Mark Pellegrino

0:00Hey Matt, what's up? Not too much. How you doing? Hanging in there. Hanging in there. Just trying to adjust to the 72 degree cornea. Is that cold? That sounds cold. It is freezing. Yeah. I'm in Canada, man. Don't get me started on cold. Well, I just came back from there. So that's what I'm trying to adjust to. Yeah. So you're calling from LA. So what's going on with you? What are you up to? I know you got a new show. Yeah, I got a new show. Got episodes already. I'm right now just... What do you mean in between gigs? What about the show? Well, you know, the show is not going to pick up again for a while.

0:46Oh, you're all done shooting? It's finished. Yeah. Oh, I see what you're doing. And you're shooting December 12. Okay, how many episodes do you guys do? 13. Oh, wow. So I'm surprised. I thought television usually shoots as it's going. You know, what are you hearing? Are your people happy with the numbers so far? The people are really... Well, I guess anything with vampires seems to work these days. Well, you'd think. I mean, you know, you'd think it might go in the opposite direction because we're a little saturated. Yeah, but potentially. But I think because this has enough anti-genre elements to it, it kind of finds its own mark.

1:43Right, because it's a take off of a UK show? Yeah. Oh, okay. How did you base your character on the UK's version? Or did you pull it out of yourself, I guess? Well, pull it out of myself. Yeah. I only saw about one episode of a UK version and decided... I'm just going to... You seem to be playing some interesting characters lately that are kind of similar... Like, I would assume maybe, and I could be totally off on this, that Lucifer from Supernatural and Bishop and Being Human would be similar kind of thing. In that they have a mission, and I think we're just going to say that about Lucifer.

3:12How much of the characters is from the script and stage directions as to what you bring to these parts? You know, in the case of and in the moment to try to... Try to bring his best customer back into his... Sounds like the father figure stuff sounds almost more like Jacob then, from Lost.

4:11It does have those elements too, and in... I heard you auditioned for the pilot, like way back when before Jacob was probably even thought of as a character on the show. They probably wouldn't have told you the right name anyway. They might not have it, you know, when I auditioned for... Yeah, well, and it seemed to captivate quite a bit of the world for a long time.

4:57Sure did. Did they just go off your original audition to cast you, or did you have to go back for Jacob? How come? I had about three or four appointments in addition to that one that day. I didn't... I felt like pressure. Yeah. So I almost... If yeah, I feel like for a show like that, there would be so little known anyway that the less prepared you are probably the better actually.

5:46Yeah, yeah. Maybe it just worked out because of that. Yeah, you never know. I heard that working with Michael Emerson was... I'm sure being an acting teacher yourself, it must have been something else. Like, I hear he brought something to the set that no one else could have imagined. Yeah, we did a rehearsing. Right.

6:43What's it like to... does it... does it entrance you more into the scene when that's the case? Oh, yeah. Yeah, you really have something where you have to... Is it similar to the Meisner approach? What is the Meisner approach? I know that's what you teach at the school. Yeah, the Meisner approach is about what you're doing, is it post... How hard is that when there's a script involved though? I feel like that would almost work really well with improv.

7:37It does. It works great with improv and improvisation. And to me, I think it's knowing what's going on. And that moment may change your homework. You may do something that you couldn't... or you may... Do you prefer acting or teaching it? You know, kind of values, but it's...

8:46Yeah, I can imagine. And I'm sure even the collaboration with the director at that point too. Yeah. And I hear the Coen's worked... I mean, you were in the big Lebowski at a very infamous scene of the... being on the rug that people remember. What was it like working with them? Because I hear they do things differently. And one of them will do the shots, one of them will block the scene with the actor. Yeah, Joel kind of was doing the shots and Ethan was kind of talking to me about the scene. And you know, their direction is surprisingly... Why don't you emphasize the tough thing to get a line reading from a girl? If you feel like you're being spoonful. Have you ever thought about directing? Because I know you want to write. I've heard you want to write a horror film.

9:48I do. I do. I'm kind of in the middle of one now, God knows. Oh, really? Yeah. About what? Someone's going to die, I assume. Well, I hate to beat the death of the genre that's being... But it is kind of a werewolf thing. Okay. Well, there's not too many werewolves, some more vampires and werewolves at the moment. And together now I didn't... What? Why horror? Has it always been horror for you?

10:33I love horror movies. You know, I'm not a big... I'm not a huge fan of the exploitative horror films and the slasher flicks. I like horror with applause. Right. It's kind of a make-beth actor so driven by ambition that he sacrifices his wife to get what he wants.

11:21And so... And about ambition and motherhood and... Yeah, you mentioned the devil just got me thinking that you play the devil and kind of like God in a way being Jacob recently. And almost at the same time, I think, at one point, right? Yeah. Well, yeah. At the same time, I was going back and forth between Hawaii and Vancouver. That's insane. Yeah. That's a lot of flights. You must be an elite gold member or whatever they have now on the planet. It was fun. It was interesting. How different were the characters for you in playing them because, I mean, they're so...

12:08They're different characters, mind you. Like, I mean, Lucifer was not a devil kind of guy, even though he was. Right. How much did Jacob come into Lucifer and how much did Lucifer come into Jacob? Or did they... Did you keep them completely separate? You know, maybe I'll be able to answer that in a couple of years when I get a little bit more distance from it. I felt like, you know, Lucifer, even though at point of view, behind it, and that came out of his wanted redemption and needed to fix.

13:11Well, you know, there's something in Lucifer, but maybe they didn't some way, then I'm just not aware of it. Yeah, no, it'd be interesting if I ask you the question again in five years. We'll see what happens. What's next? I heard you working on a new film, Joint Body. Is that right? I already did that. It was a film I did in the Midwest, and right now it's been a shooting. Oh, you're becoming an honorary Canadian now?

14:05I am. I've been... Well, my wife is Canadian. Oh, there you go. Where is she from? She was born in Winnipeg. Oh, okay. And pretty much all. Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah, a lot of Canadian connections for you. That's fantastic. Yeah. We do something on the show called Five Questions, Five Quick Questions, One Word Answers. Oh, one word answers. One word answers. Oh, Lord. Jacob or Lucifer? Lucifer. Landon or McCartney? Hardest thing to learn as an actor. Oh, good answer. Roll your most proud of.

14:50Cool. And one word, Mark Pellegrino.