THE MORTON REPORT: An Interview with Actor Richard Schiff
The former West Wing star and Emmy winner talks about his role in the TNT original movie Innocent, and his years as an "actor's actor."
By Mindy Peterman
November 28, 2011
Richard Schiff’s role as White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler on The West Wing won him an Emmy and a multitude of accolades from critics and viewers alike. However, as an "actor’s actor," Schiff is much more than this iconic role. He has co-starred in over 50 feature films, performed on stage on Broadway and London’s West End, and continues to work in television. He can be seen this January in the new Showtime series, House of Lies, co-starring Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell, where he plays a bad Wall Street consultant. Schiff calls the role "one of the must fun experiences I ever had."
He also stars in TNT’s original movie Innocent, based on the novel by Scott Turow. Although somewhat weary from his flight home from Israel the day before, Schiff was kind enough to chat with me about his projects, past and present...
... Q: You’ll be co-starring in the TNT original movie Innocent. Could you talk about the premise of the film and your role in it?
Richard Schiff: "Innocent is adapted from a Scott Turow novel. Scott Turow wrote Presumed Innocent, as well. The movie starred Harrison Ford and Raul Julia. It was a really wonderful film that my friend John Spencer was in. This is the sequel, 20 years later. Same characters. I play a lawyer named Tommy Molto who had tried Rusty Sabich for murdering a colleague 20 years earlier and now Rusty is the judge, so we have a relationship. Rusty is presumed to be a suspect in his wife’s murder. My character reluctantly has to press charges and bring him to trial. That’s the backstory of it.
Scott Turow is a wonderful novelist. He was on the set and I got to know him quite a bit. Really talented writer. Mike Robe, who directed and adapted the novel, has worked with Scott on numerous other projects and did an incredible job adapting this to the screen, highlighting some of the pungent writing that Scott brings to his books.
I had a great time working with great actors like Bill Pullman and Alfred Molina, Marcia Gay Harden. So I was thrilled to take it and had a fantastic time shooting it up in Vancouver..."
Innocent airs Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 9/8C on TNT.
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