Post by domenicaflor on May 20, 2004 12:02:51 GMT -5
Here is an interview with Jamey Sheridan from the Australian Courier-Mail on 5/20/2004, courtesy of a poster on vincentdonofriofans.com.
D.
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Captain's orders
by Katrina Witham
20 May 2004
The Courier-Mail, Australia
www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,9604784%255E28377,00.html
PLAYING Captain James Deakins in the hit American series Law & Order: Criminal Intent was just what the doctor ordered for family man Jamey Sheridan.
His acting career has spanned more than two decades and, at the age of 51, he is only just settling down to the routine of being a father.
Sheridan had just put his three boys to bed when he picked up the phone at 10pm (LA time) to talk to The Guide.
He was just saying how nice it was to have two weeks off filming to spend with his family when he had to ring off to fetch a glass of water for his five-year-old and take him to the toilet.
"I did have a life before this one," he jokes when he phones back. "But now everyone needs me."
While his Law & Order: Criminal Intent gig allows him to spend enough time at home with his family, Sheridan says it also challenges him.
"I've played a lot of bad guys, lovers, detectives, lawyers. But I've never played anybody's boss before," he says.
"And I liked the idea of playing a cop who had this fathering aspect because he had to keep this prodigy detective on a leash," he says of his role as captain to series star Vincent D'Onofrio who plays detective Robert Goren.
Though the series began shooting in 2001, Sheridan says he has only just refined his portrayal of Deakins' authority.
"I feel like I'm only just getting there."
"For instance, I feel like I'm getting better at giving the audience the idea that this is a working floor of detectives and I'm not only focused on Goren and Eames' cases but also preoccupied with where the detectives across the room are at.
"The audience will only see two detectives, but I'm the boss of 15 or more and it has taken me this long to show that."
He describes Deakins' character as conservative, a knight figure, a protector of the innocent and punisher of the guilty.
Sheridan says his strongest point of identification with the character was their common love for family, and he says he substitutes a part of himself into each role he plays.
"I basically assemble all of the information I can from the script and try to simplify it, then I pick out the parts of the character that I think are the strongest," he says.
"From there I try and create a spine for the character.
"Then I talk to the writer and from there it is about my imagination and I take something from my personal life and put that into my character."
For someone who grew up wanting to be a fireman, then a priest and then a professional footballer, Sheridan is happy with his career success.
He says he stumbled across performing during college when he began taking dance classes. But he was 27 before making a concrete decision to perform full-time.
Asked what he loves about his job, he replies with a little story:
"I ran into a guy once and we were dressing to go out and perform together and he said 'let's put on the suit of lights'.
"I think I like that idea – of taking the chance of being in the arena of life and having the guts to take the risk of whether people will accept your performance."
© Queensland Newspapers
*******************************
D.
*****************************
Captain's orders
by Katrina Witham
20 May 2004
The Courier-Mail, Australia
www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,9604784%255E28377,00.html
PLAYING Captain James Deakins in the hit American series Law & Order: Criminal Intent was just what the doctor ordered for family man Jamey Sheridan.
His acting career has spanned more than two decades and, at the age of 51, he is only just settling down to the routine of being a father.
Sheridan had just put his three boys to bed when he picked up the phone at 10pm (LA time) to talk to The Guide.
He was just saying how nice it was to have two weeks off filming to spend with his family when he had to ring off to fetch a glass of water for his five-year-old and take him to the toilet.
"I did have a life before this one," he jokes when he phones back. "But now everyone needs me."
While his Law & Order: Criminal Intent gig allows him to spend enough time at home with his family, Sheridan says it also challenges him.
"I've played a lot of bad guys, lovers, detectives, lawyers. But I've never played anybody's boss before," he says.
"And I liked the idea of playing a cop who had this fathering aspect because he had to keep this prodigy detective on a leash," he says of his role as captain to series star Vincent D'Onofrio who plays detective Robert Goren.
Though the series began shooting in 2001, Sheridan says he has only just refined his portrayal of Deakins' authority.
"I feel like I'm only just getting there."
"For instance, I feel like I'm getting better at giving the audience the idea that this is a working floor of detectives and I'm not only focused on Goren and Eames' cases but also preoccupied with where the detectives across the room are at.
"The audience will only see two detectives, but I'm the boss of 15 or more and it has taken me this long to show that."
He describes Deakins' character as conservative, a knight figure, a protector of the innocent and punisher of the guilty.
Sheridan says his strongest point of identification with the character was their common love for family, and he says he substitutes a part of himself into each role he plays.
"I basically assemble all of the information I can from the script and try to simplify it, then I pick out the parts of the character that I think are the strongest," he says.
"From there I try and create a spine for the character.
"Then I talk to the writer and from there it is about my imagination and I take something from my personal life and put that into my character."
For someone who grew up wanting to be a fireman, then a priest and then a professional footballer, Sheridan is happy with his career success.
He says he stumbled across performing during college when he began taking dance classes. But he was 27 before making a concrete decision to perform full-time.
Asked what he loves about his job, he replies with a little story:
"I ran into a guy once and we were dressing to go out and perform together and he said 'let's put on the suit of lights'.
"I think I like that idea – of taking the chance of being in the arena of life and having the guts to take the risk of whether people will accept your performance."
© Queensland Newspapers
*******************************
It's an okay interview ... not the questions I would have asked, but it's still very nice to hear from him.