White Collar - Eliza Dushku interview

Thanks to Bruce_F for the heads up.

TVLINE | Welcome to the red-hot White Collar.
It is red-hot — and this week it’s even hotter.

TVLINE | How have you been describing your character?
Her name is Raquel LaRoque, which is a great name. Seriously, that was sort of cinched it right there. She’s an Egyptologist that Neal needs to get acquainted with in order to lead him closer to Keller (played by Ross McCall). Obviously Neal has a lot of ladies in his life — in various episodes, you have a guest star come in and he uses his charm to get what he wants — but he doesn’t always have a meaningful, personal connection to those people. So basically, I wanted her to be somebody that was Neal’s equal – someone who is just as ambitious and devoted to her job, intelligent, quick, manipulative if she has to be, and uses her sexuality if she has to.

TVLINE | She seems to have this old-style Hollywood glamor thing going on.
She does have this sort of ’40s femme fatale look and vibe, and I loved that. We had this one beautiful shot in a park, and there were these gas lamps behind us… Everything about it felt like a ’40s picture. I didn’t necessarily expect that going into such a contemporary and fresh show.

TVLINE | Would you say that Raquel is bit more from Neal’s world that Sara (Hilarie Burton) is? Is that why they click?
I don’t know if it’s that she’s more or less of something than Sara is — it was almost coincidental that in this episode they’ve maybe run their course — but it definitely was maybe time to add a little spice – not that Sara wasn’t spicy! But for Neal and the world he lives in, having a monogamous relationship doesn’t lend itself to the possibilities of a wild romp with a woman that sort of shares his makeup. I think also there was talk about fans feeling like in the second season maybe he had started to become a Fed through and through, and yet he has this naughty con man side — sometimes who you travel with can affect how you behave. So I think Raquel is brought in at a good time to promote some misbehaving!

Source: Full Interview @ TV Line