One interview is at the Philadelphia Daily News, the other is at Stars Entertainment. Pics in the post are from the episode that airs in two weeks.
Raising Hope 1×02, “Dead Tooth,” airs tonight at 9.
Here is the synopsis for episode 1×04, “Say Cheese:”
RAISING HOPE “Say Cheese” Season 1 Episode 4 – When Sabrina visits Jimmy at home for the first time, she comes across a photo album that makes Jimmy realize he doesn’t have any family photos that include Hope. Although past family photo shoots have been filled with chaos and stress, Jimmy decides to organize a family photo shoot in the all-new “Say Cheese” episode of RAISING HOPE airing Tuesday, Oct. 12 (9:00-9:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
And some snippets from the interviews below:
As for his reputation for scaring the bejesus out of viewers, “people’s memories are so short,” he said. “I actually play lots of good guys. I played Jesus Christ, for goodness’ sakes.”
But even Dillahunt’s Jesus – who appeared to an Episcopal priest played by Aidan Quinn in NBC’s short-lived “The Book of Daniel” – was kind of disturbing, I suggested.
“He was disturbing? I mean, the show might’ve been disturbing,” Dillahunt said, laughing. “I just like a good story, you know. In most stories, there’s a good guy and a bad guy. I just want to be part of a good story.”
Had Dillahunt, whose last regular sitcom gig was in Norm MacDonald’s Fox series, “A Minute With Stan Hooper,” been looking for another comedy?
“I’ve been making a lot of movies this past year and the kind of movies that I do, that I get good roles in, are independent movies, which I love very much” (including “Amigo” and “Oliver Sherman,” both of which screened at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this month).
“But those kind of movies don’t pay too well,” so he looks to TV to help finance his work in them.
One difference between “Raising Hope” and some of Dillahunt’s other TV work is the presence of infants (a set of twins played the baby in the pilot, and Dillahunt said he expected “we’ll go through a lot of them, like the ‘Babe’ piglets”).
Has he worked with babies before?
“I have, yeah. And there’s good days and bad days, that’s for sure. I generally just feel horrible for them, you know? Because there’s no good reason, other than some laughs, or the story, for them to be going through this when they’re miserable. But when they’re having a ball, it’s all right,” he said. [Philly.com]
First of all, I wanted to quickly ask you about your recent trip to Toronto for the film festival. I know you were here for the premiere of your new movie, Oliver Sherman. Did you like Toronto? Was it your first time?
It wasn’t my first time in Toronto but I love Toronto. I shot a series there back in 2001 for Showtime so I was in Cabbagetown for about nine months and I just loved it. But it’s only my second time that I’ve been able to go to the festival. There is a lot of energy, there is a lot going on. It’s not really a vacation, its sort of business, but it’s exciting to have all those cool and interesting films going on.
You’ve acted in a lot of murder, crime and thriller-type movies, how did you end up with this role as Burt Chance on Raising Hope?
I actually started in comedy. My first jobs out of school were in theatre where you did all kinds of things including farces and romantic comedy. When I decided to start doing film and television, the first jobs I got were all sit-coms and I had a couple that were picked up and a few that were just pilots. In 2003, I was doing A Minute With Stan Hooper and then I got Deadwood and really ever since Deadwood, I’ve been the drama guy. People forgot that I started in comedy. It’s interesting because you feel that people have short memories and they only remember the last thing you did. So it’s a constant state of proving yourself or reinventing. I liked the comedic elements that I could bring to my other movie, No Country for Old Men and it had been while since I did comedy and I just thought that I needed to look for something funny to do. Plus, I just needed a break from all the raping and killing that I’ve been doing on other movies.
Did you ever want to pursue a career in comedy?
No, no, I could think of nothing more terrifying than doing stand-up. Oh! It’s scary; I used to work the door at a comedy club called, ‘Catch a Rising Star’ in New York at the time, its not longer there. Just watching those guys and the nerves before they went up on stage, if they were having a bad night or there were hecklers. There is no safety net. I have a lot of admiration for people that can do stand up comedy because I sure can’t. [Stars Entertainment]
