By Christina Radish

"Fringe" co-stars Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv & John Noble at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con.

Dr. Walter Bishop, once hailed as one of the most brilliant scientific minds of his generation, understands the peril and promise of fringe science better than any other. His groundbreaking work with lab partner William Bell, in fields ranging from quantum physics to genetic engineering, propelled him into an undisclosed relationship with the U.S. government to advance its most scientifically innovative, and ethically questionable, research projects. But that was before the accident in 1991 that sent a lab assistant to the grave, and Walter himself to St. Claire’s mental hospital. Seventeen years later, Walter has re-emerged, having been recruited by FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham and supervised by his estranged son Peter, in order to supply the scientific genius and technological wizardry needed to explore The Pattern -- a series of events that disturbingly often trace back to Walter’s own scientific explorations.

Noble recently spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about what it’s like to play such a complex and complicated character.

MediaBlvd Magazine> How much fun is it to play Walter Bishop?

John Noble> It’s as much fun as it looks. It’s an absolute hoot to play him, even though it obviously has serious aspects to it. The hardest bit is probably getting the timing right and doing the preparation on the scientific work. But, working on Fringe is a great job. It’s a great group of people to work with, and amazing scripts from the minds of J.J. Abrams and other people. They’re geniuses. Living inside their heads much be a very strange thing to do because they’re always coming up with something different. Overall, it’s been a fantastic experience.

MediaBlvd> Walter Bishop is this incredibly genial, fun character, but he’s got this menace behind him. How do you balance being this cuddly guy with also being kind of scary?

John> I guess it exists in all of us, but with Walter, because of who he is, how bright he is and how disturbed he is, it just surfaces a bit more often and a bit more radically than it does in most of us. I don’t find it that hard to find. When I’m doing a scene, I take each second and look at what he’s gone through and, sometimes, those reactions just come out of the character’s frustration, or his greater purpose, or his madness. It’s certainly interesting to play, and it shocks the people I’m playing with, at times, but that all makes it good fun.

MediaBlvd> As big and broad as you get to play this character, does anyone ever stop you and say, “John, you’re going a little bit big in this scene”?

John> Sure. But, the agreement that I have with every director that comes in is that I’ll push the edge of the envelope, and then they can pull me wherever they want to. I find it easier to take all the risks, and then have someone tell me what is too much, rather than starting with nothing, or starting with very little. I start with a lot and, sometimes, they’ll say to me, “Just pull that one back.” It’s no big deal. Or, they’ll say, “Change that,” or “Just pull the vocal level back there,” which I’m more than happy to do, but it means that I have to trust the directors. I’d rather try for the big effect and then pull it back, than start with nothing and try to build it up. You have to have a trust in your director. You have to say to your directors and your editors, “Look, I’ll do this, but don’t hang me out to dry here.” I have that trust with the people I work with. It would be terrible, if you thought that you were being hung out to dry, doing this big performance, and it was out of character and out of context, but they kept it in there, making you look like a fool.  Then that wouldn’t be so comfortable.

MediaBlvd> Do you ever have your own Walter moments, where you just space out?

John> Yes, I do have Walter moments. My mind goes off into quite strange places, at times. It absolutely makes sense to me, so I’m confused as to why other people just don’t understand.

MediaBlvd> The storylines on the shows that J.J. Abrams produces are always incredibly clever, but they’re also complex and, at times, challenging for the audience to follow. As a cast member, do you find it challenging to follow all of the twists and turns?

John> Yes, absolutely. As an audience member, I enjoy reading or watching things that make me concentrate. That’s what Fringe does. It’s fascinating to be watching something that does require concentration.             

MediaBlvd> Is all of Walter’s dialogue on the page? Is any of it ad-libbed?

John> What I get is the ink on the page, but the interpretation of the character is mine. As an actor, I talk an awful lot about rhythms, when I’m talking about acting. I just create different rhythms within the scene. I’m always looking for rhythms that will work because it makes life interesting, rather than just playing through, on a flat line, the whole time. Lines like that don’t sound right, when you do it like that.

MediaBlvd> Because Walter often has a lot of the exposition, as he talks about the science that is behind what’s happening, has there been anything in particular that’s been challenging about that? Do you even understand what you’re talking about?

John> Yes. I do what research I can, and I do it off the Internet. If there’s a chemical described, then I’ll go see what they’re talking about, basically just for my own satisfaction or procedure.  The times that it’s more likely to affect me is after we’ve been filming for about 15 hours and we’re onto our 10^th take. Then, it’s really interesting. After we start to get tired, things will come out jumbled, and then it does take a little bit of work.

MediaBlvd> Do you have an aptitude for fundamental science?

John> Yes, I do, but more on a theoretical level than a practical level. One of my best friends is a fellow who I shared a house with for many years and we were at the university together, and he’s a brilliant scientist. He’s also quite mad. We would talk for hours. We found common ground in the theoretical side of it. I’ve always understood that, and also have written quite extensively.  But, if you put me in a lab with a whole lot of instruments, I may not do so well. 

MediaBlvd> The line between genius and madness is very, very thin, and Walter definitely walks on both sides of that line. Do you use that friend of yours as inspiration for Walter?

John> Yes, I certainly do. His name is Dr. Ted Steal, and he’s an extraordinary man. He’s always ridden on the edge of the scientific community because he’s just absolutely no good at politics, but he’s a genius. Whatever he did, he did with absolute passion and focus, so if we were out drinking and partying, or if he was playing tennis or football, or going after a girl, he did it with complete and utter focus. That’s one of the aspects that Walter has as well. He was also a lovely man, but he’d also fight people, so he was a fascinating guy. He’s an amazing man, and I’ve based a lot of Walter on him.

MediaBlvd> What are some of the great Walter moments that we’ll see in upcoming episodes?

John> There are the bleak and dark moments that you see sometimes, and there are also the moments that play as comedic. He’s just very inappropriate, really. He solves these extraordinary things, either because he has done them in the past or because he simply has the intellect to think about them now. We’re getting more episodes where Walter hasn’t done that particular experiment, but he has the mind to be able to see a way through it. That’s the thrust of things you will expect to see in the future. And, there will be a deepening of the relationship with his son, of course. As you go through this season, and the next seasons after that, you’ll see the ensemble of actors interact a lot more than we’ve seen at present. His relationship with Olivia will become more like relationships do when people who know each other for a while start to have an investment in each other, and care for each other. In the first episode, coming back next year, we all bond together to support Olivia, and she for us. That’s the sort of thing you can look forward to.            

MediaBlvd> Do you approach Walter with some sort of logic for the weird, seemingly random things he says, or do you just go with it?

John> As an actor, I always have to find a reason. I can’t just say something out of the blue, so I always find some sort of neural pathway, or some image that it’s tapped. We’ll smell something or we’ll hear a sound, and it’ll take us into a memory. So, he continually has these little memory jolts, but instead of keeping them to himself, he talks about them, so he’s quite inappropriate, at times.                         

MediaBlvd> Walter arguably has some of the best dialogue on TV today. Have you found it difficult or challenging to play a character who not only has very technical, scientific dialog, but also has an extremely non-linear thought process?

John> No. I don’t know what it says about me, but I haven’t actually found it very hard at all. I find it fun. I’ve always been attracted to that sort of humor, anyway. Around our home, all of us use that sort of off-beat humor, so it isn’t so difficult. I enjoy doing it.  It’s not something that I find terribly difficult, or that I have to worry about. It comes naturally.

MediaBlvd> Walter is obviously very grounded in the mythology between William Bell and Massive Dynamic. Are we going to see more of that in the future?

John> There’s going to be a growth in the mythology. It’s not going to be all laid out for everyone to find, in one episode, because J.J. won’t do that. These people keep the process pretty organic and, as things happen in their mind, one of the characters will invent something, or a new character will evolve. They keep it open to evolving the script, as they go along. We’re constantly getting re-writes. Sometimes, just before we go on set, we’ll get a rewrite because they’ll have a better idea on what line to say in a specific place. So, whilst that’s challenging, it’s also very organic. Personally, I love working that way.

MediaBlvd> Your natural speaking voice is very different from the one you use on the show. How did you come up with the voice for this character?

John> Because of his nature, Walter is a top academic. He was born in England, but he’d spent most of his life in Boston, which has a unique accent, and he lived in this very worldly way, with scientists from all over the world. He lived in a different world, and has picked up what we call a Transatlantic accent. So, it is American, but it has elements of British in there as well. We did that quite deliberately because of the background of the character. It was my job to think about that and come up with something, but it was accepted. If they hadn’t liked it, I’m sure they would have told me.

MediaBlvd> How important is the father/son relationship, and do you expect the dynamic between them to shift or change, in any major way?

John> From my point of view, and I think Josh Jackson will back this up, the thing that has held our interest most, so far, has been that relationship. And, as individual actors, Josh and I have probably talked more about that, than about anything else. We just feel that it’s special, and we feel a bit of responsibility to try and get it as right as possible. Judging by the feedback we’re getting, it’s working, and it’s resonating with a whole lot of people, so we’ll continue to do that.  It’s not going to turn into any sort of soft, “Oh, I understand, and now I know I love you” thing, where they walk away into the sunset. That won’t happen any more than it happens in families.  But, the depth of their relationship will continue to grow. There’s no question about that.                                                                                                            

MediaBlvd> Can you talk about the experience of actually building the relationship between Walter and Peter? How did you and Joshua Jackson work that out, to make it such an authentic father/son estranged relationship? 

John> Joshua and I talked very openly and frankly, right from the beginning, about this amazing thing. I am the father of a son and, fortunately, I have a very good relationship with him. But, we understood how complex these things are between men, as indeed they are between women as well. It was something that touched us both and interested us both, so we became very animated about it, right from the beginning, in regard to the responsibility of playing this correctly and getting iti right. We still talk about it and get excited about it. We’ll go into each other’s caravan and talk about that issue, trying to find the truth in there. Sometimes it’s ugly. It’s not what you’d expect, and we’re trying to get all of those elements into it. We take it pretty seriously.

MediaBlvd> Walter has a relationship with Peter, but is also developing more of a relationship with Olivia and Astrid. What do you think that’s like for him?

John> It’s been one of the things that has had to come slowly. Walter is a man who I don’t think would have ever been particularly good with women, anyway. He would have been a pretty horrible husband, not because he’s a bad man, but simply because he wouldn’t have thought to be nice. Then he comes out of the mental institution and he’s confronted with these two girls, and he doesn’t know how to talk to girls, so it’s taken time to learn. He still can’t remember Astrid’s name. One of the great joys of working with Jasika Nicole, on that whole name business, is that she’s such a funny girl. I can’t wait to see what they come up with for her because she’s a very, very funny woman. And, the relationship with Olivia is fascinating because that’s far deeper. My sense is that Walter starts to feel almost paternal towards her. On occasion, I can see that Olivia wants to ask Walter something, but then she’ll back away. Somewhere down the track, I think that there will be a coming together of those two.

MediaBlvd> How much thought do you give to the whole idea of The Pattern, and what The Pattern is? Do you have to deal with a lot of fans of the show trying to get information out of you, thinking you might know something more than they know, at this point?

John> We don’t know. I don’t know what The Pattern” is. Walter doesn’t know, so that works okay for me. We’re used to the idea of global conspiracies. I don’t particularly want to know what’s going on, in terms of what is in the writers’ minds. As to people asking, they do, but it’s not offensive. It’s just, “Do you know anything?,” and I say, “I don’t know,” and I mean it. These writers have a plan in mind that could last for one, two or three years, or however long it lasts. They will bring that all to a conclusion, at the right time. We can’t reveal everything now because where would you go from there? There’s a long way to go.

MediaBlvd> Because Blair Brown’s character is so diametrically opposite to Walter, with her being so focused, do you think there will ever be any scenes between the two of them?

John> There absolutely has to be, apart from the fact that Blair and I want to work together. She said, “Walter and Nina used to be together.” She’s invented this whole scenario. The theory is that, somewhere down the line, maybe they were even together, which is absolutely feasible. I’m sure it will be a very interesting challenge, working with Blair Brown. She’s a smashing actress.                                                                                                         

MediaBlvd> Walter has had to really do some of the gory work on the show. Has that been jarring for you?

John> No, it hasn’t. I spent quite a long time doing a semi-regular role in Australia, as a neurosurgeon on a TV show, so I got to look inside bodies a bit. It looks odd, to see a man looking inside of someone. I thought, “Well, could I do that?” And, the answer is yes. What I do find difficult is when Walter can seem to harm or hurt people, and not feel anything. If there was genuine pain being inflicted, I would feel far less comfortable than I am.

MediaBlvd> What are your own thoughts about science and scientific advances pushing the envelope, and how does that inform your character?

John> In my lifetime, lasers were considered to be some sort of futuristic, foolish idea, and we use them on a daily basis for everything now. I believe we are only tapping the edges of what the potential is. As we learn more through quantum mechanics and string theory, we’re finding out that all sorts of things are possible that we didn’t think were. We’re becoming less ignorant, as to the possibilities. We can imagine the impossibilities, as J.J. Abrams likes to say. I don’t have any problem with any of it.

MediaBlvd> Walter seems to be torn, in terms of his loyalty to Peter and his loyalty to science, as if his experiments are also his children, in a sense. How do you approach playing that?

John> That’s an amazing observation, and it’s absolutely true. When he’s given a task, Walter is incredibly focused and myopic, and other things really become secondary. A lot of people in our society are workaholics, and they find it difficult to split their time between their work and their families. It is an issue that many of us deal with. This is an extreme case of that. When he’s on his science, he really doesn’t have time for the squawking child next to him, or for his wife. I think there are plenty of examples of that in society, but Walter’s is just heightened a little bit. 

MediaBlvd> What are your personal views on fringe science? Are you into Big Foot and UFOs, and stuff like that?

John> No, not UFOs. I’ve got nothing against them, but it’s just not something that tantalizes my imagination. I’m much more fascinated by what we’ve discovered, through quantum mechanics, and so forth. It was essentially started off by Albert Einstein, who just opened the floodgates into a new world, and then we suddenly find out that we can bend time. It just means that anything is conceivable, and I find that fascinating. We don’t know anything. We don’t know even know what black holes are. I get excited by it. We’re moving exponentially. We’re moving so fast that today’s technology is out of place by next week. It’s an exciting time to live in. I’m glad to be alive to observe it. I’ve lived in an amazing time.

MediaBlvd> What is the weirdest thing you’ve learned so far, in working on this show?

John> I get more interested in the neural aspects of it than the parasitical elements of it. When it goes into the neural stuff, I get very excited about it. The parallel universe episode we did, which was called “The Arrival,” was probably outside of the realm of what we normally think about. Although, I have to confess, I had a very similar conversation about parallel universes with a friend of mine, sitting in the university campus, 30 years ago, looking at the stars, so it was an interesting thing to revisit that.     

MediaBlvd> What have been some of your favorite scenes or moments in the series, thus far?

John> Anything to do with the cow. I adore working with the cow. I don’t know why, but the cow makes me laugh. Everyone gets all gooey and funny when the cow comes in. And then, I got to milk the cow, so they rang up and said, “Do you need some coaching to milk a cow?” I said, “Certainly not! I can milk a cow. I’m a country boy.” It was great fun, milking the cow. In the pilot, where we’re eating Chinese and watching Sponge Bob, and that cow was on our necks, that was the funniest thing because it was nuzzling up against us, trying to get the Chinese food. It wouldn’t stay until I gave it some. It was just the funniest night, doing that scene at about four in the morning. One of my favorite games, at present, is to try and make Broyles laugh because Lance Reddick plays it to a tee. I go out of my way, whenever we have a scene together, to try and make him laugh. As actors, we have great fun with it because, in rehearsals, I succeed, but as soon as the cameras roll, there’s no way. There are going to be headlines across the nation one day that say, “Broyles Smiles.”