Joanne Kelly and Eddie McClintock star in Warehouse 13

Eddie McClintock is not new to television.  He had starring roles in the television series Holding the Baby and Stark Raving Mad.  He has also appeared in such shows as Sex in the City, House M.D., Desperate Housewives, and Bones.  He also worked on various films including The Sweetest Thing and Full Frontal.

Joanne Kelly has been part of many projects in both television and film.  She had leading roles in the television series Jeremiah, Slings and Arrows, and Vanished.  She has also had guest roles in many different series including The Dresden Files, Supernatural, and Castle to name a few.  She has also appeared in films such as The Bay of Love and Sorrows and Going the Distance.

David Simkins has worked on television series in the past.  He has written for and produced shows such as Adventures in Babysitting, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Roswell, and Charmed, to name a few.

Jack Kenny is a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to television and film.  He created the television series Titus, which he has written for, directed, produced, composed for, and appeared in, as well as the miniseries The Book of Daniel which he also produced and wrote for.  He has also written for, directed, produced, and acted in other television series.  He has even performed on Broadway in the past.

McClintock first got the idea for acting after watching Saturday Night Live.  “The earliest thing that I can remember is the Not Ready for Prime Time Players on Saturday Night Live. I mean, I worshipped Dan Akroyd and Bill Murray and Jane Curtin and Gilda Radner and Garrett Morris and John Belushi. I mean, they were my heroes every Saturday night. And I started imitating them and I’d do little skits and stuff for my parents and I always kind of gained my self-worth around the amount of laughter I could bring to my family and I think it kind of worked out for me. And I never - I was a jock in high school and in college, I wrestled for 12 years, wrestled in college, and was never really pointed in the direction of acting. I just thought - I never really considered it. I always just like to have fun and quote movies. I moved to LA after I graduated from college, I moved to LA…to sell corporate insurance for my uncle and then he fired me after seven months and said, “You know, you need to move to Hollywood.”  And so I moved from West Los Angeles to Hollywood and I started working as a production assistant in commercials and I was a PA, I swept up cigarette butts and drove big trucks around. And did that for three years and made enough connections to say, “You know, this isn’t really what I want to do, I think I want to be an actor.”  And I had an opportunity to hang out with enough actors and to be able to look at the process to go, “You know, I think that it’s something that I could do.”

McClintock got his first role by being a PA.  “I was working as an art PA and they were doing this - I was working on this project and…the first AD knew that I kind of wanted to get into acting. And so he went up to the director and said, “Listen, do you think we could” - and I had been working with this company for a few months and he was like, “Hey Eddie wants to be an actor. Can we put him in a costume and just put him up on the stage?”  And they - the director was like, “What, Eddie wants to be an actor? Yeah, of course, of course, you know, put him in.”

So he put me in a costume, I was supposed to be in space or something. And so he was like, “Eddie say this,” and he was like, “So if we give him a line we can get him a SAG card.”  And so the director’s like, “Sure, sure, okay Eddie say this.” And then I said the line and kind of made him laugh and he said, “Now say this.”  And before too long it just became about, you know, he was giving me all these lines and I was saying all this stuff and I had them all acting. And then at the end of the day he came up to me and said, “Listen, I’m doing this thing, we’re going down to Georgia to shoot this World War I fighter ace thing. I want you to play the lead guy,” and kind of that was it. I went from being an art PA to being the lead in this production and I guess it kind of went from there.”

Both McClintock and Kelly auditioned for their roles.  “Well, you know, the audition process for me, I was coming off my sixth or seventh test refusal and basically I was in tears in the waiting room and Joanne kind of talked me down off the ledge and this is right before she and I went in together.  So when we went in together, you know, I just - it was - to me it was like I’ve known Joanne for years and we just kind of hit it off and this was before we had even, you know, started to read together. So I think that there was just a natural chemistry that came across in the room, at least that’s how I felt.”  McClintock said.

“Yeah, I screwed up a line and he started making fun of me in the audition and I stopped them and told - tried to restart the audition again and those were the two characters. I mean, it was kind of right on the money.”  Kelly added.

McClintock joked that he took the role for the money, but it was really about the character.  “Yeah, Joanne/Myka, taking control, and Pete/Eddie McClintock acting a fool basically. And as far as what attracted me to the role, it was definitely the money. They said, you know, you’ll make a bunch of money and I was like I’m in. No, you know, for me the character, the Pete character kind of encompassed all the things that in one character that I’d always wanted to play. I’ve been able to play pieces of this character at different times but, you know, Pete to me, he kind of gets to do everything. He gets to be smart and funny and he gets to be heroic and, you know, to me that’s the dream job. So I love the character.”

Kelly feels strong about her character as well.  “You know, there’s not a lot of women characters that are written as dynamically as Myka is. And I was so excited that she was so smart and has a history and a past and is vulnerable at times, and strong at others, and funny and dramatic and sad. I mean, it really is such a round role and I was so drawn to it when I read the script right off the bat so I’m quite pleased -- quite pleased with myself at this point.”

Eddie McClintock as Pete Lattimer

Because, you know, once you cast an actor in a part, once an actor, you know, takes on a role, they bring who they are to it so you have to kind of - you want to mold that role to them. And we were all very fortunate in that these guys were so much like these characters to start with and David in crafting the pilot I think really made it a nice fit for Jo and Eddie to slip into these parts and Saul as well. So our challenges were, you know, going, you know, finding the directions to take these characters in where they could grow and learn about each other and the relationships could deepen. And then also of course we wanted to - we wanted to, you know, I’m starting to call this show so many things. Now I think I’m calling it an action adventure proceduromedy… It’s got all these elements and so we didn’t want to do a strictly procedural show because there’s plenty of that on TV. And these actors are so much more interesting than just, you know, standing around with a notepad asking questions. So we, you know, our challenge was to not - rather than have them investigate and just follow a trail, our challenge is to make them experience the adventure at the same time as we are. In other words, I don’t - we don’t really want the audience to learn much about what’s going on ahead of when our characters do. We want our audience and our characters to be on the same ride. So that’s been something we wanted to do and we’ve done it kind of differently in every episode. You know, sometimes we know what an artifact is going into it, sometimes we don’t know what it is and we’ve got to find it, but our - we’ve always wanted to sort of go on the ride with them. And that’s - rather than a challenge that’s just been a goal of ours to do.”

There were also challenges because of the budget.  Kenny said, “It’s tough. You know, it’s tough all over as they say…It’s been - we’re shooting basically an eight day show in seven days so the crew and the staff up here are just incredible. They really - I know everybody says that but they really are amazing. We shoot a movie every episode because we’re in an entirely different location every episode. You know, like a lot of series shoot in the same town or they’re based in the same place, they have a lot of standing sets. We have maybe two standing sets and the other one’s kind of a modular set and really 80% of the episode we’re out. So it’s really been a challenge for the crew and the production to really put together these episodes. They’ve done an amazing, amazing job. And the visual effects and special effects and, I mean, it’s really a monster every week and they really have just gone that extra mile every day. So that’s been a challenge. And, you know, the basic money challenges of the economy, when the economy shrinks everybody’s under a little bit of a challenge but that’s been our biggest one.”

The characters of Peter and Myka have been compared to Mulder and Scully of The X-Files.  McClintock and Kelly talked about their characters’ relationship and how it differs from them.  “I’ve kind of been describing our relationship as I’m kind of the younger brother who’s constantly pulling at her pigtails and she’s in turn always punching me in the arm, you know, and it’s actually kind of how it goes minus the pigtails. I mean, if they did a gag reel of how many times, you know, Myka/Joanne punches Pete/Eddie in the stomach or in the arm or, you know, it’s kind of - I look at it right now in it’s kind of a brother/sister relationship. You know, it’s still in its infancy so where it will go from here it’s hard to say but, you know, I think we are a brother/sister/great friends who have a tremendous amount of respect for one another even though we constantly pick at one another. And so which makes it just a great, fun thing to play for me.”  McClintock said.

“Yeah, yeah, I think Eddie’s right on the nose of course. That is definitely our relationship. And the thing that I like about the way that it progresses is that there’s so much that these characters learn from one another, Pete and Myka. I mean, they’re so different and you see the gelling of two processes and the success that comes from that. And you see my character is very isolated at the beginning and his too is too in a way and you see these two people gradually open up to one another and I think that’s really special. And whether it be in a brother/sister way or a romantic way you see these two people constantly learning more about the other and, you know, making fun of the other for it and helping the other. So it makes it very human and very real I think.”  Kelly added.

Kenny also discussed their relationship.  “In the show…just in terms of my observation of noticing the difference between Pete and Myka from Mulder and Scully. You know, the thing that I love about like the character of Indiana Jones is he always feels like he’s kind of not lost, but vulnerable. He always feels like - he never feels like he knows much more about the situation than you know as you’re watching him but he manages to get through and find his way. And that’s the sense I get with Pete and Myka. They’re sort of thrown into these situations, a different one every time. They don’t know what’s going to happen, they don’t know how an artifact works, they don’t know all the ramifications or possibilities what could happen but they’re getting through it anyway using their wits and their observation powers and all those things. And that to me feels more like an adventure than Mulder and Scully went on. That was a more - a darker kind of a feel. This is more of an adventure for them.”

McClintock talked about the “buddy vibes” in the characters’ relationship coming natural to the two of them.  “Well for me I just, you know, I just come in with no expectations and hopefully, you know, I like the person that I’m working with…We just - it so happened that Joanne and I, I mean, look, you know, Joanne - if Joanne and I ever have differences on the set we - I think we’re big enough people and we’ve created a strong enough bond that we’re able to speak about it…basically we give each other metaphorical noogies on the set all the time, you know, it’s like, you know, if Joanne has a problem she lets me know and I let her know too sometimes. And if I don’t, she just does it for me, and then I go, “Yeah, okay, you’re right.” I don’t know, there - I didn’t have any preconceived notions. It just so happened that we click. You know, it’s just one of those things that I guess it’s like TV or film, you know, just there’s a chemistry, it’s there, it clicks and it works and other times it doesn’t. In this case I just think that it does.”

Joanne Kelly as Myka Bering

Kelly agreed.  “Upon getting - the inception of the script that we auditioned for and what we ended up shooting has - and are still in the process of filming, it has gone through, you know, such a change and it’s grown as we’ve grown as characters and as we’ve worked together more. I mean, this relationship is blooming. And I think that as Eddie said it was something that came very - we’re both different, our processes are very different, and the kind of energy that comes from that when two, you know, opposing forces collide is what you see on screen. And, you know, Eddie is - Eddie makes me laugh every day and I always have a great time on set because he’s there and it’s just been a pleasure to work with him. He’s really great.”

However others already knew from the beginning what kind of relationship they wanted between the two characters.  “They’ve had this project in development for a long time and they were pretty clear about the kind of relationship they were looking for. And when I came in to work on the pilot it was just a matter of looking to them and then, you know, digging back into my own toolbox and pulling out as much of that stuff as I could. When Eddie and Joanne walked into the audition stage and sort of took over these characters, it was a real eye-opening experience because I think Sci Fi and I, we all thought we were on the right track, that where we were going with these two characters could definitely be done. And then when, you know, Eddie and Joanne took over the roles Jack and I and the writers, we really - and we’ve said it before, we really just write into them. We write into their characters, into their speaking styles, into their attitudes. And it’s been, you know, I have to say writing for them has been one of the easiest things to do. It’s writing for the artifacts which is pretty difficult.”  Simkins said.

Kenny added more about the casting.  “It’s interesting too because to me the success of any pilot, 90% of the success is the casting, is finding the right people for the roles that are created. And then the success of a series, 90% of it is being able to write to those people you’ve cast because it’s one thing, you know, it becomes just a different challenge. You know, we want to write to their strengths. We can hear their voices in our heads as we’re writing. That’s the challenge of every writing staff in town is to key into those people. I mean, and I think, you know, it always takes a couple of episodes to get a hold of it but we’ve really gotten into Saul and Eddie and Jo’s - their rhythms, their cadences, their strengths, their weaknesses, and everything we can find about them. And, you know, the same thing is true with CCH (Pounder, who plays Mrs. Frederic) and with Allison Scagliotti who’s joining our series later in Episode 4 and Genelle (Williams) who plays Leena. You know, writing towards their strengths will - is what makes the series strong I think.”

Warehouse 13 premieres on the Sci Fi Channel on Tuesday, July 7^th at 9 p.m. with a two-hour pilot.