As part of Pop Culture Zoo’s behind-the-scenes visit to the Psych, we roamed the Santa Barbara sets (in Vancouver) and saw an explosive live shoot. We also got to pick the brains of the Psych cast and find out what’s in store for Season 5. In honor of Psych’s Summer Finale — airing tonight — we’re posting edited transcripts of the interviews.
One of the biggest surprises of the day was getting the chance to talk to C. Thomas Howell — Ponyboy, himself.
Howell was on set, filming a guest role for tonight’s Bourne-inspired episode, ‘One, Maybe Two, Ways Out’, playing a federal agent hot on the trail of an international mystery woman (played by Franka Potente). We also got to watch Howell’s Agent Driggs character butt heads with Lassiter a bit — a conflict that became cooler after learning that Howell was in the hunt for the role that ultimately went to Tim Omundson.
The conversation with Howell covered a lot of ground, including Spielberg’s bribery tactics on the set of E.T., his stuntman family, and the problem of having a letter for your first name.
Panel: Were you not fond of your original birth name?
C. Thomas Howell: I was fond of it, but I’m, you know, essentially I’m a junior, so instead of being a junior I went with the initial, which was chosen for me by my father at a young age. It’s hell having a name nobody knows what to call you. You know, “Hi, what do we call you?” I don’t – you know, maybe Frank, I don’t know. But now I’m stuck with it. I’ve pondered dropping the “C” before, but people are like, “Well, you can’t do that now. You’re C. Thomas Howell, and if you dropped the “C” you’d be somebody else.” So it’s C. Thomas.
Panel: You’ve played comedy, you’ve played heroes, you’ve played villains. What do you prefer? I remember you on Criminals Minds as Foyet, and that was a disturbing role.
C. Thomas Howell: Really?
Panel: You were sadistic.
C. Thomas Howell: Really?
Panel: You killed Hotch’s wife.
C. Thomas Howell: Mm.
Panel: You probably had no use for her at the time.
C. Thomas Howell: She wasn’t a regular.
Panel: No.
C. Thomas Howell: I mean, it wasn’t a recurring role. You know, it’s more fun playing the bad guy, but the responsibility is different. Usually when you’re the bad guy you don’t, you know, come back for season five. So it’s great coming in and, you know, creating an arc for yourself and carving out the evil doings. But I also like the responsibility of playing a lead as well.
And it’s just a – thank god there’s both. And doing both is really the first choice. But, you know, generally if you’re the good guy, you’re the lead, and if you’re the bad guy you’re about fourth or fifth banana. So, you know, there’s a trade off. However, the bad guys are usually the most remembered, so.
Panel: Is there – you’ve been acting forever. Was there ever…
C. Thomas Howell: Pretty much.
Panel: Forever in your life.
C. Thomas Howell: Methuselah Howell.
Panel: Was there ever a time in which you contemplated another career, or was it just always this?
C. Thomas Howell: You know, all of my family are stunt people – my father was one of the top five stunt men in the business for years, and years, and years. He’s semi-retired now. My sister, my mother, my cousins, my uncles – all stunt people. So at Thanksgiving when we’re sitting at a table like this it’s all stunt people –
And somebody inevitably is like, “Would the sissy pass the potatoes?” “What do you mean – ?” That’s what it’s like in my house. So if there was a career change, I probably would have done stunts. So I would have been in the same business. There was never an inkling of going off to college to become, you know, a doctor or something. I always knew I would be in the business. I just thought I would be doing stunts. And when I was a young man I did stunts with my father all the time.
And when I was 12 I got the role on E.T. because I could do stunts on the bike – I was one of the only kids that could actually do the stunts on the bike, so that’s why they went with me. I was sort of the stunt kid, the other kids were the acting kids. And, you know, that sort of lead to the audition process for The Outsiders, and I was cast in that. So I went from Spielberg to Coppola, and then some agents started scratching their head going, “Maybe you shouldn’t do stunts.” And the rest is history.
Panel: So is there a bit of a friendship then between you and Lassiter, since you’re both kind of hard asses?
C. Thomas Howell: Well, I’ll tell you a little secret between me and Lassiter. The original pilot that was shot, the screen test came down between me and Tim to play Lassiter. So there’s definitely some hate between the two of us. And on day one over on the – at the studio, take one, day one, I accidentally stepped on one of Tim’s lines and cut him off. And he said, “Howell, give it up. You didn’t get the role, for god’s sakes. Okay, get it over it.” So I – when they asked me to come up, I couldn’t wait to come up and do evil things to Tim when he wasn’t looking.
Panel: Do you guys have a moment where you sort of look at each other and then adjust your own ties?
C. Thomas Howell: You know, what’s great is – thank god they went with him, by the way. They’re into season five. If they went with me I would have tanked this thing season one for sure. But he’s a wonderful actor, and has great moments. And I’m, you know, I’ve done a lot of television the past couple of years, and this is one of the warmest sets I’ve been on. These people really get along extremely well. And, you know, everybody knows what they’re doing. And it’s just kind of like slipping into a warm Jacuzzi, you know. It’s really comfortable.
Panel: And Mark Sheppard once said that no one ever plays the bad guy. They walk into it playing – do you know what I mean? He said that no one ever plays the villain. They play either, was it the last man on earth, or the one who sold the last man on earth out. So how do you – when you approach – even a hard ass…
C. Thomas Howell: I’m still trying to figure out what the hell that means.
Panel: That you don’t go out with the, you know, the twirly moustache and the big black cape. That you come into a character, for instance, like the Reaper, that –
C. Thomas Howell: Yeah, well, you know, like I said, I was creepy on the Reaper, but if you really watched that closely, I’m not playing –
Panel: Creepy.
C. Thomas Howell: Creepy at all. I’m really just playing Ponyboy with grey hair going around stabbing people. But, you know, the writing usually takes care of itself. And if you indicate, and if you start playing something, that’s generally bad acting. So, you know, you try to stay away from those choices. You try to stay away from anything sort of deliberate. And you just have to trust the words, and trust the moment.
And generally something bigger than what you could have come up with alone in your, you know, rehearsal time will take place if you allow it to happen. And that’s helped out a lot on this show. I mean, a network show it gets difficult, you know, if you have a suggestion, if you want to change something, it’s got to go through, you know, 40 people before it gets back to you to, you know, make a change.
The writers are on the set here. If something’s not making sense it’s pretty apparent, and the adjustment is usually made on the fly. And, of course, working with Dulé and Roday you’ve got to be on your toes anyway, because you never know what’s going to come out of their mouths, so. So pretty much it’s a sparring match generally with all these players. And that’s how they like to keep it, I think. It keeps it fresh.
And when you’re doing a comedy you need that anyway, because, you know, how many times have you watched outtakes on comedies and you see, you know, for example Date Night – how many times Tina Fey gave a different punch line for a different joke at the end of the movie. And you realize, wow, that’s what they went with at the end of it. Comedies have to be that way. You have to give the material – you have to give the choices to the people in the editing room to be able to make it work. I don’t really have that responsibility, I’m playing more the heavy on this.
Panel: Is there a specific genre that you prefer working in?
C. Thomas Howell: You know, it’s funny. I would like to do more comedy. I would – but, you know, I tend to get the – I don’t know if you saw Southland, but I played sort of a – I played a dysfunctional cop. And again, it was sort of, you know, coined as the bad guy. I’ve been getting a lot of that lately, I don’t know what happened. But I don’t get many comedies. I think people are watching things like Criminal Minds. And I’m getting more of that than I am, you know –
Panel: The yuks.
C. Thomas Howell: Yeah, ‘the yuks’ role. But I’m actually – I think I’m funny. But I don’t think I’m a bad guy, you know, like kids might argue that. It’s funny though, you know, you just – as I grow older, you know, the parts change of course. But I don’t feel – I embrace the change, you know. I embrace the grey hair and the lines. It’s like a good wine, you know. You get the opportunity to – I mean, at one time you were the – you know, I was the kid with the leather coat and the sneakers, and now I’m the kid’s dad.
You know, it’s like – it just – fortunately, it’s a little bit different with males, I think, than females. I mean, they have it rougher aging in this business. But, you know, a little salt and pepper hair and some wrinkles they’ve treated me right, so. My agent keeps wanting me to dye my hair, and I keep firing them, so.
Panel: Do you understand as a kid, like, the gravity of working with Spielberg, and Coppola?
C. Thomas Howell: No, no, that’s why they cast me, because there was no –there was no, sort of, what would it be called? I really didn’t give a rat’s ass who they were. You know, and that’s what I think attracted them to me personally. And, you know, when we did E.T. that was like a living freak show. I mean, there were, you know, little people, people with no legs, big people, rubber dolls, mechanical dolls, all kinds of things taking place. So there was major distraction.
Nobody thought that was going to become, you know, the phenom that it became – at least I didn’t. Somebody did – I mean, Spielberg – the security on the set was like trying to get into Fort Knox. None of us ever read a complete version of the screenplay. We were handed pages every day before the next day, and I was told, “Learn these.” So I didn’t really even know what I was doing. I just knew that I was showing up, having an incredible time.
And Steven, you know, who’s a genius, would come in and say, “We have a very busy day kids.” And he would go like this, and somebody would wheel in some brand new bicycles. And say something to the effect of, “If we can finish our day on time I’ll let you have those.” So he pretty much wrapped us around his little finger that way.
Panel: Bribery.
C. Thomas Howell: That’s the only thing that works on kids. Right, I mean, I’vegot kids. Kid’s crying, kid wants candy, give kid candy – pretty basic.
Panel: Which character that you play do you relate to the most?
C. Thomas Howell: That’s a tough one. I mean, this is, like, my 165th production man.
Panel: Any one that just stands out to you?
C. Thomas Howell: Well, you know, for different purposes, different reasons, you know. You have experiences along the way that – I’ll tell you, probably the most profound experience that I had when I was 17 was working on the set with Rutger Hauer, when I did The Hitcher. And that’s when I really decided that I wanted to become an actor for the rest of my life. You know, by the time I was 17 I’d done, I don’t know, 20 some odd films and grew up on sets. It wasn’t something that was a dream that was out of reach for me that I was striving to, you know, obtain.
It was just, you know, I went to work every day with my mom or dad. I was on sets all the time. And when I started working with Rutger Hauer, he opened up – he was the first actor I had worked with who thought outside the box. He was the one that really taught me to use my imagination. You know, he would do things that had nothing to do with the script. You know, pennies in the eyes, and just weird choices that nobody understand what the hell was going on. Just blew me away as a kid, you know.
And I really learned from him that it was up to me to bring the imagination to the set every day. Even though something was written, he taught me that I could go beyond the page. And that was a really important breakthrough for me, and that’s something I refer to all the time still at the ripe old age of 43. And it was because of him that I really went and studied, and chased this for the rest of my life, so. That I would have to say is probably the most profound experience that I’ve had. But I love them all – it’s like picking a favourite kid, you know. There’s of course some experiences that are just nightmares that you want to forget completely, but.
Panel: You don’t forget your kids though.
C. Thomas Howell: There’s few – only one. I’ve got three, there’s – wait, no, four.
[Hopefully it goes without saying, but PCZ is grateful for the chance to be part of the set visit. We’re also thankful for the transcribed interviews and photos from the set, as well the opportunity to hang out with a group of cool writers from some great outlets. Thanks for a great day, guys.]