2010

James Roday et la guest star de Dual Spires / Twin Peaks, Sheryl Lee parlent ensemble au téléphone de l'épisode hommage a la série, des acteurs, du tournage, de la reunion, James parle aussi de sa série préféré, de son enfance, de ses souhaits d'avoir voulu réaliser cette épisode, des acteurs qu'ills a fait venir, de sa rencontre avec Dana, et de la saison 5 partie 2...

by: Jamie Steinberg

Q) Sheryl, I wanted to know, how did it feel when you walked on set and saw a lot of your castmates from Twin Peaks?

Sheryl Lee: I keep telling everyone it was s such an incredible gift that James and everyone that’s a part Psych gave us, because some of us hadn’t seen each other from Twin Peaks in years and years.  And it’s such a wonderful group of people and it’s such a wonderful group of people at Psych as well that it was truly, truly a gift to - it’s hard to believe that 20 years have gone by, but to be able to see these people who have such a special place in my heart.  It was really wonderful.

Q) James, we know you’re a huge Twin Peaks fan, so what was it like to work with the real Laura Palmer?

James Roday: It was crazy.  I was like - you know, I think there are Twin Peaks like fan boys out there who actually go to sleep and dream about what I got to do.  It was remarkable.  And like Sheryl said, it was like three experiences in one.  It was - you know, it was them getting to see each other for the first time after all these years and us getting to watch them.  And they were getting emotional, which made us emotional and then, you know, on top of everything it was the closest I’ll ever come to being in an episode of my favorite show, so it was ridiculous. Only in our line of work do we get to do thing like this and call it work.

Q) In addition to the Twin Peaks cast members, you also landed Julee Cruise to perform the Psych theme song.  How did that come together?

James Roday: We were sort of swinging for the fences across the boards with this episode and luckily we’ve set precedent with, you know, messing around with our theme song in previous episodes.  So, it was really easy to say, “Let’s go after Julee and hope that she wants to get in on the fun,” and she did.  And it’s probably my - it’s my favorite of the different renditions we’ve done of our theme songs. It’s pretty inspired.  Props also goes through our composer, Adam Cohen who we just sort of - we said, “Dude, come up with a Twin Peaks-inspired slowed down synthesized version of our song.  Thanks.  Bye.”  And he had to do that and then Julee came in and just nailed the vocals.  And yes, we’re all pretty stoked about the theme song.

Q) It must be a little daunting to work with people you’ve worshiped for so long.  How did you select the individuals that would participate in the Twin Peaks episode?

James Roday: Well, a lot of it was the story that we came up with and then Dana Ashbrook is a very close friend of mine that I’ve known for many, many years.  So, the sort of seed was, you know, I wasn’t going to give Dana a choice.  He was going to have to be in no matter what and then hopefully from there we could sort of spread the love and build an ensemble. I couldn’t imagine doing a Twin Peaks tribute without Sheryl and without Sherilynn.  I felt like those were sort of the two iconic faces that if we didn’t have we might as well not even try.  So, they were sort of always on the board as musts.  You’ve got to have Laura.  You’ve got to have Audrey. We were lucky enough to have cast Ray Wise last season, so it was just a matter of figuring out how to get his character involved in the action, which we did.  And then, it was sort of like who do match up for these characters?  And, you know, Lenny von Dohlen, I thought was a really interesting way to go for the Sheriff and you know, Robyn Lively kind of represented a second season of Twin Peaks all by herself. So - and then we had always sort of planned on a cameo from Catherine Coulson.  So, we’d all sort of - again, it was - the planets really kind of aligned for us on this and it came together really nicely.

Q) How did you originally meet and become friends with Dana?

James Roday: I moved from New York to L.A. to do a show on Fox that lasted for about ten minutes, but inside that ten minutes I met Dana.  He was - he came on and did an episode and I basically stalked him into becoming my friend.  I’m not proud of it, but it was one of the boldest things I’ve ever done. I saw his name on a call sheet and I went over and knocked his trailer door and I said, “Can I come in,” and he was like, “Yes, I guess,” and I just laid it all out.  I laid it on the line and luckily he didn’t get scared.  I think he was actually flattered.  And a couple weeks later he took me to the Playboy Mansion and the rest, as they say, is history.

Q) Sheryl, in the commercial we see that there is a dead body wrapped in plastic, à la your character Laura Palmer was.  Was it sort of an out of body experience maybe to see someone positioned in the way that you had iconically been?

Sheryl Lee: Yes, that is the perfect way to describe it.  I actually did feel as if I was out of my body that whole day.  It was a very strange surreal feeling, mostly because, you know, I - it’s hard to understand how that much time went by that quickly and I remember that day, for me, as if it was yesterday. There’s a lot of things in the past 20 years I don’t remember, but that day 20 years ago laying on that beach in the freezing cold, I remember as if it was yesterday.  And so, it was very, very surreal and it was more - it touched me deeper than I expected it to.  It sort of snuck up on me.

Q) So, Sheryl, a lot of people have told me over the years that the Psych set is just really, really unique.  It’s just really fun that all of the cast members, the crew, that everyone’s just very warm and inviting.  Can you tell us a little bit more about the experience of working with the Psych team?

Sheryl Lee: Oh, well, it is a fantastic group of people.  They are so blessed and the wonderful thing about them is that they know how blessed they are to all get along so well and to have such beautiful respect for each other and it’s one of the happiest crews that I’ve ever seen.They have so much care and respect for their actors because of the way that their actors care and respect them - care for and respect them and it’s an absolute delight.  It’s a fun set.  It’s - there’s no hidden angst anywhere.  It’s just an absolute delight.  I’m so grateful to have gotten to come, you know, play with them.

Q) James, Season 5 has been, I think, absolutely fantastic. Obviously, the show has taken some pretty big steps I recent weeks, Shawn and Juliet being the most notable one.  What can you tell us about the rest of the season and what we can expect?

James Roday:It's kind of compacted this little second half we have, so you know, we’re just kind of - we’re blowing it out with Twin Peaks, which for me is, you know, I hate to throw around profundities, but I - it’s easily the most proud I’ve ever been of any of our achievements on the show.  So, it’s hard to even like sort of look past that one.  It’s just like, “This is it.  This is what we’re doing.”But in addition to that, we also have a holiday episode coming up that we took a year off last year and didn't do a Christmas episode and we came back with one this year and its pretty wild.  It’s kind of like It’s a Wonderful Life on acid.  Shawn gets a glimpse into what everyone’s lives would be like if he had never come back to Santa Barbara and we did some pretty crazy stuff there. Ralph Macchio swung in and did a very funny episode that was sort of us ripping on Police Academy.  And then, we close up shop with the finale of the Yin Yang serial killer trilogy, which I thought came together pretty nicely.  Ally Sheedy’s back.  Jimmi Simpson’s back, which is a testament to our writing staff for being able to come up with a way to bring back a character that’s dead.  And Mena Suvari came up and she was fantastic and all questions are answered and everything comes out in the wash. So even though it’s a short season, I feel like it’s pretty packed with goodness, with richness, stuff that smells of deep rich mahogany.

Q) Speaking of smells and the Twin Peaks, why a cinnamon festival?

James Roday:That’s a good question.  We knew that - well, we needed a way to get Shawn and Gus to this tiny little town and way back and I think it goes all the way back to the pilot, there was a mention of a cinnamon festival.  And so, we kind of just - we piggybacked that idea that Shawn and Gus go around d to cinnamon festivals and have never missed one and here’s one that they never knew existed. So of course they were going to go, no matter how far it was away or how difficult it was to find, if there is a cinnamon festival out there to be experienced they were going to go.  And it also gave us sort of a natural way to put our own spin on the cherry pie.

Q) I have to say you must have been really young when Twin Peaks came on.  How - in your - 10, 11, 12, somewhere in there?

James Roday:I was 13 and 14.

Q) Thirteen and 14, so what was about it that turned you on that just made you obsessed with such a great show?  I mean, a lot of people didn’t get it and a lot people did, what was it about it that got you?

James Roday:I was a strange, you know, dark little dude.  I fell in love with horror movies at a very early age.  And somehow as a first grader, was able to convince my parents to let me go see, you know, stuff like American Werewolf in London, like in theaters. So, I sort of had a - I was headed in that direction anyway and then I remember one night I think my parents were out at a function of some kind and I had just gotten cable in my room, it was a big deal and I saw Blue Velvet on HBO, I think.  And it blew my mind in a way that I don’t think children’s minds are supposed to be blown, but they probably shouldn’t be watching Blue Velvet. But, from that moment on I was - you know, I was sort of obsessed with David Lynch and then when, you know, he came to television there was no way I wasn’t going to watch.  And then of course, he delivered everything that you would expect David Lynch to deliver and more.  And - you know and to me, like (The Great Koo), was that he was doing it in primetime on network television. I wanted someone in the room with me that I could look over and say, “Can you believe we’re watching this?”  Like, “Can you believe that he’s doing this?  How is he doing this,” you know and I think it redefined television. As short of a period of time as they were actually on the air, I think he’s influenced television in a way that, you know - I mean, I don’t know if we have stuff, you know, like Deadwood and - you know and Boardwalk Empire, you know, if Twin Peaks had never happened.  Like, I truly feel that way.

Q) So, this really was a dream come true for you?

James Roday:Oh, absolutely and it was four years in the making, so we actually had to kind of like be patient and plan and, yes, it was really gratifying.

Q) Sheryl, are you still surprised that people have these feelings for a show, as you said, 20 years later that they still love it as much as they did back when it first aired?  (And it continues, you even) have more fans.  Does that surprise you?

Sheryl Lee:Well, you know, there’s two things that happen, I think, when people experience something, whether it’s a song or a television show or a film or a book, any piece of art that they’re experiencing it for what it is.  But then, it also connects them to a certain part of their life and whatever was going on at that time in their life. So in that sense, no it doesn’t surprise me because I know for me, you know, I can be driving around and all of a sudden hear a song on the radio and boom, I’m back at that time in my life. And so, the one thing that people tell me that they experienced so often with Twin Peaks was that it brought people together; that people start - were watching it together as a community and talking about it together at work.  So, I think when they think of the show they’re also remembering that sense of community that they shared this thing with.

Q) Is there going to be a Season 6?

James Roday:Yes, there is. Yes, we got our pickup a while back and we’re pumped and we’ll take a little break here and recharge the batteries and then we’ll figure out how to knock 16 more of these puppies.

Q) What made you decide to do a Twin Peaks reunion on Psych rather than just doing a regular reunion show?

Sheryl Lee:Well, in regards to doing a reunion show for Twin Peaks, that would not - that just would be on its own, that’s probably up to David.  So, this happened on Psych because James got it together first to ask us first.

James Roday:I as a fan and am holding out hope for the real thing though.  I know that there’s a - there is a hunger for it and it would be wonderful to see all of those guys come back together again.  They’d have to figure out a third character for Sheryl, but I’m sure David already has something in mind.

Sheryl Lee:Yes, there already was one if the show hadn’t have been cancelled.

Q) James, how much of an honor is it for you to have this reunion happen on your show?

James Roday:It’s the most sort of transcendent experience that I have had on this show and that I suspect I will have on this show.  I mean, it - Twin Peaks was iconic.  Again, I think it changed the face of television and to be able to rub shoulders with this cast.  In even the tiniest of ways, feel like I, you know, got to participate in some of that magic, you know, will not be topped, so huge, huge honor and very, very grateful that it was able to come together.

Q) What’s the biggest most memorable moment in filming this episode?

James Roday:Well, for me it’s very easy and I’m not just saying this because Sheryl is on the phone, but it was - you know, it was the moment, the precise moment that - you know, that Sheryl’s character opens the plastic and reveals the dead girl.  The juxtaposition of Laura Palmer looking at Laura Palmer, it was kind of mind-blowing. A close second would be Sheryl’s character talking about the girl later in her office, so that was it for me.

Sheryl Lee:That’s hard because there were so many moments that I loved and they were just different colors.  You know, they were the moment on beach James is speaking of was an emotional moment for me and a very surreal moment for me.But then, there were other moments that were just so fun and delightful and giggly and challenging and just to be with all of those people.  The cast of Psych is such an incredible group of people and then also all these people from Twin Peaks just even being able to see them and work with them again and sit around on the set and have a coffee with them.  It was just a wonderful, wonderful experience all around.

Q) James, what is it about Psych that you think draws such a large crowd and they keep coming back for more?  I mean, I love the show myself, but what’s your idea on the subject?

James Roday:Well, I think over the course of the first couple seasons, we were able to kind of negotiate a tone on our show that allowed us to really kind of stretch the parameters of what we may have thought we were going to be after - you know, after the first season.  And in doing that, you know, we’ve kind of become this hybrid show that can do almost anything we want and still put it in the box that keeps (it) an episode of Psych. So, I think we’re able to reach a much wider audience because, you know, as long as we solve a case every week we can do stuff like a tribute to Twin Peaks.  We can - you know, we can do a Jaws episode.  We can do a musical, you know, we can do an entire episode dedicated to John Hughes.

Q) Sheryl, do you have any upcoming projects that you could tell us about?

Sheryl Lee:Well, I did a scene in Winter’s Bone, which I’m very, very proud to be a part of that film that won the Sundance Award this year and I have this episode of Psych and I have a film that I think is coming out next year called The Fields with Sam Worthington and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Directed by Amy Mann.

Q) Why you were filming this special episode, was there anything funny or unusual that happened to you behind the scenes that you could tell us about?

Sheryl Lee:Oh, gosh, let me think.  I mean, I just remember, you know, the whole thing as it was sort of - there were a lot of giggles going on, you know, the whole time just because we were so happy to see each other and it was so fun and, you know, some of the writing is so funny and it was just - it was such a delight.  I know I keep using that word, but it’s - it just - it was, it was absolutely delightful.

A) James, Dual Spires is a great title, but I thought I saw a different title attached to it at one time, which was A Damn Fine Tribute Episode, which is also good.  Do you have a preference and what’s the story there?

James Roday:Yes, you know, the only title we ever had was Dual Spires and the lovely Maggie Lawson actually came up with that, so credit goes to her.

Q) Sheryl, when you started up with Twin Peaks and Laura Palmer, what were your expectations?  Were you like, “Wow, this stuff is really weird and who’s going to get this,” or did you have a feeling that it would make an impact?

Sheryl Lee:You know, I had no expectations.  At that time, I was living in Seattle doing theater, wasn’t thinking at all about moving back to L.A. or doing film or TV or anything.  And I just got a call that David had seen my headshot in a local casting office up there and had thought that I was this dead girl in this thing that he was doing that was all very secretive. So, I was originally hired for just a few days worth of work as a corpse with a couple of flashbacks and to - you know, to be wrapped in plastic and thrown on the beach.  And then - so that was for the pilot and - which was shot up there in Washington, but then they all left and went back down to Los Angeles.  And I stayed up in Washington and, you know, kept pursuing theater. And it wasn’t until months later that David called and said, you know, “Would you like to come back on the show and move to LA?”  And then, that was a - you know, then all of a sudden my life took a very different quick turn.  And I had no experience in TV and no experience with the entertainment industry down here and so I had no expectations. I wish I’d had a handbook at the time to know how to get through all that craziness, but I didn’t.  I was winging it.

Q) Are there any challenges to playing a dead girl wrapped in plastic, aside from just being still and, you know, holding your breath?

Sheryl Lee:Yes, for me it was - it - I mean, this is going to sound corny, but it really was an opportunity sort of meditate on death and I don’t mean that in a morbid way, I mean that in an absolute way.  And, you know, I had studied a little bit of meditation at that time and knew that there was a possibility of sort of slowing the body down and slowing the breath down and slowing the mind down. And so for me, that was what all those scenes were about, was an exercise in that and an exploration of that.  And also, just being able - it was such a great opportunity because I had not been on a set before and so to be able to able to just be on a set as a sponge and get to soak all of that up was an incredible learning experience.

Q) Is it creepy at all to ever look at yourself as a dead person?

Sheryl Lee:It’s not something I would ever choose to do on a regular basis, I’ll say that. I think it’s much more disturbing for my family, especially for my momma.

Q) Sheryl, were you a fan of Psych before doing the episode?

Sheryl Lee:You know, I feel so bad saying this, I hadn’t seen it before.  Now, I’m a big huge fan.  But also you must know, there’s very few television shows that I do actually see, especially ones that are on later than 9:00 at night, but I am a fan now.

Q) James, we know you had really high expectations for the Twin Peaks episode, so after four years in the making how well do you feel it lived up to expectation?

James Roday:I was really, really, really, really pleased.  I mean, the only thing I would - I wish I could do is - you know, is - there’s about, I don’t know, seven or eight minutes worth of this episode that you won’t be able to see unless you buy the Season 5 DVD.  Other than that, I - you know, I was pretty tickled. I mean, we got the right director.  You know, I was sort of - I really struggled with - you know, with the idea of not directing this episode because I knew I was going to be micro-managing and, you know, could I possibly hand it off to somebody else? But, Matt Shakman, as it turns out, is every bit the Twin Peaks fan boy that I am.  He even took it one step further by purchasing the secret Laura Palmer diary that Jennifer Lynch wrote and I believe he still has it in his possession.  So, as soon as he told me that I knew we were going to be fine.  And again, you know, except for the fact it just - there was too much good stuff and because we wanted it to breathe and kind of feel pacing-wise like a Twin Peak episode, we just couldn’t keep it all in.  Other than that, I love it.

Q) How do you both think that viewers will react to the episode as either major fans or kind of sort of fans or people that vaguely remember it?

James Roday:I would say the diehard Twin Peaks fans are in for, you know, about 48 minutes of pure bliss.  I don’t think any of the winks or the tributes will be lost on them and I think it’ll be wonderful.  I think for people that were casual fans of Twin Peaks, you know, some of the bigger sort of homages, I think will probably and. But, it’s also just a really well-acted, you know, sort of well-crafted episode of our show, so you know even for people that are just Psych fans and may not know Twin Peaks at all, my hope is after watching this episode they will go seek it out.  They will go buy the DVDs.  They will find it online or all the different ways you can access material these days and go have that experience for the first time.

Q) James, what do you love most about playing Shawn?

James Roday:You know, I guess the fact that the character really lends itself to, you know, improvising and changing, you know, within the context of, you know, he’s got to be the same guy each week. I think the fun of the character is that no matter, you know, what they throw at us or what the world is or what the case is, you know, he never really has a plan and it’s always sort of jump first, ask questions later.  And that’s a fun character to play because most of us are not like that in life because we can’t afford to be because there are consequences and ramifications and in the real world it doesn’t always go your way like it can on a television show.

Q) What was your all time favorite joke and kind of reference to the show that you all had?

James Roday:It’s a good question because it’s overstuffed with as many as I can think of.  I guess - I mean, I guess there are some really small ones that made it that I’m pretty happy about.  I mean, the big ones are kind of obviously, so I think they sort of speak themselves. But, I’m kind of tickled by the fact that the episode starts panning off a chocolate bunny sitting on my desk.  It’s really quick.  You know, it’s the first thing you see when the show starts, but one of the biggest laughs I ever had watching Twin Peaks was, you know, Agent Cooper to Diane, “I am now holding in my hand a box of chocolate bunnies.” So, my little tribute to that opens the show and no one got it.  No one - like nobody understood why there was a bunny on my desk, but they kept it in, so I’ll go there as a small one that makes me feel warm inside.

Sheryl Lee:Well, this is a tricky question for me because I haven’t seen the series in 20 years, so a lot of the stuff like that I don’t remember.  You know, I remember my experience of working on the show, but I don’t remember the show itself as much.  But, when we were working on Psych, there was something that Ray Wise said in a scene that we all had and I just - I can’t remember what it was, but I just feel giggle thinking about the - that moment. I just love him so much and he’s such a talented actor and you know, I was looking at him. I’m looking at him and seeing, you know, my dad from 20 years ago and it - that tickled me.

Q) James, did you have to go back and rewatch the series to get - stuff all those jokes in there, or is it still that fresh in your mind?

James Roday:You know what, I did go back and watch - I watched the first 15 again to make sure that there was nothing that I was missing or there was no - there wasn’t anything subtle that I could sort of use to kind of brushstroke the edges of the scene and stuff like that, because I hadn’t watched it as a complete set, wow, probably since I was about 23 or 24 years old. But, it was a great excuse to go out and get the Gold box and, I don’t know, it just - it’s like Sheryl mentioned earlier on the call, it’s like I so clearly identify watching episodes of that show with a very specific time in my life and it just takes you back there immediately.  It’s uncanny in the way that that works.

Q) Now, you really nailed the Twin Peaks element with a special Psych flavor, so can you talk about what it was like being able to bring the two together in some of the most challenging scenes to film?

James Roday:Well, for me it was all about walking that fine line of, you know, being Psych, but never for one second like mocking, you know, Twin Peaks.  I mean, it was a love letter, it was always meant to be a love letter and it became - you know, it became that much more sort of pressure-filled when we add seven, you know, original cast members walking around. It was like I found myself looking at them a lot like, “Is this all right?  Is this - does this feel right?  Is this - are we doing it,” like the scene on the beach is a great example of like, you know, I was kind of quietly taking my queues from Sheryl because I figured if something had been wrong or in any way we weren’t - you know, we weren’t nailing the tone or we were being disrespectful, I was really hoping that, you know, they would speak up and say, “You know what, this is no good.” That was the big challenge for me, just sort of walking the line of like, “Yes, we still have to be our show, but most importantly, you know, we want to show how much we love this other show.”  So, that was basically me for the whole shoot.  I was sort of tone police making sure that we were accomplishing both of those things. I mean they all just knocked it out of the park.  I mean, it was like - it was almost like there was a discussion that probably should have happened where we gathered everybody around and said, “Okay, this is what we’re doing.  You can all feel confident and comfortable that we’re here for the right reason and this is just a giant love fest.” But, we never actually - like we may - we never formalized that and yet there seem to be sort of like an unspoken thing where everybody just kind of got it and went for it, like boldly went for it.   Like I remember when Dana like approaches the body and loses it.  Like, you know we said, this is Leland at the funeral and he just jumped in, man.  Like he just went for it because he realized like it’s okay, we’re not - you know, we’re not poking fun.  We’re embracing this. And I don’t know, as soon as that happened, I felt like we were probably in pretty good shape.

Q) Sheryl, how do you feel the Psych team did in capturing the true essence of Twin Peaks?

Sheryl Lee:I thought they did an amazing job.  Like James was saying, you know, over the years there have been little things here or there that I’ve been asked to do that were sort of, you know, I’m going to - trying to think of the right word, but to - you know, that we’re a little bit like stepping back into that Twin Peaks time and they didn’t feel right to me.  They didn’t feel like it would have been done in a tone that felt authentic for me in that way and these guys at Psych did an incredible job of making it, you know, exactly what he said. You know, we can laugh about it, you know, we - those of us who were on Twin Peaks, you know, we’re the - we can very easily make fun of it, but you know, we’re - it’s - we get along really well and we have a playful energy together and there’s sort of power in numbers.  Like the more of us that are there the more comfortable we all feel and the - you know, we’ve worked together before, so we can get to those places really quickly. And at the same time, you know, we would be the first ones to say, “You know, something about that doesn’t feel right,” and as far as I know, none of us ever, ever had to say that.  But you know, everybody at Psych did such a wonderful job of walking that balance.

Q) James and Sheryl, how well do you feel Shawn and Gus handled themselves in this episode?

James Roday:Screaming and yelling.  Oh, okay.  We got it.  We got it.  Well, you know, schematically the idea was sort of that Shawn and Gus become Agent Cooper by coming to this town.  They’re the outsiders.  So and of course combine their intelligence, it doesn’t come anywhere close to Coop’s, so obviously it wasn’t quite as smooth. But, you know, I think on a scale of one to ten you probably can’t go much higher than a five because if it hadn’t been for Ray’s character, Father Wesley, they would have burned in the library and the episode would have ended about 20 minutes sooner. I mean, you can’t give them too much credit.  I - they needed to be fully rescued in this episode.

Q) There have been a lot of parodies/tributes done on Psych, like Hitchcock and now Twin Peaks and It’s a Wonderful Life, are there any other ones coming up in the future that we should be looking for and what’s the status of the musical episode we keep hearing about?

James Roday:I think musical will happen next season.  I think we’ve dragged our feet enough and I think it’s time to sort of do our business or get off the can with that one.  So, I would say that it’s - you can probably go ahead and put that one down in ink that you’ll get the musical next season. As far as other tributes go, we’ve been talking about doing a baseball episode for a while.  We’ve got Corbin Bernsen on our show, so I think it would be a shame if we didn’t exploit that before it was all said and done.  And then, I think a vampire episode is in the works and for us that’s - you know, that’s another tricky one because like you said, there’s a lot of parody out there already and vampires are a easy target.  So, we’re going to have to come up with something that’s better than that and make it worth everybody’s while.  Yes, just - you know, there’s a lot of stuff that’s easy to pick on and easy to make fun of and you know, it’ll be a challenge.  We did werewolves and that was pretty fun and I think it’s a - I think vampires needs to happen, it just needs to happen in the right way, so that one’s on the books for next year too.

Q) We’ve seen how Gus reacted at the last episode after finding about - out about Shawn and Jules.  Is that going to change the dynamic between Shawn and Gus in the future?

James Roday:You know, not very drastically.  I think we sort of work towards like Shawn kind of over - or perhaps underestimating Gus’s ability to deal with the situation and while there’s a little bit of conflict, it’s - you know, it’s not a major thing.  I mean, Shawn’s had a girlfriend on the show before and, you know, Gus and Juliet get along.  So, I think it would be weird to - if all of a sudden (they just did not function), so it’s not a major riff.

Q) Shawn still hasn’t told Jules the truth about really being psychic and in the last episode they ended with some promising no more lies between them.  Is she ever going to find out?

James Roday:That’s a great question and I don’t have the answer.  I can tell you that it’s not going to happen any time soon.  So yes, he’s digging himself deeper and deeper with each passing week.

Q) Are we ever going to see Ben the Mouse again?

James Roday:Possibly.  Possibly.  I can tell you that he’s safe and that he’s pretty happy and that he gets all the cheese that he wants.  But yes, maybe we can see him again.  He’s good though.  Make sure you tell your friends that he’s doing well.

James Roday was a lot of fun to interview during a recent set visit on the set of Psych. James plays Shawn Spencer, fake Psychic detective with a keen observational skills and a penchant for goofing off. While the real James loves pop culture and films, he is serious about his job on set. Whether it be acting, directing, or writing (or all at once), James is incredibly busy and incredibly talented.

Which role have you found the most challenging – writing, directing, acting?

James: I think directing is definitely the most challenging, because it’s sort of like my newest toy, that I know the least about. And at least, especially within the context of Psych, I feel like the acting is sort of second nature at this point. I mean, I don’t think there’s a whole lot left to throw at Shawn that he’s not going to know what to do with.

And then the writing [is] just a fun collaboration. It’s like, having a putt putt course behind your house. You just go out and mess around, and that’s fun. But the directing is something that I’ve always been very serious about. I take the opportunities very seriously. I really want to get better. I want to be able to go back and watch each episode and see that I’m moving in the right direction.

Do you think it’s a natural progression for an actor in a long running TV series to turn to directing?

James: I think it depends. I mean, I think sometimes a show will run so long that it’s sort of a like a “What the hey,” situation. “Let me see if this is something I might be interested in doing,” and if you run long enough, you might get a shot. For me, you know, it’s something that I’ve known I’ve wanted to do for a really long time. And it was just matter of getting the opportunity and making the most of it.

And then there are some actors that I don’t think have any interest in directing. I mean, if you ask Dulé, when is he directing, his answer is probably “never.” He’s just not inclined. But I grew up a cinephile, and I love movies. And I love European cinema. I love different styles. And I love having my breath taken away in a movie theatre the way I love being transported when I see live theatre.

I heard that there’s going to be a Twin Peaks themed episode.

James: Hell yeah, there is… Steve [Franks] and I have been talking about doing that since the first season, actually. And it took a while, I think, for us to a) build up our confidence to actually go for it, and b) establish enough of a sort of cult audience that we knew that the people that watched our show would also appreciate a show that’s riffing on Twin Peaks. But I kind of feel like the planets have aligned themselves.

A very, very dear friend of mine is Dana Ashbrook, aka Bobby Briggs. And he’s sort of been instrumental in helping some of the pieces fall in place. And I think there’s going to be some really, really happy Twin Peaks fans. Because I think we’re going to hit a home run, and I think there’s going to be a lot of faces that they’re going to be really excited about seeing.

Shawn’s matured slowly throughout the five seasons. How does that go with the progression of the show? With the darker themes that we’ve been seeing throughout the Yin Yang crisis?

James: I think they kind of run parallel. I mean, I think it’s inevitable that Shawn has to mature as he gets older, just so that he can stay endearing. And then there’s this other road where we want to keep challenging ourselves. We don’t want to get complacent. Actors want to do things that they haven’t done yet. Stylistically wanting to do things that we haven’t done yet. So, conceptually they’re very similar in that you want to keep moving forward.

I don’t know, maybe there’s a little bit of a marriage between Shawn growing up and themes being darker. Like in “Mr. Yin Presents,” for example, where his own mortality hits him, or he almost loses someone he cares about and he gets a wake up call. But for the most part I think it’s all just let’s not look back. Let’s keep feeling like we’re relevant, and that we belong on the air. And we’re delivering the goods.

It seemed like last season there was more of a focus on Shawn’s growth, and a little dark. But this season seems a bit lighter and comedic so far.

James: You know, it’s weird. Some kind of mandate comes down from Steve [Franks] every year, just because I think he feels like he’s supposed to have one. And it never holds. Like, this year it was supposed to be, “You know, we’re ratcheting up our cases. This is going to be the year of the cool, twisty, well constructed mystery.” I don’t know, we’re on episode nine and I feel like you’re probably way more on base than with the fact that we’re doing funnier stuff again.

It’s such a hybrid show, and it’s such a moving target that – especially on the writing staff. We never really know what the bull’s-eye is. We’re just throwing tons, and tons, and tons of darts, which is the greatest part of our job is that we have that many darts to throw. But yeah, this year was supposed to be, “All right man we’re going to mammotize this thing – knock people out of their socks. Show comedy writers [can] write mystery.”

It’s, like, no we can’t. What are you talking about? So you didn’t change one person in this room – how are the cases going to get 300% better? But I think you’re right, I think we’re just having – a lot of these episodes that we’ve done really reminded me of stuff we did at the beginning of the series – sort of throw backs to just Shawn and Gus acting a fool.

How do you balance the comedy and drama when you’re writing?

James: When I write, I feel like it’s an opportunity to push the envelope, I won’t lie. I feel like I get a little more latitude than some of the other writers when I write. And as a result, I kind of feel an obligation to sort of go as far outside of our comfort zone as we can. Which is why a lot of my stuff tends to be a little darker than the norm.

But this year I’m doing a Christmas episode that isn’t dark at all. But it’s still pretty left of centre in that we’re doing some pretty bizarre stuff that we’ve never seen on the show before. So I think it’s less of a balance between comedy and drama, and more of a focus on let’s do stuff that we haven’t done when I write.

How do you think Henry and Shawn’s relationship is going to change this season now that Henry’s working for the police department?

James: I admittedly wasn’t sure about this move when it first got pitched. And now I’m really glad we did it, because I think what it’s doing is it’s sort of putting that energy back into the show of, you know, Henry doesn’t let Shawn get away with anything.

And I felt like it was so strong in the first couple of seasons – it kind of grounded the show. These guys that just were missing each other, no matter what. Just two ships in the night – just couldn’t get on the same page. And then somewhere in the middle I just sort of felt like it became Shawn needs to drop by the house while Henry’s making a sandwich and get some advice, you know.

And I feel like we’re back to what we had at the beginning now, which is, two guys who aren’t going to give any ground. They’re going to stand there and they’re going to have a pissing contest every episode. And I think it’s good. I think it’s good to have it back.

What can fans expect from the Christmas episode this year?

James: You know, It’s A Wonderful Life is the template, but only in the sense that Shawn gets to peek at what life would be like if he wasn’t a part of it. But we – obviously, we never do anything truly supernatural on our show, so we had to find a different way in. Which I think will allow for a lot more fun. It’s about his – I don’t know, it’s about as risky as I think you can get comedy-wise for our show on cable. It’s a pretty big swing. And I’m sure there are going to be some people that don’t love it, but I think there will be just as many people who are like, “I can’t believe they did that. That’s awesome.”

Is there a guest star that you would actually want to see on Psych that hasn’t been on before?

James: I have a couple. If we could ever figure out a way to get Val Kilmer on this show I think that would be fantastic. I think David Bowie would be awesome. I’ve been fighting the good fight to get Billy Zane on this show for a while now. We just can’t seem to get on the same page. He almost did two episodes this season, and we couldn’t work out scheduling conflicts. He was almost John Michael Higgins, if you can imagine how different that would have been.

Do you know if Cybill Shepherd is planning to come back as Shawn’s mom this season?

James We have plans to bring her back. It’s tricky with her, because we don’t own her the way we own the rest of the cast. So we can only get her if she’s available. But we do have plans to bring her back. Because we’re wrapping up Yin Yang this year. She was sort of a pretty big part of that. So we kind of want to bring back everybody that it’s affected.

© SciFi Chick

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