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INTERVIEW: William Fichtner
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William Fichtner is one of the most prolific actors working today, having starred in movies such as The Perfect Storm, Heat, Blades of Glory, Black Hawk Down, Armageddon, and Go, among others. Recently, he’s been busy on the small screen, starring in Fox’s Prison Break and ABC’s canceled Invasion. I recently had the chance to talk to Mr. Fichtner about his new movie, The Amateurs. He’s an incredibly cool guy; very personable, funny, and engaging. Read on to see what he has to say about his newest film, his TV shows, and more.
- Mike Spring
Editor
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MIKE SPRING: Hi, William, how are you?
WILLIAM FICHTNER: Great, thanks.
MS: Let’s talk about The Amateurs, It’s funny, I just spoke with to Joe Pantoliano about the film and he said it was the best time he’s ever had making a movie.
WF: You can throw me in the same category, I’m there.
MS: It sounds like a great experience.
WF: It’s a film with a bunch of guys, and they’ve been friends for like--you know, one was in 6th grade and one was in 4th and 5th and 2nd and kindergarten. And here we are when the cast was assembled and our leader is Jeff [Bridges] and we never really spent any time together. So Jeff has a beach house in his family, and we were going to start shooting the film on a Monday. So the Thursday before that, Mike Traeger (the writer/director), and Ted and Patrick and Ken and Joey and Me and Jeff, we went to the beach house and we got a bunch of food and a bunch of wine and rehearsed on the beach during the day. And we spent this time together from a Thursday morning to Saturday night. Not only was it a great time spent with all of us but really invaluable for the film because when you show up Monday morning it’s not like, “Oh hey, nice to meet you.” You know, we just spent this amazing time together. It’s another thing about the experience that I’ll always treasure and remember.
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MS: I know that obviously you’ve done comedy before, but I think it’s fair to say that the bulk of your work tends to be dramatic roles. Do you enjoy the chance to get out and stretch your comedic wings?
WF: Yeah. It’s the real life humor that I find really interesting; there’s some funny stuff, but it’s not jokes, it comes out of character and situations. That’s the sort of humor that I think that I like to be a part of and certainly Mike Traeger’s script lends itself to a lot of funny stuff between these guys. And I had a great time playing it and certainly, I’ll always remember reading it for the first time. When you read a script for the first time and you’re really laughing out loud, that just hits your funny bone in a really good way.
MS: This film obviously has an amazing cast. Does it help you creatively to work with such talented people like that or, do you find it hard to kind of have your voice heard?
WF: You know what, when it came to The Amateurs, I’ll tell you something, there was this brotherhood between us all. But I’ve never really had that sort of-- I can honestly say, I don’t think I’ve ever had feelings of competitiveness or competing. It’s just not my nature. There was such brotherhood between all of us, you know, because that was really the story, those were the guys. There was never anything that really veered from that.
MS: You’ve starred in movies like this and also big budget blockbusters like Heat and The Perfect Storm. How does that compare? Do you have a preference to the big budget stuff or the more intimate, independent type films?
WF: I’ll tell you, the biggest difference between independent films and studio pictures, big budget pictures – catering! It’s all about catering. You know, on Armageddon you’re going to get the rack of lamb on any given day. You’re going to get hot dogs on The Amateurs. [Laughs.] No, you know what, it doesn’t really make a difference. It always comes down to a sense of what you’re doing and trying to realize the story and character. It never feels like any different to me. Some things are bigger in nature. It doesn’t change the process as an actor and what you’re thinking about, or at least what I’m thinking about; you really want to try to find the guy. That’s a pretty consistent thing no matter what it is.
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MS: You’ve been in a lot of movies and a lot of TV shows. What do you look for nowadays? What gets you excited about a role?
WF: Well, you never know. And believe me there’s a lot of things I got excited about where they didn’t hire me. There’s no set thing. Sometimes it’s a large part and some times it’s one scene. I never know and I try not to zero it in too much. For me, not to get too in depth because I don’t even talk about it much myself, but if I read something, it’s all material driven. You like the story, you like the script, it’s well written, you like the journey, you like the character. Can you find out whether it’s a bad guy or a good guy, or a tough guy? I don’t think I ever really play, “he’s a bad guy.” If I can’t find out what that character or that person cares about, for me as an actor, he’s not a real person. If I can’t find that, it doesn’t make a difference how much money, or whatever it is, I don’t want to do it. You never know what it is, the thing that’s going to strike you and go, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is cool, I get this, I like this, I can do this.”
MS: Well it’s funny that you say that about knowing your character because I have to tell you that my wife and I both were huge Invasion fans. And with Sheriff Underlay, one of our favorite characters, we didn’t know if he was a good guy or a bad guy for the longest time. What was your experience like working on that show and playing that character?
WF: Invasion was, ahh…
MS: Uh-oh. Don’t shatter my illusions.
WF: Let’s put it this way, I’m glad you had a good time.
MS: Ok.
WF: There you go.
MS: Ok, fair enough. Can you maybe tell me what was planned for the second season at all? For those of us out there who were left hanging?
WF: I think part of the reason that Invasion is not back is because I’m not sure if anybody knew what was planned for the second season.
MS: I take it there was a little behind-the-scenes turmoil, then?
WF: I just think the original plan for the show was a much subtler journey. Who knows? It all of a sudden seemed to accelerate in a storyline sort of way. Maybe the network wanted to get to something a little more exciting a little more quickly. I liked the part of the story that was more mysterious: little looks here and there, and “Oh, what’s wrong with this picture?” I thought that was really the mystery and I thought that was the real heart of that show. I don’t know, maybe it got away from that a little bit.
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MS: I can’t argue with that. We definitely enjoyed it, so I’m glad that at least we got to watch a full season’s worth and have fun with that. What else can we look forward to coming from you?
WF: You can look forward to the writers’ strike ending.
MS: Well, we’re all looking forward to that.
WF: I know. I’m doing the show Prison Break. And I have an incredibly good time doing that. I’m looking forward to – I don’t know what the future is with it. I’m just looking forward either to going back to work, or figuring out what the plan is. I think one of the biggest drags at this time right now is that everyone doesn’t know what they’re going to do. I want to finish that up and most of all, I wrote something with a good buddy of mine. I wrote a little screenplay and I hope that more than me and my friend and my mother think is really good. It’s a little story set in Cortland, NY
MS: I know Cortland.
WF: Absolutely, and I’m quite convinced that the only place that I can do it is in Cortland. That’s the thing that’s got my heartstrings lately, for sure. So we’re just tweaking the script right now and hopefully sooner than later I’ll be able to talk to some actors, and I would love to be in it, and see if it does any thing for them, you know?
MS: Absolutely. Well, William, it was a pleasure talking to you. Thanks for taking the time.
WF: Take care.
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