The second season of USA's new show White Collar is about to hit on Tuesday July 13th, and the show is getting better and better. The first season ended with a bang, and the show obviously has to do a lot of coping with the realities of that sudden turn. You might expect the show to wind down completely for an episode or two, and focus exclusively on the broader picture, but it's business as usual pretty quickly.
Using the plot idea that we should get Neal right back to work, we're back in the thick of things with a corrupt politician and a bank robber. While the show has been pretty solid from the beginning, Matt Bomer and Tim DeKay (or Neal and Peter) are settling into a nice stride in season two. The banter rolls more smoothly, and it seems clear that the character progression is working well for the show, and for the actors.
Matt and Tim took part in a Q&A session recently to talk about the new season, and their characters. Check it out.
Also, for fans of the show, check out some interviews, images, and other goodies from my pre-premiere set visit last year. Willie Garson. Tiffani Thiessen. Matt Bomer And Tim DeKay Set Interview Part I. Matt Bomer And Tim DeKay Set Visit Interview – Part II.
Here we go.
Matt, so many magazines have you on the cover or featured very prominently. How does it sort of feel to be the center of the cable universe these days?
Matt Well, I don’t perceive myself that way in any light. Thankfully, I’m so busy with work that I don’t have time to process too much of that stuff. But it’s great that people are responding to the show and Jeff’s writing, most importantly, and know we’re hopefully getting the word about our show out there because we work really hard on it, and I speak for myself and Tim and the cast and Jeff when I say that we’re really proud of the stuff we’re working hard to put out there, and thankfully, or hopefully, the word is getting out.
WHITE COLLAR -- Season:2 -- Pictured: Matt Bomer as Neal Caffrey -- Photo by: Eric Ogden/USA Network
Philosophical TV question. I really enjoyed season one, but there were a couple of things that I was surprised to see. I mean, obviously you’ve been around TV. You know sort of that it takes a long time usually for there to be payoffs in a series, and I thought there were fairly big payoffs last year. You know, Peter, you guys had the mid season break. He could have been a bad guy. You sort of wrapped that up in the next episode. Neal and Kate; obviously that’s not going to happen now. What do you think about the payoffs and I guess the quick reveals for the audience?
Matt I love that Jeff Eastin answers the question he asked in the first episode, and I agree with you. There were big payoffs and I think Tim and I were both looking at each other going, “Where are we going to go from here?” But then we did, and now we’re at the mid season finale this season going, “Oh my God! Where are we going to go from here?” So, fortunately we have a great writer in Jeff Eastin who likes to answer the questions he presents pretty concisely and pretty briefly, so I’m just happy to be along for the ride.
This question actually goes out to both of you and that’s how do you guys see Neal and Peter’s relationship shifting and evolving now, especially with the changing dynamics with Kate, and even with Mozzie having a little bit more of a role now?
Tim I think it’s like any other relationship that changes and evolves, but at the base of it, I just get the feeling that these two care for each other very much, and with that, they’re going to have a good time together.
They’re going to be hurt by each other, and are going to possibly not trust each other to greater degrees than previously or lesser degrees than previously. But I think that’s to Jeff Eastin’s credit, in writing a very complex—you know, people have said, “Oh, this is a buddy-cop relationship that these two have.” I think yes, it is. But, I think it’s much more than that and that’s because Jeff Eastin has said, “No, no, no. I want it to be more than that.” And I think he’s written something more than that.
Matt I would echo that sentiment and just say yes, it’s about two guys who have a mutual respect for each other, who have a lot of differences but who compensate for each other’s differences in interesting ways, and who always end up, at the end of the day, having a pretty good time together. But the one dynamic that’s always shifting and changing between our relationship and between the series at large is that of trust.
Tim Yes.
Matt, Jeff Eastin teased us that you and your fabulous co-star, Diahann Carroll, would be singing on an episode this season. Has it already been shot and what can you tell us about it?
Matt He teased me too. I’ve heard rumor. It would be an honor. She’s a legend and it’d be really, really fun to get to do something like that. I have no idea if it’s actually going to come to fruition. We still have eight episodes to find out or seven episodes to find out. So I guess as soon as I know, I’ll let you know.
WHITE COLLAR -- Season:2 -- Pictured: Tim Dekay as Peter Burke -- Photo by: Eric Ogden/USA Network
With a lot of these plot twists that come up anywhere in this season, do you guys always know they’re coming ahead of time so you can play that, or are you guys kind of in the dark too as well as the upcoming plot lines?
Tim Jeff Eastin is good in that he’ll tell me a plot twist that’s coming up if he thinks it would be something Peter would know ahead of time, and if it’s something that would be a surprise to Peter, I’ll tell Jeff, “Oh, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.” And then it’s exciting to read it and exciting to play it. This one kind of came up on me, the one for the mid season, only because I think we’ve been so entrenched in shooting these first eight episodes, that when I got the next episode—Oh wow! Oh right, this is the mid season, and then it was a page turner, I have to say.
Matt I like not to know unless it’s something that I need to know specifically for how I color a performance, but at the beginning of the year, basically I just talk with Jeff and say, “What’s the overall motivation for Neal for this season?” And then we go from there, and I get pleasantly surprised when I get the script, five minutes before we shoot it.
And Matt, the show’s definitely put you out there and everybody kind of knows who you are now. Have you adjusted to the kind of scrutiny on you and your personal life through all this?
Matt To be honest with you, I don’t really pay any attention to it. My personal life is a source of incredible happiness for me, but it’s just that; it’s personal and I would never—it’s not for me to hock, or shop around to the highest bidder, and plus, it could never live up to the amazing mythology that everyone online has created for me. So, I’ll keep mum about it.
The two of you have this great onscreen chemistry, and I was wondering, what is your relationship like in real life and do you spend time together outside of the show?
Matt I don’t let Tim look at me, unless we’re shooting.
Tim Yes, it’s just better for me, that way I know the rule. Matt will have other production assistants come up to me and remind me, “Mr. Bomer does not want you to make eye contact with him.”
Matt Until they call action.
Tim Until they—
Matt No, Tim is actually my life coach. He doesn’t know it, but he is.
Tim Oh, likewise.
Matt I rely on him for advice and information on life on a seven day a week basis basically.
Tim We have a good time.
Matt We do.
Tim Yes, we have a very good time.
Matt There aren’t many days when we’re not laughing pretty hard, so how could we complain?
Tim There aren’t. Matt Bomer’s the funniest man—
So let’s just say that you guys were put on the stand and asked to be a character witness for each other’s characters. What would you say about them?
Tim Ah, so Peter would be a character witness for Neal?
Exactly, and vice-versa.
Tim It’s going to seem odd, but this is my first instinct and I think I have to go with it. One is smartest individual I’ve met. And two, one of the most devoted. Yes, he’s one of the—oh my gosh! I think because of this question, I’ve hit something here that I think that Peter sees in Neal; that he respects and adores, for lack of a better word.
Matt Oh, s…. We’ve got to do these blogger calls on a more regular basis.
Tim Yes. He sees a strong devotion in Neal. And it makes sense. Look how devoted he was to Kate. Look how strong he stayed with Kate and was devoted to her. And if he can do that for her, he can do that for the bureau, and certainly for his friends.
Makes sense. And what about the other way around? What does Neal think?
Tim Peter the player.
Matt He’s a player.
Tim He’s slept with every single woman in the bureau.
Matt One lady to the next, Peter. I would say that Peter is incredibly intelligent, dedicated, devoted, a family man. I mean, he has the white picket existence that I completely admire and respect and wish that I could have, but don’t really ultimately believe that I can.
Tim And Peter’s funny.
Matt And he’s funny!
Tim And he wears really good ties.
Matt And he puts up with my bull….
What's it like having Willie and Mozzie in more scenes and working with Peter?
Matt He’s a real pain in the ….
Tim Yes, he is. It’s great because—I just love the relationship of Peter and Mozzie. He’s this nuisance, but we need him every so often, and he’s good to go to. And he’s also one of these guys who does some—he goes above and beyond every so often, and Peter hates to say it, but he says thank you to him.
And here’s the other thing about the world of White Collar is that even though Mozzie is a conspiracy theorist and there is a combative element between Mozzie and Peter, never, never, never would Peter ever not trust him with—no, let me rephrase this. There isn’t that element of violence, and because that element is not there between certainly Neal and Mozzie and Peter, it gives it great flexibility. It gives that relationship a great flexibility. Peter’s never worrying, “Oh, Mozzie might draw a gun on somebody.” That’s just not there. And because of that, you’ve got much more leeway in the relationship.
Matt I think Willie is great and fun and he always brings something extra to the role, and it’s been fun for Neal to get to bridge two worlds that were very different for him in the first season, and to see people who he respects and admires and likes working with in two very different ways, come together and sort of being the intermediary in their dynamic at times, and also watching them get along famously at other times.
WHITE COLLAR -- "Withdrawal" Episode 201 -- Photo by: Will Hart/USA Network
WHITE COLLAR -- "Withdrawal" Episode 201 -- Photo by: Will Hart/USA Network
WHITE COLLAR -- "Withdrawal" Episode 201 -- Photo by: Will Hart/USA Network
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About Marc Eastman
Marc Eastman is the owner and operator of Are You Screening? and has been writing film reviews for over a decade, and several branches of the internet's film review world have seen his name. His reviews have brought him personal praise from the director of a major motion picture, and have been used as required reading in a course at a major University. These priceless rewards, along with just bags of cash, keep him from straying from freelance writing. He is also a member of The Broadcast Film Critics Association and The Broadcast Television Journalists Association.
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