Aldis Hodge Feeling the Leverage Love Here, and Over There
Aldis Hodge TNT photo
Leverage” costar Aldis Hodge, fresh back from London and the first “Leverage” convention in the U.K., still sounds somewhat awed by the fan interaction there.
“I know it sounds a little weird, but there was this woman who made these really awesome dolls of everyone in the cast — hand-stitched and everything. It shows the kind of time and dedication people devote to this show,” he says. Did she capture him? “I don’t know if she captured me, but she definitely captured Hardison,” he answers, referring to his character.
There were also funny moments. Hodge relates that he and his mom were in an elevator when a fan told him he had a voice “like dark melted chocolate.” Also, “There was a little four-year-old girl who drew a picture for me. That was pretty cool. That had to be my favorite thing,” he says.
“Leverage” continues to be hugely popular at home, too. With its fifth season already assured, he reports that the team will go back to work in March.
Meanwhile, Hodge says he likes the occasional departure episodes the series creators have been throwing into the mix this season — including the recent “The Office Job” that borrowed style elements from “The Office” comedy, and the current “Girls Night Out Job”/”Boys Night Out Job” two-parter that ends Sunday (12/18).
“You know, it’s always a risk. I hope the audience loves it, or loves us enough to stay loyal,” he says. “You’ve got to play it year by year. I enjoy taking risks and breaking away now and then.”
Assignment X Exclusive Interview with Aldis
Exclusive Interview: Aldis Hodge gets LEVERAGE for Season 4 He talks about the new season and the return of Sterling (Mark Sheppard)
Aldis Hodge and Beth Riesgraf in LEVERAGE – Season 4 – “The Van Gogh Job” | ©2011 TNT
As LEVERAGE wraps up the summer portion of Season 4 (with a return of regular antagonist Jim Sterling played by Mark Sheppard), ASSIGNMENT X chatted with star Aldis Hodge who plays hacker Hardison on the series.
Throughout the course of the TNT series, Hardison has went from wise-cracking loner to someone who is finally accepting that he’s part of a team. He also has feelings for the somewhat closes off Parker (Beth Riesgraf) which has been gaining some traction the past couple of seasons.
Here’s what Hodge had to say about the latest developments.
ASSIGNMENT X: So Sterling is finally back.
ALDIS HODGE: Yes, Sterling comes back to play in this episode and the team travels to Dubai for this grand chess tournament to take on some terrorists that are in Dubai for a completely different reason. We’re shaking things up in Dubai – doing our Leverage shtick how we do and we’re having fun.
AX: Have enjoyed the different characters you’ve played this season?
HODGE: I loved “The Van Gogh Job” where I got to play an entirely different person. It’s narrated through Danny Glover’s character and they show us being the character’s he’s telling the story about and I play him as a character. So it’s not Hardison pretending to be someone, it’s playing Danny Glover’s character. That was cool, because we had to truly step outside of ourselves and be something different and Beth did an amazing job. She has this whole accent from the ‘40s, because that was time frame we were in. And Gina, Tim and Christian all were amazing as well. We aren’t our characters, so that was interesting to watch.
For the complete article – click here: Assignment X
Aldis Hodge: Hard Working ‘Hacker’ of Leverage
Interview: Aldis Hodge: Hard Working ‘Hacker’ of Leverage
by R.J. Carter
Published: August 22, 2011
—>When Aldis Hodge auditioned for the role of Leverage uber-hacker, Alec Hardison, it was important to him that the character portrayal was non-stereotypical, an African-American who was not just smart, but very smart and savvy. Creators John Rogers and Chris Downey were equally impressed with the (then) 21-year-old actor’s delivery, which rivals Eddie Murphy’s “48 Hours” performance.
As we count down to the summer finale for Leverage (August 28 on TNT), we borrowed a few moments of Hodge’s time to talk about his character and the forward momentum of the series.
Was there a moment when you realized that this series was really going to go somewhere?
No, I still haven’t hit that moment. I’m still surprised every time we get a season. Just recently we found out we got picked up for a fifth, and I was very surprised. I’m very confident in what we do, but I’ve been in this business a long time — I’ve been in acting since I was three — so I kind of play more to the experience [that] no matter how great you are, no matter how quality your show is, you never know the outcome. It can go any way. You can’t really be too sure. I mean, there are so many great projects out there that never see the light of day that get canned after two seasons, or one season, just because you really can’t factor in all the variables of audience perception and what networks are thinking — and the higher up it goes, the more political it gets.
So there’s too many factors. I’m still not at that comfortable place where I’m like, “Oh yeah, I’m on a hit show!” I’m confident — but I’m not there yet. I’m still very much surprised and appreciative every time it happens.
Hodge Enjoys Bad Guy Role
- At August 4, 2011
- By Admin - AliKat
- In Article about Aldis, Leverage, SPOILERS
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Aldis Hodge loves playing bad guy Alec Hardison on the TNT drama, “Leverage.”“I have played the bad guy who has helped people and the whole nine,” explained Hodge, 24, who began his acting career at the age of three. “Now I’m playing a thief who steals back for the good guy in a peculiar way. We always have to play a character inside of a character. That kind of stuff is fun.”
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| THE GEEK—Aldis Hodges plays Alex Hardison.
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Started at the end of 2008, “Leverage” centers’ around once loyal fraud investigator Nathan Ford, played by Timothy Hutton. Ford became disloyal to the insurance company after it refused to pay for experimental treatment that could have saved his son’s life. Due to his intricate knowledge of scams, Ford is recruited to join a team of talented criminals to steal back aeronautical plans that were supposedly stolen by a competitor.
Once the job is complete, Ford and his team are double crossed and are not paid for their work. Ford and his team members decide to create Leverage Consulting & Associates, fighting for people who were victimized by corporations or individuals with wealth and influence to avoid prosecution from the legal system.
Read More»Buddy TV – Many Geeks of TV
- At July 14, 2011
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#7 of 25
Computer Geek, Criminal Version: Alec Hardison of Leverage
Basically, there is no digital security that can keep Leverage’s Hardison out. He’s quite proud of his technological prowess too. As he should be — it is, after all, the “age of the geek, baby.”
Another Interview with Aldis
- At June 26, 2011
- By Admin - AliKat
- In Article about Aldis, Interview, Leverage
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Interview with Aldis Hodge from Leverage
Aldis Hodge, who plays Hardison on TNT’s Leverage, recently spoke to the press about the upcoming season, how he got started in the acting business, and about the possibility of playing baseball legend Jackie Robinson in a movie based on the man’s life. He was as sweet and as personable on the call as his character is in the show, and it was a lot of fun speaking with him. It’s always nice when a celebrity repeats your name at some point when answering your questions. It shows they are truly listening and not just… phoning it in, so to speak.
Check out some of the great questions & answers from Aldis below. Also, if you’re on Twitter, you can follow him: @Aldishodge02. Say hello to him sometime!
On the relationship between Parker & Hardison and what’s developed since last season
Read More»
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Leverage – Hacking Has Never Looked So Sexy
- At June 24, 2011
- By Admin - AliKat
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“Leverage” – Hacking Has Never Looked So Sexy
A hacker, a grifter, and a thief are among the gritty-but-likeable stars of “Leverage,” TNT’s hit series, which returns for a fourth season on Sunday, June 26 at 9 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. CT. The modern-day Robin Hood tale is a fast-paced, light-hearted caper drama series featuring a motley crew of five con artists whose collective aim is to get back at those who have wronged others.
Read More»Flashback to Aldis’ Early Years on Broadway
- At May 17, 2011
- By Admin - AliKat
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This article was shared with me today by LuvsParker. After reading it, I was once again touched by his family’s story. Aldis has mentioned the struggles of his early years and this is one good example of why he is so active in charitable causes like the LA Mission. So hopefully this will give you further insight into how he became the person he is today from his mother’s perspective and realize why the LA Mission is such an important cause for him.
Broadway Is Bursting With Energy And Youth
Published: April 28, 1996
FOR the six days every week that 11-year-old Larissa Auble is on Broadway in “Show Boat,” her mother, Louise Auble, must make the 70-mile round-trip commute from their Livingston, N.J., home to get her daughter to and from the Gershwin Theater on West 51st Street.
Yolette Hodge, a single parent, and her sons, Edwin, 11, and Aldis, 9, battled poverty and periodic homelessness before the boys also won parts in “Show Boat.”
Gerry and Willow Chang also say their life has changed since their son John, 10, who, with no previous acting experience, was cast in a major role in the new “The King and I.”
And Patricia Pearl said she had to leave her husband and their comfortable home in Singapore in 1994 so that their son, Simon, could join the road production of “Les Miserables.” Last year, the mother-son team moved to New York when Simon, now 10, took the role of Gavroche in the Broadway production.
With “The King and I” open and “Big” opening tonight, those tales should increase substantially as more than 25 youngsters, many of them with no prior stage experience, join the young members of such casts as “Beauty and the Beast” on the Great White Way.
Wil Wheaton and Aldis Hodge Talk Leverage!
Q&A: Wil Wheaton and Aldis Hodge Talk Leverage!
I was able to chat with fan favorite Wil Wheaton and Aldis Hodge, who plays the fantastically quirky, hacker Hardison, during a conference call last week to discuss the upcoming Christmas-themed episode of Leverage! The episode features returning guest star Wil Wheaton and Dave Foley on Sunday, December 12th at 9pm on TNT. The two-part Season 3 Finale airs on Sunday, December 19th at 9pm EST.
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You both play hackers, but in real life who has the most computer knowledge?
Wil Wheaton: Well, in my late teens and early 20’s I subscribed to the Phrack Newsletter and I’ve read 2600 since I was in ninth grade.
Aldis Hodge: Yeah. You’re – yeah, Will has that one. He’s got me beat on that. I’m new to the hacking world. I’m still in my 20’s trying to figure out this hacking thing, but I did hack into my mother’s computer; got past her password one time. Yay. Actually, no, that’s not right.
How do you feel about Hardison’s development throughout the course of the show, and what do we have to look forward to from him in the upcoming episodes?
Aldis Hodge: I think the hardest is taking a more authoritative stance. I – as far as his role in the team and his responsibility to the team, he understands now more of what he’s capable of and his value. And I think because, as it was stated earlier in the season, that he wants to run his own crew someday.
Now, he’s more in – he’s very playful, very, you know, very much a kid and having fun and is loving his job and enjoying his job, but he’s grown up in the sense of just being a bit more focused on the world that he’s now become a part of. Because he, you know, he needs to learn a few things to start learning – running his own camp one day.
Oh, and as far as upcoming episodes, I don’t know if I can tell you too much about that, but he has some exciting things going on for those of you who pay attention.
How is this Christmas episode special?
Aldis Hodge: Well, we get to steal stuff and blow stuff up on our Christmas episode, so I think that makes it a little special.
Wil Wheaton: Yeah, this is – this particular episode is – it’s a classic Leverage heist put within the context of a mall at Christmas time. It’s not – it completely avoids the trap of taking a Christmas theme and forcing a show to work within it. In this particular case, the story and the characters are as important to what happens as the setting.
Wil, you guest star in a lot of things, what is it like working on Leverage, and how do you approach it differently than guest starring on a webseries like The Guild?
Wil Wheaton: It’s very – they’re very different practically. The filming experience is very different. You know, on The Guild we have a very small budget and we’re – we never have enough time, and we’re all working as hard and as fast as we can to get the story done. Leverage is different because Leverage has the backing of an enormous network and a studio and you know, we have a bit more time to go and bring the whole show together.
Where they’re very similar is they are both shows that have tremendous writing and an extremely talented cast, and I do just my very best not to mess up. I want to honor what I’ve been given, I want to rise to the occasion, and I don’t want to be the guy that everybody has to keep slowing down to, you know, pick up. So, I work just as hard on everything. You know, all – every job I work on, I work as hard as I can and as professionally as I can to make sure that I rise to the occasion.
How do you learn to interact with guest stars quickly since they might only be for an episode or two, compared with the cast being there day-in and day-out for a 13 episode season?
Aldis Hodge: Well, a great guest star is like having gold on set because we as a cast, we need guest stars to fill our stories to keep things interesting for the audience and push us throughout the season. So, whenever we need that – a really good guest star who comes in, does their job well, finds their comfort zone easily, and meshes well with us that’s always – it’s very lucky, because sometimes it can be rare.
But, you know, Wil, just came in. I remember the very first time and for the job. That was just some massive fun because – of course he was my direct nemesis and the first time I think we introduced him as a direct nemesis for Hardison, so I was very excited about it; very excited to see who I was working with. And we played off of each other so well, I think much more – much better than I had anticipated or anybody else had anticipated.
So, it was very much a treat because for us, you know, it’s a staple of any good show. You can have a great actor that’s amazing, but you need good guest stars to keep things interesting for the characters. And the characters keep things interesting for our future investment for moving where we want to go, such as it’s proven with Wil, coming back a, you know, another time. Or Chaos coming back another time to give us some more problems.
We already have a history there, the audience loves it, they’re anticipating it, and they’re waiting for it. So, it creates great, great rhythm for our production in general, and it’s just – it’s very typical to have a very solid actor who knows how to do their job.
And yeah, Wil, you came man, you just fit right in, you played along because you – sometimes it can be sticky trying to get a nice relationship right off the top with new actors, and he came and he did his thing. He was very comfortable, made us feel very comfortable, we try to make him feel very comfortable, and we had a lot of fun playing. And I’m pretty sure this is, you know, at least I hope this is not the last time that we see Chaos.
Wil Wheaton: You know, any show is – the – any cast, it’s like a family and the family dynamic, you know, there are functional families and there’s dysfunctional families, and Leverage is a very functional family. And as a guest star it is a double-edged sword for me.
I get to work consistently without being tied to one particular character and one particular story style, but at the same time I get to work on a show like Leverage where I instantly love the cast, I instantly feel at home, I instantly feel like I’m part of the family, and then eight days later I go back to my regular life or I go back to a different show.
And it is a – it’s a real wonderful gift that I get to work with great material, but I also get to work with actors who really make me feel like I am part of their team. And it was such a good time to do “The Ho Ho Ho Job.” Like I really, really, really hope that we’ll get to come – that I’ll get to come back in the future so that, you know, so that we can go head-to-head again.
They’ve been building a Hardison/Parker relationship. How you feel about where it’s going?
Aldis Hodge: Well, something that – I – that’s just one I’m anticipating myself because the two characters has been figuring out what their relationship is since day one. And they’re getting to the point where they’re just about ready to earn it, you know? The – and the audience is also earning it as well because we can’t give it to you all and serve it up on a silver platter too quickly, because where do we go from there?
But, I think these two characters because they’re both crazy in their own way, Hardison’s team’s a little bit more stable, but really when you think about it he makes his living off of, you know, digging into other people’s privacy, so a little crazy to me. So, these two characters they sit and they work in the most obnoxious way, and I think that once we actually get there, because believe me they will get there, once we get there it’s going to be a beautiful thing and it’s going to be very interesting and quite fun.
But, I’m looking forward to it and I know that our audience is definitely looking forward to it, but every step of the way, every season, you know, every episode we try to take steps there. And like I said, the season finale, we don’t give it to you all, but it’s definitely another step and we give you something to look forward to in Season 4.
Hardison is the super geek of the crew. Do you consider yourself a geek?
Aldis Hodge: I am in my own little way, except for – well, I’m a geek in the mechanical sense, as opposed to the technical sense. I’m becoming technically savvy, but I’m more gear savvy.
I grew up designing homes and architecture and cars, frames, and right now I’ve made a business out of designing watches. I love gears, I love the interworkings of things, and I like to get my hands on them and physically take them apart and put them back together, whereas my character gets his hands on them virtually and takes things apart and reassembles them.
So, I am a geek in that sense. I do love my sciences. Math is a whole different deal, but I love design. And math is married design. And it’s something that I think I’m always going to be a part of.
Do all of the geek references come from the writers or do you get to throw any in yourself?
Aldis Hodge: I do improv a ton when it comes to this, but usually the geek references come from mainly John Rogers and Chris Downey. That’s the geek soul of this character. It usually comes from those two. John and Downey, I mean they’re the generally just intelligent in a way that I can’t even fathom. And I learn more just sitting there listening to those guys than I could learn in a whole semester at Harvard, so that I attribute to those two.
And also, we have a great staff of writers that also contribute much as well, great staff of writers. I mean, you know we have – we – in the past few season we’ve had Albert Kim, Christine Boylan, Amy Berg, Jessica Rieder, Melissa Glenn. We’ve had amazing, amazing cast writers, and now we have Geoffrey Thorne who’s a great writer. I really love his work. And I usually get some great geek references from him as well.
Wil, what is it like playing the various guest star roles on shows like Eureka and Leverage, versus playing a cartoon version of yourself on Big Bang Theory?
Wil Wheaton: Well, I wouldn’t characterize Evil Wil Wheaton as a cartoon version because he is grounded in a certain reality. It’s really fun to play characters who are very unlike who I am in real life. The greatest joy of being an actor is getting to pretend and experiment with realities and motivations and ideas that are completely different, and in some case antithetical from my own.
And the key difference between every show I do and Big Bang Theory is even though I am playing a character on Big Bang Theory who looks like me and sounds like me and has the same name as me and is actually from sort of an alternate reality in which I exist, it is always a real like – just – it’s a mind frack to hear the actors and writers and director talk about me as Wil Wheaton, when they’re talking about Johnny as Leonard or Kaley as Penny, and then they talk about me as Wil Wheaton.
It’s really weird to wrap my head around that because I’m used to playing characters who don’t have the same name as me.
How do your characters interact in this episode? What is the animosity or mutual respect, being that you’re both hackers?
Aldis Hodge: I think there was a bit of jealousy established between our characters and, Wil, you can definitely jump in on this one if you – I think in the first episode that we did together when Hardison was kind of beat for the very first time. And of course he doesn’t like Chaos, but there’s a general respect for his skill level because there’s nobody else in the world as good as Hardison.
I mean, Hardison can go work for the FBI, who has the best hackers in the world working for them, so he chooses to do his own thing. So, I think there is a bit of jealousy established. And I think that Chaos, once he got beaten himself, had to give us his crown, his thrown; his pride was beat down a little bit. And, you know, I think there may be a little bit of jealously on his end.
So, I think because of that these two are going to continually go back and forth, back and forth for seasons to come.
Wil Wheaton: Yeah, these guys are – they’re Holmes and Moriarty. It’s Superman and Lex Luthor. You know, it’s Kennedy and Khrushchev. These guys are complete nemesis to each other and I think if you asked Hardison who the greatest hacker in the world is he would say, “Well, it’s me of course.” And if you asked Chaos he would say, “Well, it’s me of course.” And then, who’s the second best and each would probably say the other.
And that’s what makes it really fun to bring these guys to life and have them clash, because they probably – I mean, if you were to make them characters in a role playing game and build out their stats, they’re probably really close. They’re maybe separated by one point in either direction in a few different places. And they, you know, they are both, from their point of view, without peer. And the truth is, these two guys, you know, if they were on the same side the world would really be in a lot of trouble.
Wil, you’ve been doing a lot of guest star roles. Do you have an interest in doing a steady recurring role and maybe a show of your own again?
Wil Wheaton: Absolutely. Being an actor and being employed full-time are two things that rarely overlap and it’s always great to, you know, to know, “Okay, will I go to work tomorrow?” Instead of, “Well, I finished the job today and I don’t know what’s coming up next.” I’ve been – I’m incredibly grateful and I am incredibly fortunate to have a lot of opportunities the last couple of years to, you know, to work pretty steadily on a lot of different shows.
I was saying earlier that it’s wonderful to be a guest star because I get to go around to a lot of different shows and play a lot of different characters, and steadily employed. And I certainly would not say no if the right show came along and wanted to put me on as a regular.
I worked as a reoccurring regular on the last ten episodes of Eureka this season, and it was just great. It was really wonderful to be, you know, to be there, you know, essentially full-time and get to settle into a rhythm and get to be somewhere for more than a week at a time.
Are there any that you would love to get on yet that you haven’t yet?
Wil Wheaton: You know, I am a huge fan of Modern Family and I love Fringe, and I love shows that are intelligent, that don’t play to the lowest common denominator in the audience. And I would love an opportunity to work on a show that is smart and clever, that doesn’t try to run away from that.
Source:
SciFiChick.com
The Geeks of Leverage – Wil Wheaton & Aldis Hodge
Leverage is returning with two more episodes to finish out Season 3: This Sunday, December 12 (9pm on TNT), is “The Ho Ho Ho Job,” which finds the team taking on a shady mall owner (played by Dave Foley) and the return of the hacker “Chaos” (played by Wil Wheaton). I guess you could call it “Leverage Saves Christmas.” The following week will be their two-part season finale.
We’ve covered Leverage before because it’s a fun, geeky show, but one of the most geeky characters on the show is Alec Hardison, played by Aldis Hodge — he’s the hacker and computer wizard, and can basically get into any computer system. In Season 2, he had a showdown with his nemesis, “Chaos,” played by Wil Wheaton. Last week I got to participate in a phone press conference with Hodge and Wheaton, who talked about the show, their characters, and loving their jobs. (Sadly, I only got in one question, but it was fun hearing their answers to everyone’s question, and Wil Wheaton gave a nice shout-out to GeekDad, which is awesome.)
You can read a transcript of the call after the jump.
Aldis Hodge as Alec Hardison, Wil Wheaton as Colin “Chaos” Mason
Jenn Falls with InsideBlip.com: Hey. I just wanted to kind of hook you guys up both as the geeks on Leverage. Wil, in your 2009 book Just a Geek, Neil Gaiman wrote in your foreword, “As we all discover sooner or later you’re never just a geek.” So I wanted to ask Aldis, how has your character Hardison evolved in Leverage to be more than just the geek?
Aldis Hodge: Well, he’s taken an interest in a much more substantial role than just being behind a computer. He’s learned from everybody else on the team coupled with the ambition to run his own team one day. He has taken up grifting and he’s learned a little bit about thieving but he’s more learning the mastermind part of it. He wants to do more for the cause of what we do as opposed to just being a player, you know what I mean?
So he’s consistently growing, watching everybody, learning their moves. He still has to work on the fighting but as you know he has a dog, Megabyte, who does that. He’s always going to be a hacker at heart. That is what he does best. That is what he contributes best to the team. But he wants to contribute to what we’re doing so he’s going to learn what he has to do and he’s definitely gone beyond.
I think in these last couple seasons we’ve seen more of Hardison stepping outside of the hacker role all the while being a hacker continually but like in “The Ice Man Job” being a grifter. And you know, you get to see a little bit more action out of him in this season finale. So there’s a lot going on with him and he’s not just your conventional hacker.
Actually, he’s exposing different ways to hack. Grifting is hacking mentally and personally, hacking inside of someone’s head, you know. So he’s learning that art and he’s learning different ways to hack and exposing different ways to hack.
Wil Wheaton: As an audience member, you know, I’ve watched Leverage since the pilot and it’s been really wonderful for me to watch Hardison grow from the young hacker sort of piece of the puzzle and to see Hardison’s ambition develop. And it’s so clear that he wants his own crew but he’s not ready for his own crew and I think it makes his character and the dynamic between Hardison and Nate so much more interesting and so much more compelling than it would’ve been otherwise.
Aldis Hodge: Thank you, man.
Jenn Falls: Wil, how do you bring more than just the geek to the characters you play, such as Chaos?
Wil Wheaton: Well it’s important to know why Chaos is the way he is. He’s obviously very smart. He’s obviously very motivated and very committed but where he could very easily use his abilities and his talents for good, he instead chooses to use them for evil.
And I had to make up a reason that was really meaningful for why that is. And I built a background story for him that’s not too far removed from my own experiences as a young geek. He was picked on and he was misunderstood and he was lonely and he was isolated. And rather than take those experiences and turn them into something positive for other people that may be experiencing that, he’s taken all of his abilities and instead used it to just sort of punish people and kind of lash out at the world.
And whenever I get to work on Leverage, it’s very important to me to make it very clear that Hardison is the only guy in the world that Chaos respects. Everybody else is just a jerk and doesn’t even come close. I mean he doesn’t respect Nate. If he ever encountered Sterling, he wouldn’t respect him. He certainly didn’t respect the rest of the Two Live Crew guys. He really respects Hardison. And I said earlier today, if they were on the same team, the world would really be in a lot of trouble.
Aldis Hodge: And also, if I may, I think that what you’ve done with Chaos is bringing out the tactician in him. I think he’s in a sense a general, a leader. He’s quite the mastermind himself. And I think that gets quite exposed in the upcoming episode but I think you’ve exposed him in a different light in that way, in showing that he’s not just a pawn to be used but he’s pulling the strings.
Wil Wheaton: Yeah. We saw it clearly in “Two Live Crew Job” and I think you’ll see it a bit in “Ho Ho Ho Job.” He’s really happy to let everyone else think that he is a pawn on the board when he is actually—from his point of view—he’s Keyser Soze.
Jonathan Liu with GeekDad.com: Hi. We here at GeekDad are fans of Leverage, and we’ve written about Leverage and obviously we’ve also talked a lot about Wil Wheaton and your geek background. I wanted to know for Aldis, how much of a geek, or tech savvy, are you in real life before you did this show? How much do both of you know about what you’re doing when you’re doing your thing on Leverage? Does it make sense, what you’re saying, or are you totally faking it?
Aldis Hodge: Before the show, absolutely nothing. I like the name GeekDad by the way. It’s awesome.
Wil Wheaton: GeekDad is an awesome blog. I’m an honorary GeekDad.
Aldis Hodge: Oh, awesome. Every time something comes up I do go talk to either John Rogers or Downey or whoever is on set at the moment about what I’m explaining because in order for me to properly deliver the lines, I need to be aware of what I’m saying. So I’ve learned quite a bit in these last few years and I’ve become more tech savvy over the years.
But I was a bit more tech savvy than I realized because every time there’s an issue with my computer, I’m not much a manual kind of guy. I just dig in it until I find it and I understood in instances I’ve rewritten some code on my computer unbeknownst to me.
But it’s not something that I understand fully so I wouldn’t say that I’m a hacker or anything like that but I’m learning a lot more and I want to learn a lot more because it’s such a fascinating world. I just get afraid with the learning process of whether or not I’m being illegal because I get to talk to hackers throughout my experience through the seasons. I’ve talked to the best of the best hackers in the world. And I’ve learned quite a bit through them and it’s a great world to let my imagination run free in, but not in a bad way, just to learn about what a computer actually does, how connected we all actually are through technology.
You know, I found myself—I found out where I was living when I was like 8 and 6 years old just through running through sites on the Internet, which is not hard to do, but I’m like, “Jesus, I didn’t know I was on the map since then.” You know, all your business is out there and it’s a scary world though.
J.C. Granger Pacific Fen Spotlight and Skewed & Reviewed Magazine: Wil, you mentioned that you are kind of playing Hardison’s opposite as Chaos. Would you say that you guys are kind of a yin yang thing then going on?
Wil Wheaton: I would say that they’re more than that. They’re two sides of the same coin. And the coin belongs to Harvey Dent.
Aldis Hodge: Look, what you guys don’t actually know is that Chaos and Hardison shared the same womb, it’s just that his daddy is a little bit lighter than Hardison’s daddy, I’m just saying. Put it out there. Let’s just break the ice.
Wil Wheaton: They’re definitely brothers from another mother.
J.C. Granger: And to follow up, you were talking about how you were learning how to be a geek, have you ever thought about looking into other geek things, not just tech, but sci-fi stuff?
Aldis Hodge: Oh, yeah. I love sci-fi. Before Leverage I was on a series called Supernatural. I did a guest spot on there and I mean that’s horror/sci-fi-ish and it’s a great venue. I love the world of sci-fi, the fans, the people that you get to experience life through because of it. And, who knows, Hardison may have to build a spaceship one day, go fly to a different planet and get a little sci-fi on you all, I’m just saying.
Tara Bennett with SFX Magazine: Wil, I wanted to ask you a little bit about how it came about that you would be returning to the show and all this. Was that something that you guys discussed based upon the first episode that you all really loved having him on and it was just a matter of getting you on? Because I know, Wil, you’ve been really busy working on other projects as well as other shows. So was it an easy fit to bring you back again or did you have to kind of work schedules?
Wil Wheaton: Well, I lucked out. My schedule which has been unbelievably busy and complicated had a nice big Leverage-sized gap in it this summer. And I was able to go up to Portland, my favorite city in the world, and work on the show again.
And, you know, John Rogers told me when we did “Two Live Crew Job” that you don’t create a crew like the crew Chaos is part of if you don’t plan to bring some or all of them back in the future. And I think the way that we all related to each other was so fun and so rewarding to the audience that it was really not a question of if but when we would all get to come back and go head to head again.
Aldis Hodge: And I would say that, well, Wil paid me about $10 a day until John called him and said, “Hey, we want you back.” So I appreciate that, Wil. Thanks, man.
Wil Wheaton: You’re welcome.
Aldis Hodge: No, it was like you just said, Wil, the Two Live Crew team was not necessarily created for a one-hit wonder. There were definitely intentions on bringing a feeling of a squad that challenges us and gives us a run for our money every now and then.
But the one with the most potential out of it was of course the most evil, Chaos. And Chaos was never written to be this one-stop shop. But the thing is, the actors had to just come in there and do their jobs and see if we wanted them back. Wil was a natural fit. He was always perfect. And as soon as day one it was automatically like, “Okay, yeah, of course he’s coming back.” So, you know, we already knew that. It was just a matter of how to find it in the story.
And like I said, I hope this continues on throughout seasons and seasons to go because it’s such great fun to have just a nemesis in general for my character. I was excited because he’s directly my nemesis and it gives my character a different dynamic to play with. It gives them something to actually challenge because very rarely is Hardison ever challenged.
The only person who’s ever done that, who’s actually given him a run for his money is two things: one, a machine which was a supercomputer called the Starango and then, two, Chaos. But Chaos did it best and that’s why Chaos is back.
Tara Bennett: Wil, you know, you’ve had a lot of recurring parts, you come back for Big Bang Theory, you come back for Leverage and now you’re going to have an arc on Eureka. What for you is the pull? Obviously, the good role but there is the kind of geek thread which is awesome; do you try to find projects that appeal to that sensibility as well as being a character worthwhile jumping into?
Wil Wheaton: You know, it’s more about the character than it is about the genre. And I have settled into these characters that you kind of love to hate. And it’s been so much fun for me and I am really grateful to everyone that’s given me an opportunity to work on these shows and create these characters and keep playing them because it’s really, really a lot of fun. And it’s sort of like being in the middle of a no-hitter. Everything is really working right now and I just try not to think about it too much and just keep going out there to the mound every inning and just try to keep doing what I’ve been doing.
Heidi Tandy with ACED Magazine: Hi. We’ve seen some recent homages like Psych this week when they did the homage to Twin Peaks. Is that something that you all would like to see going forward on Leverage? And if so, with what?
Aldis Hodge: Oh, certainly. I mean Psych gave Leverage a shout-out one time and then we gave them a shout-out in “The High School Reunion Job” that we did when my character made a reference to what’s on Nate’s Netflix queue. So funny, I actually saw Dule Hill the other night. He’s a friend of mine. Good guy.
I would love to continue to build our web of relations and promote other shows, have other shows promote us and do some real crossover things because it’s so much fun for the audience when they have a list of great shows that they watch and they’re watching one of them which mentions another great show that they love. They always get a kick out of that. And then they also know that as a show we’re watching what they watch. We’re a fan of what they’re a fan of. So it builds our relationship with our audience even further.
And I would love to continue to do more crossover mentions, maybe even have episodes where we crossover casts. A Leverage episode with Psych would be crazy, but I think it’s something completely doable and I think the audience would love it and get a kick out of it.
Wil Wheaton: I think whenever you work on a genre show there are such passionate, devoted, core audience members that are so invested in not just our show but other shows that are a little bit outside of the mainstream. And it’s always wonderful that most of these shows are run by people who are also fans.
And it’s really wonderful to give a very subtle and very clever wink to people in the audience who know what you’re referencing. And then everyone else on the couch with them who maybe doesn’t watch the other show has no idea and it doesn’t stand out like, “Well that was a weird thing that came out of nowhere.” It’s something that people who know get it. It’s like a dog whistle; some people will hear it and some people won’t see it at all. But that Twin Peaks thing was brilliant.
Aldis Hodge: I also think it establishes the characters a bit more as real people because when you’re watching these characters on TV who are watching what you watch it invests a little bit more credibility to who they are, to the nature and the organic rhythm of the character that you’re watching when you watch somebody who watches what you watch.
Wil Wheaton: Yeah. One of my favorite moments ever on Leverage is where Hardison says, “Listen, if everything – if things go south, I’m going to say the name of one of the Star Trek movies that’s bad. So those are the odd numbered ones. And if it’s going well, then I’m going to say something that’s from the even numbered ones.” And everybody looks at him like, “What?” And then all of us in the audience who are Star Trek fans are cracking up because we totally get that.
It’s something we would do and it’s something that we’re going to catch. And you know you don’t put a gun on the mantle in Act One if it’s not going to go off in Act Three and you just sit there and wait for the rest of the show like, “Oh, when’s it going to happen? When’s it going to happen?” And you know, “Is it going to be ‘Wrath of Khan’ or is it going to be ‘Undiscovered Country’? What’s it going to be?”
Aldis Hodge: It was “Wrath of Khan,” too. “Wrath of Khan.” Yeah, it’s fun for us too as actors. A lot of fun.
Karen Bernardbello with Shockya.com: Leverage is like one of the highest rated shows on TNT right now. What’s it like to star on such a popular show?
Aldis Hodge: Well just to have the support of people like that is amazing because as an artist all I really care about is whether or not people are enjoying the work and if they’re not then I need to figure out how to do my job better.
But the response is overwhelming when it comes to meeting fans personally and it’s great to actually meet them. The experience you get when you meet somebody and they say, “Oh, my God, you guys do an amazing job. I love your show,” that’s so fulfilling for us as actors and for me definitely in particular because when you’re an entertainer, you have an obligation to your audience. You create a relationship with these people, you do not want to let them down and every time these people are blessing me to be able to go to work every single day and do what I love.
I don’t feel like I have a job. I just have a really good hobby because I don’t feel like I loathe going to work. It’s not an obligation to me. It’s never a time where I’m really unhappy. So these people are allowing me to live out my dream experience and I have to pay that back by hopefully giving them a good show, a good performance and I’m trying to better every performance every step of the way, every page.
So whenever somebody says, “Hey, look, you guys are doing a good job,” I feel validated in what I’m doing and the fact that they do watch us, the fact that they are loyal and they keep coming back is, for as many shows as there are out there, it’s very rare. It’s very rare to have a loyal audience, a strong stable audience.
And it just makes me feel like we are doing our job properly and that we’re continually getting blessed to be able to be in the position that we are in because to know that you made somebody smile or laugh or whatever, that’s something that you can’t imitate, you know what I’m saying, that kind of emotional connection. You cannot imitate that. And it’s immediate gratification.
So I’m eternally grateful for our audience and the show keeps spreading every year which is lucky and we really are trying to go ahead and give these people a little something to take off the edge of the day with. You know, we want them to have fun watching us and thank God they do and we really appreciate our audience.
Wil Wheaton: We’re really lucky as actors. On the longest most exhausting, most frustrating day…our job is to pretend.
Aldis Hodge: Yeah.
Wil Wheaton: And our job is to do what children do just naturally. We just make believe and when we do it right and everything comes together, we end up with a show like Leverage. From an artistic standpoint we can’t be working to try to get good ratings. From a practical standpoint, of course, the ratings matter because the higher rated a show is, the more likely it is that there’s going to be more of it.
And it’s wonderful to be part of something that we can feel good about at the end of every day that actually means something to people because, like I said, we are unbelievably lucky to be doing what we do.
Dan Evon with Indyposted.com: So you guys are working with Dave Foley on this next episode. He’s one of my favorite comedic actors. Just wondering how it was to work with him and how convincing he was as a villain.
Wil Wheaton: I had a lot of scenes with Dave. And, you know, I don’t believe I am cleared to get into the specifics about his character and exactly how our relationship plays out but there’s a very specific definite experience that happens when I work with an experienced veteran professional actor who really knows just what’s going on. And Dave is one of those guys.
He came up to do an episode of Eureka when I was working on that and I got to yell at him to stop following me around and coming into my shows and, you know, he gave it right back and it was great to work with him. I don’t remember, Aldis, did you have a lot of scenes with him?
Aldis Hodge: We had a few, very, very few. But what I do understand is that, you know, it’s weird, our type for a villain has so many dimensions. There’s so many facets into what makes somebody that bad guy, that antagonist. And there’s no real true definition behind it. What we are able to do with the show which is so fantastic is that we change it up and we give you every different venue of what a villain can be, the guy who seems nice, the guy that seems sweet, the guy that seems untouchable. Even Chaos’s character, you know, he seems like he’s not as devious as he truly is. We get to switch it up.
So what you’ll see from his performance—I don’t know how much I can say as well—but what you’ll see from his performance is a different definition, a different take on what a villain can be and he does it so well. It’s a great performance by him.
And to elaborate on what you said, Wil, about having seasoned actors, it makes our jobs a lot easier. It’s so great to have someone like Dave or like Wil because you’ve been doing it forever too, to have good, good artists, people who are really good at their craft on set and doing what they know and doing it well.
It saves time. It’s a learning lesson because you get to feed off of this other actor and learn, “All right. Well, I didn’t know this before. And I didn’t know I could take a scene this way or could you do it like this?” It’s so great to have somebody who gives you a different perspective on the art of what we do. And that’s what a seasoned actor does and that’s what Dave did, that’s what Wil does and he just gave a very fun performance.
I’ve seen the episode. It turned out amazing and I think people are going to have a lot of fun watching it. So, you know, stay tuned.
Source: InfoSmell
