Sometimes being “just” a guest star on a network drama has its perks, especially when said drama is Necessary Roughness for USA, a show that shines a weekly spotlight on a revolving door of patients of sports therapist Dr. Dani Santino (Callie Thorne). Her patient of the week is given a full, and often times deeply emotional, arc in the mere forty-five minutes of screen time the episode runs, and that is prime real estate for any actor, let alone one like Austin Basis who has spent the last few months rotating from character to character on auditions for his next big project.
“It was a little bit of typecasting,” Basis joked with LA TV Insider Examiner about his mascot character when we caught up with him in Los Angeles.
Basis has appeared in a number of costumes in various commercials, and he actually lamented the fact that he didn’t get to wear the suit all that much this time around.
“I wanted to wear the feet [in a therapy session]-- you know, like bird slippers, but that didn’t really happen,” Basis said.
Apparently even though Atlanta, where Necessary Roughness films, is ninety degrees in the shade on a good day, in a mascot costume is the place to be.
“They actually strap this vest on you that is filled with ice,” Basis shared some behind-the-scenes tricks of the trade. “So your face is burning if you’re wearing the head, but your torso is feeling good!”
But seriously, folks, Basis’ character of Phil Kirkman, ex-New York Hawks mascot is not really a laughing matter. The guy was on top of his game, loving life, about six years ago, according to Basis, until it all went south (and not just for the winter).
“My episode, which I think is episode nine or ten, the Hawks are on the cusp of the playoffs again. They were in the playoffs six years ago, but they haven’t even been anywhere close since,” Basis shared.
And it turns out it may all be because of Phil. Or at least, that’s how Phil sees it. See, six years ago he was on the sidelines, doing what he knew how to do best and loved best, when he got in the way-- literally-- of an important play.
“He tripped him. Or, in keeping with the bird metaphor, he ‘clipped’ him,” Basis explained. “And now he’s known for the Kirkman curse.”
So though Basis has played mascots before, he may have never quite tackled one this deep or intense. Phil has spent the last six years pretty much a recluse, living in his father’s basement, and now on the eve of potential greatness for the team, he just wants to emerge and do his part. But he may not know the best way to go about that.
“I think his story is really about redemption,” Basis offered. “He feels he needs to apologize to the team and to the guy-- well, first he feels he owes it to the guy, and then the team, and then New York.”
It’s not an easy feat to accomplish. Enter Dr. Dani.
In the past we have seen Dr. Dani get pushed and pulled in so many directions during an hour-long episode that she often needs a little nudging or a trigger (usually from her best friend Jeanette aka Amanda Detmer) to “snap into” the diagnosis of her patient. But her friend has left the building, moving out of the country with her new beau, and therefore has left Dani all on her own to do the dirty work. Basis shared that in this episode, there is, of course, a separate T.K. (Mehcad Brooks) story, as well as some relationship drama with her own new beau (Jason Gedrick), but the way she really relates to, and therefore is able to fix, Phil is through her family.
“Because of the bird theme, there is a lot of talk of flocks,” Basis smiled. “And in her own flock-- her own family-- she is dealing with kids who want to be left home alone for a weekend. At first she says ‘No, no, no’…but she realizes she has to take the risk.”
The risk metaphor is not lost on Dani, nor on Phil, who is still stuck so deeply in the past and in the superstitions of sports that she has to kind of help dig him out of what he considers real-- and what he feels responsible for-- versus what is really real.
Often for an actor the toughest part about diving into a one-off character, especially on someone else’s show, is finding the backstory. There may not be a whole lot on the page about who the person is or from where they come, so work has to be done on their own, sitting down with producers and directors or even making it up on their own just to have something to draw from. In the past, Basis has worked through who some of his characters are with poetry; writing from the characters’ perspectives allowed him to fully immerse himself in their worlds. But he admitted he didn’t write any poems from Phil’s point of view this time around. Instead he relied on the chemistry between himself and his most common scene partner, Callie Thorne.
“Callie was just fantastic to work with. You know, from the very first time I met her-- we were in the make-up room. I was sitting there, and she came in and said ‘Hi, I’m Callie.’ I said hi and told her who I was playing, and that was it. Just a hi and a smile. And the very first scene we had to shoot together was the last big emotional one [of the episode], and that can be hard because you’re supposed to have developed this relationship, but you don’t really know each other yet. But I’ve been watching the show, so I see how she works, and I feel like I at least knew her a little bit that way. But she didn’t know me at all…We got on set, and it was just immediate, natural. And after every take, before they’d even call cut, she’d lean over and go ‘That was gorgeous; that was just gorgeous.”
You can catch Basis in Necessary Roughness on Wednesday, August 31st at 10pm. And you can also purchase his book of poetry here.
Want more Necessary Roughness news and interviews? Follow LA TV Insider Examiner on Twitter!
Comments