JUNE 18, 2006
FORBIDDEN FRUIT, PART II

Anyway, the way I like to direct is that I like to give myself some options in the editing room in terms of performance. I know what I need and, once I get it, I can play a bit (when time permits). I like to really get the actors to find whatever kernels of truth they can and subtle little different things to try to get it off the page.

All in all, I was very pleased with all the performances and it's easy with such a wonderful cast. Laura Harris (who plays Miranda) is such a smart, subtle actor. She'd done a few episodes for us: "Saved," last season's finale, and "Vanguard," where we see Stillson meet her for the first time. She was just a dream and really had some great ideas and a lot of great questions.

Both Sean Patrick Flanery and Laura Harris and I worked really closely in terms of trying to make both of those characters smart, their intentions and fears and secrets clear, so that they pretty much had layered things going on in every scene. They had a lot of history and baggage to play and keep track of.

I mean, in "Saved," Miranda goes back to Stillson after everything Johnny did to get her away from him, and we learn at the end of the episode that she did it to protect him. She has feelings for Johnny -- not romantic feelings, really, but feelings of guilt and obligation -– but she couldn't tell him why she was going back to Stillson. But Johnny kinda figures it out at the end of the Season 4 finale.

So, when we come to this episode and Johnny enters the bridal shop where Miranda's putting on her dress, he's confused and hurt and angry and worried. He's got a lot of things going on in that scene. I liked the mirror and shot into it as a metaphor for all the secrets reflecting back on them as they tried to hide their real faces.

Every scene written by Chris Lynch and Loren Segan had a lot of subtext to them. There was always, like, five or six secrets going on in every scene. There were little dances going on between all of the characters in this episode that were both psychological and emotional in terms of not wanting to reveal too much or to pull something out of someone else.

It's really fun to direct when you have good actors and a good story and structure and crew. I thought Michael Hall did a great job, as always. And it's always really fun to watch Martin Donovan be the ultimate puppet-master and manipulate the other characters. To sort of walk the actors through the pretty dense plot and character moves.

And it's always great when you have a Sean Patrick Flanery story, a Stillson sort of über-arc, Johnny's destiny and his archrival. In this case, Johnny had to step into this love triangle -- though it really wasn't a love triangle, it was a triangle nonetheless.

That was fun, to have Johnny verses Stillson with a woman caught between them. We had done that before a bit with Rachel, the sister who disappeared, but that was sort of a mystery and a murder and you had her sister Rebecca looking for her. It was never really a woman caught between Johnny and Stillson, more like the ghost of a woman with Johnny helping her sister find her killer that he always thought was Stillson. In this case, there was a real, live woman he was trying to save.

And the way Janus comes into it, it forms another sort of triangle where you've got Johnny and Stillson with Janus trying to manipulate both guys.

I think Janus is really interesting. In some ways, he's trying to co-opt Johnny into joining him by manipulating him. Janus is such a deep, rich character who always keeps you guessing and, as much as we give the actor these esoteric, creepy, random lines where you don't really know exactly what he's saying, he always, in a sort of very mysterious and threatening way, comes off not like a normal villain.

Janus is a sort of subtle, non-moustache-twirling villain who ends up being so much scarier for it. He is this controlled-yet-quirky bad guy whose wheels are always turning. Janus has got such an agenda that we can only imagine how deep it goes. So, that was really fun, to tell a story that builds on the series' mythology.

Now, Stillson is one more step closer to the White House ... which will play out throughout the season and, ultimately, in a way you'll never expect, build to the season finale. It was both an advantage and a disadvantage, having already shot it, knowing what the season finale was and how great it was. I knew that the season opener had to set up all the pieces and really had to work in order for what I already thought was a great season finale to work.

Directing the episode was a blast; I had a great time and everyone worked really hard on it and I'm pretty proud of it. The truth is that, when I'm directing, it's actually the most relaxed I am, because I only have to worry about my show, as opposed to all of the shows. Doing one at the end of the season was great, because I knew there was no other show to prep, there was no other new script to think about.

I just got to pretty much make my little movie, knowing there was a bit of a vacation at the other end, so that's always nice.