Ho trovato un'intervista del nostro Mouth datata 23/4/2008, spero vi piaccia
Lee Norris Interview by Wake Forest Student Newspaper
Lee Norris is a familiar face for many as a result of his roles on NBC’s The Torkelsons, ABC’s Boy Meets World, and most recently The CW’s One Tree Hill as Marvin “Mouth” McFadden. Some of you may also know that he is a university alum. Life editor CeCe Brooks recently talked with Norris about his career, his time at the university and his current role on One Tree Hill.
On how he got into acting:“When I was younger I used to watch The Cosby Show … I used watch the kids on that show and I would say to my mom and dad that I wanted to be like those kids … around the age of 8 or 9 (an agent) signed me on and sent me on my first couple of auditions down in Wilmington to the studios, and one of those first auditions was a national search that NBC was doing for the sitcom called The Torkelsons, which is the first show I ever did.”
On why he decided to go to college:“It’s a very volatile business and so it really made me take note of the fact that it’s good to have an education and to have something to fall back on … when I did finish work on the series, I came back to North Carolina, graduated from high school and there was no question for me about going on to college and so that’s what I did.”
On why he chose Wake Forest:“During high school, I actually was attendee of Boys State … and it took place at Wake Forest … I think almost every Wake Forest student, I fell in love with the campus almost immediately. When it came time to look at schools, I definitely included Wake in my search. There was just such a sense of welcome and such a sense of small community at Wake Forest that I just fell in love with.
“And with some of the other schools it almost felt more like a competition between the students and at Wake it felt more like everybody there was just as bright as everyone else, but it was more of a helping environment instead of a cutthroat environment and I really loved that … it really impressed me that Wake valued not only academics, but that they had scholarships that recognized the arts. The arts are very important to me and not all schools have scholarships like that.”
On the experience of starting One Tree Hill while still a student at the university:“It was so hard, but it really says so much about the school and the professors and the deans. When it became a series, I had a very tough decision to make, and for a split second I thought about withdrawing and then coming back and finishing, but I was so close, I only had a year, I was a senior at that point, and I wanted to finish. It just took these really great professors that understood what a wonderful opportunity this was for me . It was really hectic for awhile, but it was all worth it in the end because I was able to graduate on time and complete my first season of the show. So I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It was one of the hardest years of my life, but it was also one of the best.”
On if he feels like he missed out on any college experiences because of his career:“I was in Innuendo, and I missed a couple of our performances and I missed a couple of games here and there, which of course I was a huge football and basketball fan, so I had to suck it up on a couple of those, but for the most part I felt like I made the most of it. It was really fun for my friends at Wake because they just knew me as this regular student like anybody else and then on Tuesday nights we got to get together and watch the show.”
On his fondest memory of Wake:“I have to say, one of my fondest memories … is when … we beat Duke at basketball. Of course anytime you beat Duke it’s a big deal and we rushed the court… I actually got trampled in all the madness, and I lost a shoe and I ended up walking back from Joel to the Quad with one shoe. I never found my other shoe… I just got together with everybody on the Quad and rolled it and Coach Prosser, who was such a special guy. (He) came out and spoke to us, and I just looked around at my friends and just realized that that was going to be one of those really great moments.”
On his favorite class at Wake:“I really enjoyed the Shakespeare class that I took and also the Com(munication) classes; I had a class with Professor (Allan) Louden that I really enjoyed and … it was a political communications class. So I would say it was a tie between those two.”
On the positives and negatives of filming in Wilmington, N.C. rather than Los Angeles:“It’s almost all positives … especially because I’m from North Carolina. I’m really close to my home … I think most of the cast would agree with me; we love being able to film a show in such a small community that’s so removed from Los Angeles because we’re away from the paparazzi and all of the pressures that come with that business in LA. When we get off work we’re able to just go out and relax and not have to worry about that.
“The only disadvantage I can really think of is that … it makes things a little bit harder for when you’re looking for other work because you’re not right in the center of all of it
On the similarities between himself and his character, “Mouth” McFadden:“He is essentially a good guy at heart, and I would hope that I’m a good guy. I try to be. Mouth is a character in essentially a teen show. Things are a little bit more outrageous, and some of the things he does are certainly a little more outlandish than I would ever do. He’s a little more adventuresome than I am. I wish I could take a little more chances like he does, but you know for him, there’s really no consequence because he’s just a character on a TV show and at the end of the day things tend to always work out for him and if I was that much of chance-taker in real life, I’m not so sure I would get away so easy.”
On how Mouth has changed over the seasons:“He’s certainly become more in-depth; we’ve found out more about him as its gone on. The biggest thing for Mouth is his search for a soul mate. My character’s actually had more girlfriends than either Lucas or Nathan, which is pretty ironic since they’re really the two heartthrobs of the show. I think he’s started to realize more that happiness is going to come from being himself and being comfortable in his own skin instead of relying on finding a girl that can make him happy. I think he’s finally realized that he has to be happy with himself and in the workplace, that the love stuff, the relationship stuff, will fall into place on its own.”
On how he and the cast felt about the decision to skip four years on the show:“When we heard about it, there was a little bit of nervousness because it was a new concept … but also as actors in our mid-twenties it was very appealing to us because it enabled us to play closer to our own ages and I think a lot of us felt like it was hard for people to watch the show and take us seriously as high school students when a lot of us were so much older.
“Then this year it premiered and our ratings shot up and people everywhere have been coming up to us and saying how much they’ve enjoyed the show this year, and I think it just breathes new life into the show. We didn’t do the Saved by the Bell: The College Years … where it just becomes unrealistic. I think it was an innovative concept and so far it’s really worked well.”
On the merger between The WB and UPN to become The CW:“It was a surprise to everyone when it happened and essentially the idea was to pick a couple of shows from each network and join them together and so that meant that some shows were going to get left out.
“We were a show that had done well, but we weren’t the leading show on the network by any means … but at the end it came down to the hard work of our producers and also the passionate voice of our fans. We have a small fan base, but they’re very loud and passionate and they made their presence known. It’s actually been a good thing for One Tree Hill.”
On his favorite episode of One Tree Hill:“Back in season three we did a school shooting episode, and it was absolutely one of my favorite episodes. It was obviously a much more serious subject matter than what we normally deal with on a weekly basis, but it particularly affected my character because it was my best friend who was the one that ended up bringing the gun to school.
“It ended tragically, unfortunately, but the episode was crafted in such a way to give people hope. It wasn’t intending to scare anyone and it certainly wasn’t crafted to encourage anyone to do that. It was crafted to show that there’s hope for people and that there are other ways out.
“It’s a very timely issue; it’s something that, as a nation, we’re still struggling with and so it was very important to me to do that episode. We know what we are, we’re there to provide entertainment for people, but once in awhile it’s nice to feel like you make a difference.
“So many people wrote into the network after that show and said what a positive message that was for them. There were a lot of high schools around the nation where kids actually watched the shows in class; the teachers actually showed it in classes, and they watched the episode. That was really encouraging to hear.”
On his character’s nickname, “Mouth”:“I’ve always said it’s because I have big sexy lips, but I don’t think that’s really it. Apparently it comes from the fact that Mouth has always wanted to be a sports announcer and even in the early episodes, he was always on the side of the River court giving his own fake play-by-plays and he had a microphone with him. So that’s where the name Mouth comes from, but I still like to think it’s my nice lips.”
On where he sees himself in the future:One Tree Hill has been a really terrific ride. Before it started, I had thought about going to graduate school and when the opportunity came up I felt like it was just too good to pass up and I have no regrets. I’m so glad that I did it because it’s enabled me to do travel and meet so many people and do so many things I never thought I would get to do, but over the next couple of years, I’m not sure.
“I’m certainly going to see what’s out there in terms of work opportunity in the acting field whenever we finish. I’ll probably give myself a little bit of time and audition and see if I can pick something else up and if I don’t, the good news is that I have that invaluable degree from Wake Forest and I can go to graduate school and do something else or look for a job, just a regular old job, but I feel really blessed because I’ve been able to work as actor for so long and there’s no question in my mind about ‘should I have done this or should I have done that.’
“I’ve gone with my gut every time and if I decide to get out of this business ever I’ll be a happy guy because I’ll already have had so much success and if I stick with it and I find more success then that’ll be a great thing too. It’s sort of out of my hands, but we’ll see what happens. I’m excited.”
Norris is an actor who is thankful for the opportunities he’s been given in acting and in his education. He has had a lot of success, but he still has a nostalgic spot for the university.
“I really miss being out there, this world’s a lot of fun, but I really treasure those years that I had there. I love to talk to Wake people as much as I can. We (university alumni) are a small group, but we’re very loyal,” he said.
FONTE:OTHblog
Appena ho un pò di tempo ve lo traduco, se qualcuno vuole tradurre è ok
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