What’s was like for you to appear on Fringe for the first time with your real-life wife?

Stephen: It was a great opportunity to be able to work with her.  We have been able to do readings and things like that for films, but never in front of a camera.  It was tremendous to be able to work together.  I think the first day that we worked, was just the two of us and the director and the crew.  It was a joy.  It was tremendous.

How did this opportunity come about?

Stephen: It came through—actually Romy had went to Northwestern with one of the executive producers and we were actually at a party and talking to him.  They were saying, “Would Stephen be interested in doing a Fringe?”  And Romy popped up, “Well, yes, if you invite me.”  And strangely enough, Mr. Pinkner a while later said, “Yes.  Please.  Come on and do the show.” We were just more than thrilled to be able to work with each other and come on a quality program.

What can you tell us about your characters?

Stephen: Not much, or they’ll kill me.  But I can tell you that they’re a husband and wife that are both scientists and have something going on in this universe, not the other one.  It’s something you need to go ahead and see.  But, we’re both scientists trying to accomplish something.

This was a very emotional role, did it make it any easier working with your wife?

Stephen: I appreciate that question.  I think to play husband and wife and be real husband and wife, it’s easier to emotionally connect quickly to a big emotional place, since we’re actual husband and wife.  You don’t have a lot of time on television to do that usually.  There is not a lot of rehearsal time.  Us knowing each other so well—we’re probably knowing where the other person is going to go emotionally, was a help.

It seems like your character starts out very even and then slowly get unhinged during the course of the episode.

Stephen: I’d say that’s accurate because he thinks things are going to go along swimmingly, until they don’t.  It was a nice little arc to play.  I really appreciated the chance to do it, especially with my wife.

What was it like working with John and Anna and Joshua and the cast?

Stephen: We actually didn’t get to work with a lot of the cast.  It was mainly us and Josh.  Anna we saw a little bit.  It was kind of an insular episode for us, which was good in that there was limited involvement.  It’s kind of a stand-alone thing.

Is a guest-starring role more challenging than a series regular?

Stephen: Yes.  I think there always is.  You’re always the new kid on the block when you come in as a guest star.  Their series has been going on for four years and they’re a well-oiled machine.  They know each other emotionally and intellectually and then you come in and go, “Hi.  Here’s my episode.  I want to play with you guys.”

I always feel like it’s the first day of school for me when I’m doing a guest star thing, but it’s kind of good because you jump; you’re pushed to an emotional high quickly.  On TV, there is not a lot of time to rehearse, so it was nice to be able to work with your wife, somebody you knew so well.

What are your views on some of the Fringe science we see in the show, like parallel universes and dark matter?

Stephen: I love that.  I’ve been a sci-fi guy from way back, including comics in the 60s and sci-fi from the time I was 13 years old.  It’s always fascinated me, whether we’re in a situation where, “Are there multiple universes?  Is the nature of time itself—is it possible to travel back through time?”  That kind of stuff has always fascinated me.  I’m happy to be addressing it a little bit in this show.

Is there anything you can share about any other upcoming projects in the works for you?

Stephen: I’ve got “J. Edgar” opening on the 9th.  I’ve just finished filming Robert Redford’s “The Company You Keep”.  Actually did that the week after we did the Fringe, I started working on that.  Those are a couple of projects coming up.

There are a couple of movie things coming up in next April that are possibilities that I’m excited about. Can’t really talk about them though.  I’m interested to see what people think of “J. Edgar” and when the new Redford movie comes out, what they think of that.  Because they were both fun to work on.

Will you be on the next season of Justified?

Stephen: They’ve actually—I’ll say this; they put a pin in me for an episode later on this season.  Hopefully that will come about.  But, yes, it looks like it will.

Many of your past projects have a core of really fierce fans. What draws you to these projects, and are your reasons for doing these things might be the same reasons that they get such loyal fans?

Stephen: I think you’re right.  I’m hoping that I’m picking projects that I believe are really well-produced, well-written, and star people that you want to work with.  At this stage in my career, I pick projects according to who you want to work with, how well it’s written, and the director.

All those things that you’ve mentioned are the criteria for what I’m working with now, which is why I was thrilled to work with Eastwood on J. Edgar.  I was thrilled to work with Redford on The Company You Keep and The Conspirator.  You try to keep working with people you think are better than you, or you want to work with because you really admire their work.  Yes, that’s pretty much the criteria.

Is there any one role of yours that people still stop you in the street for?

Stephen: Yes.  It’s pretty much—has to be “Office Space”.  I’m currently in Georgia at the moment to see a friend of mine in a play and that’s pretty much what I get stopped for. It’s okay.  It’s like the little movie that continues to be seen by people.  Every couple of years they’ll discover that.  I think it really speaks to mid-America.  It just stays current.

Do you get a lot of fans sending you red staplers in the mail?

Stephen: No.  They want me to send them red staplers and they cost a lot so I can’t do that.  I’m happy.  If they send me one I’ll most certainly sign it, but yes I still get a lot of requests for that.

Are there any shows that you really enjoy that you would love to guest star on?

Stephen: There are a few that I really—I love The Good Wife.  I’d love to work on that.  I love well-written stuff.  I saw Kelsey Grammar’s new show Boss.  I thought that was pretty good.  You want to work on well-written stuff and with people you like.  Off the top of my head, a lot of HBO stuff and FX stuff.  I love doing, obviously, the Justified, Louie.  Whatever’s well-written, really.

Which of your projects have you enjoyed the most?

Stephen: That’s an impossibly hard question.  Because you do so many things, probably series work has got to be your most favorite because you’re going through a family situation.  I did King of the Hill for 13 years.  Brittany Murphy was 18 when she started that project and by the time we finished we’d been through births and deaths and marriages.

I would have to say something like that or the run on NewsRadio were really your most favorite because you’re dealing with what has become your family.

Do you still stay close to the actors from NewsRadio and other projects?

Stephen: Yes.  I get to see Dave every once in a while.  Maura I see—I just saw her in New York.  She’s doing well after her bout with cancer.  She’s great.  I see a lot of the King of the Hill people because they also do other animated shows that I’ve been connected with.  Yes we still all stay in touch.

Your role on True Blood was probably the most out there thing I think I’ve seen you do. Was that difficult?

Stephen: You got to do things that scare you every once in a while.  This was pretty far away from me.  I really wanted to tackle it and see what it was like.  I was really, really pleased with the way it came out.  I was happy to work with those people.

Yes, I think you have to challenge yourself.  You really have to stretch every once in a while.  Sometimes it doesn’t work and sometimes it does.  But, unless you’re challenging yourself, then I’m not doing my job as a character actor.

Which of your roles have presented most of a challenge in terms of getting to a comfortable level where you can stretch?

Stephen: I think that True Blood was farthest away from me in the recent past.  I think back in the beginning of the 90s when I was doing a lot of guest star stuff, it was fun doing a Klingon because I could actually use my Shakespeare training to talk over the dentures.  That was interesting.

Anything you do you approach from, “What would this character be?”  How would you make him interesting to solve the problem that has to be solved?  I’m just happy to work.

You were at Actorfest this past weekend, what’s your advice to actors?

Stephen: Yes, I was happy to do that.  It’s always good to come and tell your horror stories to the younger actors and tell them not to do it unless they really love it. That you shouldn’t be doing it unless you have to do it, not to do it because you think it would be cool, or you think you’re going to make a lot of money, but because this is an artistic expression of yourself that you have to do.

You have to be able to stick it out for a number of years.  It’s a hard thing.  I think probably determination is the greatest thing and talent isn’t. I’ve seen a lot of talented people go by the wayside who couldn’t stick out the day-to-day.  It’s determination and guts and luck—have a lot more to do with it than anything else.

Do you ever get bored with some of the things you’re offered?

Stephen: Those things I don’t take because I’m in a place where I really love not being pigeon-holed to do one thing or another.  I’ll do a comedy and then I’ll do a drama and then I’ll do a sci-fi and then I’ll do an animation.  I’m in a hugely lucky place to be able to work in a variety of things which kind of define the words, “character actor.”

What’s was the worst audition you’ve ever had?

Stephen: Worse audition I’ve ever had?  Nothing jumps to mind.  I’ve been horrible in so many.  It’s hard to pick out a single one.  But no, I couldn’t really do that.  I just know that at this point when I come into a room, if I’m able to do what I want to do, I really don’t care whether I get the job.

If I’ve presented what I want to present in the room, then I’ve done that job and then it’s not up to me.  But, if I haven’t done that, then that’s when I get upset.  It’s like anything else, you want to be able to present what you want to present.  Let it go from there.