Kyle Chandler says one of the reasons he likes "Friday Night Lights" so much is that he can draw on his own life for inspiration.
"I get to bring so much of my own experience as a dad - the love, the anger, the conversation and cooperation, the knowing when to take the lead and when to give in - it's all there," Chandler says in an interview appearing in the February issue of Redbook magazine.
In the critically acclaimed NBC drama, Chandler plays the head coach of a high-school football team in a pigskin-crazed Texas town.
And, he's quick to note, it's all pretend.
"Oh, man, if in real life I was as cool and suave as Coach Taylor and had all the answers, things would be easier," Chandler says.
It's been a busy year for Scott Porter. The actor has an integral role on
what is easily one of the best series on television these days; NBC's
incredible Friday Night Lights, on which he plays former high school
quarterback Jason Street, who ended up taking a job as an assistant coach
after an accident left him paralyzed. On top of that, Porter just spent his
summer break from Lights filming roles in two upcoming movies; a new
version of Prom Night, and the highly anticipated live-action film
version of Speed Racer. Speed Racer is a very big project -
The film is written and directed by the Wachowski Bros (The Matrix),
and stars Emile Hirsch in the title role, and a supporting cast that
includes Christina Ricci, Matthew Fox, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, and
Porter as Speed's brother, Rex Racer.
At the recent NBC TCA (Television Critics Association) party, shortly before
Porter returned to Austin, Texas to begin filming Season 2 of Friday
Night Lights, I spoke to the actor for IGN. The actor graciously delayed
eating his dinner for a few minutes to chat, discussing what's to come on
Lights; his role in Speed Racer; and what he's been buying at the
comic book store lately - Among television stars, it's hard to find a comic
book fan as dedicated as Porter.
IGN TV: Friday Night Lights obviously has so much critical
support. When you come to an event like this, do you feel the love?
Scott Porter: We do! All night long. It really has a lot to do with
the critics that we're even back. You know, any other show that would have
had our ratings last year that we are aware of might have been thrown away,
but we're really proud of what we do, and the critics have found it to be a
quality show, and all the nominations and the awards, they mean the world to
us. They really play a part in keeping us going, and we're really proud of
it.
IGN TV: Can you talk about where we find Jason Street as the season
begins?
Porter: Yeah. It's eight months after the end of the first season.
Coach Taylor really has left. Tami really has had a baby. Jason really is an
assistant coach with the Dillon Panthers. There's a new coach that comes in,
and he's really heavy handed. He's a three-time title winner from Tennessee,
who comes down and tries to take them to State again. It creates a rift
between Jason and his friends who are still on the team, because he tells
him, "You know, you can't be buddy-buddy with your friends anymore," so
that's a tough spot. At the end of the second episode, you might see Jason
begin to regain some feeling in parts of his body that he hadn't, and it
really sends him on what promises to be a season-long arc about whether or
not it's possible, and it's sometimes going to be maddening for Jason. So
it's really going to be interesting to see where he ends up.
IGN TV: [Executive Producer] Jason Katims said your character might
reconnect with Lyla and Tim a bit.
Porter: Yeah, I haven't read anything yet.
IGN TV: So that was news to you?
Porter: Well, it was news to me. We usually get our scripts a couple
of days before [we film], and we really don't know what's coming until kind
of the last minute. And then they hit us with a dozy, and it's always well
written, and we hope we execute it properly. I'm really excited to get back
and do scenes with Minka [Kelly]. She's a great actress, and I really
enjoyed working with her last year. And I'd like to get some longer scenes
with Riggins, which was taken away from me after episode three [in Season
1].
IGN TV: What is Jason's relationship like with this tough new coach?
Porter: Jason kind of bucks up and starts being a man and says,
"Look, I know these players and I know this team better than you. Here's
what I think." And the coach kind of comes back at him with, "You know what?
I appreciate that you think that you know what you're doing, but this is my
team, and you're an assistant coach. And another thing; you need to stop
being friends with all your football playing buddies, because you're a coach
now and you need to be authority." So it's gonna be interesting.
IGN TV: Are you done filming Speed Racer?
Porter: I am, yeah. I wrapped about two weeks ago. [Editor's Note:
This interview was conducted on July 17th]
IGN TV: How was working on that?
Porter: It was amazing. It was my first time in Europe, so that was a
bonus. And the Wachowskis are just amazing visionaries. It was a pleasure to
work with them. The Matrix is one of my favorite movies of all time.
Just to see how they work, and to work with Susan Sarandon and John Goodman
and all those fantastic actors, it was just great. They're wonderful people
behind the scenes and Speed Racer is going to be that movie that
blows people's minds next year.
IGN TV: We know you play Rex. Can you talk a bit about the character?
Porter: Rex Racer is Speed Racer's older brother. He's kind of the
inspiration for Speed. He teaches Speed how to drive. He's a record setter.
He's an amazing racer, who unfortunately, starts to see kind of the
corporate corruption in the sport of racing and how they're rigging races.
These possibilities come up, and he really tries to play the good guy and he
ends up getting caught in some trouble.
IGN TV: Since I know you're a fellow comic book geek, what are you
reading these days?
Porter: Oh wow. My girlfriend just bought me the Planet Hulk
hardcover for my birthday. It was one too many crossovers for me last year.
I'm really looking forward to Annihilation: Conquest, the whole
thing. I thought Annihilation was possibly the best written
multi-comic book kind of crossover last year. It was excellent. All the
characters I'd never cared about before, I started caring about. I just read
the trade paperback number nine of Fables. I've been reading a lot of
trades, because I was over in Berlin [filming Speed Racer], so
Countdown was the only book I was able to keep up with over there.
IGN TV: My girlfriend is a huge Fables fan and has been pushing it
on me.
Porter: You've gotta read 'em, man! Read through the first two
trades. They're both a lot of exposition, but it falls into this great
territory. Once they set it all up, it's just amazing.
Last week the producers and cast of Friday Night Lights took part in a Q&A for their acclaimed series. While some of the content was similar to another discussion they'd done a couple of months ago, there was one big difference: this time everyone knew they were definitely coming back for a second season, as the show was officially renewed last month. Executive Producers Jason Katims and Peter Berg were pretty tight lipped on details about Season 2, though Berg said he was incredibly excited about what Katims had told him were his plans for Episodes 1 - 8. The one detail Katims gave was that Season 2 would pick up eight months after Season 1 and immediately deal with the pregnancy of Tami Taylor (Connie Britton), which was revealed in the Season 1 finale.
Before the event began I was able to speak to many of the Friday Night Lights cast for exclusive interviews with IGN. Those I spoke to included Kyle Chandler ("Coach Eric Taylor"), Adrianne Palacki ("Tyra Collete"), Gaius Charles ("Brian 'Smash' Williams"), Aimee Teegarden ("Julie Taylor"), Minka Kelly ("Lyla Garrity"), Zach Gilford ("Matt Saracen"), and Connie Britton ("Tami Taylor").
Like the accidental quarterback he plays on "Friday Night Lights," Zach Gilford probably shouldn't be where he is today.
The 25-year-old thesp was beyond unknown before the series began. His pre-"Lights" resume includes an episode of "Law & Order: SVU," small roles in a couple indie pics ... and that's it.
"I auditioned in New York in 2005, and then went in to audition in L.A. six or seven times," Gilford says. "After I got the role, (creator) Peter Berg said, 'Dude, I didn't even know who you were.' He said they had this one person they really wanted, and I was just 'that kid' they kept around."
It helped that the casting director for the pilot went to Northwestern, the same school Gilford attended. Berg and NBC execs ultimately warmed to Gilford and decided to offer him the role of Matt Saracen, the shy teen who ends up playing QB for the Dillon Panthers after the team's star is paralyzed.
"Lights" ended its first season this spring as among the most critically praised new series. Even as part of a stellar cast, Gilford stood out by injecting Saracen with a sort of realism seldom seen on the small screen. Whether fighting with his soldier father or finding the courage to ask the coach's daughter out on a date, Gilford brilliantly channeled the angst and awkwardness that is adolesence.
Gilford says viewers identify with Saracen because he's an underdog.
