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.

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

Leverage – Christian Kane and Aldis Hodge interview

Leverage – Christian Kane and Aldis Hodge talk about edginess, improv and a budding bro-mance

Posted by Joe Nazzaro on Oct 3, 2010

Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane) and Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge) © 2010 Turner Network

At first glance, they make an unlikely duo: Eliot Spencer (played by Christian Kane) Leverage’s no-nonsense retrieval specialist; and Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge), the wise-cracking technology wizard. But paired up for a recent third-season episode, it becomes apparent that the seemingly mismatched characters actually make an engaging double-act.

Off-camera, that chemistry is even more obvious, as the two actors sat down together for a fast-paced, self-deprecating joint interview…

Is there anything coming up for your characters that you can talk about?

Aldis Hodge: I’ll put it like this: I think Hardison and Parker take an extra step. 

Christian Kane: Good for you, man! Eliot is the fifth wheel! I’m just in the way. 

Aldis: You’re getting busy more than any of us! You were the first one to get busy in the first season, so what are you talking about? 

Christian: John Rogers likes to put it like this: Eliot’s weekends are not free, so that’s how it goes. I think Eliot is incapable of love. 

Aldis: He’s a rolling stone; every season. Dude, I’ve been begging! 

Kane: But I don’t see why Eliot can’t be in love. Why can’t he find somebody? 

Has either of you been able to make suggestions that affected your characters or the overall tone of the show?

Christian: We make suggestions. If we want to do something, we put it out there. The great thing about going into season three (and hopefully season four) is that we’ve allowed the writers to write. They don’t have to develop characters anymore because we know them better than anybody else. 

Now instead of the writers developing the characters, they get to develop their stories 100% because they know who we are. It’s a whole new fun realm we’re into because they can just write the stories and leave it up to us. 

Aldis: That’s it exactly. Our job from day one has been to create who these people are, because no one is going to know them better than us. The writers laid out a blueprint and said, ‘This is where we want to go,’ but from the pilot, [creators] John Rogers and Chris Downey said, ‘Okay, we brought you in for this specific reason…’  They brought in Christian to- and this is how John puts it- ‘Eliot Spencer is supposed to be a s**t-kicker, so that’s why they brought in Christian, because he’s going to get the job done.’ 

For me, Hardison kind of turned into a bit of a loudmouth and I am a loudmouth; I talk smack all day. As long as we get the job done, he’s going to get it done, but he’s also going to tell you how he feels about it along the way. So they allow us to be who we are and allow us to do our jobs as actors to create these characters and they use our personalities and what’s going on in our personal lives to influence these characters. As writers, it helps their job, because they don’t have to work to create the dialogue. Whenever me and Christian get together, they say- 

Christian: ‘Go from A to B; we don’t care how you get there!’ 

Aldis: ‘This is the idea we want to get out of the scene; skip the lines and you two just go!’ Sometimes we will have an entire scene together, especially in an episode coming up where the two of us are together throughout the whole thing- 

Christian: And in the script, it will literally say, ‘Eliot and Hardison improv,’ because they know what we’re going to do. 

Aldis, your brother Edwin was in this season?

Aldis: He came in [in the episode ‘The Jailhouse Job’] and killed it. I’ve been trying to get him in for all three seasons, but they finally found the right role and it was amazing having him. My brother and I started our careers together. Our first movie together was Diehard with a Vengeance. I played Sam Jackson’s nephew and my brother played my friend in the film, so that was our first job together and our first series together was Sesame Street. 

Is there be a danger that your characters can soften up a bit and lose their edge over time?

Aldis: From my perspective, if there’s something you love and care about, something you’re willing to fight for, you may have subtle moments but you’re never going to get soft. We’re going to have our moments when we get down and relax but when we get in these missions, there’s no time to play around. 

Christian: It’s exactly as he says. We’re lucky to have writers that allow that. I love what you just said and I believe what you just said, but it doesn’t happen in this show, because as soon as it happens, which you’re getting ready to see, we spin it. 

I’ll just tell you about my character, but Eliot is the Tin Man: he’s trying to find a heart, so if you see this episode with Eliot and Hardison, it’s a bro-mance by the end, but the problem with growing a heart is when it comes back to bite you and you’re going to see Eliot go back to what he used to be. 

That’s why it’s such a great question, because when the writers start to see that happening, they’ll say, ‘I like where we’re going, but we’re not going to let him get soft!’ and I go back to something that’s almost inhuman. 

Where would you like to see the series go in the future?

 

Christian: These are the roles that we came to Hollywood to play. I would like to see it go a little more dangerous maybe, because those are the episodes that we always have fun in, when our lives are threatened. If you go from season one to three, it’s actually starting to get darker as it goes along. We’re still there to entertain and we have a lot of fun with it, but at the same time it is a dark show if you really look at it. 

Aldis: I’d like to see the show continue in this same direction with this continual progression throughout the season. As long as we don’t come back and do the same season over and over again, I’m okay. 

Leverage airs Sunday nights on TNT at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) 

SOURCE:

Film Review Online

IF Magazine Interview – Part 2

For three seasons now, Aldis Hodge has played the inventive hacker on TNT’s hit heist show LEVERAGE (a new episode airs tonight at 9/8c). When he first joined the team in Season One, he was very good working on his own, but slowly he’s had to evolve into being a team player.

Now, the expert hacker has come into his own in Season Three. He has ambitions of being the head of his own “team” one day, but also getting the opportunity to showcase the deeper side to his multi-faceted character.

Hodge recently spoke to iF, in the second part of this exclusive interview, and talked about promoting the show, how ambitious this season has been, some of his favorite episodes from last year and the status of his self-created watch line.

iF MAGAZINE: The cast has been everywhere this year with promotions, from Con-Con to Comic-Con and more – do you feel you’ve been doing more or has this been business as usual for you guys?

ALDIS HODGE: Like I said, I’m very, very tired and that’s a good tired. We have been very busy this year. I can’t really complain about it. We work to be busy. I call it “work-cation” when I’m in Portland shooting. That’s six months out, we’re filming the whole time, doing our thing and I’m trying to soak it up as much as I possibly can and get as much work in as possible. We have our down time and a hiatus. It’s nice to have a job. When you have it, you have to appreciate it when it’s there, because you don’t know if it’s going to come back again. We’ve been very, very busy and God willing, we continue to stay busy. We’re very fortunate that way. Just shooting the show has even been more ambitious this time around, because we have a lot more to do.

iF: Would you say the show is more ambitious this season?

HODGE: Definitely, but we try to stay ambitious and try to get even more ambitious each season. We understand the machine we’re working on here, and continually try to take steps to outdo what we did last time. Our ambition is there and it’s full force. We work our ass off to the bone, but it definitely pays off. We’ve been fortunate enough to watch rough cuts of episodes as we’ve done the last two seasons, and it keeps us juiced up and excited. We see what we’re doing, we’re happy about it, and we’re excited to go back to the next day of work because we know we’re making a good product and it keeps our energy there. We thank [executive producer] Dean [Devlin] for that too and the opportunity to do something different.

iF: The show has gone a bit global with the cons this year …

HODGE: It means, as a team, we have to work a little harder. It’s not a question of American eyes being on us now. We now have to deal with international criminals. It’s not just big bad American CEO’s doing their own thing – we have international mobsters coming after us and it forces us to broaden our spectrum and we’ve had to gear up a little more this year and fight a little harder and go different places. I know last season we had to travel out for “The Zanzibar Job” and the first season we had to travel to another country for the orphan kids. We’ve dealt with it before, but this season it was more prevalent because we have a running storyline of an international criminal who is shaking it up for us.

iF: It must have been fun to have your brother Edwin appearing on the show in the season premiere.

HODGE: That was amazing and it was great for us. We didn’t have scenes together, and I was like “Oh man,” because I would love to get back on screen with my brother. It was great to have him there and to have him doing his thing. The episode was phenomenal. Hopefully the audience dug it as much I did.

iF: Can you talk a little bit about Season Two and looking back on it now?

HODGE: The best thing for the team was we all got to grow into different responsibilities as far as what we had to do for the team. As far as Hardison, he had to take on a couple of different roles and hats and play grifter, and we got to explore more of his depth as an asset to the team. And Hardison now has a little bit more of an authoritative stance of what he does for the team and what they do for the people they help. He grew up.

iF: What were some of your favorite episodes from Season Two?

HODGE: I was a fan of all last season, but my two favorites were “The Three Days of the Hunter Job” and “The Iceman Job.” In “Iceman” I got to play the grifter, but I also got to throw on a little accent. Hardison had to step outside of himself and outside of what he does naturally. The same thing with “Three Days of The Hunter Job.” I had to step outside of myself. I had to play a crazy war veteran suffering from shell shock. Anything that pushes Hardison’s limits, as far as what he does and what he can do, I love that and I enjoy taking on that creative aspect and challenge.

iF: What did you think of CON-CON: AN OFFICIAL LEVERAGE EVENT? How did it feel to come out with all those people and the love-fest that you experienced?

HODGE: I thought our convention was a great success. It was the first convention for our show. It was the first convention for any show on TNT and for any original series on TNT. I think, also, for a show of our type and demographic, it was one of the first conventions for a show of our type. It was a great success. Our audience came and had a good time and we as a cast had a good time. I’ve done conventions for the last few years for SUPERNATURAL, that’s where I learned the ropes a little bit. On SUPERNATURAL I was a guest star. This is different, because this is my show, my family, my house. The response is different, the love is different and we as a cast had a good time and a great turn-out and God willing, if the success keeps rolling, we can do it again. It was a great party for us and our audience.

iF: How is your watch line coming along?

HODGE: Watches take a very, very long time to make. You can master this, I guess if you’re making cheaper made watch, but my watches, I create the actual watch and the mechanisms that move. It takes a while for the research. I recently put the finishing touches for one design and I shipped it off to Switzerland to see what they will say about it and will go back to the drawing board for the second round. And hopefully when that gets done, we’ll hopefully see that watch show up next year, which would be amazing. Other than that, I’m kicking out LEVERAGE and in the meantime, I’m writing scripts and trying to figure out what to do to keep myself busy during hiatus.

iF: Is there anything you can’t do?

HODGE: I can’t do a backflip, which I’m going to go learn how to do some time later this year.

Essence.com Interview – Aldis

Aldis Hodge on TNT’s ‘Leverage’

Sunday, August 15, 2010 | 8:00 AM

by Hillary Crosley

You may not recognize the name Aldis Hodge, but we’re sure you’ll remember his face. The New Jersey-cum-Los Angeles native has a resume a mile long, boasting roles on everything from “The Game” to “CSI,” and now he’s jumping into the third season TNT’s “Leverage,” which premieres this Sunday at 9pm eastern, as super geek Alec Hardison. ESSENCE.com spoke with Aldis as he drove around Southern California in his Prius and chatted about his key to success, playing a computer whiz and beginning his career as an ESSENCE magazine model.

ESSENCE.com: We heard you began your entertainment career as an ESSENCE model?
ALDIS HODGE: I was a little three-year-old kid and my older brother of two years Edwin Hodge went to do a job and they needed an extra kid. My mom asked me if I wanted to do it, at first I didn’t want to but then I remembered that she’d given me a Batman toy after a job, so I decided to get my Batman hustle up and start working. I actually remember the ESSENCE shoot and it was a good time, I felt like we were important because we were actually in a magazine!

ESSENCE.com: Season three of TNT’s “Leverage” premieres this Sunday, tell us about your computer nerd character Alec Hardison?
ALDIS HODGE: It’s funny because a lot of people think that I can do what he does… which couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve been able to explore my own creativity through this character, by building him into what I want with imagination. I feel like I’m hitting the playground every day with this job because I love the character and it’s been a collaboration with John Rogers, the show’s co-creator. In the beginning, Alec wasn’t supposed to be so outspoken but I’ve got a loud mouth and I improv and they let me. It’s a great working relationship that’s going on four years now.

ESSENCE.com: You’ve got a robust acting resume from “Private Practice” to “NYPD Blue,” you were even a voice in “Happy Feet!” How have you maintained such a strong career?
ALDIS HODGE: I’ll tell you how, it’s called being broke and not wanting to go back! It’s always a struggle and a fight because this business can be so aggravating, a lot of great actors don’t see the light of day. I’ve been fortunate along with my brother Edwin, who’s actually going to be in the remake of “Red Dawn” coming up, to build a reputation. Sometimes the work speaks to our credit, sometimes the reputation speaks to our credit, but people have been generous enough to give us the opportunity. Sometimes you have to fight for the opportunity. Even with “Leverage” I had to kick in the door because truth be told it wasn’t my job. Someone else was being considered and John Rogers went to bat for me and said ‘I think you really need to see Aldis’ and they agreed. Then when they did see me, they chose me but I credit that to a lot of God, a lot of talent and a lot of luck. I always credit my mom because she gave me my talent and I think if you do good work, it speaks for itself.

ESSENCE.com: How did your mother begin as you and your brother Edwin’s manager and agent?
ALDIS HODGE: At one time, I remember we were staying with my grandmother in New Jersey with 12 people in one house, my brother and I had to sleep in the attic. Of the 12 people, there were eight children so it was a mad house. But my mom made the decision to get us away from that. She was still working when my brother said he was going to act. She was trying to work and support his career at the same time without help from my father. She eventually decided to be our first everything, from an agent to a manager, but she was never a stage mom. She made sure we had a childhood and an education first. If you weren’t bring A’s and B’s home, you weren’t going to that audition. We really had to earn it because after awhile we understood that acting was something we truly wanted to do. Still, things were rough but mom never let us know. Even if she wasn’t eating, we always had a meal.

ESSENCE.com: Are you in a relationship, Mr. Hodge?
ALDIS HODGE: I am single, very single. No children, I’m still a child myself! Kids are definitely something I’m looking forward to in my 30s, having a couple juniors and doing my old man thing. But right now, I’m a young buck chasing money, when I have kids I want the money to chase me.

Source: Essence.com

IF Magazine: ALDIS HODGE HACKS INTO THE HEART OF HARDISON – PART 1

© & TM Turner Network Television. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Photographer: Gavin Bond Aldis Hodge in LEVERAGE – SEASON THREE

Exclusive Interview: ‘LEVERAGE’ STAR ALDIS HODGE HACKS INTO THE HEART OF HARDISON – PART 1

A new episode of the hit series (‘The Underground Job’) airs tonight at 9/8c only on TNT

By CARL CORTEZ, Contributing Editor
Published 8/15/2010

For three seasons now, Aldis Hodge has played the inventive hacker Hardison on TNT’s hit heist show LEVERAGE (a new episode airs tonight at 9/8c). When Hardison first joined the team in Season One, he was very good working by himself, but slowly had to evolve into being a team player.

Now, the expert hacker has come into his own in Season Three as he has ambitions of being the head of his own “crew” one day. The series has also began to showcase the deeper side to his multi-faceted character, as well as delving more into Hardison’s past.

Hodge recently spoke to iF, in this exclusive interview, about Season Three, where the show is headed and being a beginner on the violin and tackling the complicated Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov composition “Scheherazade” in the early Season Three episode “The Scheherazade Job.”

iF MAGAZINE: Can you talk about Season Three and where you feel the team was at the beginning of it?

ALDIS HODGE: We came in and we were trying to be back on our game. Nate [Timothy Hutton] was in jail. After Nate did what he did to us, we were left out of the loop and we went back to square one, “how do we get this team together?” and “how do we get this to work?” and that’s what the first part of the season was.

iF: “The Scheherazade Job” was a pretty cool episode – do you play violin?

HODGE: I practice violin. I’m not prolific whatsoever. I practice and [LEVERAGE co-creator and executive producer] Chris Downey had told me a little while ago, “I want to write an episode where you play violin” and I said, “okay, let me know.” He came up with the episode, but the piece, “Scheherazade” is very tough to play, even for professionals. It far exceeded my skill. I was quite intimidated by the challenge, but I was very up for the challenge. It was a great script and it’s one of my favorite scripts so far this season. It was a very tough one to get down, but we had a lot of fun. It forced me to go a little deeper into understanding of the violin. It was a great episode. I was around real musicians and it inspired me to do my thing, even though I felt very intimidated. My skill, I’m a super beginner, and “Scheherazade” is super expert. But I worked hard with my violin teacher to get my fingering down and the timing.

iF: When did you start practicing and taking lessons?

HODGE: I got a teacher last year.

iF: The thing that was amazing about that episode, was the whole act that was just the music – literal a ballet of conning.

HODGE: The whole idea of that was amazing. That was a bold choice and a big chance for a series to take and not often do people push that limit. I can’t wait to push that limit even more.

iF: Before a season starts, do you start thinking, “what other accents do I have in my tool kit? What other things can I bring to the table and let the writers know I can do.” Or do you just take the challenges as they come?

HODGE: I’m always thinking about what’s coming next. We owe it to the audience. They expect something new and fresh and deserve something new. I know, throughout the breaks and throughout the middle of working, I’m doing that. Sometimes during the last minute on set, we get ideas, throw them in there, and say “this would be great.” So we could throw something in there any time on set, and my mind is always on, because I never stop thinking. I’m always thinking about how to take this to the next level. For me, doing a TV series, you may get the same characters throughout six or seven different seasons, but you’ll never have the same story. We grow as people in real life and that’s what we want for our characters too and we always try to bring something new for the audience to enjoy. If you ain’t got nothing new, what’s the point?

iF: Does the hypnosis thing become a bigger issue throughout the season?

HODGE: The hypnosis is a small piece to a big puzzle as far as what Nate is going through. Once you watch it, it speaks to his evolution as a character and as a mastermind – and what he went through in jail, his personal time, and where he’s making his next move. Definitely pay attention to it. It’s an important part of the story. It’s a pivotal part of the story, but it’s not the only part. There are many other pieces that build up to who Nate Ford has become and that’s one of the tip of the icebergs. It’s one of the first insights as to who he is.

iF: I really liked in “The Reunion Job”  where Hardison got to go against 1980s technology. It was fun to see Hardison get flustered with that kind of stuff.

HODGE: I could understand why he was flustered – that stuff was out way before I was born. Geez, I didn’t understand the language I was looking at.

iF: There’s been a lot of character building and background stuff with all the characters this year – has that been fun to explore?

HODGE: It’s definitely been more character-driven than story driven, because the audience is intrigued in finding more about who we are and why we are the way we are. We’re delving a little deeper and our relationships have grown. The relationship between Parker [Beth Riesgraf] and Hardison has matured and grown up since the first season and even the second season. There have been a few good episodes as far as Hardison, in terms of who he is, why he is the way he is and what’s going on with him. It may be a little set-up. Hardison has the ambition to run his own crew one day, so he’s learning and I think that’s all I can say to that.

iF: Will this wish of having his own crew have some sort of pay-off before the season is over?

HODGE: All I know is that’s Hardison’s ambition and that’s what he’s working towards. His mind frame is different this year. In the first season, he was “figuring out what job we’re doing and why we were doing it,” the second season was getting comfortable with that idea and the third season, he now enjoys what he does and why he does it and wants to keep giving it back. He wants to take over, when all is said and done.

iF: Is there still a lot of improvisation on set?

HODGE: From day one, we’ve always been allowed to improvise. We respect the foundation of the script, the story, the idea and we respect the words, but at the same time, the writers and the producers and directors respect us as actors, so they give us the space to create and do as much with the characters as we can. Personally, I don’t improv to take away. I improv only when I see an opening to add to a scene or add to the character’s style or to the character’s personality. I always make sure to respect what’s on the page. We’re allowed to improv, and it’s a good working relationship between the writers, producers, directors and actors. It only opens up the lanes for more creativity and even more fun, and it’s fun to watch when you’re working off that spontaneity. The audience can tell.

STAY TUNED FOR PART 2 OF iF’S EXCLUSIVE ALDIS HODGE INTERVIEW LATER THIS WEEK

Source: IF Magazine

Hardison and Parker Soon Will Steal a Moment

EXCLUSIVE! ICYDK talks with “Leverage” star Aldis Hodge!

EXCLUSIVE! ICYDK talks with “Leverage” star Aldis Hodge!

I had the chance to talk with Aldis Hodge yesterday, star of the hit TNT show Leverage. I was super excited to talk to him, because Leverage films in Portland, Oregon, my hometown! I wanted to ask him a few questions about his experience in Portland as an artist, because besides being an incredibly talented actor – he’s also a painter!

Jocelyn: Hey Aldis; how are you today?

Aldis Hodge: Hey, I’m doing fine. Yourself?

Jocelyn: Not too bad. Well I’m a blogger from Portland, and I kind of wanted to ask you… I know you’re an artist as well as an actor. And I was wondering if you’ve had the chance to check out some of the arts here in Portland?

Aldis Hodge: I have. I have. I’ve been to just about every art gallery here at downtown.

Jocelyn: You’re a painter, correct?

Aldis Hodge: I am. I’m a painter. I’ve had a little bit of time to paint. I finished one painting since I’ve been here. It took me about two months to finish. And I’m trying to work on it but I just haven’t had the time to be diligent like I would prefer. I love some times just walking around checking out the (pics) because I get inspired myself. I get to see what everybody else has going on, and it’s nice to see what everybody’s perception of creativity is visually, you know?

And then of course the first Thursdays here which is the little art wall here every first Thursday of every month you go downtown, people display their art at the (rec).

Jocelyn: Right. That’s actually what I was going to ask you, if you’d had a chance to check out First Thursday?

Aldis Hodge: Every Thursday that I’m off in time to go, I go.

Jocelyn: Awesome! Well thank you for taking my question and I’ll talk to you again soon.

Aldis Hodge: Thank you very much.

Don’t forget to watch Season 2’s premiere of Leverage on TNT, Sunday June 20th at 9/8c!!

SOURCE: In Case You Didn’t Know

Two Cents and Five Questions for Aldis Hodge

You’ve probably seen him on a dozen different TV shows without knowing it – from Supernatural to Friday Night Lights – but Aldis Hodge has made his mark as wisecracking hacker Alec Hardison on TNT’s bustout hit Leverage.

Beginning its third season June 20, Leverage has already spawned its own convention and has even been the answer to a question on Jeopardy!. Hodge was kind enough to sit down with me exclusively on Friday to talk about what a ride it’s been and where he might be headed in Season 3.

TheTwoCents: This is what could be called your “breakout” role – describe what that’s been like for you.
Aldis Hodge: The show’s been great. I love my job, love what I do. It’s just a great opportunity to learn and to plan for what’s coming next. There are a lot of great people to learn from – Dean Devlin, John Rogers.

TTC: Talk about having to work with those mouthfuls of technical dialogue.
AH: It forces me to enunciate and speak clearly. John Rogers is a physicist so ninety-five percent of what I say, he can actually do. None of that bores me. I just try to make it as exciting to the audience as I can. Because the spy stuff – that really is interesting. It’s just getting it out tere.

TTC: What’s been your biggest challenge with this role so far? Is there anything you’d like to tackle that you haven’t yet?
AH: My biggest challenge was playing the violin. They wanted to write [that into an episode]. They didn’t tell me how difficut the piece was that I had to play. I’m still a novice with my instrument and the piece was pretty difficult. I practiced a lot. I think you might see that on our premiere night or our second episode.

TTC: In Season 3, are we going to see more of Hardison stepping out of the traditional hacker role like he did briefly in Season 2 (with “The Ice Man Job” and “The Lost Heir Job”)?
AH: Possibly. Hardison is on a bit of a different mission now. In the first season he was like why is he doing this job. [Now] he’d like to maybe run his own crew, so he’s taking his job a bit more seriously. He’s paying more attention to what everyone else does.

TTC: What’s ahead for the Hardison/Parker and Hardison and Eliot dynamics in Season 3?
AH: We have one great episode where Hardison and Parker go back and forth on their feelings. He’s been there with the puppy dog eyes trying to kick in her door and find out what she’s about, and she won’t let him. But there starts to be some understanding, and that maybe there’s something there for her, too.

[With Hardison and Eliot] I’ll just say there’s an episode where Christian and I are forced to be together the entire time. I was excited when I read it. I went to him and said, “I have some ideas,” and he was all “Let’s roll with it.” The audience knows they’re going to see us coming at each other and arguing and fun times. We enjoy doing it because we know what the audience likes.

TTC: Talk about the fans and the show’s explosion of popularity.
AH: We were all very surprised at that. We had a great time. We just had our first convention, which is something more for sci-fi shows, and we’re a spy show. We had the opportunity to meet our fans. We have a lot of people who support us, shooting in Portland, which is amazing. With a TV show it’s kind of a crapshoot, you hope that it works or you go on to the next one. But we have a lot of people who support us.

TTC: If you could play any other role on the show, which one would it be?
AH: I don’t know. I dig Hardison. He can break into people’s bank accounts and steal all the money he wants. Maybe Parker. Since she gets to do all the acrobatics and stuff.

TTC: So no more hanging you off anything in Season 3?
AH: You never know.

Leverage begins its third season Sunday, June 20 on TNT. The second-season DVDs are available now at all major retailers. Go pick them up – you won’t be disappointed. And a special thanks to Aldis for taking the time to chat with me about one of cable’s hottest series!

Brittany Frederick – Staff Writer
brittanyfrederick@thetwocentscorp.com

Source The Two Cents

The 10 Best Geeks (or Geek Teams) in Film and TV

The 10 Best Geeks (or Geek Teams) in Film and TV from TubeCentric written by Martin L. Shoemaker