QQ. We know you've been working on "Glee" lately, do you have any other recent projects?
A. Right now I'm writing on a show that's going to be on Showtime and it's called "Shameless." It's starring William H. Macy and the show is being run by John Wells and I am a writing producer on that. That's been fun, I've just started that, and then I have a movie that I wrote called Certainty and it's going to begin shooting on May 24th in New York.
Q. What can you tell us about the premise for Certainty and how you came up with the idea for it?
A. Certainty is a movie based on a play that I wrote that's called "Searching For Certainty" that about seven years ago was done in LA starring Jeffrey Donovan who is now on "Burn Notice." When you get married in the Catholic church you have to go through a preparation program called Pre-Cana. The wedding at Cana is where Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water into wine. The movie is about this couple that goes through this marriage preparation program under the understanding that they are only going because they want to get married in the church and their heritage means something to them. but they're not church goers any longer, they're doing it to kind of keep up appearances. While they are there some secrets get revealed in their relationship. Really one of the challenges of being an adult in a relationship is that faith can be an obstacle, one person believes and another one doesn't, and how does that effect the relationship and is that an obstacle that people can get over.
Q. As we mentioned you've been appearing recently on the show "Glee" as Kurt's father Burt Hummel, any chance your character will be sticking around or will be appearing in an another upcoming episode?
A. Yes, there is another episode coming up. I think it's the second to last episode of the season with a very, very emotional scene, probably the most emotional scene we've done so far.
Q. Is it taxing on you to do those types of emotional scenes?
A. The thing you have to remember is when you're acting you have to kind of get out of the way. What I mean by that is that so much of the work is already done in a sense that the writing, the directing, the story telling is done and you need to just be as real as you can. You need to look at the person opposite of you and treat them with compassion and react as the character would react. In my circumstance I am a parent of three kids and when you see your kids are in pain there is a deep physical pain that you experience unlike the pain you feel when you go through it yourself. When you're an individual and someone's broken your heart, or said something unkind or you've done something that you regret, you are effected by that. When you're a parent and you're seeing your child going through hurt there is almost this feeling of responsibility for helping bring into the world a child who is now experiencing the world and all of its ugliness; and that's hard. Drawing upon the emotion that comes from caring for a child or your son or daughter, they are being effected in a very emotional way, and it's very, very difficult. It's difficult because you can't process it in the same way that you might process your own pain. You can just be there for them and being there for them does not necessarily speed up the process. People say you just have to be there for them, that's not real, you could be in the other room for them essentially. The playing of those scenes, you as an actor, you always want something that is specific, real, emotional, and touching. It's not taxing, you're happy that someone has given you something where you can do that. The difference between doing the scenes on "Glee" and then doing a comedic show is that when you're doing something comedic, first of all not everyone is in agreement as to whether or not you as an actor are funny, that's number one. The second is that not everyone is in agreement as to whether or not the show that you're on is funny or the jokes or the situations being told in the story are funny. You're up against a much more subjective, precise meter to measure your performance, both individually as what am I doing in the scene, and also how the audience responds to it. I would have to say that's more taxing than a scene that's very straight ahead, and when I say straight ahead I don't mean that it doesn't have depth, I mean that here's my son, I love him, he's upset, how do I tell him that I love him? How do I tell him that I love him in a way that makes him believe me? Kurt and Burt have never really gotten into an argument, I think, and that would be interesting to see them get in an argument. The subtext in the scenes are always, look, I'm an adult and I am living my life and I am trying to help you navigate the shores of adolescence and these shores have just gotten even more rocky because when you live in a world that is more accepting than when I grew up. It's a world that's still not equal in terms of accepting someone who is a homosexual. I as the character am trying to get back to basics, I'm here for you and I love you. Burt Hummel doesn't necessarily have in his toolbox a mechanism that can change the way the world thinks. He can just hopefully back his son up and be there for him and support him in any way that he can.
Q. You mentioned having children of your own, does that lead you to have a fatherly feeling towards Chris and his character's situation?
A. I would not say that me as Mike has a paternal outlook on Chris. Chris is an incredibly capable actor and we're just playing the scenes together and we're there with a give and take. Often times scenes are so emotional that you really have to use the time beforehand to prepare. I am not there everyday so I am not goofing around with all of the kids on the show. Their demands as performers on the show are so over the top and constant that there is just not a lot of time for chit chat, I'm not hanging around there that much. In terms of the scenes that I have had with Chris, he's pretty much the only person I've acted with besides Cory who is also great. There is just not a lot of time for goofing around on the set. In terms of the paternal outlook on him as in, "Hey, I'm proud of my boy," I look at him as an adult who is my equal. When you're a parent you don't necessarily look at your kids as equals so to speak because their not (said with a laugh).
Q. How did you come to appear on "Glee," did you audition for the role as Burt or did you have a previous connection to someone on the show?
A. I did not audition for the part, I was offered the part. I played a role in a pilot that was shot for FX that was created by Ryan Murphy that was called "Pretty Handsome." I auditioned for that and I got a part in that back in 2006, I think, and it did not go to series. He called me up and said, "Hey, do you want to do this thing," I said sure.
Q. "Glee" just won the TVLand Future Classic award, what do you think the legacy of the show will be for current and future fans?
A. I think it's very rare that a show captures the attention that this show has. I do think that it's really well made and I think that it is absolutely hilarious and that every one of the actors is just nailing it, really nailing it. There are always new kids that can come into the high school and there is always a new drama that happens in high school and I definitely think it has the ability to continue for a long, long time. They've already garnered an audience and the hardest thing about sustaining a series is getting an audience. When you have an audience people will watch your show. There might be people that will leave, there might be people that will argue with the direction that a show went. There is enough momentum and an audience, which is the hardest thing to get, that will sustain the show for a very long time if they want to do that.
Q. You've done acting, directing, writing, and producing, is there anything else that you'd like to try your hand at?
A. Playing center field for the Boston Red Sox! I am just happy staying busy doing what I've been doing, parenting, and just having fun.
Q. What would you like to say to your fans and supporters?
A. Keep watching and I appreciate it!
