions with me. He is missed.

Monk airs on Fridays on the USA Network at 10pm.
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