THEN AND NOW: The comparison between these two photos should give awkward teenagers everywhere hope.
This interview with Anthony Michael Hall, or "Mike" as he calls himself, was conducted in the summer of 2003, while he was shooting the television series of "The Dead Zone."
by Terry Keefe
Shaking hands with Anthony Michael Hall these days might be a little disconcerting for you if you've been following his USA Network series "The Dead Zone," based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. It's often a handshake with a person that triggers the visions of Hall's character Johnny Smith, a survivor of a near-fatal car accident who has been blessed, or perhaps cursed, with psychic powers that enable him to see parts of a person's future, as well as their past. The operative word here is "parts," and the visions are not always what they appear to be, more like jigsaw puzzle pieces that Johnny has to decide exactly what to do with. Since the series debuted last June with the highest ratings for a dramatic series in the history of basic cable, Hall's Johnny Smith has strode through a psychic landscape which has found him chasing serial killers and kidnappers, flashing back to the 40s to help a war veteran find his lost true love, and trying to make sense of a horrifying vision of Washington, D.C. in apocalyptic flames. Hall's performance operates on many levels and is truly the glue holding all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together. He must sometimes play Johnny as reactive to the overwhelming visions that he's experiencing, but he also must keep Johnny interesting as he interprets those visions, a difficult dichotomy for an actor which Hall more than succeeds at. Part detective story, part religious parable, part hero's journey, and part thriller, "The Dead Zone" ranks amongst the most unique and entertaining television on the air today, and it's a terrific showcase for the talents of Hall who, like the character he plays, has been on a interesting journey for some time now.
You, of course, remember him from the trilogy of John Hughes high school classics from the 80s - Sixteen Candles [1984], The Breakfast Club [1985], and Weird Science [1985] - where Hall played different variations on the same geeky nerd and quickly became a household name. There are many films from that period which do not hold up very well anymore, particularly the teen-themed ones, but all three pictures that Hall did for Hughes are comedy classics. After Hall moved on to older and more leading-man type roles, Hughes cast other actors to fill Hall's shoes in some of his subsequent high school films, but the magic was never the same without Anthony Michael Hall playing the lovable and hilarious nerd. Of course, typecasting is an evil force in Hollywood and most of the other teen stars from that period have had a rough road. It seems enough to just survive teen stardom with an adult career intact, but Hall has done more than just survive. He's thrived. However, a look through his filmography reveals that it's been a long road from the gangly Geek to the smoldering psychic Johnny Smith.
His first steps away from the nerd persona would be in the film Out of Bounds in 1986 where he played a farm boy named Daryl who gets mixed up with a bad element in Los Angeles. Then he would take on the role of a high school football star in Johnny Be Good in 1988, followed by his turn as the muscular, violent bully Jim in Edward Scissorhands [1990]. But it was in Six Degrees of Separation in 1993 when he was really able to display the depth of his acting chops again. As Trey, the young gay man who gives Will Smith's character all the information he needs to infiltrate Manhattan high society, Hall was creepy, conniving, sympathetic, and altogether riveting. In short, the performance gave notice that he was truly around for the long haul as an actor. By 1999, he would do his best work yet as Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates who manipulated and charmed his way around Noah Wyle's Steve Jobs in the Emmy-nominated Pirates of Silicon Valley. More great work followed in 61*, directed by Billy Crystal, where Hall played another real-life legend, left-handed pitcher Whitey Ford.
Venice spoke with Anthony Michael Hall from the set of the "The Dead Zone" in Vancouver where he was shooting 6 new episodes which will begin airing on Sunday, July 6th. During the course of our conversation, Hall will bring up the phrase "body of work" often. It's safe to say he's building a very impressive one.
Your role as Johnny Smith in "The Dead Zone" requires that you not only play Johnny but also that you sort of travel through time in his psychic visions, sometimes even playing other characters within those visions. It's a challenging part. Is there any particular aspect of the role that you've found the most challenging?
Anthony Michael Hall: Probably just making very unreal circumstances plausible and real for an audience. I think that more than any other role in my career I feel like a storyteller, I guess sort of like a writer would. It's interesting because the show sort of unfolds on two levels. There's the storytelling aspects which are linear and then once I sort of go into the vision mode, then the audience really travels with me into these vision flashes. More than any other character (that I've played) I try to give a mind, body, and spirit to the character. It has to have been my most challenging role to date. The idea of exploring a character who is an empath, who is somehow drawn to helping people, is very challenging. To not make it any type of cliche or becoming cheesy in any way, to make it real. It's also been a challenge to keep a bright side to the character, to inject some humor into the role.
What's in store for Johnny in the new group of episodes that you're shooting now?
I think the slant for this season, Season 2.5 we're calling it because technically it's still Season 2, is that the network wanted more sort of action-adventure shows. So the first one coming out of the box is kind of like Twister in a way. Not to be too heavy-handed in the references, but I'm chasing a storm, this tornado. Then we did one which is sort of inspired by the SARS epidemic. It's similar to "Law & Order" in a way, in that it's ripped from the headlines. We're not calling the epidemic SARS, but this mysterious flu virus has potentially hit my son's school. That's a real intense episode. Then there are four others that we've completed. They're kind of all over the map, but I think the scripts are really good and that the network did the right thing in the theme of the shows, in trying to keep the same audience but bring a new audience in as well.
Is there any particular reason that you think the show was so popular from the moment it hit the air?
That's a good question. I think now more than ever there's a generally greater interest in things that relate to the paranormal. Whether you go back to the success of "The X Files" or not, I think that all things supernatural really strike a chord with people, because I think now more than ever the news is very depressing. Post-Iraq, just sort of the global temperature. For that reason, the tone and the feel of the show appeals to people. And also I think the writing is excellent and we have a great ensemble.
How has the series changed the types of roles that you're being offered in Hollywood?
There are more things coming in now but I've been so tied up with the show that it's difficult to say. But just in general, I think it's a wonderful watershed role for me because of the fact that the things I did in the 80s attached me to the whole John Hughes thing. And I've had a lot of great roles in my so-called adult life, as Bill Gates in Pirates of Silicon Valley and Whitey Ford in 61*, but with this it's a breakthrough in that hopefully it'll transition me into the next half of my life as an actor in the industry.
What type of research did you do to craft your performance as Bill Gates?
I just read everything I could. There were 3 or 4 biographies that I could get my hands on and used as reference material. I also read a lot of business books on Microsoft, on the computer industry itself. I also had an acting coach, Steve Bridgewater. He was excellent and when I worked with him for about 5 or 6 weeks prior to the start of the show, we broke it down - some days we'd isolate Gates' body, other days we'd work on his voicing. I kind of approached it from all angles, playing Gates. Ultimately what happened is that I think it was the first method performance that I've given, in that after awhile I found myself doing things that were very "Gates-ian." Competitive things like getting to the set two hours before the other actors. That was a breakthrough role for me, just in terms of my preparation. It was an honor to play the richest man in the world, but I had to really get under his skin to find out what motivated him and what his backstory was.
Tell us about the experience of playing Whitey Ford in 61*.
Billy Crystal was just great to work with. He's like an almanac when it comes to Yankee baseball. What Jack Nicholson is to the Lakers, Billy is to the Yankees. We all just knew that it was such a labor of love for Billy. After awhile, it was like Billy became Joe Torre in a way and we became a team. We spent the whole summer traveling together. It was just the highlight of my life. Not just working with Billy, but also the guys who were hired to play the rest of the team. A lot of them were actually minor league baseball players or college baseball players. I also got to meet Whitey Ford. After the premiere, HBO threw a party at one of the armories. I was standing there talking to my mother and a friend, and Whitey Ford walked over to me. He goes, "Great job. But I threw with my left and I drank with my right!" [laughs] We were drinking in the film and I must've had my drink in my left hand, so he had to correct me afterwards.
When you look through your filmography, Six Degrees of Separation really feels like the point when you crossed over from one type of films to another.
That's cool with me. I think it's about the range of work, you know? I think the great actors - whether its going back to Olivier, or in modern day, Hopkins or De Niro - people that I admire, I look up to, it's about the body of work certainly. And I've always wanted to show that diversity. I think with that, playing a gay man was really a challenge for me, being a straight guy and playing a gay man who also functioned as a sort of Svengali to Will Smith's character.
Around the time of Six Degrees of Separation you started taking a lot of off-beat character type roles that really allowed you to stretch as an actor, and I think you earned a great deal of respect as an actor as well during that period. Was it a conscious decision to take the types of roles you did?
I'd like to say that it was all conscious, that would relate to having been offered everything. But the reality is that I had to hustle and go for those parts. But I think that cultivated in me a greater desire to maintain a greater career and a face in the industry. And for my work to grow in that respect. So I think that whereas I started off with some very off-the-cuff performances as a teenager in those John Hughes films, I've certainly learned the craft over the last 15-20 years and I've worked with a number of good coaches. It's just about getting better with the work.
What was your experience like as the youngest cast member ever on "Saturday Night Live" in the mid-80s?
[laughs] Forgettable. As I'm sure you've heard and read, it was a very, very competitive environment. In some ways very cutthroat. As many people will tell you about Lorne Michaels , he's a brilliant guy, but there's this sense of always trying to please Lorne because he's the creator of this show that became this phenomenon. It's competitive because you never know what the writers are thinking because they're all sort of vying to be in the cast, and the cast is looking for the help of the writers, and you just sort of have to fend for yourself. I think the people that found the most success came from a stand-up background where they had their own material and they had that competitive nature. Not to say that I'm not competitive, but I think comedians are far more competitive than actors are with each other. It's a different vibe - it's sort of a hybrid of everything - rock and roll, theater, everything rolled into one. But here's the dichotomy - the doing of the show, as was described to me by Dan Aykroyd, he said that it's going to be unbelievable when you get up there and see those three cameras beaming into your head and know that there's 350 people in the audience but you're going out to millions of people. So the dichotomy lies in the fact that despite the frustrations of the 6-day preparation and the around-the-clock rehearsing and all that, just the doing of the show is amazing. That hour and a half when you're going out live to the world. And also, I have to admit, the parties afterwards were unbelievable [laughs]. You know, I'm 17 or 18 years old and we did the show and okay, Madonna's the guest host. You look up into the crowd and there would be Sean Penn. And then at the post-parties at the Rainbow Room, I get there and I look to my right and there's Andy Warhol with Jean Michel Basquiat and I look to my left, and there's David Bowie. It was just surreal.
Of the John Hughes movies you did, which was the most fun to work on?
Well, The Breakfast Club was certainly the most prominent of the films but it was actually the two that bookended it that I had the most fun on - Sixteen Candles and Weird Science. One of the things that John was most gifted at, which is often overlooked, is that he just enabled people. With me, he was always liberating me to try something different and to go for this or that. Even if I had an idea to change a line or to come up with something. For example, the scene in the black bar in Weird Science, that was spawned from the fact that we loved Richard Pryor. We'd watch Richard Pryor movies on the weekend. And we would imitate this character called Mudball that Richard Pryor would do. And so it was really just a product of being Richard Pryor fans that John said, "Hey, why don't we create this scene where you go into a bar and do that?" That's the type of guy he was. To have a writer-director who was so empowering, who really builds you up, who made you feel strong enough to take those chances and to have fun, was a great person to begin my career with. I'll always tip my hat to John Hughes. He gave me my start in my career and I'll never overlook that.
For such a young actor, you seemed to be very aware that you were in danger of being permanently typecast. I read that you turned down roles in Ferris Bueller's Day Off [1986] and Pretty in Pink [1986] because of typecasting worries. Is that true?
It is true and it was for that reason. And I don't know what the repercussions were industry-wise but I felt that I was being true to myself in doing that. Even as a teenager, I've always thought in terms of longevity. My family's always been wonderful in terms of supporting me in that regard, in thinking of the long term. Robert Downey Jr.'s father, Robert Downey Sr., had a great line to me years ago. He was with Downey and I when we were writing a script together. He blurted out this line, "In the long haul, the short one won't make it!" [laughs] I had my mind set even at that age that I would continue to make films and hopefully be a presence in the industry for many years.
Shaking hands with Anthony Michael Hall these days might be a little disconcerting for you if you've been following his USA Network series "The Dead Zone," based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. It's often a handshake with a person that triggers the visions of Hall's character Johnny Smith, a survivor of a near-fatal car accident who has been blessed, or perhaps cursed, with psychic powers that enable him to see parts of a person's future, as well as their past. The operative word here is "parts," and the visions are not always what they appear to be, more like jigsaw puzzle pieces that Johnny has to decide exactly what to do with. Since the series debuted last June with the highest ratings for a dramatic series in the history of basic cable, Hall's Johnny Smith has strode through a psychic landscape which has found him chasing serial killers and kidnappers, flashing back to the 40s to help a war veteran find his lost true love, and trying to make sense of a horrifying vision of Washington, D.C. in apocalyptic flames. Hall's performance operates on many levels and is truly the glue holding all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together. He must sometimes play Johnny as reactive to the overwhelming visions that he's experiencing, but he also must keep Johnny interesting as he interprets those visions, a difficult dichotomy for an actor which Hall more than succeeds at. Part detective story, part religious parable, part hero's journey, and part thriller, "The Dead Zone" ranks amongst the most unique and entertaining television on the air today, and it's a terrific showcase for the talents of Hall who, like the character he plays, has been on a interesting journey for some time now.
You, of course, remember him from the trilogy of John Hughes high school classics from the 80s - Sixteen Candles [1984], The Breakfast Club [1985], and Weird Science [1985] - where Hall played different variations on the same geeky nerd and quickly became a household name. There are many films from that period which do not hold up very well anymore, particularly the teen-themed ones, but all three pictures that Hall did for Hughes are comedy classics. After Hall moved on to older and more leading-man type roles, Hughes cast other actors to fill Hall's shoes in some of his subsequent high school films, but the magic was never the same without Anthony Michael Hall playing the lovable and hilarious nerd. Of course, typecasting is an evil force in Hollywood and most of the other teen stars from that period have had a rough road. It seems enough to just survive teen stardom with an adult career intact, but Hall has done more than just survive. He's thrived. However, a look through his filmography reveals that it's been a long road from the gangly Geek to the smoldering psychic Johnny Smith.
His first steps away from the nerd persona would be in the film Out of Bounds in 1986 where he played a farm boy named Daryl who gets mixed up with a bad element in Los Angeles. Then he would take on the role of a high school football star in Johnny Be Good in 1988, followed by his turn as the muscular, violent bully Jim in Edward Scissorhands [1990]. But it was in Six Degrees of Separation in 1993 when he was really able to display the depth of his acting chops again. As Trey, the young gay man who gives Will Smith's character all the information he needs to infiltrate Manhattan high society, Hall was creepy, conniving, sympathetic, and altogether riveting. In short, the performance gave notice that he was truly around for the long haul as an actor. By 1999, he would do his best work yet as Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates who manipulated and charmed his way around Noah Wyle's Steve Jobs in the Emmy-nominated Pirates of Silicon Valley. More great work followed in 61*, directed by Billy Crystal, where Hall played another real-life legend, left-handed pitcher Whitey Ford.
Venice spoke with Anthony Michael Hall from the set of the "The Dead Zone" in Vancouver where he was shooting 6 new episodes which will begin airing on Sunday, July 6th. During the course of our conversation, Hall will bring up the phrase "body of work" often. It's safe to say he's building a very impressive one.
Your role as Johnny Smith in "The Dead Zone" requires that you not only play Johnny but also that you sort of travel through time in his psychic visions, sometimes even playing other characters within those visions. It's a challenging part. Is there any particular aspect of the role that you've found the most challenging?
Anthony Michael Hall: Probably just making very unreal circumstances plausible and real for an audience. I think that more than any other role in my career I feel like a storyteller, I guess sort of like a writer would. It's interesting because the show sort of unfolds on two levels. There's the storytelling aspects which are linear and then once I sort of go into the vision mode, then the audience really travels with me into these vision flashes. More than any other character (that I've played) I try to give a mind, body, and spirit to the character. It has to have been my most challenging role to date. The idea of exploring a character who is an empath, who is somehow drawn to helping people, is very challenging. To not make it any type of cliche or becoming cheesy in any way, to make it real. It's also been a challenge to keep a bright side to the character, to inject some humor into the role.
What's in store for Johnny in the new group of episodes that you're shooting now?
I think the slant for this season, Season 2.5 we're calling it because technically it's still Season 2, is that the network wanted more sort of action-adventure shows. So the first one coming out of the box is kind of like Twister in a way. Not to be too heavy-handed in the references, but I'm chasing a storm, this tornado. Then we did one which is sort of inspired by the SARS epidemic. It's similar to "Law & Order" in a way, in that it's ripped from the headlines. We're not calling the epidemic SARS, but this mysterious flu virus has potentially hit my son's school. That's a real intense episode. Then there are four others that we've completed. They're kind of all over the map, but I think the scripts are really good and that the network did the right thing in the theme of the shows, in trying to keep the same audience but bring a new audience in as well.
Is there any particular reason that you think the show was so popular from the moment it hit the air?
That's a good question. I think now more than ever there's a generally greater interest in things that relate to the paranormal. Whether you go back to the success of "The X Files" or not, I think that all things supernatural really strike a chord with people, because I think now more than ever the news is very depressing. Post-Iraq, just sort of the global temperature. For that reason, the tone and the feel of the show appeals to people. And also I think the writing is excellent and we have a great ensemble.
How has the series changed the types of roles that you're being offered in Hollywood?
There are more things coming in now but I've been so tied up with the show that it's difficult to say. But just in general, I think it's a wonderful watershed role for me because of the fact that the things I did in the 80s attached me to the whole John Hughes thing. And I've had a lot of great roles in my so-called adult life, as Bill Gates in Pirates of Silicon Valley and Whitey Ford in 61*, but with this it's a breakthrough in that hopefully it'll transition me into the next half of my life as an actor in the industry.
What type of research did you do to craft your performance as Bill Gates?
I just read everything I could. There were 3 or 4 biographies that I could get my hands on and used as reference material. I also read a lot of business books on Microsoft, on the computer industry itself. I also had an acting coach, Steve Bridgewater. He was excellent and when I worked with him for about 5 or 6 weeks prior to the start of the show, we broke it down - some days we'd isolate Gates' body, other days we'd work on his voicing. I kind of approached it from all angles, playing Gates. Ultimately what happened is that I think it was the first method performance that I've given, in that after awhile I found myself doing things that were very "Gates-ian." Competitive things like getting to the set two hours before the other actors. That was a breakthrough role for me, just in terms of my preparation. It was an honor to play the richest man in the world, but I had to really get under his skin to find out what motivated him and what his backstory was.
Tell us about the experience of playing Whitey Ford in 61*.
Billy Crystal was just great to work with. He's like an almanac when it comes to Yankee baseball. What Jack Nicholson is to the Lakers, Billy is to the Yankees. We all just knew that it was such a labor of love for Billy. After awhile, it was like Billy became Joe Torre in a way and we became a team. We spent the whole summer traveling together. It was just the highlight of my life. Not just working with Billy, but also the guys who were hired to play the rest of the team. A lot of them were actually minor league baseball players or college baseball players. I also got to meet Whitey Ford. After the premiere, HBO threw a party at one of the armories. I was standing there talking to my mother and a friend, and Whitey Ford walked over to me. He goes, "Great job. But I threw with my left and I drank with my right!" [laughs] We were drinking in the film and I must've had my drink in my left hand, so he had to correct me afterwards.
When you look through your filmography, Six Degrees of Separation really feels like the point when you crossed over from one type of films to another.
That's cool with me. I think it's about the range of work, you know? I think the great actors - whether its going back to Olivier, or in modern day, Hopkins or De Niro - people that I admire, I look up to, it's about the body of work certainly. And I've always wanted to show that diversity. I think with that, playing a gay man was really a challenge for me, being a straight guy and playing a gay man who also functioned as a sort of Svengali to Will Smith's character.
Around the time of Six Degrees of Separation you started taking a lot of off-beat character type roles that really allowed you to stretch as an actor, and I think you earned a great deal of respect as an actor as well during that period. Was it a conscious decision to take the types of roles you did?
I'd like to say that it was all conscious, that would relate to having been offered everything. But the reality is that I had to hustle and go for those parts. But I think that cultivated in me a greater desire to maintain a greater career and a face in the industry. And for my work to grow in that respect. So I think that whereas I started off with some very off-the-cuff performances as a teenager in those John Hughes films, I've certainly learned the craft over the last 15-20 years and I've worked with a number of good coaches. It's just about getting better with the work.
What was your experience like as the youngest cast member ever on "Saturday Night Live" in the mid-80s?
[laughs] Forgettable. As I'm sure you've heard and read, it was a very, very competitive environment. In some ways very cutthroat. As many people will tell you about Lorne Michaels , he's a brilliant guy, but there's this sense of always trying to please Lorne because he's the creator of this show that became this phenomenon. It's competitive because you never know what the writers are thinking because they're all sort of vying to be in the cast, and the cast is looking for the help of the writers, and you just sort of have to fend for yourself. I think the people that found the most success came from a stand-up background where they had their own material and they had that competitive nature. Not to say that I'm not competitive, but I think comedians are far more competitive than actors are with each other. It's a different vibe - it's sort of a hybrid of everything - rock and roll, theater, everything rolled into one. But here's the dichotomy - the doing of the show, as was described to me by Dan Aykroyd, he said that it's going to be unbelievable when you get up there and see those three cameras beaming into your head and know that there's 350 people in the audience but you're going out to millions of people. So the dichotomy lies in the fact that despite the frustrations of the 6-day preparation and the around-the-clock rehearsing and all that, just the doing of the show is amazing. That hour and a half when you're going out live to the world. And also, I have to admit, the parties afterwards were unbelievable [laughs]. You know, I'm 17 or 18 years old and we did the show and okay, Madonna's the guest host. You look up into the crowd and there would be Sean Penn. And then at the post-parties at the Rainbow Room, I get there and I look to my right and there's Andy Warhol with Jean Michel Basquiat and I look to my left, and there's David Bowie. It was just surreal.
Of the John Hughes movies you did, which was the most fun to work on?
Well, The Breakfast Club was certainly the most prominent of the films but it was actually the two that bookended it that I had the most fun on - Sixteen Candles and Weird Science. One of the things that John was most gifted at, which is often overlooked, is that he just enabled people. With me, he was always liberating me to try something different and to go for this or that. Even if I had an idea to change a line or to come up with something. For example, the scene in the black bar in Weird Science, that was spawned from the fact that we loved Richard Pryor. We'd watch Richard Pryor movies on the weekend. And we would imitate this character called Mudball that Richard Pryor would do. And so it was really just a product of being Richard Pryor fans that John said, "Hey, why don't we create this scene where you go into a bar and do that?" That's the type of guy he was. To have a writer-director who was so empowering, who really builds you up, who made you feel strong enough to take those chances and to have fun, was a great person to begin my career with. I'll always tip my hat to John Hughes. He gave me my start in my career and I'll never overlook that.
For such a young actor, you seemed to be very aware that you were in danger of being permanently typecast. I read that you turned down roles in Ferris Bueller's Day Off [1986] and Pretty in Pink [1986] because of typecasting worries. Is that true?
It is true and it was for that reason. And I don't know what the repercussions were industry-wise but I felt that I was being true to myself in doing that. Even as a teenager, I've always thought in terms of longevity. My family's always been wonderful in terms of supporting me in that regard, in thinking of the long term. Robert Downey Jr.'s father, Robert Downey Sr., had a great line to me years ago. He was with Downey and I when we were writing a script together. He blurted out this line, "In the long haul, the short one won't make it!" [laughs] I had my mind set even at that age that I would continue to make films and hopefully be a presence in the industry for many years.
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