Timothy Hutton Interview for 'Leverage'

Timothy Hutton Q&A

Timothy Hutton -- known for roles in 'Taps,' 'Beautiful Girls' and 'Ordinary People' to name a few (he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the latter) -- joins the roster of A-list actors trying their hand on cable TV (see Glenn Close on 'Damages,' Holly Hunter on 'Saving Grace,' Jonathan Rhys-Meyers on 'The Tudors' ... for starters).


Hutton headlines TNT's new modern-day Robin Hood caper series, 'Leverage' (premieres Sunday, Dec. 7 at 10PM), and spoke exclusively to AOL TV about why big-name actors are flocking to TV, how his 'Leverage' character's getting in on the action and why in his dream scene, he's wearing ... earbuds. -- By Maggie Furlong

TNT

1. After your short-lived series 'Kidnapped,' what made you decide to come back to TV for this role?

Well, it just was a matter of reading it. On page three I put the script down and called up my agent and said, "This is looking really good -- why don't we schedule a meeting." A great starting point for a character is to have a guy sitting in a bar with nothing left to lose and nothing to live for, as far as he's concerned. The idea of getting together with these different hackers and thieves that he's arrested before, investigated before and one of them even shot at him ... it's a great setup.

TNT

2. Your character, Nate, is sort of the leader, the organizer -- will he ever get in on the action a little more?

Yeah, that happens as the show goes on -- all the characters start to kind of mix it up. One of them is orchestrating everything back from the office or the back of a van while I'm up on a roof trying to crawl through some air ducts. [Laughs] So it definitely changes up as the season goes on.


TNT

3. Why do you think more and more big names -- even Oscar winners like you -- are coming to TV?

I think it comes down to one very simple reason: The quality of the material is so good. There are a lot of good places on the TV dial that have great shows, and TNT is certainly one of them. They really do have a reputation for taking great care of their projects and really seeing them through from beginning to end -- having confidence in them and faith in them and in the filmmakers. And they really know what they're doing as far as bringing an audience to their shows.

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4. So would you be okay if the show caught on so much that this was your job and your life for the next six seasons?

[Laughs] Well, yeah! I mean, fortunately that's something that you don't even have to think about at this point. We're just kind of waiting to see how the show comes out -- we know that people are going to enjoy it, and we'll see if we're going to be doing a second season or not. When you go into something like this you certainly have to consider that. For my part, this is a role and a story that has endless possibilities, and I think it would be fun to do for a while.

TNT

5. Do you have any storylines in mind that you didn't get to in this first season?

It's not necessarily a storyline, but it's a scene that I thought of -- it would be great if Sophie [played by Gina Bellman] was having dinner with a man we're trying to set up and Nate is having dinner with a woman that we're trying to set up, both basically bad guys. She has an earbud in her ear, and I've got an earbud in mine; we're both mic'd and we can hear each other, and we start to mess with each other. I start to make Sophie feel like I'm really attracted to the woman, kind of taking it further than I should, maybe being a little unprofessional. And that causes Sophie to do the same thing, and we play this game on each other and forget about the con and the others have to come in and save the day.

TNT

6. The chemistry between you and Gina is phenomenal ...

Yeah, well, we're really lucky to have her. She's great. She came in at the last minute and it almost didn't work out because getting a visa became a big issue.

TNT

7. What was winning an Oscar for 'Ordinary People' like for you?

It was completely unexpected, and to have it happen when I was young ... that was a singular experience, that film, and whatever happened around it.

Everett Collection

8. So you didn't sign on to 'Last Holiday' thinking you might get nominated for it?

Oh, sure I did! [Laughs] No, no ... I've never, ever thought about that kind of stuff. If it happens it happens. There are so many variables. You never know what's going to happen with a film, so I can't understand that line of thinking. Like "I'm going to do this because it's an awards film." It just doesn't work that way.

Paramount

9. Do you have a dream role?

Not really ... not specifically. I guess I kind of don't allow myself to think about the kind of specific role that I'd be dying to play, so that if I read a script and I have an opportunity to go do a movie, that's the thing that catches me. So I always have that sort of -- that role that you're talking about -- it's always evolving, but that's the thing that grabs me, depending on where I'm at in my life.

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