RSS | Go mobile | Favorite Examiners | Meet the Examiners

Weather for Miami | 78° Broken Clouds

Search articles from thousands of Examiners

Miami

Select your city

Write for us

Miami

Arts and Entertainment

Cable TV Examiner

Add to favorites Examiner Bio

Interview with Law and Order CI actors Vincent DOnofrio and Katherine Erbe

April 17, 12:47 PM

Cable TV Examiner

Christine Nyholm

Previous Next

8 comments

RSS

Law and Order Criminal Intent is returning to USA Network for its eighth season on Sunday night, April 19. The long time stars of Criminal Intent, Vincent D'Onofrio and Katherine Erbe graciously interviewed in a conference call, which I was able to participate it. Vincent D’Onofrio portrays quirky genius Goren Robert Goren and Katherine Erbe portrays Detective Eames, the senior partner and stabilizing influence in the police partnership.

Law and Order CI differs from the other Law and Order shows by Dick Wolf in that the series delves more deeply into the creepy criminal mind and explores their motives. Goren especially, goes into some dark places as he comes to understand the motivations behind the ugly crimes.

There are two teams of detectives on Law and Order: CI. The teams alternate weeks. D’Onofrio and Katherine are a long time team. In the alternating segments Julianne Nichols and Jeff Goldblum are teamed up. Goldblum is new to the series this season, taking the role vacated by Christopher Noth at the end of season seven.

As a long time fan of Law and Order:CI, it was a particular pleasure for me to be able to talk to these fine dramatic actors. Following are the questions I was able to ask of Vincent D’Onofrio and Katherine Erbe during the interview.

Vincent D'Onofrio on his Robert Goren

My first question is for Vincent: Your character goes into some very dark places, and we’ve seen a lot of changes in him since the beginning in the last season, and I was wondering what kind of toll that takes on you as a person, what effect that has on you, if any, in your real life.

"Well, it takes a lot of time. It used to take a lot more time before we started sharing the episodes with another detective. But – you know, it’s – how do I answer this? The first four years, or maybe the first three years of the show, when we were trying to make the show a show, you know, just make it distinct from the other Law & Orders and just a plain old good show that people would watch, that was – that was hard. It was like a 24-hour job and it was with me all the time.

But that’s a long time ago now, and we all know how to do the show, and we know what the show is. And so it’s not that exhausting anymore. The hours are long sometimes, and when we are working we don’t see our families as much as we want. But that’s part of our job, so we have to do

it. And as far as Goren, bringing Goren home, that just doesn’t happen anymore. I’ve been playing him too long, and it’s – it’s not something that stays with me."

Vincent D'Onofrio responds to question about season 7 ending

Vincent, I have a question about the very end of the last season, after Vincent or Goren realized that his nemesis had been killed and it was for his benefit – do you know what I’m talking about? – and he’s sitting with that professor. And you kind of looked at the end, when he said, “I did it to free you,” basically, and you got that look on your face like, you got it. And I was wondering if we’re going to be seeing now in this season a change in you or a kind of a freeing in your character because of this action.

"It’s nice that you saw it that way, because that’s the way I wanted you to see it, so it’s – yes. I wanted it to kind of be a freeing thing so that I could treat the next season fresh, so it could be a guy trying to keep his stuff together, do his job; and so what’s interesting about this kind of storytelling is that we always have that – like, the audiences that watch our show, if they’re fans of the show, then they know that that’s part of the learning. So even if we don’t mention it or I just show this kind of earnest cop trying to do his thing throughout the season, the season previous to that or other things in the previous years, they’re still present, because people are fans of the show and they know that that’s the guy they’re watching that went through all that stuff. So, yes, that’s what I did, and that’s what I’m doing now."

Advice for Young Actors

What kind of advice would you give to new young actors as to what kind of education they should get and how they should pursue an acting career?

Erbe and D’Onofrio both affirmed that young actors should get and education. Vincent D’Onofrio elaborated:

Get an education. Go into the drama department, whatever, film department, or just like the arts section of a university and – start there, study there. And then after that, go to the city you want to live in, like L.A. or New York and then try to be – then try to get jobs. Do theater and stuff. But when I was younger I would have said just go straight to the city and take an acting class and try to get jobs. But I think these days – I’ve been checking out universities and stuff and I know some teachers and some teachers that teach writing, film writing, and I know some drama teachers and – they’re all really good teachers, so – I’m swaying towards that now.

Law & Order Criminal Intent returns April 19

Tune in to Law and Order Criminal Intent on USA Cable Network s Sunday nights at 9 PM ET, 8 PM Central time.

More About: usa network · law & order criminal intent · vincent d'onofrio · kathyrn erbe

Local Musician lays down guitar to help Soldiers –

Relax this Friday at the free Lumpy Sue Acoustic Musicfest and help Habitat For Humanity

What's hot in Miami during Thanksgiving Week?

TIME + TEMP - Surveying Painting in South Florida

Shecky's Girl's Night Out

Comments

Inside 'New Moon'
Get inside info on all things New Moon.
Robert Pattinson | Taylor Lautner

Recent Articles

Love in a Time of HIV premieres on Showtime

Monday, November 23, 2009

Showtime Premium Cable is airing a powerful documentary, Love in a Time of HIV, on Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 9 PM ET/PT. The documentary, which …

Chef Garces the Next Iron Chef on Food Network

Monday, November 23, 2009

The Next Iron Chef is…Jose Garces! Chef Garces is the chef from Philadelphia who beat out Jehangir Mehta in a head-to-head battle to take home …

All Articles »

Things to see and do

Today

Megadeth

25 Nov 2009 - 8 pm

Revolution Live

More music »

Pagliacci and Suor Angelica
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts

Joe Arroyo
Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater, The

See all Events »

Freedom and U.S. Military

Holiday Programs on TV

Michael Jackson coverage

Emmy Awards

Emmy Nominated Television Shows

MTV VMA Video Music Awards

Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy

Blogs by Christine

My Favorite Examiners

Examiner Articles
by Category

Arts & Entertainment
Bars & Clubs
Business & Finance
Careers & Workplace
Education & Schools
Family & Parenting
Fitness & Weight Loss
Food & Drink
Gadgets & Tech
Games & Hobbies
Health
Home & Living
Neighborhoods

News
Pets
Politics
Recreation
Relationships
Religion & Spirituality
Restaurants
Society & Culture
Sports
Style & Fashion
Transportation
Travel
View the latest »