I’ve added 4 photos of James from the press conference held before the show.

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During a recent conference call interview Roday talked about being a fan of Alfred Hitchcock and the Psych homage to his films. He also revealed what it was like to work with the ’80s pop culture icon, Ally Sheedy.

The Psych Season Finale is a Hitchcock Homage

Roday not only starred in the final episode of the season, as he does each week, but he also directed it. He said he drew his inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock, stating, “I really do try to stay as faithful to Hitchcock as I could both aesthetically and in pacing and I just shamelessly ripped off four or five shots straight out of his films, quite frankly. It was an homage episode and I’m a Hitchcock fan, and Andy Berman who wrote the episode with me, is a Hitchcock fan. As much as we could get away with doing Hitchcock in a Psych episode that’s definitely what we set out to do.”

Does Roday have a favorite Hitchcock movie? “I am a huge Psycho fan. I have always been a Psycho fan… I just think Hitchcock sort of revolutionized the idea of the chiller twist that horror films attempted to be predicated on since Psycho came out. That is the original jaw dropping twist that set everything else in motion. I love that movie, and Anthony Perkins is fantastic in it and it’s shot amazingly and yes, that would be my number one.”

Hitchcock was known for creating an entire movie in his head before any shooting happened. Roday was asked if he approached this episode that same way. He replied, “No. Hitchcock, God love him, he’s one of the great masters of all time, but he did used to stick to that whole idea that the entire movie was in his head before he stepped on set for the first day and that never once in his entire career did anything ever change. That’s the most impossible thing in the world for me to believe, if for no other reason than something must have fallen over at some point or exploded or something.”

Roday continued, “We’re a TV show on a seven-day schedule so… you learn very quickly that if you can get two or three or maybe four of the things right or at least close to what you had in your head over the course of a seven-day shoot then you’ve succeeded. For this episode the Hitchcock stuff was obviously very important. We wanted to service that as best as we could and it was a lot.”

James Roday Directs Ally Sheedy

The episode brought back the character of serial killer, Mr. Yang, played by Ally Sheedy. She first performed the role in the Season 3 finale and reprised it again in this last episode of Season 4. Roday was asked what it was like working with an ’80s icon.

He replied, “I’ve been a huge Ally Sheedy fan for a long time and she’s been on our board of people that absolutely must come on the show since the very beginning. It’s surreal. It really is. You grow up and you have dreams of doing this for a living and you have people that inspired you and then you get lucky enough to do it and one day you’re sitting across from them and it’s crazy – it’s unbelievable. You just kind of want to capture these moments in little time capsules… I haven’t been nervous many times on our show, I have to be honest, but I had the butterflies going with Ally.

Will David Bowie be the Next Guest Star on Psych?

One other pop culture icon Roday has always wanted to work with is David Bowie, but so far he has not had any luck securing the musician/actor. He admitted, “It’s a long shot, man. He’s always in some exotic place and he’s tough to track down. I feel like our best shot was probably on American Duos when Landis, who is friends with him, sort of reached out and almost made it happen. We’re going to keep trying, but I have to be realistic. I want you all to be realistic with me. There is a less than 30% chance it’s going to happen, but we’re going to keep trying.”

What Show Would Roday Like to Guest On?

Lastly the actor commented on whether there is a show he would like to guest star on. He divulged, “I’m going to cheat my way out of this and say I was ready to do just about anything on Flight of the Concords but now they’re done so my dream is out. My candle is no longer burning. I think those guys are genius and I would have rode by on a bicycle and just the back of my head being featured. I thought that’s how much fun they were having on that show.”

source: primetimetv.suite101.com

I participated in an interview call with JAMES RODAY, who is always a joy to speak with and ALLY SHEEDY who was just incredible and I wonder if she still hangs out with JOHNNY 5? Here is what they had to say about the season finale of PSYCH and their roles:

Lena Lamoray: James, how do you think the fans are going to react to the finale and some of the choices that were made by the characters?

JAMES RODAY: I hope they dig it. There is not a lot of build up to it and I think our publicity guys have done a really good job of sort of getting everybody’s anticipation up and like I said I think we’ll get away with it partially because it’s a finale and everybody gets a few months off to sort of process and water cooler talk and you don’t have to sort of adjust yourself to come right back next week and watch us save a sea mammal of some sort.

I think the fact that it’s the end of the season buys us a little bit of latitude and the fact that it’s a little darker and a little scarier and the stakes are pretty high is fun I hope for fans. It’s a nice sort of curve ball that we don’t throw very often. Also, I think it’s a treat to watch good actors doing good work on a show that you’re a fan of. I think that’s what Ally and Jimmi and the rest of the cast sort of delivered in spades in this episode. They certainly all made me look good.

Lena Lamoray: Ally, can you share with us any funny stories about your time on the set of Psych?

ALLY SHEEDY: Oh my gosh, do you have like all day? It was the whole thing was really funny, but I have to say it’s very difficult to work with Jimmi and not break because he is so friggin’ funny. I just basically decided if I started laughing it actually would work and as soon as I did that then it wasn’t difficult. Do you know what I mean? I wasn’t thinking like, don’t laugh because it’s impossible. Besides I think I would find him funny.

On this one there was an entire contraption set up which was a metal cord that was pulling me backwards so a certain part of the scene was just about the cord for me because I just didn’t know when I was going to get pulled backwards, which kind of made it work even better.

JAMES RODAY: Yes, you did.

ALLY SHEEDY: What? I didn’t know when it was going to go back.

JAMES RODAY: Yes, that played every time.

ALLY SHEEDY: Yes, I didn’t. That was completely human response. The guys were behind the wall and they were going to pull it like when they felt like it was the right time so I never knew when it was going to happen.

Some conference call highlights:

Q: What are some of your favorite episodes in Psych’s four seasons?

JAMES RODAY: Yes. Ally likes the Yang episodes. I too, like the Yang episodes. I would toss in just a random sampling of – let’s see, I’ve always been really fond of the tele-novella episode where we spoofed a Spanish soap opera that was called “Lights, Camera, Homicidio.” I think like half of season one is very dear to me just because we were sort of flying by the seat of our pants and every week was truly a new adventure. I look back at some of those episodes and even though they may not be the greatest episodes they’ll always have – they’ll be very near and dear to me because it was just so much love happening to get this show off the ground. Then more recently they let me direct for the first time in season three and I’ll always remember that very fondly. That was the “Tuesday the 17th” episode and the first time John Landis came up to work with us on an episode called “Scary Sherry,” that also was one heck of an experience. But mostly the episodes with Mr. Yang.

Q: Where do you get the creative inspiration for your character to be so bizarre and different? Do you get all that from the script or is there someone in your life that you modeled the character after?

JAMES RODAY: It’s a really great character because he kind of lives by his own set of rules and he’s Peter Pan. He’s Puck, I don’t know real people like him. To approach any situation first and ask questions later that’s just Shawn, and I think I’ve sort of found it along the way. Like I said if you go back and watch early episodes and compare them to the stuff that we’re doing now I think the evolution of the character is – you can see a lot of differences. I’ve always sort of trusted in the fact that this guy doesn’t think a whole lot before he does stuff, so I try not to think too much before I do stuff, and I think it’s worked out okay.

Q: Clearly in this episode there is a lot of Hitchcock references. James I was wondering if there is anyone else you drew inspiration from – influences from when you were directing this episode?

JAMES RODAY: You know, I really do try to stay as faithful to Hitchcock as I could both aesthetically and in pacing and I just shamelessly ripped off four or five shots straight out of his films, quite frankly. It was an homage episode and I’m a Hitchcock fan, and Andy Berman who wrote the episode with me, is a Hitchcock fan. As much as we could get away with doing Hitchcock in a Psych episode that’s definitely what we set out to do.

Q: Ally, from the season finale it looks like we may be seeing more of you. Do you know when that might be, how long we’ll have to wait to see you again?

ALLY SHEEDY: I don’t know. I think there is a strange secretive sort of story going on here and so I’m not going to answer that unless James says I can.

JAMES RODAY: I think it’s fair to say we have not seen the last of her and we’ll leave it at that.

Q: Ally, how hard is it to be kind of menacing – this menacing character on such a hilarious show?

ALLY SHEEDY: Oh, it’s not hard at all. It’s not hard at all because everybody is so whacked out and so extreme that I feel like I’m not in the middle of some very serious true to life drama where I have to pull out all these details about how a serial killer would really behave. I just feel like I get to sort of swing out there and wing it, and it was fun working with James as a director because I definitely had the feeling like anything I could come up with goes. Nobody was coming up to me and saying, well, that’s really not how da, da, da, da, da. I felt like I have total freedom with this character to go anywhere, which is the best when you’re working.

Q: James, the episode that we’ll be seeing has kind of a little bit shocked and surprised a lot of the fans. It’s kind of hard for them to figure out what’s going to be happening. Is that surprise element something that you feel is important not only to this episode coming up but to the show itself?

JAMES RODAY: I don’t want to pull the rug out from under our fans every week and slap them in the face with stuff, but this was a season finale and it was the long awaited return of Mr. Yang, and yes, we kind of wanted to load our canon with as much stuff as we could. That’s a fun way to end a season, I think.

Q: Are there any clues as to who Yin is in either of the two episodes that we have?

JAMES RODAY: No, nothing overt. We’re still sort of working that out ourselves, but we’ll make sure that when we do finally sort of come clean we’ll do our best not to make it one of those things where retrospectively it’s like, well, that’s not – that couldn’t have been possible. We’ll do our best not to cheat. I don’t think we’ve backed ourselves into any corners so far. We’ve kept it pretty ambiguous. We’ll just come up with something really cool and then lay it out there.

Q: I guess it’s obvious now that “Mr. Yin Presents” was always kind of being formed since the first episode but how did the whole story line come together and how long have you been working on writing it, James?

JAMES RODAY: Well, we sort of – we kind of had to … that it would be fun to do a trilogy within the landscape of Psych. For a while it was just me and Andy that thought that was cool and then we did the first one and it kind of went over like gangbusters. And Ally was a huge part of our campaign to keep going because I think she did such a marvelous job with that character that it’s like how can you not want more of that? I’ve got to give credit to Jimmi Simpson, too, who also came in and created this unbelievable sort of character that we didn’t want to see the end of yet either. A lot of things came together to sort of give us a boost and then from there it was sort of like a no-brainer. We started thinking about the second Yang, I think a day after the first one aired and everybody was so pumped about it. We have not stopped thinking about it since because we still have more work to do.

Q: I enjoyed the Hitchcock references and I was wondering for either of you if there was any particular movie that you wanted to reference in that or what your favorite Hitchcock movie is in general.

ALLY SHEEDY: See, she’s the boss in this and I can’t remember anything anymore. Vertigo, yes, I love Vertigo, absolutely. I didn’t frigging reference anything for that character. I was like, whatever, you know?

JAMES RODAY: I personally am a huge Psycho fan. I have always been a Psycho fan. I’m a horror buff, which is why not only did I get Ally Sheedy in a John Hughes tribute, I got a horror film tribute in the same Oscar telecast and I don’t think it gets better than it did last night for me. I just think Hitchcock sort of revolutionized the idea of the chiller twist that horror films kind of attempted to be predicated on since Psycho came out. That is the original jaw dropping twist that sort of set everything else in motion. I love that movie, and Anthony Perkins is fantastic in it and it’s shot amazingly and yes, that would be my number one.

Q: Hey, James, I thought that was a pretty good Jimmy Stewart impersonation you had there. How long did it take to perfect that, or was that one of those kind of impersonations that you have to know as an actor?

JAMES RODAY: You know what? I didn’t think I had a Jimmy Stewart in my canon but Andy wrote it and I gave it a shot with a full disclaimer that if it was terrible we would not be using it. It’s a bad Jimmy Stewart impression but it’s good enough that you know who it is. Yes, that’s what I have to say about that.

Q: Ally, what was it like having all those actors on the same stage again last night and what did you think about Fisher Steven’s win?

ALLY SHEEDY: Oh, that was – well first of all, that movie The Cove is an incredible documentary. It really, really is. It’s not a – I’ve never seen a documentary quite like that one just because of the particular people who were involved in it. It was thrilling. There was Fisher, who I’ve known forever, up there for a documentary. It’s just – I can’t really describe the feeling but there is something about it where you kind of feel like you’re proud of the person even though there is no reason for you to feel proud of them, kind of. It was great to see everybody. It’s really, really nice actually to see everyone. The only person I’m really in touch with regularly is Judd, so it was just nice to check in and see everyone is doing so great.

Q: James, I know that Hitchcock loved to kind of do most of his directing in preproduction in the fact that he kind of knew how he would be directing before the first day of shooting. Did you approach it this way, the same way that Hitchcock approached it?

JAMES RODAY: No. Hitchcock, God love him, he’s one of the great masters of all time, but he did used to stick to that whole idea that the entire movie was in his head before he stepped on set for the first day and that never once in his entire career did anything ever change. That’s like the most impossible thing in the world for me to believe if for no other reason than something must have fallen over at some point or exploded or something.

We’re a TV show on a seven day schedule so it’s like you want to make people laugh, come in with a plan. Ha, ha that’s very funny. You learn very quickly that if you can get two or three or maybe four of the things right or at least close to what you had in your head over the course of a seven day shoot then you’ve succeeded. That’s a lot to be happy about. The same goes for this episode. I sort of chose my battles and I picked the things that I really, really, really wanted to look like the way that they were storyboarded or the way that they were conceived and everything else you’re just rolling with the punches and collaborating like crazy and hoping that other people will step up and make you look good because you simply haven’t had time to think about some stuff as much as others. For this episode the Hitchcock stuff was obviously very important. We wanted to service that as best as we could and it was a lot. It was a very ambitious episode. Andy and I had sort of looked at each other several times and we were like, gosh, why did we think we could do this? It’s a game and you’ve kind of got to be ready for anything at any time and that’s the fun of it also.

Q: Ally, tell me about the conversation, somebody had to have come to you and said, hey, do you want to play a serial killer? I mean, who gets to play a serial killer for fun.

ALLY SHEEDY: Right? Exactly. That was my reaction. No. I heard okay, so there is a show called Psych and they want you to do a character called Mr. Yang, and could you take a look at the script? I read it. I didn’t know how on earth anybody had me in mind for that part either, not a clue. But as soon as I read it, I thought, okay. This is going to be really, really, really fun so absolutely and jump in. That’s how it went.

Q: James, since the show likes to reference the 80s so much, what was it like for you working opposite Ally?

JAMES RODAY: It kind of goes back to that last question, I’ve been a huge Ally Sheedy fan for a long time and she’s been on our board of people that absolutely must come on the show since the very beginning. It’s surreal. It really is. You grow up and you have dreams of doing this for a living and you have people that inspired you and then you get lucky enough to do it and one day you’re sitting across from them and it’s crazy, but it’s also – it’s unbelievable. All you can do is – you just kind of want to capture these moments in little time capsules. I haven’t been nervous many times on our show, I have to be honest, but I had the butterflies going with Ally.

ALLY SHEEDY: It’s so cool. James, what’s really funny is when we were sitting in the car for the first scene in the first episode, I was sitting there and was just okay, ready, jump off the cliff here and just do my thing; but I was also thinking please let me do a good job for him. You don’t know what goes on, on the other side, too. It’s like both of us, you know?

Q: Ally, what’s the best part about playing Mr. Yang?

ALLY SHEEDY: Everything. Everything about Mr. Yang is fun for me, everything. When I read this one and – I wish somebody could read what I read for the first one. Mr. Yang is on a bungee cord like banging off walls. You know what I mean? I read that and then I gave it to my kid to read and I said, “I don’t have a clue how they’re going to do this.” She thought it was just hilarious. I also said to Rebecca, “I’ve done a lot of stuff in my career as you know, my darling girl, but I have never been on a bungee cord.”

Q: James, I want to know how different is it to direct something you wrote as opposed to the other one that Steve Franks wrote and you directed?

JAMES RODAY: I actually wrote the other one with Steve as well. I would say this one was a little different in that in terms of the writing it was actually — the first one was much closer to me from a writing standpoint in that it was a slasher episode and I’m sort of the slasher aficionado on the staff. There was a lot of responsibility to make sure that we were making a slasher film even though we were doing an episode of Psych. This time Andy did a lot of heavy lifting and I was able to sort of focus way more on the aesthetics and making sure that it looked good. There was still a difference I think. Also, just the first time around I was mostly dealing with our core cast and this time around I was actually getting to direct Ally Sheedy. That was just the other big difference. By direct I mean popping in to the cell after each take and giving her a big thumbs up with a sh..-eating grin on my face — … and then going back behind the monitor.

Q: In the past that your goal here is to get David Bowie on the show at some point, so have you started to think a little bit about season four? Is your little quest to get David Bowie any closer?

JAMES RODAY: It’s a long shot, man. He’s always in some exotic place and he’s tough to track down. I feel like our best shot was probably on “American Duos” when Landis, who is friends with him, sort of reached out almost made it happen. We’re going to keep trying, but I have to be realistic. I want you all to be realistic with me. There is a less than 30% chance it’s going to happen, but we’re going to keep trying.

Q: Ally, this is just to satisfy the Breakfast Club geek inside of me, and that is if you could bring anybody from the Breakfast Club over to Psych for an episode, maybe you could take them down as Mr. Yang, who would it be?

ALLY SHEEDY: Oh, I don’t know that I should be answering this question. I don’t want to get – let’s just say I have an idea but I’m going to be in big trouble if I say it. I’m not quite sure how I’m taking … down. No, no. I know. I know. One of my favorite people in the world is Judd, but he already did an episode of Psych. I guess my personal soft spot love is for Judd, so there you go.

JAMES RODAY: So we can bring Judd back and then she can take him down and there you go.

Q: Ally, how did you prepare for this role for Mr. Yang?

ALLY SHEEDY: I just told myself not to get – just to not plan anything ahead of time. It was so funny and wacky so I decided to completely dispense with the creepy dark, very serious and brooding serial killer thing and just like I thought the whole thing was hysterically funny. I thought that whole monologue in the car in the first one was hysterically funny. So I decided I was going to do that and if somebody thinks it should be not funny then they’ll come and tell me.
Q: James, what was it like doing a more dramatic episode of Psych. Usually you guys are more comedic and funny. What was it like doing such a dramatic episode?

JAMES RODAY: We as the cast dig those. We don’t get to do them very often. As much as we love our show and as lucky as we are to do it and still be doing it, any time we can mix things up it’s fun for us because we get to work different muscles and even if it’s just for a week it’s fun to mix things up. Once or twice a year we know that we’ll have these episodes coming up and everybody gets pumped and everybody gets a little extra sleep. We don’t go out as much and we recognize it as an opportunity to do something that we don’t always get to do.

Q: James, this episode is extremely Shawn focused and kind of features a little more dramatic pivotal moments for his character. Do you think this in any way will change the tone of the series next season?

JAMES RODAY: No, I don’t think it’s going to change the tone. I think it’s another sort of feather in the cap of Shawn’s growth. Obviously I’m not getting younger; the character is not getting younger. None of us are getting younger so we have to start addressing that. This is a pretty good jumping off point, I think going into season five of just like wow, everybody sort of needs to check in with themselves and recognize that you can’t be a kid forever and maybe that should start informing our behavior a little bit. We’re still going to be plenty silly. This is just a character beat for him more than anything. He’s mortal even though he likes to think sometimes that he isn’t. This is sort of just a wake-up call. It’s good. You’ve got to do that kind of stuff once you get this deep into the series so that you feel like you’re going somewhere.

Q: On the Oscars, what was the experience like just kind of having – being surrounded by your past?

ALLY SHEEDY: Oh it was great. Really I haven’t seen most of those people for quite a while. It’s bizarre because every time we see each other it’s sort of like not a lot of time has passed. I share this crazy experience with those four people and nobody else in the world. It’s weird. We just share a lot so there is a lot of unspoken stuff that goes on.

Q: James, in this episode you’re acting and directing. I was just wondering what’s the biggest challenge for you for doing both at the same time in a scene?

JAMES RODAY: The acting part is more challenging because I just don’t want to think about it. I think I might have gotten marginally better from my first time out when I wasn’t thinking about it at all and my set of eyes on the set, Andy Berman, had to keep running up to me going everything is great except for you. You need to go again. This time I think I was a little more aware of it, but truthfully there are so many things that you’re sort of in charge of and there are so many questions that you have to answer after any given take from the director’s perspective that that’s kind of all you’re thinking about, at least me anyway. I’m just lucky that on the acting side I’m playing a character that I’ve played for many, many years, that certainly helps. Staying in the moment as an actor is definitely the biggest challenge while you’re directing.

Q: Considering all the remakes that they’re doing in Hollywood now if they were to do a Breakfast Club reboot who do you think they should cast in the roles.

ALLY SHEEDY: Well that will never happen, by the way, ever, never, never. Wow. Who should be in it? Well …

JAMES RODAY: Hypothetically I would protest. I would stand outside of the studio with a sign to prevents actors from going in and auditioning.

ALLY SHEEDY: I think – you know who I think is great who would be so – I think she would be great is either Allison Ormali’s character. I love that actress in Up in the Air, the young one, Anna Kendrick, she’s great so she can do anything. That’s what I think.

Q: James, my question is for you first. I was pretty surprised when I was watching the movie Gamer and you and Maggie Lawson popped up together on screen. How did that come about?

JAMES RODAY: Oh man. We’re buddies with the filmmakers. I’ve known Mark and Brian for a while and they just called and said, “Hey do you guys want to come to New Mexico for a day and do some silly stuff?” We were on our way across country to visit Maggie’s family anyway so we just made a quick pit stop and did that silly stuff.

Q: Was the mustache your idea or theirs?

JAMES RODAY: The mustache is always my idea, man. Any time I can exploit that thing I do because it’s serious and it’s real.

Q: Ally, was it tough when you first played the character to come into the show with this really tight knit ensemble cast or did they make you feel welcome from the get-go?

ALLY SHEEDY: They made me feel welcome and it was not difficult because this is just a whacked character. You could drop this character anywhere and I don’t think that she particularly pays any attention to what’s going on around her. She lives inside this crazy ass mind. I felt really welcome and I didn’t feel like an intruder at all. I felt like the killer has shown up.

JAMES RODAY: We were ready to cater to Ally’s every whim and need the first time she came. She was shooting in the middle of a rain storm in a drive-in movie theater and the trailers were way far away and she showed up and was just like, “I’m not going back. I’m not going back to the trailer.”

ALLY SHEEDY: No, no. No way, it was fun there. How surreal was that? We were in a drive-in movie theater in the middle of the night with that crazy man who was worried about his car, you know the entire time. I just thought this is just nuts.

JAMES RODAY: She was awesome. We just all got to hang out with Ally Sheedy for a night. That’s pretty much how it worked out.

ALLY SHEEDY: James, that guy was obsessed with the belt buckle, the whole night that he was going to get a scratch on that car. I felt like, so don’t give your car to a movie set. He didn’t want a scratch on his car. It was like, he had to have read the script like you get thrown on the car and it’s – he kept coming up to me and he was like, “Don’t scratch the car.”

JAMES RODAY: Exactly. Why, was he there? Dude, are you kidding? I’m a serial killer. Why do think you even think you can reach me right now.Why do think you can reach me right now, I’m a serial killer. I don’t even understand what you’re saying to me.

ALLY SHEEDY: Oh my God. Oh my God, yes –

Q: Hey James, what do you do on the time off during the summer? Do you get a chance to sit down and write more? I know you’ve dabbled in film writing some. Do you get a chance to work on that at all?

JAMES RODAY: Yes. I’ve always got some ball in the air. I’ve got to do it while I’m young I guess. This hiatus I actually spent doing a play. We started in Los Angeles and we’re now wrapping up the run that we’re doing here in New York City so that’s been awesome and different and totally gratifying. That’s pretty much gobbled up all of this hiatus. You’ve got to keep writing to get better so any time somebody asks me advice – writing advice – I don’t know why they would ask me, but when they do I just say always be writing. There is always stuff on the burners.

Q: Ally, James has this commercial where he and other actors state something about themselves that people might not know. For instance, James says, “I am Mexican.” So what would you say that maybe people wouldn’t know about you on a commercial like that or a PSA.

ALLY SHEEDY: I’m actually a man.

JAMES RODAY: Gee, nobody knows that, but now everybody knows that. Don’t even know what to say because that’s so unbelievably startling and profound you don’t even know how to respond.

Q: Your character Allison Reynolds on Breakfast Club –seemed a little off. Do you think she hadn’t become friends with those kids during detention she may have gone off – lost the wheels and become Mr. Yang?

ALLY SHEEDY: Oh my goodness. Isn’t that funny? Well, I think she has that day with them but I don’t think it means that her wheels don’t come off. I think things sort of go back to the way they were after that. That’s what I think at the end of the Breakfast Club day it’s the way it was before. I have my own ideas in my head about what happens with Allison but I do think the wheels definitely come off at a certain point, yes.

Q: James, you’ve already had Ally and Judd as you guys have mentioned. When is the next Breakfast Club member showing up?

JAMES RODAY: Good question, man. It would be quite a feat to get all five of them. You know what? I’m not just saying this because Ally is on the phone, Ally was always sort of a – like she was kind of number one and then Judd was number two and then there was like a three-way tie with lots of love for the other ones. I kind of feel like I’ve already – for me anyway, I got the top two on the list. It would be great to get all of them. I don’t even think Emilio really acts anymore, does he?

ALLY SHEEDY: Molly is doing a TV show, but Michael, I bet Michael would do the show, and he’s really funny.

JAMES RODAY: He’s awesome. I’ve actually hung out with him and he used to be on the network, so I think we could make that happen.

Q: They always ask you who you’d like to see guest star on the show and I’d like to ask both of you the opposite, which show would either of you like to be on and what type of character would you want to play?

JAMES RODAY: I’m going to sort of cheat my way out of this and say I was ready to do just about anything on Flight of the Concords until it got – but now they’re done so my dream is out. My candle is no longer burning. I would have literally – I think those guys are genius and I would have rode by on a bicycle and just the back of my head being featured. I thought that’s how much fun they were having on that show.

Q: Ally, what other show would you – that’s on currently that you’d like to guest star on and what other type of character would you like to try?

ALLY SHEEDY: I like extreme characters these days that are just fun. I’d love to play some kind of – The Good Wife films in New York and it’s a cool show and I was thinking I’d love to play one of those horrible Washington hostesses. Somebody who is just really awful in every single way on that show, someone really mean. That would be fun.

source: lenalamoray.com

My time, though, was limited mainly to “Psych”-related questions. My first inquiry had to deal directly with a personal quest Roday told me about earlier this year — getting David Bowie on the show. When asked about a potential future appearance by the once-Goblin King, Roday had this to say:

“It’s a long shot man…he’s always in some exotic place and he’s tough to track down. I feel like our best shot was probably back on [season two episode] ‘American Duos’ when Landis who is friends with him reached out and tried to make it happen.

“We’re going to keep trying, but I have to be realistic — and I want you all to be realistic with me — there is a less than 30% chance that it will happen.”

I then turned my attention over to Sheedy, who James openly admits being in awe of during their entire time shooting. (After all, “Mr. Yin Presents…” combines two of his favorite things: John Hughes movies and Alfred Hitchcock).

My question for her was admittedly silly: “if you could hire on actor from ‘The Breakfast Club’ to take down as Mr. Yang, who would it be?” After a few seconds of laughter Sheedy finally conceded by saying “I don’t know if I can answer this!” However (with the help of Roday), we came up with a reasonable solution: since Judd Nelson appeared on “Psych” earlier this season, we decided that they would just bring back his character and have Mr. Yang kill him off.

All in all, the two were friendly and relaxed as the talked about the end to the show’s fourth season. There is some good stuff coming down the road, but we will just have to keep watching to see what happens.

source

In their latest collaboration, Roday and Weston play two friends on a reckless weekend in Gabe McKinley’s new play EXTINCTION, now running at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Wayne Kasserman directs. Roday and Weston are reprising their roles Off-Broadway in EXTINCTION following its acclaimed, sold-out run this past fall in Los Angeles at the Elephant Space theatre in Hollywood.

With a cast also featuring Amanda Detmer and Stefanie E. Frame, EXTINCTION tells a story about what transpires between two college buddies whose annual outing of male-bonding and debauchery veers precipitously off course.

The production has been quite a family affair. Roday, McKinley and Kasserman studied together at New York University’s Experimental Theatre Wing and have been supporting each other’s work since. Roday and Weston became fast friends on the set of “The Dukes of Hazzard” in 2005.

Unwinding from an intense finale, Roday and Weston spoke with BroadwayWorld (uncut) about the production, and how they have managed to build careers the old fashioned way – seeking out quality material with quality people to create product that, like EXTINCTION, is just plain great. And it is refreshing.

Start with the genesis: how did EXTINCTION come into your lives? Was it production ready or in concept form?

JR: I have a little Equity waiver company in Los Angeles called Red Dog Squadron. We did EXTINCTION last fall there. Gabe McKinley – the writer – and I went to college together and I’ve been reading his material for a while now. And I read this and just felt “Wow, this is ready. It’s time to announce your presence with authority and I think this is the piece.” So, unbeknownst to us, we ended up using the LA run as something of a workshop. And by the end of it we were all so moved by the experience and our expectations had been so far surpassed, we weren’t ready to be done. My co-star on “Psych,” the TV show I work on, Dule Hill, has a great relationship with the Cherry Lane Theatre and he said, “let me see if I can get some interest going.” That’s how we landed here.

MW: James produces as well so he brought the script to me to do a reading initially. The script was in really good shape but it was hard to tell from just the reading what was fleshed out and what was not. We all wanted to work on it but we also felt like we needed to understand the characters better. And that’s what the LA run did for me. It really allowed us to get into the characters, discover all the little possibilities.

JR: Even at the reading the trajectory was pretty clear. At its core it’s a really honest piece about a friendship. And if you could use that, and then we go from there we could be in good shape.

Why was it important for you to work on this project, perhaps over others?

MW: There was great depth in the male psyche and in the male relationship in this play. That’s something you don’t see in much writing.

JR: You don’t – it’s a unique thing for a male actor to get to work with.

MW: It gets into the nitty-gritty, the subtleties, beneath this really tight male friendship. And this relationship reflects the sort of deep ego problems and competitiveness and primal things going on beneath these facades all guys wear.

JR: The first time I read this play, I thought “How interesting to see what happens to two men behind closed doors when they’re allowed to talk to each other in ways they would never let a woman see.” And it’s not just men behaving badly. It’s men behaving humanely and men allowing themselves to be vulnerable and that’s something that I don’t think you necessarily get to see a lot. We’re not comfortable turning the looking glass on ourselves, like “Oh yeah, I have that kind of relationship with my bud.” Guys don’t do that kind of stuff.

MW: You don’t want to talk about it.

JR: You’re dudes.

MW: You know, when I read EXTINCTION the first time, I did not really like my character ‘Max.’ It was hard for me, grappling with what I could bring to him. I didn’t want to expose myself – it was hard for me to think of myself being that guy in any way. There was something that was pushing me away from it and because of that I knew that there was a real challenge in the material to flush out the truth of the real friendship between these guys, even though the stuff that they’re doing to each other and the stuff that they say can be really crass and harsh sometimes. There is this sort of bluntness about who guys really are without embellishing it with too much. I appreciate that kind of writing.

Have you noticed the women in the production having a decidedly different reaction to the play than you guys?

MW: I think girls have really different reaction than dudes’ because I think women have encountered these kinds of relationships with men more often, so there is less surprise. Men tend to be more open in their relationships with women. I also think the writing of the girls in this reflects that and was really well done, really well executed. The kind of energy and femininity that they bring into the play is so important to its overall finish.

JR: They both sort of found a way to exist above what’s happening, as if they had “seen it all before” even though they are very much a part of the drama.

I found their acting almost cinematic with all the nuances that they played…
You both seem to have very diverse interests in entertainment. You work in multiple mediums and genres – producing, writing acting, film, television etc. How do you choose your roles and your projects?

JR: Well, my goal is to work with tall, attractive women.

MW: (laughs) Them and bearded men. If I have those two things, I’m in. Seriously, though, for me it’s all about the writing – I mean, the writing’s always where you start. And working with great people. In the end what really got me in this was wanting to work with James and all these other guys and wonderful girls. Working with friends is an ultimate goal in this business because it makes the work better. It also makes it fun.

JR: You know what, it’s funny. In a perfect world every time you took a role it would represent a new challenge and would work a muscle that you’ve never worked before. But you know the truth is, they don’t come along that often and when they do a lot of times other people get them. You sort of learn to recognize the stuff that you want to seize up really quickly because you find yourself used to doing a lot of stuff that doesn’t necessarily warrant that passion. As an actor you don’t run away from roles like this. You do them and you don’t know when you’ll get to do them again. I love my day job with the TV show, I love all the people I work with, but the truth is for me it’s been four years of essentially kicking the same balls and catching the same balls. And this was an opportunity to work with something that wasn’t round, so to speak (laughter).

This is not your first collaboration.

MW: Oh no…no it’s not!

JR: This is our third foray. The first time was on the masterpiece known as “The Dukes of Hazzard”…

MW: Where we both wore a mustache…Mine was much bigger than yours.

JR: We had never met before that movie and we sort of immediately gravitated towards one another, because we were these guys who couldn’t quite believe that they were doing this movie, as fun as it was…

MW: I did not anticipate making a lifelong friend on the set of “Dukes of Hazzard.” I will tell you that much. (laughs)

JR: And then I forced him to come up to Vancouver and do an episode of “Psych” which remains one of my favorite episodes on the whole show. We sort of turned each other loose and got away with murder. (laughs) Mike’s hair deserves a mention…

(laughter)

MW: I have like a history of weird hair.

JR: Oh. We’re forgetting our 40 hours in New Mexico too, on that movie…

MW: Oh yeah, yeah. “The Gamer.” We went up there and shot that movie for a day.

JR: Did we have mustaches for that too?

MW: I don’t know, but my hair was weird, I remember that.

JR: So basically after that we decided that it was a time to take our working relationship to the next level with this project.

Why do you think you work so well together?

JR: I marvel when I watch Mike when he’s really in the groove because he’s got so much heart as a person and he’s got access to it on stage and on film. He’s able find the humanity in a role that is really, really difficult. In this show, for example, your heart aches for ‘Max’ and it’s all because of Mike. He’s far more methodical than I could ever dream of being and that’s also an interesting experience. He’s got a method and it’s kind of been like a classroom situation for me.

MW: It’s the same with James. He’s a consummate pro and I think we bring the best out of each other, because we can relax around each other. James is generous in life and also generous as an actor. And he gives you so much to work with. He so naturally picks up on the jokes, the way to say lines and rhythms of the script. And he has a great sense of humor, even in the tragic moments. When I started on this role I got really hung up on the sort of darker areas of it. And it was hard for me to hold my head up. And James helped me focus on the friendship, and develop that. The kind of actor like James who is that giving and generous is the greatest actor to work with. And that’s the bottom line. It makes you better and it makes everyone around you better. This whole group brought the best out of each other because of the generosity on stage. Actors aren’t necessarily known for that and when they give it, it’s a jewel, it’s a rare thing.

What was the most difficult part in putting this production together?

JR: We were ridiculously short on rehearsal time both in Los Angeles and in New York. So it was actually crucial that this cast be who it was, I feel. It was one of those sort of serendipitous things, like in order to pull this off, it kind of had to be everybody that it was.

MW: We had two weeks in LA, right? Literally. He just got back from the series and we had two weeks from our first reading to putting it up on stage. I mean, just to get the lines down…the day we walked out on opening night I still was thumbing through my script for lines. The first half of that run in LA was still basically rehearsal.

JR: And then because of the snowstorm before we opened in New York, we basically had 16 hours or so in the theater here before the first preview last week.

MW: It was crazy, and yet while it doesn’t give you enough time to hammer out all the little things, it also doesn’t give you enough time to really think about all the stuff that could go wrong.

How did Wayne become involved as the director?

JR: Wayne is another NYU guy. He got his MFA so he acts, as well. But he was kind of the perfect choice for this because he sort of recognized how to handle all of the elements, along with the time constraint we were under. He really allowed us to find things on our own, even though he was gently pushing us in the right direction. He recognized that there simply wasn’t time or room for another huge cook in the kitchen and just kind of massaged and added nuance.

MW: Even though he had very explicit ideas about what he wanted done, he would guide us so we felt like we owned it. And that’s something that we really needed in that short amount of time because it gave us confidence. And that light hand as a director I think is an incredible skill that very, very few people that I’ve ever worked with have. That’s the kind of director you want to work with. It’s amazing how rare it is, when a director can take his or her own ego out of it…

James, talk a bit about your production company, Red Dog Squadron. A lot of people don’t’ know you as a producer since you’re always in front. How did it start?

JR: Well, I always wanted to have access to theater, especially when I realized I was probably going to be rooted in LA for awhile. I wasn’t going stop doing theater with all of my screen work. I felt that would be a really poor choice. So Brad Raider – who’s another guy I went to NYU with – moved out to LA around the same time and we started a little company to sort of keep our acting muscles in shape. And the first couple of shows that we did were these small passion projects that we threw up. We were hammering nails and building sets and we would only run for like 4 days and that was it, one-weekend runs. And then two years ago we took our first major step and produced a play called GRAND DELUSION, which was a world premiere of this really raucous period farce by a playwright named David Rock. And that was our first attempt at really hiring and entrusting other people with a production. We moved to a much larger theater. And it kind of gave us the confidence that “Hey, with a little bit of planning, we can do this, we can pull this off.” And EXTINCTION was the next one. And now I kind of feel like we’ve got some momentum and we should probably at least do a show a year.

MW: It’s a great company. I just started working with them for this and there were many hands on deck and many people down the line deserve a lot of credit for keeping this up in LA, getting it there.

JR: It’s really fortuitous when you know lots of talented people.

What made you decide to produce EXTINCTION under the banner of your own company?

JR: You know, initially I wasn’t going to come on or produce because I couldn’t imagine putting up a show with only two weeks of rehearsal. Regardless of how interested I was in this role, I thought I couldn’t take responsibility for actually getting it on its feet. But then we sat down with Gabe and Wayne to discuss how crazy we were being and Gabe said, “We can do it. We remember what this is, we went to college, we know how to do this.” And he was right. So we all decided “All right, screw it.” After that, Amanda was a quick call. This is her fourth show with us and she basically said “Tell me where to show up, I’m in.” And Stefanie happens to be the playwright’s girlfriend so she’s been very close to this material for a long time. So there were enough pieces in place that once I looked at it and got everyone’s thumbs up, it was like “all right.” Once my heart is in the right place and I know why I’m doing something, I want to solve the problems that come up too. I want to work in a way that will make the project be as good as it can possibly be.

MW: I have to give James props here because it takes a lot to put on a play in LA and to get people on the same page. There’s a certain kind of respect and a love for theater here in New York that really isn’t out there. It has many other personalities, but it’s very dispersed over a mass of suburbs. To actually get people to come to the theater is not as easy as it is here.

James, was this the first show that you both starred in and produced at the same time?

JR: Yes. I directed one of our other shows but I’ve actually never acted in one of Red Squadron’s show before.

The verdict?

JR: Luckily I have a little bit of experience from the TV show. I’m at least used to wearing multiple hats and sort of helping to refine my multi-tasking skills. Also, in the directing of this play Wayne shouldered a great deal of the producing responsibilities so that I could split my time and focus on my performance, especially nearing the opening.

After this New York run, what kind of life do you think the show will have? Are there aspirations to take the show elsewhere hereafter?

JR: I don’t know, it’s a good question. I think the two of us have decided to check in with each other at the end of this run and see if there’s anything that we feel like we left on the table, or if by the end it was in our bones and we gave it everything we had and we’re good. But for Gabe’s sake, I would love to see the play to go on no matter what, even if it’s not with us. I’d love for as many people to see this play as humanly possible. Like I said, it’s got great honesty and I think it speaks to you whether you’re a woman or a man.

A lot of people, especially in New York, are trying to do what you do. They have their own companies, while wanting to direct or star in their own shows, straddle mediums, and diversify in the field. How have you been able to establish your careers in this way.

JR: My advice is start with good material and don’t let your eyes get bigger than your stomach. Don’t go produce HENRY V. Find a piece of material that fits whoever you have in your company like a glove. And start small.

MW: And start with good, like-minded people. I find that so many theater companies are their own worst enemy because they let their egos compete. You have to be careful to surround yourself with people that actually really want to do something together. You actually have to care about the work more than being into the idea that you have a gig, or how this might help you land your next.

JR: I think the key to being a successful theater company is that there are no egos and nobody has their own agenda. It’s not about a showcase. You have to care about the final product, you have to care about everyone around you because if the show’s good, everybody wins. So in sum, find good material and do what you know and grow it into something bigger.

MW: And make friends with as many wealthy people as you can.

JR: Yes. Know rich people.

(laughter)

After EXTINCTION closes, what comes next? Michael, any truth to the rumor that you may be getting your own “House” spin-off?

MW: No, I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think that it sort of found its way onto the “House” studio radar and it lives and maybe dies there. I haven’t heard a final word on it, but I have a feeling that it’s not going to materialize. I don’t know what my next thing is. I’ve written a movie that I’m working on producing and directing and hopefully that is coming next. I’m looking for the next gig after this.

JR: I’m headed back to Vancouver for another ride on the “Psych” train…It is a great job. It’s beautiful up there and we have a great, happy crew that appreciates coming to work every day and we’re very blessed. So that’ll be me for most of 2010. He’ll be back this season (points to Michael).

(To Michael) Oh there you go – your next gig. You just got a job.

(laughter)

source

Shawn and Gus are thrilled when they’re asked to join an elite security company, but the team to which they are assigned are not quite as thrilled with their unconventional techniques and the affect it has on their latest assignment: preventing the assassination of a billionaire executive.

4.15 – “The Head, the Tail, the Whole Damn Episode”

When Lassiter maintains that a shark attack is really a planned murder to much skepticism at the department, Shawn and Gus eventually take pity on him and set out to help him prove the crime.

4.16 – “Mr. Yin Presents…”

Mr. Yang makes good on her promise to return, and this time she’s in a cinematic frame of mind as she tests Shawn’s knowledge of Hitchcock films and lore in return for clues to the puzzle she’s set.

I’ve also added an additional 5 HQ photos of James that are the same I added the other day from “The Head, the Tail, the Whole Damn Episode”

Once again I have to send thanks to the lovely Kelly of MattBomerFan.com for the high qualities!

Gallery Links:
- Season 4 > 416 – Mr. Yin Presents
- Season 4 > 415 – The Head, the Tail, the Whole Damn Episode

Gallery Link:
- Season 4 > 413 – Death Is in the Air

Gallery Links:
- Miscellaneous > Play: Extinction (2010)
- 2010 > 02.17.10 – The after party for ‘Extinction’

Also in attendance was Emmy nominee Dule Hill, who is Roday’s co-star on Psych, as well as one of the producers of Extinction. The play focuses on a couple of guys who meet up for a business as usual trip to Atlantic City that proves to be something quite different. McKinley’s play premiered at Los Angeles’ Elephant Space last fall and this production reunites that entire original cast.

The creative team includes Steven C. Kemp (scenic design), Mike Durst (lighting design), and Gali Noy (costume design).

For Theatermania’s review of Extinction, click here.

source: theatermania.com

Gallery Link:
- Miscellaneous > Play: Extinction (2010)

I’ve also added 8 MQ extra and behind the scenes photos from last week’s episode, “A Very Juliet Episode” from the USA Network’s website.

Gallery Links:
- Season 4 > 412 – A Very Juliet Episode
- Season 4 > 415 – The Head, the Tail, the Whole Damn Episode

The conceit of “Psych” is that the title has a double meaning: Shawn Spencer (James Roday, who has also written and directed some episodes) has a photographic memory that allows him to home in on clues that
escape the notice of the Santa Barbara Police Department. When he pieces them together, he pretends he is having a psychic vision, but — psych — it’s all a ruse. Shawn is dutifully accompanied by Gus (the stage and screen actor Dulé Hill), the knowing straight man who provides a good deal of comic relief of his own during their misadventures.

Mr. Roday was recovering from an appendectomy and Mr. Hill from a drubbing during a guest host appearance on “W.W.E. Monday Night Raw” when they spoke (and exchanged e-mail) with Monica Drake about portraying Shawn and Gus, and about their new theatrical collaboration in New York. Following are excerpts of their conversation.

Q. What were your first impressions of each other?

HILL: I did know he was the dude with the terrible hairdo from “Miss Match.”

RODAY: And I knew he was the young accomplished actor from the thousand times over Emmy Award-winning television iconic series “The West Wing.” So our points of reference for one another were a little different.

Q. The show relies on your comedic timing. How do you complement each other?

HILL:He gives me a lot to play off of. I came from a show where dialogue was, what was written is what you say. When I come in and start reading with Roday, he starts going all over the page. So I had to make a quick adjustment, and the whole series has been a process of me working on those muscles.

RODAY: I would say I’m aided greatly by Dulé’s process. He’s a very thoughtful actor, and he’s really great at processing the scene, recognizing what’s important about it and saying maybe do this but not that, try this but not that. So in addition to having all the fun we have, the scene makes sense. It’s been such a joy to watch him discover and grow his immense talent as a comedic actor.

HILL: Aww, thanks, buddy.

Q. Your show includes a lot of 1980s references. Why is that?

RODAY: It’s nostalgia mostly. I was a kid in the ’80s, and that’s when I started dreaming about what life might be like when I grew up and chose some heroes — Val Kilmer, Earl Campbell, David Bowie. It was also totally acceptable to wear parachute pants, and I remain an unapologetic fan of ’80s new wave music.

HILL: I would say about 85 percent of the time I have no idea what the references mean. I’m always asking Roday or one of the writers.

Q. If you had to pick an ’80s parallel, how would you describe your show?

HILL: It would definitely be Crockett and Tubbs. Mind you, Shawn and Gus are a way less cool version of the “Miami Vice” duo, but don’t tell them that.

RODAY: Shawn and Gus would definitely tell you they’re like Crockett and Tubbs, but I’ve always viewed them more like Nicholas Campbell and Stoney Jackson from “The Insiders.” Those dudes were investigative journalists, not cops, and I know Dulé thinks of himself as the Stoney Jackson of our generation.

Q. What’s your favorite episode this season? Why?

HILL: “High Top Fade Out.” There was constant comedic commentary that Kenan [Thompson] and Jaleel [White] had going. And you know with Kenan being from “Saturday Night Live,” he is great at doing all these different impersonations, so whether he was doing Tony Todd in front of Tony Todd, or improvising with Roday, we were in stitches that entire week.

RODAY: That was a very rewarding episode for Saladin [K. Patterson] and I. [They were nominated for an NAACP Image Award for writing the episode.]

HILL: The joke is that James Roday is going to win an NAACP Image Award before I do.

RODAY: Dulé is the Susan Lucci of the NAACP Image Awards.

Q. James, you are starring in and co-producing with Dulé a theatrical production, “Extinction,” opening at the Cherry Lane in the West Village on Sunday. What drew you to the work?

RODAY:I was seduced by the opportunity to work with my dear friend Michael Weston and to create a character that is so fundamentally different than the one I play on “Psych.” Plus, it’s a terrific play, and I was way overdue to get back on the hardwoods. There simply is no experience comparable to doing good theater. Some would argue tantric sex is as fulfilling — but you can only share it with one person at a time.

Q. Back to “Psych”: What can viewers look forward to?

HILL: They’ve seen Gus being in a relationship for the first time. You see how he is, trying to be in the dating scene, seeing how not cool he really is.

RODAY: Evaluating each relationship within this show and figuring out what the next level to each of these relationships is is definitely on the burner for Season 5. As for Shawn, it’s a delicate balance between keeping the puckish characteristics alive as he gets older and as it gets less acceptable for him to be as irresponsible and childlike as he is, and trying to find that balance between wanting to hug him and wanting to slap him.

source: nytimes.com

Embedded Interview video, video download link and captures link under the cut!

Related Links:
- Video Captures: Web Videos > 02.03.10 – Popeater Interview Part 2
- Video Download: Popeater – February 3rd 2010 – Part 2