Tony Shalhoub on Acting: ‘I don’t judge my characters’
- Details
- Category: Interviews
- Created: Wednesday, 01 May 2013 22:10
- Published: Wednesday, 01 May 2013 22:10
- Written by Lupe Haas
Tony Shalhoub is best known for his role as Monk, the television series that ran for eight years (2002-2009) on USA. For a much different role in PAIN & GAIN, Tony takes on a rare role in which he plays the real life victim of the Miami Sun Gym gang who was kidnapped, tortured, extorted of all his wealth and survived three attempts on his life. He can easily be called the victim, but he’s far from being an upstanding citizen. As Victor Kershaw, the self-made millionaire (from questionable deals) is arrogant and mean-spirited. Most audience have little sympathy for the character.
While in Miami promoting the Michael Bay movie, Tony Shalhoub sat down with CineMovie’s Zay Zay and explained why he didn’t see his PAIN & GAIN character as unlikeable. “I don’t judge my characters when I set out to work on a part. I don’t think of him as a villain,” he said about his acting methods. He admits Victor is “a little cocky,” but his job as an actor is not to judge the people he portrays. Shalhoub didn’t have access to the real person, but his time with the detective who solved the case put the script in perspective.
CineMovie also caught up with him by phone in which he went into greater detail about his acting method and not categorizing the roles he takes.
“I just think about what his need are. And what he’s after. What his obstacles are and how he overcomes those. I play it straight and the let the circumstances provide the other stuff.”As far as letting the audience determine whether he’s bad or good, Shalhoub says its not the actor’s job to convince them, rather to play the character and “let the audience “perceive things as they will.”
And speaking of the audience, fans probably would want to know if a Monk movie will ever be in the works. He told CineMovie there was talk about it a year ago, but it just doesn’t seem to be happening right now.” He does, however, want to return to television series and is awaiting word whether his half-hour comedy pilot will be picked up by CBS Television. “I like to keep my hand in everything, “ he says about dabbling in both movies and t.v.
Tony Shalhoub hopes he can dabble in some more movies like in Michael Bay’s Transformers reboot starring is PAIN & GAIN co-star Mark Wahlberg. “I’ve dropped several hints about my availability,” he joked about asking Michael Bay for a role.
PAIN & GAIN can now be seen in movie theaters.