Taraji P. Henson And Kevin Chapman Chat About Person Of Interest

On the series Person of Interest,Detectives Carter (Taraji P. Henson) and Fusco (Kevin Chapman) now realize they’re both working with, and for, the same people, Reese and Finch. But while that can bring more concentrated help it can also bring other problems, and perhaps some personality conflicts. Carter and Fusco are extremely complicated and driven characters. Thank you Jonathan Nolan.

The following interview was done at SDCC – the gems keep on coming. This is just a glimpse of what it’s like on POI and working in New York City.

POP CULTURE ZOO: Carter is the moral compass of Finch and Reese so how do you see that changing now that you’re getting more and more involved in it all?

HENSON: She has a better understanding of who they are and what they’re trying to do. And because she is for the moral good of all man she kind of gets what they’re doing. So she doesn’t mind as long as they don’t step over the boundaries too much. She still has to baby the situation and make sure they’re not running amok all over the city. She feels deep down what they are doing is morally right and I think that’s why she’s more on board now.

PCZ: I think you did a good job early on of trying to toe the line of being a moving target of what was right for that particular situation and not getting really pulled into what they are trying to do. Can you talk about how the characters have grown?

CHAPMAN: Fusco is kind of an antihero. In the beginning Fusco is very reluctant to embrace the idea of Reese and I think as it progressed Reese allowed Fusco to kind of come back to this self-heroic image of himself that he once had. And kind of brought him back to why he got involved in police work in the beginning. So it’s really been kind of nice to see that kind of sense of duality in the characters. You’re not sure if he’s a good guy doing bad things or a bad guy doing good things. So there is that undertone of potential danger at any time. It’s always nice to play it. And what I really enjoy is, rather if he’s a good guy or a bad guy, they leave it up to the viewership. The character is never really defined and it’s up to the viewers to determine wither they like him or not. He’s a pretty interesting character.

PCZ: Does Carter really think that Reese and Finch are good guys or is she still on the fence about helping them?

HENSON: I think at this point she gets it. I think she believes that what they are doing is morally right. She still has questions though. Like how are you getting the information? I think that’s more of what they may do into this season. Because she is still a cop and there still are rules and she’s a really by the book cop. She’s a clean cop. You can trust Carter and I think that’s why they call on her because they know they can trust her. I don’t think her guards are up as much because, like I said before, she believes in what they’re doing. She wants to save people, that’s why she’s a cop. But then there’s the question of how do you know? How do you know? I think that’s her struggle now.

PCZ: You get to use some heavy ordinance in almost every episode. What kind of training did you get?

HENSON: I love that. They train us as we go because you never know what kind of weapon they’re going to put in your hand. Every week it’s different.

CHAPMAN: We have a Sergeant who is our technical adviser.

PCZ: What’s it been like shooting in New York City?

HENSON: For me it was very crazy. It was very gorilla style. It’s like, they throw you in the street and they throw the cameras and its like “Go”! I mean wait a minute. Aren’t’ you going to stop the crowd from coming and they use all the people. You’re walking down the street and you know New Yorkers…that’s a planet in and of its own, “Get out of the way!” “Wait a minute; I’m shooting a television show.” “What do you mean stop?! I gotta go to work.” (Every one laughing.) I had to get use to that. That kind of threw me off my rhythm a little bit. I’m real used to it now.

CHAPMAN: Reese and Fusco are having a conversation on Lexington Avenue. It was a private conversation in a public place. We couldn’t have been no more than 12 inches apart when this old lady walks right between us in the middle of the shot and hits me with her elbow and she kept on going. I’m going, “Excuse me. You see that camera over there.” We were this far from each other (shows with his hands apart) and she walks right on through. It’s so funny.

HENSON: We could make a movie about that.

Person of Interest airs Thursdays at 9:00 PM on CBS