Psych set visit: Everybody loves Roday (Part 5)

(Check out our set visit and Maggie Lawson, Timothy Omundson, and Dulé Hill interviews)

Now that the television hiatus has hit and Psych has revealed the Yin Yang killer’s final chapter, I can start releasing the next set of interviews from my August set visit. Ironically, the weather I experienced in Vancouver in the summer is almost akin to the weather I’m currently experiencing now. Yeah. Vancouver is that cold. And rainy. OK. I exaggerate. But, not really. So, on with the show.

What impressed me about most about Roday includes his love of film. He’s literally a Cultural Studies instructor’s dream student. He does instinctively what I had to teach my students i.e. watching scenes multiple times for content, directing, set arrangement, lighting, editing, and costumes while keeping a note pad in hand. He is one of those rare people who enjoys every single facet of film, television, and popular culture while mentally cataloging each artifact. While describing his favorite thrillers and ones he recently watched, he talked about how “the lights are shutting off one grid at a time” in Session 9. His casual description of his cinematic enjoyment reflected his ingrained love: “I grew up a cinephile, and I love movies. And I love European cinema. I love different styles. And it’s, you know, I love having my breath taken away in a movie theatre the way I love being transported when I see live theatre.” So, just as it’s a joy (and sometimes a struggle writing for CliqueClack), it was an utter delight interviewing someone who clearly enjoyed the medium as much as the writers surrounding him.

Roday served as the final cast interview of the day. Considering my fellow bloggers and I had bombarded Maggie Lawson, then Timothy Omundson, then Dulé Hill with questions, AFTER visiting two sets, AFTER an 8/9am start, by 5pm we were both slightly tired. However, he still shared his cinematic goodness with us. While some actors might describe their desire to direct, from listening to Roday — he has the chops, cinematic flair, and observational skills to pull it off. And, yes, Roday’s hair is that luscious.

Although I managed to slide in two questions, I can’t remember if I asked even more.

Now, I have a question. I mean, it seems like last season there was more of a focus on Shawn’s growth. But this season it seems as if there’s a little bit more of a return to the comedy. There’s more of a partnership between you and Gus, more back and forth, more Abbott and Costello, but equal.

You know, it’s weird. It’s, like, some kind of mandate comes down from Steve 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, like, what the bulls 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 [ph] this thing, you know – knock people out of their socks. Show comedy writers to 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, you know – sort of throw backs to just Shawn and Gus acting a fool.

I know you’re on episode nine, but since we’re still on episode five, I’m going to go back to episode three again. But I just – it’s back to this idea of Shawn’s growth, just because Gus made this crack about Shawn not knowing what it meant to be a real guy because he’s pretending to be someone else. And then I wondered if that was a hint for what’s going to come later in the season.

I wish I could tell you. I know stuff – I know something’s coming, but it’s been pretty well guarded. And the truth is, I’m so caught up in my own episodes because of the way they got scheduled that I’m just going to sort of – I’m happy to let it surprise me. But I do know that we’re headed towards something in terms of Shawn and growth and Juliet. But that’s a big thing, because for most of the seasons I could definitively say we’re not headed towards anything. You know, we’re going to give you another near miss, and dangle the carrot, and take it away. And I don’t think we’re going to – at least not all the way away. I don’t think we’re going to take it away this time, so.

For highlights from some of the other interviewers and a few snapshots of what I noticed, clack on.

Clacked by An Nicholson
on Dec 27, 2010 @ 11:00 EST5EDT