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Patrick Bauchau: NBC Chat w/PB and Jon Gries

From NBC -- May 18, 1999

NBC-Live: Hello everyone. Welcome to our live chat with Patrick Bauchau and Jon Gries. Patrick Bauchau plays "Sydney" and Jon Gries plays "Broots," the computer nerd on NBC's The Pretender.

ILuvPretender: As you can tell I consider Pretender one of the greatest shows out there today. If you both could come up with the perfect storyline for your characters, what would it be?

Patrick: What Sydney has to do at this stage is retrieve Jarod's sister, and this could be done through Sydney's blood son. I've been trying to push that one, maybe by next year.

Jon: My perfect storyline for Broots is that Miss Parker realizes the hunk that he is. Fall in love with him, and say "Enough of this madness!" Actually, he would like, in a perfect world, to see Jarod reunited with his family, and some peace achieved. But he wouldn't have a job if such was the case.

OzSmith says: Patrick, will we see Sydney and Nicholas become closer in the next season? It would be nice to see this become a more regular part of the plot...

Patrick: I'm not fully in the secret of the guards, or the powers that be, so I don't really know what next season holds.

CCCouGar says: Jon, was your character originally designed to be short-term or marginal, and he just sort of "grew" into the plot?

Jon: I was hired for one day! And what happened beyond that was luck or Providence (another NBC show!)

wilacre: Will you be working on other projects while continuing The Pretender?

Jon: I believe that is absolutely affirmative. Patrick and I did a film together coming out July 30 called Twin Falls Idaho -- I also have a couple of irons in the fire, and of course, I want to keep the ball rolling.

Patrick: I fully agree with Jon, and I think that Twin Falls Idaho is a film that is very dear to both our hearts.

Jon: It's quite a wonderful film. It was picked up at Sundance, and released. It will begin in L.A. and New York. I think it is quite a touching film.

Patrick: It is about two joined Siamese twins, who seek their lost mother.

Jon: A very parellel theme to the twins themes on The Pretender, actually. We actually managed to help them by getting The Pretender hospital set for the film to use, as the budget was on a shoestring.

guest-Asha: Patrick, Sydney is so nurturing to his surrogate children, Jarod and Miss Parker at times, and at other times seems clinically distant. Is that a conscious choice you make or is it a quirk of the writers?

Patrick: I think it has to do with the writers, and what they see as the main storyline. My input is that Sydney definitely has tutored the two of them, and is interested in everything about them, including their fates, but he sometimes takes a back seat, as he thinks that is the right thing to do. He is extremely open to Miss Parker's decisions, even if he disagrees with her. He can pick up from her face things she has decided, so there is more complicity than distance there. As for Jarod, the relationship is at the heart of the whole series, and therefore, sometimes Sydney is placed in the position of being a double agent. He must represent the Centre, yet he on the other hand is acutely in a listening situation with Jarod, and fascinated by Jarod's experiences in the outer world. I think he is both interested in Jarod as a person, but also as a "guinea pig" -- it is his role as a mentor. He sees it both ways. There is no doubt Sydney is more involved with Jarod's fate.

EliciaB: Jon, when do you plan to release a CD with your music?

Jon: LOL I'm hoping to finish the work on the CD sometime in September. It's been a long road, and we have about 14 songs recorded. I want to get about 21 recorded, then pick 11 from that. It will be up on the website I am sure: www.nbc.com/pretender/. The music is very good. I feel like something else is taking over, and it is getting greater.

Patrick: It's very good. Some of Jon's music is conceived on his psychoanalyst's couch with Sydney.

Jon: LOL! It's hard to describe. It's new, I hate to compare it to other groups. It's contemporary rock music, with a touch of the old school in it.

guest-Ambi: For Patrick and Jon, Both of you have recently gained your own homepages, was there anything that sparked your venture online?

Patrick: That was done by a fan of the series, in Michigan, who assembled so much information about Sydney and Patrick - and I was getting confused!

Jon: This same person had a friend who wanted to do MY website, and

Patrick: Oh, yeah?

Jon: Next thing you know, we were on the web!

Patrick: The mysterious other universe, eh?

Jon: The woman who did mine is in Louisiana, and the one who did Patrick's is in Michigan, so they know each other probably online. We have communicated extensively with them so we knew they were "hip."

Lenswoman1: What's it like working together, and do you have any favorite scenes that you've done together?

Jon: First off, working with Patrick and with all the show cast, it can't be more harmonious. People from other NBC shows (such as Profiler) said it is such a wonderful set! I love the fact that we get bossed around by Miss Parker, but she DOES rock my world.

Patrick: Broots was the indispensable missing element, you know, that we sensed we needed at the pilot. He brings in this remarkable sense of humor. It's in the script to some extent, but a lot of it is Jon himself. I think this makes Broots the irreplaceable companion.

Jon: Go ahead - you can say it - Egor!

Patrick: LOL! Most of our scenes as luck would have it are together.

Jon: We have a great rapport, Sydney, Broots and Miss P, and this team element and this seems to start even before the cameras roll, and it impacts the show, the dynamic, where we stand. There's a strong sense of this, and the writers have picked up on this. It is almost like we all have gained immediate synchronicity, and the writers tap into it, and we couldn't be happier, cause we all wear the same rugby jersey.

guest-Asha: Jon, are your computer skills even remotely like Broots' skills?

Jon: Better!

Patrick: The truth, please!

Jon: I never lie!

EliciaB: Patrick: what is it like to work in different languages? and which one is the more natural to you?

Patrick: Right now, I am in L.A., so Angelino comes very natural to me! Sometimes I even dream in Angelino! Finding something you really love about a culture makes you open yourself up to any local language. That's the way it has happened to me on every occasion I have had.

Jon: He has such unusual readings on his lines. But with this huge breadth of language, and everyone will go "wow" at the direction his lines come from sometimes.

Patrick: A lot comes from not preparing for a scene sometimes.

Jon: It's true, actually. You need to leave room for that.

Patrick: You need the full situation to present itself sometimes.

Jon: We don't know a scene ahead of time, sometimes, and that can impact the scene and the delivery of the lines.

guest-Asha: Jon, Broots is an excellent father, a good and loyal friend, has a moral/value system etc. How does he justify to himself the work he indirectly and directly supports at the Centre?

Jon: I think that somewhere in his mind he can somehow try to engineer things. Knowing what he knows, he might be able (once over his cowardice) to use his knowledge for the greater good. Once he's in, he can't get out. He is stuck, so his idea is to try and correct what he can from within.

Pasha_: Patrick, I love your accent. Is that your natural speaking voice?

NBC-Live: (All on this side of the phone) Yes!

lowdowndawg: Since you've been to many countries, which is your favorite and why?

Patrick: I like Los Angeles.

Jon: Really, he's made quite a garden for himself there.

Patrick: I like most of the places I have visited in Europe, but there are many places I haven't worked in yet. There is no other way to tune into a culture, though, than to do that, and it's wonderful.

Jon: I've only been to Canada and Rome, and Italy was wonderful.

srdunn25: Any more Broots-centered episodes planned like last season?

Jon: I imagine. At some point they will have to turn the camera that way. Within all these characters, there just seems to be a cycle, and they will work their way around, as if we all get cultivated, with enough sun and water. It helps the show in the long run.

Patrick: A touch of poetic expression there, Jon - sun and water. Bravo! Bravo!

zorakthebarbarian: Patrick .. would you agree that a lot of the characters you play exhibit moral ambiguity? Why do you choose those parts?

Patrick: It's not so much a point of choosing, but once confronted with a character offered to you, you try to exhibit the sides of what could save him, especially if the character is very dark. You try to show some sides that are good. In the case of The Pretender, my character was supposed to be a bad guy. He turned out to be a compromised role, one who definitely has his good side more emphasized by the work. I am sure a rough side still exists in Sydney, but at this stage in life, he has more distance on it, with his past. He can see the humor of the situations as they present themselves, and he is much looser now. He is obviously not going to do the task assigned him, of bringing Jarod back. He is definitely working both sides of the fence.

phillysteak: A new book by a couple of psychologists mentions that some actors (because of their immersion in their roles) have problems separating their characters from real life. Do either of you have such problems? What do you do to ensure it doesn't happen?

Jon: When I get into the trailer at the end of the day, I take off my wardrobe. When I put on my regular clothes, I know who I am. It has never been a problem for me.

Patrick: On waking up, I often ask "Where am I?" LOL Then, "Who am I today?" So there is a little bit of wonderment, but I have no problem with losing identity with the character. In a series, when you play a lead, a lot of people may nickname you after your character. Michael T. Weiss spends more time being Jarod then I do Sydney, so I know how demanding that can be.

Jon: I think that after eight years on a show, there might be a little problem there. And I have encountered other actors who were a little strange in that way, but I have no problem with it.

NBC-Live: Any final comments gentlemen?

Jon: As for final thoughts, I can only answer specific questions -- I have no general thoughts. This Saturday is the finale of the season.

Patrick: It's the hair-raising finale!

Jon: Not in my case! It's three hours this Saturday, the season-ender!

Patrick: At this point, Sydney remembers an old French saying: LOL Pray for us now, and in the hour of our need.

NBC-Live: Check out more on our guests at www.bauchau.com and www.jongries.com -- and the show The Pretender (of course) at www.nbc.com/pretender/.

NBC-Live: A very special thanks to all who participated today.