Old pro, newbie in sync on NBC’s ‘Blacklist’
NEW YORK — They set “The Blacklist” in Washington, but in truth it inhabits a Manhattan studio where “Law & Order” lived for two decades. Judging from its out-of-the-gate robust ratings, good reviews and swift full-season pickup, this new NBC crime thriller could be settling in for a long stay of its own.
Recent filming dwelled in the FBI’s cavernous, mood-lit War Room, where worldclass criminal “Red” Reddington has held forth since, for reasons unknown, he surrendered to authorities to help them catch the highprofile outlaws he used to assist. Even more puzzling, he has agreed to switch sides on the strict condition that he only deals with rookie FBI profiler Liz Keen.
These unlikely partners are played by James Spader and Megan Boone, and an all-important chemistry between them clicked right away, like the rest of the series, which arrived with remarkable sure-footedness, spared any hint of new-show confusion and doubt.
“Oh,” laughs Spader on hearing this assessment, “there’s a LOT of confusion and doubt! We don’t know WHAT we’re doing yet! But we’re getting it done. By Monday night at 10 o’clock” — Eastern time, he means — “we’re getting it done!”
Spader, a veteran of dozens of films as well as TV series that include “Boston Legal” and “The Office,” muses when asked how he came to play Reddington. “I wanted someone who was irreverent, and, even at the most difficult times, saw the irony in the world around him,” he says. “And he’s really not afraid of the unknown. I don’t think he’s afraid of much.”
Reddington — glib, charismatic but beneath it all, a bad guy — finds his ideal counterpoint in Liz, a good guy plagued by doubts about her husband’s true identity, her own unsettled career and, most of all, why Reddington has chosen her as his information conduit.
“It’s a good fit,” Boone declares. “She’s got a lion’s heart and feet made of clay. She’s kind of a loner. There’s something inside her that’s always hidden from everyone in her life. I have those elements in my personality.”
Boone made her film debut in the cult hit “My Bloody Valentine” and had a supporting role in “Sex and the City 2.” On TV, she starred in the short-lived “Law & Order: LA.”
She says her “Blacklist” co-star has been “really supportive. He believes in me more than I believe in myself sometime.” Even so, does she feel intimidated going head-to-head with a veteran actor like Spader?
“Of COURSE!” she chor- tles. “But the intimidation is helpful: If you’re playing my part and you’re not intimidated by Red Reddington, there’s something wrong. So I incorporate every feeling I have into my scenes with him. That’s what makes it honest and alive.”
Spader agrees they’re in sync.
“Megan is incredibly eager and game, and with very little experience — and very open about that,” he says. “Our relationship is a function of the relationship of the characters in the show. So it works pretty well for both of us.”
It’s a show that trades on secrets, as do its stars, one of whom, despite her breakout role in a breakout series, continues to live largely incognito.
Boone reports that friends ask if, after “The Blacklist” hit the air, anyone began recognizing her on the street. Maybe there’s a reason no one picks her out.
“After work, I take my hair off,” she confides, giving her long, brown tresses a tug. “This is a wig. Underneath it, I have short hair.”