Interview with Reggie Lee of Grimm – Part 1

My colleague (and sometimes Wonder Woman opponent) An Nicholson and I recently got the opportunity to chat with the engaging Reggie Lee who plays Sgt. Wu on Friday night’s Grimm.  A more pleasant, cooperative fellow I can’t imagine talking to.

We divided up questions and tag-teamed him from different ends of the country as he spryly answered our questions and joked with us from his Oregon digs where he was currently stationed for his Grimm gig. (I even got a little one-on-one time with him to talk about a trip he made up to my neck of the woods — Park City, Utah — and the Sundance Film Festival.)

The result of my portion of the interview is below for your dining and dancing pleasure. An’s post will be coming shortly behind mine. Look for it.

And now … onward!

Michael: We’re seeing some interesting little tidbits about Sgt. Wu’s character episode to episode. Both An and I are very snarky, very sarcastic … just the way that we are …

Reggie Lee: Haa-haa! Love it!

Michael: … and Sgt. Wu is no schlub in that department by any stretch of the imagination …

Reggie: You know, in the pilot there wasn’t much, there wasn’t really a lot for me to go on. And the whole sardonic part of this guy, this character that I play, was one line that he said that I was like “You know what? I’m going to base my character off of this.” And it wasn’t really something that they had envisioned would come to fruition as much. I just wanted to go that direction because I thought I have to have something to hold on to in terms of how this guy is and where that comes from. I think people that are snarky, sardonic, sarcastic … there’s a reason for that and I always kind of like to go for that in terms of a character and kind of go back to how that came to be. I actually got if from one line in the pilot and then I just flew with it. As you know with series, (the writers) may have a general arc of a character but it’s what the actor brings to it … you work together to create this “life.” So from that the writers caught on and started writing more like that and I really loved it. So now we’re full force in that direction.

Michael: So out of one line in the script, you just took the ball and ran with it.

Reggie: Yeah. I kind of am in real life too. It’s something that’s a really interesting aspect of someone and how they come to be. It was definitely one line. Now, when I get a script and I don’t have any snarky lines I’m “Aaaaaaaaaauuuuuuwwww! Where are they!? Come on!”

Michael: Expounding on your character: A few reviews back, I mentioned Sgt. Wu had some pretty awesome computer skills. There was a scene where you zapped a fuzzy license plate out of obscurity in nothing flat and called that up on a computer screen …

Reggie: I have to say that I love that you mentioned that. I read it, I remember it! I love it!

Michael: Oh, really? Great! Now … in the real world, of course, things don’t happen that quickly. But it’s pretty impressive on the small screen to see your character zap that stuff up.  Any other talents Sgt. Wu might exhibit down the line? Any thoughts on that?

Reggie: From my aspect, from my point of view, I’ve thought of this guy as kind of  whip-smart. Maybe episode 5 or 6 there was something where we were tapping into phone lines and everything and someone asked me if I could do it and I said “Of course. I’m Asian and I can.”  [laughter from Michael]  So there’s that aspect of my character. I know I’m good at certain things and I’m good at the technological aspect of things and I’ll own it. So I think there’s more of that. He’s definitely someone who is out to prove himself so there’s going to be some of that coming up.

Clacked by Michael Noble
on Mar 30, 2012 @ 19:24 EST5EDT