POI screening and panel
I wanted to recount my experiences at the screening of the POI premiere episode, "The Contingency" and the panel discussion which followed. This took place at 92YTribeca in New York City on September 24, 2012. I'm sure I have left out some of the interesting elements and moments, but this is how I remember it.
First and foremost a huge thank you to Mamahub and Aprilvalentine for making the trip to New York such an enjoyable experience all around. It was great to meet them and share our enthusiasm for this great show.
We were sworn to secrecy on the details of the premiere episode so I won’t say much. But several things are clear to me: you will get a huge kick out of it, you will be amazed, scared, tickled and moved. Sometimes all in the same scene. Your imagination will be fired up and the season is off to a terrific start. I look forward to detailed discussion of the episode with everybody after it airs Thursday.
So here’s what I saw at the event:
In the lobby: As I was waiting by myself in a little café in the lobby of the building, minding my own business and reading a book, I look up and see ME and his wife exit a black Suburban and walk somewhat haltingly through the lobby. He looked around as if not knowing exactly which way to walk and then proceeded out of view. A few minutes later JC made the same walk, pausing in the entrance to remove his sunglasses, Reese-style. I was swooning at this point, even though I was way too far away.
The theatre: the setting was surprisingly intimate. Only about 200 seats were set up in the small space in front of a simple raised stage. The screen hung down in front of the platform, but we could see right away that the seats for the panel were arranged in a semi-circle close to the edge. It felt a little bit like being in a high school auditorium except for the long bar and the small round cocktail tables toward the back of the room.
Mamahub, Aprilvalentine and I managed to get good seats in the third row toward the right as you face the stage. The audience was disappointed to learn that we were asked to not take photos or film during the screening and also during the panel discussion afterwards. We were asked to not discuss details of the episode or spoil its content.
Throughout the screening, the crowd applauded, laughed, hissed, gasped, sighed and generally reacted like an audience at a silent movie. It was tons of fun to watch the episode with a bunch of informed, enthusiastic fans.
The panel: Caryn James, the moderator, is a film, TV, and culture writer who was formerly the TV critic for the New York Times. It was a real pleasure to have such an involved, competent, knowledgeable, and committed moderator leading the discussion. No cringe-worthy questions, lots of follow-up and an even distribution of questions to all panelists. A perfect moderator in all regards.
The show producers Greg Plageman and Jonathan Nolan and the cast walked onto the stage immediately after the screen was rolled up without any fanfare. Caryn James introduced each panelist with a short list of previous accomplishments.
JC was dressed in a dark suit, well-tailored and closer fitting than those Reese usually wears, plus a dark red tie and those enormous black shoes. He was tall, but not extraordinarily so, but quite thin. His eyes were shadowed by his brow to a remarkable degree and his cheeks colored at several points during the discussion. Like the others he laughed easily and frequently with lots of teeth and open mouth. So unlike Reese.
Was he handsome? You bet your last dollar! He was effortlessly charismatic, drawing the eye without moving much. His reserve and inwardness were most attractive. Was I swooning? Fortunately, I had mamahub next to me to hold me up.
ME wore a striking suit in royal blue (not navy at all) with a pale blue tie…and brown shoes. I don’t know, but somehow that combination worked on him! He was quite slender with quick movements and a fierce alertness. Of all the panelists, he seemed the one most attentive to the questioners.
TH was surprisingly dressed in a solid black dress that flattered all her curves. It was cut high to the throat and low to the knee and she wore plain black pumps that showed off her incredible legs. She was shiny and smooth all over. She felt very centered with her hands always calmly posed in her lap.
KC was in a brown suit and a sort of orange tie and looked so approachable and everyman-like. Earlier I had shaken his hand, which was firm, square, and warm like he is.
I don’t remember all the questions in order so I’ll present the responses as I recall them.
In response to how he had gotten into TV acting, ME said that he was so surprised to find himself in this position. He said he was from a small town in the Midwest and had started acting in a small city in the South and the path here was one he couldn’t have predicted. CJ asked him why he was in the South. He said that in a previous, disastrous marriage, he had followed his wife to the South and when he found himself without any prospects, having given up a previous career in magazine illustration he decided to try his hand at acting. I didn’t know that about the earlier marriage, so that was an insight I gained.
CJ asked JC if he had experienced difficulties getting acting jobs after Passion of the Christ. He said yes simply. And when she tried a cliché joke about it being hard to find many roles for Jesus, he pressed on to say that he had used this difficult time to try to learn as much as he could about acting.
CJ asked why he used such a low gravelly voice for Reese. JC said that Reese was a person who held things closely here, gesturing at his chest. And anyway, he said, a higher voice wouldn’t sound menacing. He said that he had worked with the late great director Tony Scott (“God rest his soul”) on Déjà Vu. Scott had trained him to not move much on screen, to just let the words do the work in the scene and to keep his face and body still. Scott had suggested he study Gene Hackman and he had watched as many of Hackman’s films as he could as part of this training.
I had not read much of JC discussing his acting technique so it was fascinating to get this little glimpse into how he works.
CJ asked TH if it was true that she had not known Carter’s first name until the tenth episode of season one? TH laughed and said that was true. CJ wanted to know if it was difficult to work like that and did she develop in her own mind a backstory for the character to fill in the gaps. TH said that if she tried that she would probably end up learning that Carter turns out to be a man in mid-season. She said that she just went along with what the show runners and writers developed for them and trusted them.
CJ asked if we would learn something about the mystery man in the photo in Carter’s car. TH said she hoped so, she wants to know who the father of her child really is! Or maybe she had just used a sperm bank! The cast members were laughing so loud at this that several more comments were lost in the uproar. A few questions later, KC offered that maybe it would turn out that Fusco was the father of Carter’s son. JC quipped something about a trip to Las Vegas. And TH agreed with that and said that in fact KC had a bit of a curly Afro going on.
The amusement and warmth of the cast for one another was evidenced in another exchange.
CJ asked if in season two there would be any development of the attraction between Reese and Carter. JC and TH took a long look at each other from either side of ME in the middle.
Then TH said that while she didn't know about attraction, as she didn't know where the writers would go with that, she did know that Carter certainly loved Reese as a person and as a friend and that she regretted some of her choices early on that had endangered him. Carter understood now that he was a good person and as a former soldier she understood where he was coming from and she shared in his mission.
CJ attempted to shift the discussion to another topic, but JC interrupted to say that he was still working on his answer to the attraction question. The audience laughed, as did the panel. He said that as a man Reese was certainly attracted to Carter because she was a beautiful woman.
CJ asked Nolan and Plageman about the accuracy of the depiction of the privacy and surveillance issues on the show. They repeated much of what they said in the DVD feature on the subject, saying that they had thought they were creating a show that was about developments in the far future, but it turned out that they were only a few weeks ahead of reality. They said they didn’t want to make anyone paranoid about surveillance. TH said, too late!
CJ asked if there was an odd couple interaction between Reese and Finch. ME replied that they fit the definition of an odd couple: two people who were dissimilar in outlook and style but who were required to work together to achieve something in common.
CJ asked ME if he was recognized as much on the street now as he was when starring in Lost. He said oh certainly, just as much or more. But the people who recognized him seemed a bit older than those from the Lost fandom, he didn’t know if that was because of CBS or what.
CJ asked if any of the four cast members had acted together before POI. JC and KC laughed that they had been in a film, Unknown, together. But it was so little seen by the public that it remained unknown. Much laughter from the audience. JC said they had not had any scenes together, but that KC was quite good in it.
Questions from the audience:
JC responded to a question about the use of stuntmen by noting that he had learned martial arts as a boy. He had been a basketball player, but got beaten up on the court so his father insisted he take karate classes to improve his self-defense skills. He also had trained with the Navy SEALS as an adult. So when he was given all the fight scenes in POI, he was able to easily master the stunt work and the choreography because he had the prior training.
In response to a question about how much of the Finch character-the precision, the fussiness, the dress style-- was set in advance and how much ME had brought to the role, ME stated that all of those characteristics were in the pilot script when he first read it.
Nolan responded that he did not have particular actors in mind when he wrote the treatment and pilot script; he just wrote his ideas as he wanted to see them and then was delighted to find actors to meet his expectations and hopes.
One audience member noted that we had already explored Reese’s past romance and its effect on him. Would we ever see a romance with a live woman in the present? JC laughed and said he was sure the writers would work up some sort of romance for Reese. Nolan joked that they were sure that every woman in the fandom would rise up and kill them if they hooked Reese up with anyone.
One fan complained about the absence of POI from On Demand access. Nolan said this was an issue above his pay grade. That it really was in the province of Warner’s which produced the show and CBS which broadcast it in the U.S. He did understand that the show needed to be responsive to the way that modern fans viewed entertainment through a wide variety of media. Later Nolan mentioned that his mother, who lives in England, was unhappy with him because she couldn’t get his show through On Demand and thought he should be able to do something about it. Which he can’t. She is happy now because POI is being broadcast in the U.K.
A fan said she had no question, just a comment. She then made a gracious and lengthy statement of appreciation for the show and the work of all the panelists. They just glowed with pride as she spoke in their praise.
Another fan congratulated JC on his birthday this week and he grinned broadly as the audience applauded.
A man stood up and said he wanted to ask a question about how the writers came up with the names of the characters. Because he himself was named Fusco! KC immediately threw out his arms and shouted “Dad!” which caused thunderous laughter and applause. Nolan said he was relieved that they had got the pronunciation of the name right.
Another fan wanted to know what it was like working with the dog. ME quoted the WC Fields’ line about never working with animals and babies. And on this show they had done both. He said that the dog was a devious scene stealer and devilishly hard to work with. Everyone laughed broadly at this.
A woman who was a New York theatre producer invited any or all of the four actors to appear in a show this coming summer during their hiatus. TH responded that they only get one month off and ME asked didn’t they need at least six months to develop and mount a production. The producer agreed that a month was too little time to do a play.
After the panel: When the questions were over, the panelists made a quick exit off stage left. Except for ME who approached the apron of the stage and leaned over to shake hands with a few people then left. KC stayed for perhaps fifteen minutes shaking perhaps 40 hands and posing for pictures and signing autographs. He was extraordinarily gracious and kind, making small talk with fans and setting everyone at ease.
Aprilvalentine, Mamahub and I hung around the bar area waiting to see if any of the cast members would come out past us. They never appeared. But we did get to talk for many minutes with Greg Plageman, who emerged with Nolan and just hung around chatting. We told Plageman how much we admired the show. He asked where we were from and was impressed to learn that Mamahub and Aprilvalentine had travelled by bus from Virginia and Baltimore for this event; he expressed amusement that I had come all the way from deepest central New Jersey!
I told Plageman that I was impressed with the way that the POI show runners treated the fans with appreciation and respect. That I was aware of other producers of other shows who talked down to the audience, teased and even lied to the fans. He seemed thrilled with this comment. He said that they had many tough discussions with CBS insisting that the fans would be able to follow along with the complexities of the show without elaborate explanations, that the fans were intelligent and attentive and didn’t need any dumbing down of the show to get it.
When Plageman, Nolan and company left the theatre we did too and our night of the stars was at an end.
Such immense fun! I am still so buzzed about the show and the experience.