"Medium" is a great long-running NBC series that features Patricia Arquette and Jake Weber, a husband and wife facing unique stresses in their marriage and lives that usually intersect with Arquette's character Allison's profession as a psychic.
Jake Weber - © Glenn Harris / PR Photos
Allison DuBois helps law enforcement figure out their tougher cases.
"Medium" has terrific writers led by creator Glenn Gordon Caron, who develop riveting story lines, and especially with the character of Joe DuBois, Weber's role.
His Juilliard-trained acting muscle always gives a layered, nuanced performance as a husband, struggling aerospace engineer and father of their three girls.
Joe is often conflicted, and has a new obstacle facing his marriage in the character of Kelly Preston who plays a winsome venture capitalist who takes an interest in his solar power invention and possibly more in four episodes, with the culmination of her story arc in the upcoming season finale on Monday, May 12, revealing her fate.
Monsters and Critics got a chance to speak with Jake Weber and Kelly Preston yesterday.
Jake, I am curious about how you came from England to New England to study, and American Political Science on top of it, along with English lit. Can you tell me a little bit about why you were drawn to that, and how you’ve translated all this education into your career?
Jake Weber: Just years of education. Yes, I’m very over-educated. And underpaid. I had an American godfather and he adopted me when I was an adolescent. And he brought me over to the - to live in San Francisco. And then from San Francisco we moved to Westchester County.
I sort of reinvented myself, I guess, as sort of an American adolescent here. And I’ve always liked books and I’ve always been interested in current affairs, politics, power, the use and misuse of it.
I came to sort of acting later, I guess. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do so I sort of ended up in it. But it was not something that I always felt that I was - had a shot at doing or, you know, making a living at. So that’s basically it, I guess.
Do you feel more American or more British? Where do you call home?
Jake Weber: I’m a man without a country.
Man without a country. So "I am, I said" - very Neil Diamond moment.
Jake Weber: You’re funny.
Tell me about when you first met Patricia and how that chemistry took off.
Jake Weber: Oh, I don’t know. We just started teasing each other. I think that you need that chemistry on film with somebody who you hate or somebody you really like, you know. If you sort of don’t have any strong feelings about them, it gives you - nothing really pops off the screen.
Luckily for me, since we’ve been doing this for four years, I’m very fond of Patricia and we’re kind of like brother and sister. We tease each other and we just always made each other laugh.
And, she’s gorgeous. She’s so easy to just look at and kind of fall in love with, you know. And she’s an angel. She really is. She’s an extraordinary woman.
You’ve been involved in a lot of philanthropic things with her, too. I talked to her at length after Hurricane Katrina and she really galvanized the crew. Your crew was amazing, by the way.
Jake Weber: Wow. Yeah, she was real strong. She really got front and center on that.
So did you.
Jake Weber: I packed a truck. I used to work as a - I used to move furniture in college for money. Used to drive a truck and pack it with ex cons. And I packed this truck so tight I got like eight flats on the way down there to New Orleans. And so that was my contribution - Patricia was out there every weekend.
They didn’t ask me back there after I f**ked up that - that truck. They towed it back to Los Angeles.
If you were to have a career not acting in front of a camera, but behind the camera -- and in the crew -- which career would you choose and why?
Jake Weber: Well I think camera operator is a greater job. It’s really a hard job. But I think it’s an interesting job. Or DP is also cool. I’m not sure about that. I’m not sure I’m cut out for that. I don’t have the temperament.
Kelly, why do you think Megan would take the risk of flirting with Joe when she knows his wife is a psychic?
Kelly Preston: I think because Megan is not exactly who she says she is. The - Glenn Caron is very good at writing sort of twists and turns, and multi-level characters as he’s shown with both Allison and Joe.
The characters are so layered. And with Megan, she’s not whom she seems to be. And so knowing that Allison is very psychic and is able to see in the future, I think it doesn’t faze Megan because she has certain motives in connecting up with Joe.
Jake Weber: She’s a very good liar.
Kelly Preston: Extremely good liar (such) that she keeps sort of pulling him into her web with promise of prosperity and, you know, true realization of his dream. Yet, she is sort of taking him down a slippery path.
Were you in tune with this series prior to the job?
Kelly Preston: I was a huge fan of the show before signing on to it and I, in fact, had told my agent just a few days before Glenn called met that I would be very interested in doing an arc on a show, but I said it had to be a really good show.
And I felt there were a couple that I was interested in. Yet, Medium really, truthfully is my favorite show. And I love it, you know, for so many different reasons.
I think Patricia and Jake, and all the actors on it are really, really good - very realistic, very, you know, just multi-layered. And the writing is so strong, as well.
My husband loves it as well. But my kids - well at least my youngest, she’s a little spooked, I think. So I don’t have her watch it. But when I ran into people, they asked me why I was going, and every single person I told that I was doing Medium said I love that show. So that was the show..
Jake, how pleased are you that the show was renewed for another season? And what do you want to see the next year?
Jake Weber: I want to see a healthy Glenn Gordon Caron because this show is all about him. He’s the writers and Executive Producer. So the more he’s on his game, the better the show is.
And he has been writing really well in the last year, I think. And I’m real glad that the show got picked up for another year because it’s a good show. It’s a great job for me.
Everybody gets along, enjoys working together. And that environment is hard to find over the long term in this business - and the fact that we’ve been on for four or five years - well it’ll be five years next year and no one has killed anyone else is a good sign in Hollywood.
Kelly, would you be in returning next season for a few more episodes?
Kelly Preston: Well they’ve joked about it. You’ll see. My character gets pretty wound up pretty succinctly. But, you know, as with a lot of the characters, they can also come back even if they - you know, ultimately she does die of some horrific death.
I could also come back and potentially do something. But…
Jake Weber: But the door is certainly open for you coming back next year. I mean…
Kelly Preston: I do do something that’s pretty wicked.
Jake can you talk about your wrapped film. "She Lived"?
Jake Weber: I play the father of a teenage gal who has - what does - she has a strange sort of Jacob’s Ladder like flashback into - and you don’t know if she’s crazy or if she is becoming unhinged, or if she’s really seeing these visions.
It’s kind of a dark psychological thriller in the sort of Jacob’s Ladder vein. I hope it’s as good as Jacob’s Ladder because I love that movie..
Jake, what exactly is your solar power-based invention?
Jake Weber: I have no idea. It’s something that Glenn came up with at four in the morning, with - it’s some sort of a solar generating system that can take solar power and magnify it or make it more efficient, make it more - so you can more, I guess - what, kilowatts or watt o kills or...
You know, those units of power that we all enjoy and live with. And I - somehow it makes it more efficient. I’m not sure. I don’t think there’s an exact science in this. I think this is more of a sort of TV invention than anything that actually has utility.
What are your personal views on this phenomenon or the paranormal in general?
Jake Weber: Well I have more of a philistine, I think, view on this than Kelly. I - what I don’t know would fill a book. That’s all I really can say because I really - I know very little about this and I have - I know that people have had sort of paranormal and psychic experiences. I have not. But I’m open to offers.
Kelly Preston: And for me, I just know that, I’m just - spiritually I’m not my body, that I am a spiritual being and I’ve lived before, and will live again. So any sort of thing in that realm, you know, I know that there are a lot of people who are able to perceive other things. And I think it’s very cool.
Kelly, your character has taken quite some knocks from fan feedback- Do you chalk that up to a job well done?
Kelly Preston: Well I guess so. I don’t ever read those things, but Glenn created a pretty interesting character that I knew would stir up a - get an upset, especially because they have a very strong, solid relationship and she threatens to jeopardize that - not really jeopardize it, but…You never know when Glenn’s writing and I guess we’ll see Monday night. But yeah, they’re definitely sensing what’s going on.
Jake Weber: That would be must see TV.
Kelly Preston: Yeah, exactly. Well you’ll see.
Jake Weber: A cat fight.
Kelly Preston: It’s tied up primarily between Jake and Megan. It, you know, has - it’s definitely open for some sort of craziness in the future, I guess.
Jake Weber: I think that they should meet in the octagon.
Would you be open to a longer term TV gig?
Kelly Preston: I like the short little visits. For sure. I had always heard that an hour drama was definitely the hardest gig in show business. And these guys really are amazing. And everybody - the cast, the crew - everybody works so hard on them.
They’re producing these little mini movies every week and the writing is so strong. And it’s just - it’s a lot, but I hand it to them. They’re all doing, you know, really an incredible job.
Kelly, any notable acting challenges first stepping into the Megan role?
Kelly Preston: I would say just not being as used to the format. They’ve got - you know, everybody was so welcoming and it’s really - you know, Jake was just wonderful and who I thought was a really incredible actor before I joined the team, as well as Patricia, I think, is just brilliant on the show.
I stepped into a really wonderful atmosphere and a crew that really works beautifully and seamlessly together. For me, it was just because of it being a little of a different format where you’re getting the pages - you know, you’re getting them sort of last minute or - because Glenn rewrites the scenes.
They’re always getting better and better. You don’t have as much time to learn them as say I’m used to. And these guys are a lot more used to getting things, you know, with not that much time prior.
I would say that was one of the biggest challenges for me. But it’s almost like a muscle where you’re exercising it and it’s getting stronger, and you’re getting more able to do that.
Ultimately, I had a really, really great time on the show - even better than expected to.
Jake, what have you enjoyed most about playing your character this season?
Jake Weber: Well I always like it when he works a lot of conflict into the storylines between me and Allison because I think that even people who are just, you know, crazy about each other and have been together forever, and know each other and have worked out a lot of the kinks in their relationship - there’s still always going to be conflict.
I think that that’s always what I enjoy the most is when there’s - and he built in that sort of inherent conflict in that we’re all out of money. Nobody had a job and we were kind of at each other because we both were struggling to provide for our family.
My guy’s whole identity as a breadwinner was getting challenged. And, you know, he’s more practical than she is, so he was more comfortable with her sort of pedaling her wares as a psychic than she, perhaps, was.
I think he set up an environment where there was a lot of potential conflict and that made it fun as an actor to play.
It also gives you the make up scenes which are always lovely because they usually take place in bed. And whenever I’m in bed with Patricia Arquette, it’s a good day at the office.
Jake Weber: You’re welcome.
Kelly, were you at all nervous coming into the show where they’ve been so tight for four years?
Kelly Preston: No, I wasn’t nervous at all. I’ve known Patricia for years and I love her. I think she is just an amazing girl, really, really talented actress. And I was just - I was a fan of the show as well, so it’s really something that I had just recently decided that I wanted to do was do an arc on a really good show and had told my agent that, not that many days prior to Glenn Caron asking if I would do it.
It just so happens that Medium is my favorite show. So it worked out perfectly.
Were you surprised by anything?
Kelly Preston: Well the one thing I discovered is my daughter - my eight-year-old daughter, Ella, came to visit the set and she - I toured her around the different sets and the DuBois home. And I know this, and Jake I was going to ask you this - there is not an older daughter bedroom.
Jake Weber: There is.
Kelly Preston: Is there?
Jake Weber: Yeah, but it’s built in another wing of the sound stage.
Kelly Preston: Oh, Well that’s one thing - I thought hey, hm, there - is it sucked into the little vortex of Medium and I didn’t - couldn’t find that. No, nothing really that - the sets are all really just very cool and always fun to take - you’ve seen the show for years and then you go on the set, even if you’re an actor and you’re used to this.
It’s always fun to actually see the actual set because you’re so familiar with them as a viewer.
Jake, do you guys have any Medium hazing rituals or practice for guest stars coming on to your show?
Jake Weber: Yes, I spank all the guest stars.
Kelly Preston: Yeah, he claims to have spanked Eric Stoltz, too.
Jake Weber: He needed a good spanking, that’s why.
Did the writers give your character any room to return?
Kelly Preston: They did leave the door open a crack, I guess. I mean, she does do something that’s pretty - seemingly final. But, you know, and there’s always so many possibilities in Medium, even if in the future - that it was discovered that - because I don’t die, just so you know.
But in Medium, that’s never a closed door.
Jake, Have you met the real Joe?
Jake Weber: I have.
Did you get any kind of inspiration from him at all, or do you try and separate a little?
Jake Weber: Well, you know, he’s a real nice guy. You know, both Allison and Joe are springboards for Glenn Caron’s imagination. So they’re not sort of directly modeled off them, although their lives are sort of a framework in which he built all those stories.
So, you know, we’re not actually playing real people. We’re playing people, not those lives - if that makes sense.
Jake Weber: Well that’s kind of weird.
Kelly, your character is wicked, isn’t she?
Kelly Preston: Yeah, I’m wicked. I love it. It’s fun. Glenn really created - when he first called me to tell me about it and ask if I wanted to do it, I said okay, so what’s the fun -what’s the interesting - what’s going to be fun to play?
And when he told me, I said okay, I’m in definitely. That’s a lot of fun because I, you know, as a big fan of the show and it’s - the way his mind works, it really made for a fun character to play.
Kelly, what is next for you?
Kelly Preston: I did another thing for television. I did a film for Lifetime called "The Tenth Circle" that’s out next month - June 22, based on a Jodi Picoult novel.
I play an English professor who’s having an affair with a student the night my…
Jake Weber: Another tramp.
Kelly Preston: Yeah, another tramp. But the night my daughter gets raped at a party and it’s - it was a really, really good story and a really well written script. And I very much - I just saw it and very much liked the way our director, Peter Markle, directed it and put it together.
I’m really happy with it. It looks to me more like an independent film and it’s just - it’s sort of real and raw.
The author came to the set. She was really happy with everything and I know she’s got another film - or another book of hers being filmed now with actually, the little girl who is the oldest daughter - isn’t she doing a Jodi Picoult novel right now with Cameron Diaz?
Jake Weber: Yeah.
Kelly Preston: So two of Jodi’s things are being produced right now and ours comes out in June.
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