COVERT AFFAIRS stars PIPER PERABO, CHRIS GORHAM, SENDHIL RAMAMURTHY and ANNE DUDEK sat down with us at COMIC-CON to talk about Annie, Auggie, Jai and Danielle from their hit show on USA Network. It was great to meet them and when I was taking press photos Chris was hamming it up and teasing us by unbuttoning his shirt. When Chris sat down at the press table and we put our recorders in front of him he got excited and asked if they were for him because he loves swag. It was really sweet and he was the charmer of the group. Chris also enjoys cake so how much more of a dreamboat do you need him to be? Piper and Chris were delightful and a dream to photograph. Honestly, it was impossible to take a bad photograph of the cast of COVERT AFFAIRS because really, have you seen the cast? The only disappointing thing for me was that Peter Gallagher never made it to our interview table. I’m a huge Peter Gallagher fan and he is my favorite character in the show. Anne and Sendhil made their way to our table and shared some fun stories about the show and what Sendhil used to do as a child. Anne was gorgeous in person and Sendhil has the most stunning features and don’t get me started on his entrancing voice. What an incredible cast and show so don’t miss an episode of COVERT AFFAIRS Tuesday nights only on USA Network.
PIPER PERABO and CHRIS GORHAM INTERVIEW from the journalist’s conference table at Comic-Con
Annie’s evolution as the season continues:
PIPER PERABO: It’s true to real life, just because you have been an agent for a year doesn’t mean that you are the best at it. For the fact that it is closer to reality, I think that we are keeping her that way and it’s also more dramatic. If you’re James Bond, there are not that many people that can take you down and so it doesn’t lend itself to dramatic possibility so we try not to advance her too quickly.
CHRIS GORHAM: That made me think of something interesting, this season we dealt with Auggie getting a promotion and having to make a decision on what he wants to do with his career and deciding if he wanted to come back to mentor Annie. What if a few seasons down the road Annie gets a promotion and has to leave Auggie?
PIPER PERABO: Annie would never leave Auggie.
Auggie getting involved in the action:
CHRIS GORHAM: I think it’s something that we will continue to see once or twice a year. Auggie has actually gone out into the field quite a bit this season just not in the way of this past episode that is really focused on him where he gets the action scene and that kind of thing. There has to be a reason for him to be out in the field like that because he’s blind. I think it’s something that we will continue to do but certainly not every week.
Annie being afraid for Auggie in the field for a change (Episode: “Half a World Away”):
PIPER PERABO: It was so funny. I would do phone call scenes with him in that episode. I’m Auggie in that episode. I was telling him to stand down.
CHRIS GORHAM: That’s right. It was cool and one of my favorite scenes in that episode is when she is on the phone and she is trying to tell me to stop doing whatever I’m going to do. It was such a great moment for Annie and Auggie but also Piper just gave the greatest performance. In watching it I was like, “Oh come on Auggie, listen to her.”
Dealing with being a sex symbol:
PIPER PERABO: I don’t know if I deal with it. I think everybody, at least in my experience, no matter what you look like you still feel like who you are on the inside. How people perceive you and who you feel that you are can be two totally different things. I think how people perceive me I don’t take it in, not very much anyway. I think what is more important for me is to be able to operate in the world is to know how I feel about things and know what I think is important and to sort of operate from that place.
Meeting people and fans:
PIPER PERABO: I get a little nervous about it sometimes because it sounds so corny but everybody is important. It’s exciting to meet each other and being one-sided feels unbalanced to me because I’m as excited to meet somebody myself. What’s cool about it in an event like this where you have people that are huge fans of the show and of the stories that we tell, that is something that I have in common with that person. I love the stories that we do on our show and I get excited about them and about the action and Chris and his episode and seeing his abs and he plays football with all of those guys. I feel like I really connect with people on that level and getting really jazzed about the show.
Chris’ abs:
PIPER PERABO: His abs are like that all the time.
CHRIS GORHAM: It’s not something they ask permission about. It is something that I’ve told them that I would like notice about when it’s going to happen because I do enjoy cake.
Looking forward to the action or character building:
PIPER PERABO: Both, they are both really exciting and we get the new scripts at the same exact moment and it comes in a sealed envelope and it’s exciting and you just tear it open. The show is so much about secrets that the way the action breaks open or the way that a revelation breaks open is so exciting. They both have this kind of thrill ride feeling to them so they are both exciting.
CHRIS GORHAM: The writers don’t tell us much ahead of time so we are often just finding out things just like the audience is finding things out as we are getting through the episodes. I didn’t know really the whole story of how Auggie lost his sight until I read the script and I was begging for that script for weeks and they kept on saying it wasn’t ready.
SENDHIL RAMAMURTHY and ANNE DUDEK INTERVIEW from the journalist’s conference table at Comic-Con
What’s it like for Anne to be in the background since she was upfront in “House” and we want to see more of her in COVERT AFFAIRS:
ANNE DUDEK: Thank you for wanting to see more.
SENDHIL RAMAMURTHY: We all want to see more!
ANNE DUDEK: Write in and say Danielle should be jumping out of a helicopter. My function in this particular TV series is to sort of be the alternate reality, which our reality is a normal life. In a way, I have been playing very strange characters in the past, very dramatic or strange or weird or funny people. It was sort of exciting for me to not be pigeonholed as an actor that is just the weirdo when you want a weirdo. It’s nice to be the normal person as the counterpoint to all the weirdos.
SENDHIL RAMAMURTHY: Well it’s true. This is the polar opposite of Cutthroat Bitch.
ANNE DUDEK: It really is. A side function of that is my involvement in the show is pretty peripheral in terms of what the show is about. In this season I think you see Danielle go through some new things with herself and in her personal life. You see the stress of her marriage and you see the stress of the changing relationship between Annie and Danielle and that becomes something that is more prominent in the show. There will be more of me and that makes me so happy that you want more of me.
If we will see more of Jai in the field:
SENDHIL RAMAMURTHY: I certainly hope so. I don’t know but I hope so. It would be fun and I had a blast doing it. It’s really nice not to wear a suit and tie every day. That is why I became an actor, to not to wear a suit and tie every day. It’s nice to kind of get out there and go into the field and run around with a gun and to get on a motorcycle or two. It’s nice to mix it up like that so I think that there is more of that coming down the pipeline. We are only two episodes ahead of that right now so I don’t know too much. It was amazing, we had the helicopter the whole day and he just kept on taking us up and we would circle around. It is kind of one of the perks of doing a job like this. It’s like what I used to pretend to do as a kid. I would be up in a tree and I would jump off the tree like I was flying in my mind. I hit the ground really quickly. I was flapping my arms but nothing was happening. I tried to Mary Poppins it and nothing happened. This time I got to do it for real with a gun and a real helicopter and a real damsel in distress. It’s not your sister tied up somewhere. It’s proper stakes and there are cameras so it’s good.
If we will learn more about Jai’s father (played by Gregory Itzin):
SENDHIL RAMAMURTHY: We very much are. It’s coming up. Despite Jai’s best intentions, Henry Wilcox still asserts a large influence over his life and he doesn’t want to need him but he does need him. Despite how Henry’s is, he does actually genuinely care about what happens to Jai and in the upcoming episodes you are going to see a lot of that. There is advice that is given and is taken in different ways and it’s a really complex relationship. For me as an actor, it’s my favorite relationship to play with on the show. Greg is such a fantastic actor and to play with him is really amazing. There is definitely a lot more of that coming up towards the end of this summer season and a lot more in the winter season.
What about Jai’s mother:
SENDHIL RAMAMURTHY: I asked that question the other day. At some point we are going to find out more. I don’t know if it’s this season, though. Should we get a third season, I think mom will factor in at some point. I’ve been told that she will but I don’t know when.
COVERT AFFAIRS
COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL 2011 SAN DIEGO, CA
Piper Perabo, Chris Gorham, Anne Dudek & Sendhil Ramamurthy Interviews
July 21, 2011
COVERT AFFAIRS Tuesday Nights on USA Network
Photos & Press Conference Room Coverage by Lena Lamoray