BRIDGING TV & THEATRE: Scott Cohen & NECESSARY ROUGHNESS

Today we are continuing out summer series on the TV shows featuring some of the brightest and best talent onscreen and onstage with the second part of BroadwayWorld's series on USA's new primetime network drama NECESSARY ROUGHNESS focusing on screen and stage star Scott Cohen who plays Nico on the show. Featuring an impressive assortment of players known for roles on screens large and small and stages far and wide, NECESSARY ROUGHNESS was created by Craig Shapiro and Liz Kruger and features Callie Thorne, Marc Blucas, Scott Cohen, Mehcad Brooks and Andrea Anders. The show centers on therapist Dr. Dani Santino (Thorne) and her suddenly crumbling domestic life coming in the wake of her husband's (Craig Bierko) newly discovered affair, just as she enters a new area of expertise in her field and starts taking on the clients of her career - chief among them being star quarterback TK (Brooks). Will her newfound romance with Matthew (Blucas) and his relationship to the team lead to a fumble? And who exactly is the shadowy figure behind the scenes, Nico (Cohen)? Plus, how will Dr. Santino balance the roles of therapist, mother and newly-single woman approaching her forties? NECESSARY ROUGHNESS goes in for a touchdown by bringing together issues from all sides and taking them on play-by-play - because, after all, as the tagline goes: "Everyone has issues to tackle." Touchdown!

Playing the central football team's behind-the-scenes go-to fixer, Nico, Scott Cohen lends to the atmosphere of NECESSARY ROUGHNESS an air of sophistication and some shades of necessary darkness. Who exactly is this character and what role will he play as the events of the season unfurl? Discussing all aspects of his character and what we can expect from him in the premiere season, Cohen also touches upon his theatre and film work - most recently appearing in Caryl Churchill's DRUNK ENOUGH TO SAY I LOVE YOU at The Public; as well as filming HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION with Mel Gibson and AMIGO with writer/director John Sayles.

NECESSARY ROUGHNESS airs Wednesday nights at 10 PM on USA.

An Actor's An Actor

PC: Tell me about some of your favorite stage work - from high school until now. You've done so much.

SC: Well, in high school, I did mostly plays: I did Brecht.

PC: What Brecht?

SC: A MAN'S A MAN.

PC: Wow.

SC: The first play I ever did was CHARLIE BROWN, though. I played Snoopy and I was really, really good. (Deadpan.) I won lots of awards for it.

PC: Tell me about A MAN'S A MAN - it's one of my favorite Brecht pieces.

SC: It was the first play I ever did. I was in high school.

PC: That play is vicious.

SC: We were pretty advanced and elite, I guess. It was directed by this guy who had gone to the high school and had come back just to direct the play. For some reason, I was actually not interested in acting at all at the time.

PC: Were you a movie guy?

SC: No, I wasn't a movie guy, either. I wasn't into much of anything. (Laughs.)

PC: How did you become involved in the play?

SC: Well, I auditioned for the narrator. So, I got it and I suggested that I do these projections and this idea that I will be the tie-in for the audience. I will be like the vaudevillian type of clown.

PC: Like the Emcee in CABARET.

SC: It was just an idea, and he was totally into it - so, that's what we did.

PC: That was your first role?

SC: I was fourteen years old and I just loved it. That really changed my life.

PC: What other formative experiences did you have in the theatre?

SC: Well, in college I did SATURNALIA. It was this philosophical Greek/Roman-esque thing.

PC: Is the theatre what you want to pursue continually?

SC: All the time - yes.

PC: What Shakespeare roles mean the most to you?

SC: I haven't done much Shakespeare - Williamstown I did. I worked with JoAnne Woodward there.

PC: What was that like?

SC: It was a highlight of my life, truly.

PC: What was the production?

SC: I did LA RONDE.

PC: Arthur Schnitzler.

SC: Yes, that was the first play I did there. Then, she directed me in THE BIG KNIFE.

PC: The Odets?

SC: Yes. It was really wonderful to work with her, especially as a director. I also did a British play called PASSION there with John Benjamin Hickey. We also did THE ORESTIA there.

PC: Who are some of the directors that you always wanted to work with - Sidney Lumet?

SC: Oh, I would have loved to. I auditioned for him once, actually. He was so, so wonderful in an audition situation - whereas I would say that most directors are detached, he was nowhere near detached. He was very involved in wanting you to do the best that you could possibly. Very much like John Sayles.

PC: What is working with him like? The scenery and atmosphere is always so strong in his films.

SC: John Sayles is the same way - very involved. He's a genius, really.

PC: What's next?

SC: Well, we're doing NECESSARY ROUGHNESS... (Laughs.)

PC: Of course! What else?

SC: I have this movie with Mel Gibson that I did coming out.

PC: What was working with him like?

SC: I loved him. He's a really nice guy.

PC: He's a very talented director - masterful, really.

SC: He's another genius - he really is. Completely. He was amazing as an actor on this, though. He was so much about improvising - I mean, he's completely off the page. He has no reverence for the written word, but he is so sort of perfect in his, you know, gestalt, that everything that comes out of him is true. It's like there's nothing that's not true that comes out of him.

PC: What about one-on-one?

SC: Well, you know, I have no opinions about his issues in the press whatsoever - people do what they do. But, in my experience with him, he's awesome. He's really awesome.

PC: That's amazing to hear - he gets a lot of bad press.

SC: He's an amazing guy.

PC: What other directors really have had an influence on you?

SC: Adriane Lyne.

PC: His LOLITA is superb.

SC: Yeah, and Jeremy Irons is pretty f*cking incredible.

PC: Are there any actors whose careers you want to mimic in anyway?

SC: Eh, at this point? Nobody.

PC: You have to be your own man - A MAN'S A MAN, after all.

SC: (Laughs.) Right. But, I look at Jeff Bridges and De Niro and how can I not be in awe? John Lithgow, too. I tend to look up more to directors because directors change your performance.

PC: Who would you like to work with in the future?

SC: Terry Gilliam - I would work with him in a second. I also love Innaratu - BIUTIFUL is the best movie I saw last year. I love Paul Thomas Anderson, too - THERE WILL BE BLOOD is one of my favorites.

PC: How would you describe Nico?

SC: (Long Pause.) If I am looking for one word... dark. Mysterious. He's dark, mysterious and all-knowing. I think that he knows much more than anybody else knows in the show about what is going on, but he doesn't let on. So, because he has so much information that makes him a threat. He's only as dangerous as he needs to be - but, if he needs to be dangerous he has no problem doing that.

PC: So, he is omniscient but not nefarious?

SC: Yes! Yes. That's a great way to put it. He's like the George Clooney movie MICHAEL CLAYTON or Jodie Foster in INSIDE MAN - these people just know everything about a situation and, more importantly, they know how to get out of it. There really are people like that. For me, when I got the pilot, I did research on sports' agents - who are they and what do they do? - and I talked to a few people and I found out that people like Nico exist, but I wouldn't be able to talk to any of them. That's really pretty interesting to me that they are out there; they do exist.

PC: What's next for Nico on the show?

SC: Well, every episode you learn a little something new - but, he reveals it only to Dani. Only Dani knows.

PC: What was working with new cast member Andrea Anders like in Episode 3?

SC: Oh, she's just great. She's hysterical. There's very few actors who can come in and make it funny if they mess up - you know, they usually get neurotic - but, she made it funny earlier today. And, she's so beautiful and so gorgeous. I have some scenes with her about what's going on with Matt - Marc Blucas's character. Nico sees her character like he always knew she was going to come in.

PC: So, I have to know: who does Nico answer to?

SC: There is a guy behind the scenes behind the guy behind the scenes - the guy who owns the team and owns many other things. I don't know if we ever see him - I heard that in, like, Episode Six, his name comes up a lot. We will see.

PC: How do you see Nico, yourself?

SC: He's one of those people... if they need to kill, they will kill. (Pause. Laughs.) I mean, that's an extreme, obviously, but he really walks to his own drummer. He has seen the worst of the worst and he realizes that, you know, it probably cannot get worse than what he has seen in his life, so nothing is that bad and nothing is that good - everything is sort of on an even keel.

PC: Were you attracted to the enigmatic nature of the character from the get-go when you first read the script?

SC: Absolutely. With the pilot - you know, as an actor, it's always difficult to want to do a character that doesn't have much to do - but, I found that it was so interesting that I could create this character who is so stoic and so silent and in his presence and in his silence he is so powerful. It was so fun for me as an actor to play that with a camera. So, hopefully, I can accomplish that - be present in a scene and allow that to be shown and then the story can be told around me.

PC: Are you looking forward to a moment where you explode, having to hold it all in like you do in the first few episodes?

SC: Well, I seriously doubt that will happen with Nico! I don't think he will lose control and completely explode - not yet.

PC: Do you yourself have to stay tightly-wound all the time to play him - at least while shooting?

SC: Yes! Yes. Yes. You should see me when I take off all my clothes (Laughs.) But, yes, everything is very closely-bound and tightly-wound playing this guy. Very coiled. Very tight.

PC: This was fantastic, Scott. Thank you so much for this. The show is so entertaining. I really enjoyed it.

SC: Thanks to you, too, Pat. This was just great. I love working on this show.

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