The panel for The Blacklist at the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour today began as you might expect – with James Spader discussing his hair. But seriously, Spader said that when he first arrived on set for the pilot, he had his usual longer hair, but decided, “Actors are burdened with everything that they’ve done before that in any role that they’re playing. I thought it was nice to take off my hat and it’s an entirely different person.” He also liked the juxtaposition between the surveillance photo he’d taken for the show, with the long hair, and the look he’d show up with in the series proper, with a shaved head.
Spader plays Raymond “Red” Reddington, a master criminal who’s on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list… and then walks into the FBI office one day and turns himself in. Reddington will only speak to young FBI profiler Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone), which is perplexing since Elizabeth is unaware of any connection between the two. For his own reasons, Red begins helping the FBI, hunting down those on his “Blacklist”; other criminals Red has information on that the FBI do not.
Comparisons have been made with The Silence of the Lambs, which also focused on a male criminal genius and a young, female FBI agent, but executive producer John Eisendrath said he felt that Red was “Very distinct from Hannibal Lecter” and that while Elizabeth “May start out from a Clarice Starling, naïve place, this is a journey of discovery of who she is in a way that I think will take her down a path that is very distinct from Clarice Starling.” He went on to say, “We understand the comparison but the journey they’ll go on is distinctly different.”
Spader said he felt people mostly made the Silence comparison because of the imagery in the pilot, with Red in special cell, speaking to Elizabeth. But he said he felt that changes moving forward. “Reddington hits the street. He’s an asset. That imagery will end fairly soon.”
Discussing the overall approach to The Blacklist, executive producer Jon Bokenkamp said, “Each week we are going to go out and go into a different world of crime,” noting Red will lead them to “Criminals the FBI may not know exist.” He said he felt the show gave them “An opportunity to have fun with the various people involved in crimes in a way we haven’t before.”
That being said, Bokenkamp said he felt, “The reason you come back to it are the people and the secrets that they have and what’s happening at home,” adding, “In most procedural type shows, you don’t go home [with the characters] and here it’s essential you go home.”
So why does Red have an interest in Elizabeth? (Yes, it’s hard not to immediately go to, “he’s her father,” so hopefully it’s not that simple.) Said Bokenkamp, “There are many reasons,” saying they won’t be revealed right away, but stressing, “There are a lot of intricacies.”
Regarding Elizabeth, Boone said she saw her as “a heroic character, but she's complicated and dynamic. That's not common in female characters.”
Bokenkamp said The Blacklist came about because he and fellow EP John Fox were discussing “great movie bad guys like Keyser Soze” and the basic idea was “what would happen if one of these guys started to talk?” Fox described Red and his info as “The Rosetta Stone of crime," given his information on "his crimes, past crimes and most importantly, future crimes.”
The Blacklist premieres September 23rd on NBC.
Source : ign[dot]com
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