Tutte le interviste TV
a Michael T. Weiss
dal 1990 al 1999
Parte 1
MICHAEL T. WEISS ON GERALDO - 1990
Michael T. Weiss and several other male soap opera stars
travelled to Los Angeles to be on a Soap Studs edition of Geraldo Rivera’s
daytime talk show, Geraldo.
Audience members asked the actors questions in no particular order and no
particular subject, so there was little linear discussion during the program.
Michael was asked by one fan what he thought of the female actress who portrayed
his sister on Days of Our lives, in which he played Dr. Mike Norton. He grinned
and complimented the actresses and then “complained” that it was too bad that
she was his “sister”. Smiling he added, “I could just eat her up. But I can’t,
so I won’t”.
A bit later, one of the audience members asked Michael if he had a girlfriend.
Raising his eyebrows and joking, he asked if the fan was asking him on a date.
When she replied with an enthusiastic “Yes!”, Rivera asked others in the
audience who wanted a date with Michael to raise their hands. Several hands went
up immediately and more went up after some further prompting by Rivera. Michael
looked at the fan who had originally asked the question and told her he’d just
broken up with his girlfriend, so said he’d meet her (the fan) outside around 11
p.m. The audience responded with good-natured laughter.
Toward the end of the show, Rivera distributed roses to each of the actors and
pulled from the audience an equal number of women to do a short “I love you”
scene with them. Women were to tell whatever actor they were paired with,
“You’re the only man I ever loved” and the actor would respond “I love you too”.
The audience would then be allowed to judge which actor gave the best response
to the woman whom he was paired with.
The first actor up responded to the “You’re the only man I ever loved” line by
trimming his rose down to a thornless bud and placing it in the cleavage of the
woman he’d been paired with. After telling her “I love you, too”, he kissed her
several times. Other actors on the stage were all astounded by the performance
and complained that there was no way they could top that. Nonetheless, Rivera
made each actor perform in turn. When it was Michael’s turn, he stood up and set
his rose aside for a moment. After she proclaimed “You’re the only man I ever
loved” he reached into his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill and handed it to the
female fan. She folded the $20 bill up and made a show of placing it into her
bra. Laughing, Michael took her head between his hands, kissed her on the cheek
and handed her the rose she’d earned.
At the end of the program, Rivera asked each of the actors to describe
themselves in one word. As the credits rolled, Michael’s one word was: “Lustful”.
Ooooh!!!
MICHAEL T. WEISS ON ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT - 1990
The following pictures are somewhat rare images of Michael
T. Weiss being interviewed during the taping of the Dark Shadows revival series.
He appears dressed as Peter Bradford.
In this interview, Michael T. Weiss was discussing the character of Barnabas
Collins (played by Ben Cross) and commented that although there was the blood
and vampire facet to Barnabas, there also was his tragic love story which was
the real focus of the series: Barnabas was a man who made a mistake and paid for
it not only for the rest of his life, but for the rest of eternity.
MICHAEL T. WEISS ON THE TODAY SHOW - NOVEMBER 2, 1996
Jodi Applegate: By definition, a good actor pretends to be
a lot of different characters: doctor, firefighter, pilot. Our next guest gets
to do that every week. In fact, he is The Pretender, every Saturday night here
on NBC (clip rolls). That's Michael T. Weiss pretending to be a doctor, and here
he is pretending to be a guest.
Michael T. Weiss: I'm pretend...
JA: Or actually, you are.
MTW: Yes, I am.
JA: It's good to have you.
MTW: This early in the morning, I'm pretending to be a guest.
JA: You're pretending to be awake.
MTW: Yes.
JA: I do that all the time. Tell us about your character, because I heard him
described as something like Forrest Gump meets the Fugitive. Is that a good
characterization?
MTW: That would be... that would be a pretty good characterization. Jarod is a...sort
of a... he was rai... he's a super genius who was raised in this nefarious place
called The Centre.
JA: Which is in Delaware.
MTW: Which is in Blue Cove, Delaware.
JA: Why Delaware? What have they ever done to you?
MTW: There's a lot of nefarious things going on in Delaware.
JA: We just never heard about them.
MTW: You guys just don't know about that yet. And he's been... he was exploited
as a super genius. And he escapes The Centre at 30... after 30 years and goes
out in the real world. And he's a fish out of water. He's like a kid to be
experiencing the world for the first time with this super genius intellect.
JA: Huh? We've got another clip to show. We're going to play it here, and you
can kind of explain what's going on because there's like a continuing plot line
about the people who are trying to recapture you (clip rolls). OK, so the woman
and the guy in the Yale sweatshirt are both after you.
MTW: She's... they're just mean people who are after me. She's mean, and she's
after me. And she's got great legs, so she's got great legs and she's mean.
JA: Well, why didn't you let her catch you?
MTW: And she smokes cigarettes on the camera, so she must be mean.
JA: That makes her a bad person.
MTW: Yes. Andrea Parker, great actor.
JA: Now, I understand that you were originally reluctant to take this role. Why
is that?
MTW: Well, I mean, I was doing a lot of film work and had done my TV sort of
stint, and I was doing films, and I... and it was hard to make the commitment to
go back to television, but you know, it was such a great role, and I get to play
a different character every week with such a lot of fun things to do that I
couldn't resist it, so...
JA: You mentioned TV. Folks may recognize you from... which soap were you on?
MTW: I was on Days of Our Lives.
JA: Excuse me, daytime drama.
MTW: Yes, daytime drama.
JA: And you were also in an interesting movie called Jeffery.
MTW: Yes.
JA: Tell us about that.
MTW: Jeffery was an off-Broadway play written by Paul Rudnick. And we did that
last year. And it was a really successful, independent film about AIDS, so it
was kind of a challenge for me. And a really wonderful cast.
JA: And you're in a new movie now called Freeway, right?
MTW: Yes. An Oliver Stone-produced film called Freeway. I play opposite Amanda
Plummer, and she plays my... it's like a Little Red Riding Hood meets Natural
Born Killers. And Reese Witherspoon plays Little Riding Hood, so it's kind of
fun.
JA: I can think I know exactly what you're talking about there. It's interesting,
this... this character that you play... or this bunch of characters, I guess, in
The Pretender because you describe your own childhood as having nothing to do
with a nefarious place in Delaware but as being painfully Midwestern.
MTW: Painfully Midwestern.
JA: What does that mean?
MTW: I was born right in the middle, smack dab in the middle of the country, I
think, you know. I had a great, normal upbringing. It was just really normal.
You know, Little League and... you know. But I always think, `You know, I'm
going to get out of here, and I'm going to go to California where everyone's
really weird.' And here I am.
JA: And you're also very involved in the environment.
MTW: Yes.
JA: Can you tell us a little bit about that?
MTW: I'm on the board of directors of an organization called the Earth
Communications Office, and we disseminate information like I am today talking
about the environment, what people can do to change the way they live so that we
can make our world a sustainable planet for the rest of eternity.
JA: He's an actor and an environmentalist. Michael T. Weiss, it was a pleasure
to meet you.
MTW: It was a pleasure to be here.
JA: A handshake and everything.
MTW: Thank you.
JA: And we'll tune in. Saturday nights on NBC, The Pretender.
MTW: Please do. Right.
JA: And we'll have more in a moment. But first, this is Today on NBC...
MICHAEL T. WEISS ON THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO - JANUARY 24, 1997
Jay Leno: Our next guest stars in NBC’s The Pretender,
which can be seen Saturdays at 9 p.m. Please welcome Michael T. Weiss.
Michael T. Weiss: Do I have to stick my head in a vat of cheese?
JL: No, no. You’re fine. You’re fine.
MTW: I’m gonna be alright.
JL: You know, I was talking to someone about your haircut the other day and they
defended you saying: “No, no, you started that.”
MTW: I did.
JL: ’Cause see, Keanu Reeves has it now. And now, George Clooney’s got it now.
MTW: Who?
JL: Oh, forget it. But now, you’ve had that for a while.
MTW: I have. I’ve had it for a long time.
JL: You’re still the originator of the bad haircut.
MTW: I like to think that me and Julius Caesar were the actual originators.
JL: Now, where are you from, originally? I don’t know a whole lot about you.
MTW: Chicago.
JL: Oh, Chicago. Okay, okay.
MTW: Close to Green Bay.
JL: So you would be Green Bay?
MTW: Yeah, we used to go to the Bears/Packers games all the time.
JL: Oh, so you’re Packers.
MTW: But they were Milwaukee.
JL: So you’re Packers.
MTW: Packers. Cheese head. Yes.
JL: Alright. My next guest, you probably will remember...
MTW: Sorry about that, brother.
JL: Now, you don’t come from a show business family, right?
MTW: No, not at all.
JL: ’Cause I know Chicago’s the Midwest. Sometimes, you go into acting, people
think “Ew, something wrong with the boy.” Were your parents like that? Were they
very supportive?
MTW: No. My dad’s in the steel business in Chicago and he’s, like, a real
serious guy.
JL: (takes on a midwestern accent) So you wanna be an actor, hah?
MTW: (imitates his dad’s accent) You wanna be an actor? Are you crazy? When are
you gonna make a living? (drops the accent) So, he’s very, you know...
MTW: Were they really that way? Did they think you were nuts?
MTW: They thought I was a little nuts, but they’re very supportive, wonderful
people. So, they were great.
JL: I mean, were they... did you do plays and things like that, or just films?
And did they come to your...
MTW: They came to every bad piece of theatre I ever did.
JL: Oh, well, that’s nice.
MTW: Every experimental play. Actually, once I was doing a play up in northern
California, a really experimental piece where we had to get naked.
JL: Experimental piece where you had to get naked. Well.
MTW: I was naked.
JL: What was the play?
MTW: It was Hair.
JL: Oh, Hair. Okay, sure.
MTW: We were naked on stage, which is very, you know, refreshing as an actor.
JL: Right.
MTW: And we’re under this big tarp. Kinda breezy. And we’re under this big
parachute getting naked and taking off our clothes. And I stand up, and in the
front row, there is my mom and dad. “Hi, Dad. Hi, Ma.” My dad’s like “Yeah,
that’s my boy.” You know?
JL: I’m sure dad enjoyed some of the other performers, though. Now, did they say
anything afterwards? Son, let me ask you about this acting thing... did they
ever mention it?
MTW: Ah, no. They never mentioned it.
JL: They never mentioned it?
MTW: But my dad had a grin on his face ever since: “That’t my boy.”
JL: Now, were you a good kid? Were you a good student? Were you a good kid or
were you a wild kid?
MTW: You know, I had my hellion moments. I did. I was a good kid, I think. But,
you know, my dad probably would disagree.
JL: Yeah, I mean, did you get in trouble in school? Were you a troublesome
student?
MTW: We used to cut class every, you know, waking minute. Anytime you could
possibly cut class, that was a good thing.
JL: Big party, guy?
MTW: Well, you know, I had a few parties. When my parents were out of town, I
invited everyone over. When I was invited to prom, you know, I went to prom with
this girl, who was all pretty and all dressed up and spent thousands of dollars
on her dress. And she was all very excited and everybody brought it a ball of
liquor. And in those days, I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to mix tequila,
and vodka, and gin, and wine, and beer in, like, 15 minutes. So, I puked on
Kendall Johnson.
JL: All over her dress?
MTW: All over her dress.
JL: Oh, isn’t that lovely.
MTW: It’s a lovely story, isn’t it? That’s a date magnet, Jay. You know, if you
wanna get dates, that’s a good way to, you know...
JL: Now, let me ask you something. I’m going through your biography and I see
you’re in the movie Ordinary people.
MTW: Yes.
JL: Now, that was an Academy Award winning film, right?
MTW: Yes, it was.
JL: I said: ”Well, this guy, gee, I guess this isn’t the first thing he’s done.
He was in Ordinary People.” I figured, you know, I saw Ordinary People. You know,
it started to stick in my craw, ’cause I know sometimes actors exaggerate.
Wouldn’t you say?
MTW: Well, we need to get work mostly.
JL: I know. But, didn’t Timothy Hutton win Best Actor? It won Best Picture.
Robert Redford. I think: “Gee, this guy’s in the movie.” So, I said to someone,
“Get me the movie.” I watched the movie, and I couldn’t find you. Then I looked
at the credits, and what I found was – I finally found you and, you know, you
were like, you were in the movie. Now, I wanna show people. I think this is a
pivotal scene. I think this is the part where you make the film, where you stand
out as an actor. This is on his resume: Ordinary People, Academy Award winning.
I’m looking, and I’m going,”Wow, this guy’s done some stuff.” I want you to look
for Michael. Here we go. Show the scene (clip rolls). We’re gonna freeze it.
Okay, and can we circle where he is? That’s you there. That’s it. That’s all.
That’s your whole scene. That’s it. That was the whole movie, wasn’t it?
MTW: You want me to remind you of those clip commercials?
JL: No, thank you very much. Did you even meet Robert Redford? Did you even get
to meet him?
MTW: I was very excited to get that job. I made 30 dollars.
JL: Was it 30 dollars?
MTW: I made 30 dollars. You know, I stood outside in the freezing cold for
twelve hours.
JL: Really? Just for that one little scene?
MTW: But I knew I wanted to be an actor.
JL: Well, there you go. And Robert Redford, did he direct you?
MTW: He did. He said: “Move over there. Good.”
JL: That’s okay. That’s okay. Well, let’s talk about your show now, for folks
that haven’t seen it. Explain exactly what happened.
MTW: Um, I’m doing a show called The Pretender, where I play a child prodigy who
was kidnapped by this nefarious group called “The Centre”, who raise me in
Sub-Level 5 underneath this place...
JL: Sub-Level 5?
MTW: Yeah, Sub-Level 5. Or 6, I don’t know. And they exploited my genius for
years and picked my brain, and used it for nefarious means. And I finally
realize that they’re really doing ill-doing, and I escape, at 30. And I’m new to
the world, a fish out of water. I’m just looking at the planet for the first
time.
JL: But you play... you assume the identity of what? Almost anyone?
MTW: Anybody. I can become any profession. I could be a talk show host next.
JL: Wow.
MTW: And each week, I use my abilities to help and save an innocent life.
JL: Have you ever played a woman on the show, or do you just play guys?
MTW: Not yet.
JL: I don’t know. You could play anybody. Dennis Rodman does it. He could play a
genius. Well, let’s show... let’s have a clip. Here’s a clip from The Pretender.
Let’s take a look (a clip from The Flyer episode rolls). You have a birthday
coming up, right?
MTW: I do.
JL: When is your birthday? Next week?
MTW: Uh, my birthday’s February 2nd.
JL: Okay, so what are you doing? Are you doing anything big?
MTW: Well, my horoscope said that I’ll be lucky in love and lucky at cards. So,
I’m taking all my friends and family to Vegas.
JL: You’re gonna be in Vegas next week? Oh, when we’ll be there, too.
MTW: Hey!
JL: Come by. Come by and say hello.
MTW: I will.
JL: Will you come back and see us again?
MTW: I absolutely will.
JL: Congratulations on your show. You did a great job.
MICHAEL T. WEISS ON LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN - APRIL 2, 1997
Conan O'Brien: My next guest can be seen every Saturday
night in The Pretender. Please welcome Michael T. Weiss. How're you doing,
Michael?
Michael T. Weiss: This is like an old-fashioned microphone. That's very cool,
man.
COB: Oh, you like this?
MTW: I like that.
COB: It's just an old tradition. This thing doesn't even work, but we use it
anyway. You're a tall guy. How tall are you?
MTW: I'm six-three.
COB: Six-three?
MTW: Yes.
COB: Really. 'Cause I'm about six-four. Did they try and make you... I had no
coordination as a child, but because I was tall, everybody said, "You must play
basketball."
MTW: Right.
COB: And I'd get out there, and I'd go, "Ooohh." And they would say, you know, "Please
sit over there and never play basketball again." And I would just weep in the
corner alone, sadly. Were you forced to play basketball?
MTW: I was, but you know in my next life, I really want to be a basketball star.
But in this life, I'm forced to, you know, be an actor.
COB: Were you any good at all playing sports and basketball? Were you a good
athlete?
MTW: Oh yeah, I was okay. But I do remember going out in the middle of the floor
one day during a high school basketball game and taking my sweatpants off, but I
forgot to put underwear or shorts on.
COB: You're kidding. That's like a nightmare I have. Did people react? Did you
then just decide, "The hell with it, I'm just going to play the whole game this
way?"
MTW: Actually, I got a lot more dates after that experience.
COB: And no guy would guard you. They're all like, "Whoa, come right on through.
Go." You scored 400 points.
MTW: Actually, you are tall, because I saw you on the streets of New York last
summer when I was here.
COB: I'm like Big Bird when I walk around.
MTW: You're really tall. You know, I thought you were a little guy, but you're
tall, and you had a really beautiful woman....
COB: Well, on TV I come across as a small, insignificant person. But in real
life I'm....
MTW: You're just big.
COB: Exactly.
MTW: But you had this really beautiful woman on your arm. I thought, "Man, that
guy's gettin' it. He's got a talk show and he's got a beautiful girl." You got
the life.
COB: Yeah, I go out with Cher. But don't spread it around. I don't want to read
about that in the tabloid. That I go out with Cher. Okay. Tell us about The
Pretender. First of all....
MTW: (looks at the other guests) Everyone looks very respectable, though.
COB: Yeah, and then you're here looking like a hitman. What's going on here?
Can't you afford a tie? What's going on? (points at MTW's red silk shirt, which
is unbuttoned to show a white undershirt) This is nice. But what's this look
here?
MTW: It's just, you know....
COB: Okay. Alright.
MTW: It's a Pretender thing.
COB: Oh, The Pretender. Let's talk about The Pretender.
MTW: Okay.
COB: Alright. First of all, the name. You guys, your show is, like, right next
to The Profiler. Now, doesn't that get confusing? Does the cast ever show up at
the wrong set? Is this The Profiler or The Pretender?
MTW: I knew something was going to come... No, The Pretender. It just so
happened that they were separate pilots, and they put 'em together in the
thrillogy, which I like to call lump television. You know, when they put us all
together.
COB: Yeah, NBC has lots of good ideas.
MTW: Yeah, they do. They're a clever bunch.
COB: Yeah, that's why I'm here.
MTW: I love everything NBC does. Hi, Warren.
COB: Yeah, right. You're through in this business. Tell us what's the idea
behind The Pretender, 'cause there's actually this kind of a cool idea behind
it.
MTW: Oh, it's... Steve Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle, who are our producers,
came up with a very clever hybrid of several different kinds of TV shows, that
they lumped altogether into one. There's that lump word again.
COB: It's The Nanny and Alf.
MTW: Meets Quantum Leap. It's a sci-fi adventure. It's a mystery. It's a drama.
So, it's been a lot of fun. And I get to play a different character every week.
COB: You play, like, a freaky kid who grew up with no parents.
MTW: No parents.
COB: And you grew up, like, in a laboratory.
MTW: I was a child prodigy. I was raised by The Centre, which is in Blue Cove,
Delaware, where lots of nefarious, bad things happen. 'Cause they all happen in
Delaware, I think, 'cause I've never actually been to Delaware. Have you?
COB: Uh, yes. We have an affiliate there. There's nothing nefarious at all about
Delaware. It's a wonderful, wonderful place.
MTW: Hi, Warren. Anyway, this nefarious organization raises me and exploits my
genius for 30 years. I finally realize that they're probably up to no good and
that there's life outside this 30 below zero, you know, 30 floors below The
Centre, where I've been raised. So, I escape. And I go out and right the wrongs
of the world using my skills and I wear different clothes every week.
COB: And you pretend to be different people.
MTW: Different people, yeah, in lots of different clothes.
COB: So you... every week on the show, you get to dress up as somebody else. You
get to, like, be a postman one week and then a dentist the next week and then,
uh...
MTW: Late night talk show host.
COB: Right. Yeah. Get to wear that cool uniform. And then, uh, do you actually
ever wear the costumes? 'Cause I remember once I was in one thing... once out in
Los Angeles where I had to play a cop. The minute they see a guy like me, they
go: "Oh, he'll be a cop." And they dressed me as a cop, and I remember the most
fun part was in between, you know, shooting. I wandered off the lot. And I was
just, like, kind of telling people to move it along.
MTW: And you know, what's really fun is if you take the cop uniform home.
COB: Really?
MTW: You can have a lot more fun with it at home, later.
COB: Really? Isn't that illegal? Take him away.
MTW: In the privacy of your own home.
COB: This is a sting to get you. You had a very interesting former job I wanted
to ask you about. You used to work on The Playboy Channel. And I thought Robin
Leach had it made. But you worked on The Playboy Channel. Now tell us about that.
What did you do then on that channel?
MTW: I, uh, well, thank you for bringing up an embarrassing job. I appreciate
that.
COB: That's kind of what I do.
MTW: I understand.
COB: I'm The Profiler. I am The Embarasser. Week nights at eight. Uh, well, we're
out of time. But very succinctly, what happened?
MTW: I used to host The Playboy Channel. They fired me from the job because I
had to read a teleprompter.
COB: 'Cause you weren't a woman. With giant breasts.
MTW: I wasn't.
COB: They said, "He doesn't look hot in a bikini."
MTW: Which is basically, intrinsically why I got fired. But I couldn't read the
teleprompter 'cause I didn't know I needed glasses at the time. So I used to go
(MTW squints): "Welcome to The Playboy Channel." And I looked like a mole.
COB: Oh, and they thought, "He's a pervert." Everybody's watching. Alright, The
Pretender. That's what they thought. The Pretender is Saturdays at nine on NBC,
and you gotta come back some time and tell us more embarrassing things.
MTW: That'd be my pleasure. You're a very funny man.
COB: Well, that's what they say. Michael T. Weiss, everybody. And thanks for
being here.
Jarod il Camaleonte Italia © 2000/02 Antonio Genna