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Ron Miller's DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 9, No. 34 |
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On Television |
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'THE MENTALIST' |
 SIMON BAKER |
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Simon Baker's new show
has hit potential for CBS
of TheColumnists.com
If CBS had an in-house
stable of actors, Simon Baker would likely be one of them. The
Australian-born actor stars in one of the more promising new
fall shows, CBS’ “The Mentalist.” He plays an
independent consultant who helps solve crimes via his razor sharp
skills of observation.
From 2001-2004 Baker starred as a troubled lawyer in CBS’s
“The Guardian,” and
in the fall of 2006 he played a contract killer in the ensemble
cast of the network’s
short-lived “Smith.” Baker also had a role in the big
screen hit “The Devil Wears
Prada,” then took a year off from the business.
“I spent a lot of time at home...knocked out a few walls
in the house. That sort of stuff,” he said in an interview.
“I took the year off because I had moved around with my
family from America to Australia, then from Australia back to
America. And I honestly wanted to readdress what I do, how I
do it and my attitude toward doing it.“
What got him back on the screen was the opportunity to work with
famed director
Martin Scorsese on, of all things, what Baker labels “a
long form cinema commercial for a Spanish champagne.”
“I did that [commercial] and it sort of broke the drought.
That time with Marty was fantastic. He inspired me. I love being
on set. I love the process of what I do-- whether it’s television
or films, it’s still the same process. I love being there
and I feel alive when I am doing it. It was that experience with
Marty that made me feel ‘Oh, i want to go back to work now.’”
And the work that came rather quickly was “The Mentailist.”
“I was in Australia when the script arrived," he said.
"Then I was flown in from Australia, met with Bruno [Heller,
the show’s executive producer] and a day and a half later
we were shooting.”
In “The Mentalist” Baker plays Patrick Jane, a consultant
with the California Bureau of Investigation who has a record
of solving crimes by using his skills of observation. Those skills
were honed in his previous job--that of a semi-celebrity psychic
medium on television. Jane has refuted his paranormal abilities
as feigned, but not all the investigators he works with are enamored
with him. His CBI unit boss (Robin Tunney) alternates between
appreciating his usefulness in solving crimes and blasting him
for his theatrics, narcissism and lack of boundaries.
“The deliciously attractive part about this role was the
humor and irreverence of the character, and having to swing between
being reactive and active constantly is kind of a challenge,”
says Baker.
There are also, Baker feels, differences between “The Mentalist”
and other crime shows on TV. “In a lot of crime shows that
are on television these days the truth
is found under a microscope with some scientific fact: ‘Oh,
it’s in the DNA.’ On this show we’re trying to
focus on finding the truth in the fabric of human nature. So
you’re kind of hitting two notes. The potential for entertainment
is sort of greater in the sense that if you know who already
committed the crime, then you get to watch how the guy puts it
together, right? That’s the upside down of the detective
genre.”
Adds Heller, co-creator of the HBO series “Rome”: “We’re
making the audience active in the process of unfolding the mystery
rather than allowing the microscope to do it.”
Whether this “upside down” crime drama succeeds is
up to viewers tuning in on
Tuesday nights. The show faces some tough competition in the
9 p.m. timeslot--
ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” results show, J.J.
Abrams' much ballyhooed “The Fringe” on Fox, NBC’s
“The Biggest Loser: Families,” and The CW’s “Privileged,"
the tween/teen-oriented show about life-among-the-very-rich of
Palm Beach.
©2008 by Donna J. Plesh. The photo is courtesy of CBS. This column first posted Sept. 8, 2008.
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