I
had the opportunity to chat with Jimmy Smits about his role as Nero on Sons of Anarchy this morning – along with
a few other journalists. When I asked him for specifically spoilery
information, he politely indicated that Kurt Sutter would not be happy with him
if he answered! Here’s some of what he was able to share with us...
While he couldn’t give us specifics
about the on-going storylines, he did keep reminding us that Sutter likes to “blow
things up” and that inevitably a “turn” would be coming.
In large part, Smits was brought
into SOA by Producer Paris Barclay with whom he had worked on NYPD Blues. His wife, Wanda de Jesus,
who is also guest starring this season, was a huge fan of the show and urged
him to take the part. As Smits put it, the show is somewhat of an industry
darling as a lot of people in the business love the show. Smits attributes this
to the high production values and also had high praise for his fellow actors. Season
three’s Irish storyline was identified as “jumping the show into another gear”
for Smits who also gave a nod to the show’s very cinematic feel and its
signature “grittiness”. Titus Welliver, who played Jimmy O’Phelan is seasons 2
and 3, was also mentioned by Smits for his work in the season 3 story and as
someone he’d worked with on NYPD Blues.
In fact, Smits has ties to several other cast members such as Danny Trejo and
Ron Perlman.
When asked about Nero’s relationship
to Jax, Smits likened it to Horatio’s relationship to Hamlet. In fact, this was
another thing he praised about the show – it’s archetypal images that reference
Hamlet and help to give you insights
into a world that you don’t know, the world of SOA. Like Horatio, Smits sees
Nero as a kind of mentor or friend or “bro” to Jax, much as Opie was. Smits
would have liked to do more with Ryan Hurst.
Smits mentioned that Nero is all about
the exit strategy and how they can manoeuvre to be on the straight and narrow
and that that likely is going to take a turn in some way...
When asked about Nero’s decision to
stay with Gemma after being warned to stay away from her, Smits said that Nero
doesn’t get told what to do very often. He also indicated that that was the
exact wrong way for Jax to go about getting Nero to stay away from Gemma, and
would be far more likely to result in Nero saying, oh yeah? You can’t tell me
what to do.
Several questions asked about how
Smits crafted the role of Nero. When asked about preparation for the role, Smits
revealed that he likes to do a lot of research and finds it just as fascinating
as discovering the character on set in interacting with other characters. He
interviewed people in Latino motorcycle clubs, people who had been in prison
and were now trying to live on the straight and narrow, and even people with
tattoos to get a better sense of how they view carrying the story of their
lives on the canvass of their skin. Smits emphasized that he is a sponge for
the information he gathers but also said that the medium requires him to be
fluid to adapt to where the storyline takes him.
Another question asked how Smits
made Nero so decent. Smits commented that people don’t walk around thinking that
they’re the bad guys. There can be decency anywhere and he tries to find the
glimmer of that everywhere as that resonates more with the audience. He says it’s
great to play the “bad guy” because you get a lot to do, but he looks at the
why, at how did the guy get there.
When asked if we were going to see
another side to Nero, who appears to be a good guy, Smits answered that we’ve
already seen some of his past start to come to light, such as his involvement
in the penal system. He also said that Sutter likes to lay the ground work and
then blow stuff up so that it ends up that nothing is as it seems.
While he couldn’t specifically
answer if things would get violent with the Sons or if the legitimate business
would actually result in a way out for Jax – due to the looming threat of
Sutter! – Smits did say that there might be some “weaponry” involved that would
be a signature for Nero come the end of the season.
When I asked if he ever wanted to
ride one of the bikes, Smits said of course! In fact, as soon as he was
anticipating being on the show, his research went right to motorcycles! He went
out and got his motorcycle license and started practicing. And then he talked
to Sutter. Smits said it was an exact parallel to the conversation he had with
George Lukas about Star Wars. That
conversations started with “There will be no lightsaber...” and the
conversation with Sutter started with “There will be no motorcycle...”
Finally, Smits was asked if he had anything
he wanted to say to the fans. His response was an enthusiastic “Keep watching!”
and he praised the loyal fanbase which has grown even larger this season.
I’ll
be posting a longer version of the interview in the next few days, so stay
tuned...
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