PopEntertainment.com: Matt Czuchry interview about 'Gilmore Girls.'

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Matt Czuchry

Gilmore guy

by Jay S. Jacobs

It isn�t easy to just jump into arguably the smartest long-running series on television � one known for its brilliant writing and strong ensemble cast � and make an immediate impression. However, Matt Czuchry made it look simple.

Czuchry joined the cast of Gilmore Girls in the popular show�s fifth season. At that point the story was in flux. Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) had moved away from home to go to Yale. This led to growing pains for her and her mother Lorelai (Lauren Graham), as both struggled to cope with changes in their relationship and their places in each other's lives. Despite going off to college, Rory was still holding onto her past and having relationships with hometown guys when she met Czuchry�s character, Logan Huntzberger � a privileged, somewhat spoiled, brilliant-but-unmotivated, thrill-seeking publishing heir. It was a case of dislike at first sight, however there was an undeniable attraction between the two. As Rory and Logan have gotten to know each other, grown closer and tried to get past their differences and their problems, Matt Czuchry has become the latest breakout star from the series.

As the sixth season of Gilmore Girls was winding down, Czuchry braved a cold to sit down with us and tell us about his career and the show.

How did you first get involved in acting?

My junior year in college I took some Meisner courses outside of school. I played tennis in college, so I didn�t major in theater just because of the time constraint. I took some classes outside of college and really fell in love with those classes. Then when it became to make the decision of what to do, I didn�t want to go to law school, so I decided that I would try to pursue acting in some form. You know, when I first graduated college it wasn�t like, okay, I�m moving out to LA.

Did you ever consider going pro at tennis?

You know, it was a very, very quick and brief thought. But I just wasn�t good enough to play at that level.

A friend of mine is a big fan of Dark Shadows, and he tells me that you were going to be in a new version of the series a few years ago. How did you get that role and what happened to the show?

I did the pilot of Dark Shadows. It�s been a couple of years now. I played a character called Willie Loomis, who was � kind of what happens is he gets bitten by the vampire Barnabas and he becomes kind of his right-hand henchman. I�m a big fan of horror movies and comic books and that genre. It was a lot of fun to do. The two projects that got picked up that year were � that was the year Jack & Bobby got picked up and The Mountain. I think that during that period of time, it was kind of when The OC was really popping and I think that the decisions were made to go towards a younger audience with those two shows. Whereas Dark Shadows, it was kind of a disturbing piece, actually. It skewed a little bit older than the main demographic for the WB, and I think that�s why they went a different way.

Speaking of going for a younger demographic, the first time I remember seeing you was in Hack...

Oh, nice, man�

Which you were brought into on the second season to bring in some young blood. I�m from Philadelphia, so I was a big fan (the show was filmed in Philly.) At the time it was on I interviewed George Dzundza, who you kind of ended up replacing. What was it like being on that show?

I�ve lived in LA for six and a half years. Each of the stepping stones [leads] to the next. Hack is a huge reason why I�m on Gilmore Girls now. I say that because just watching David Morse and Andre Braugher work, it was just�

They�re both amazing actors�

I was able to be around them and soak that up like a sponge. It was incredible. Both of them are so good and so successful and they�re both completely different in the way that � David kind of works a lot from the inside out and Andre works from the outside out. (laughs) Both of their styles work so well for them. I was able to just learn as an actor around them. Also, what I loved about them was they came to work every single day, prepared. They have families and they would go home to their families. They were great actors and great people. Especially David, because most of my scenes were with David � he really became a mentor to me. So my time there was wonderful.

Gilmore Girls was already a well established series when you auditioned for it. How familiar were you with the show and how exciting was it to get an opportunity to be a part of it?

I was very familiar with the show. When I came on, it had already been on for four seasons. I came in the fifth season. I was very familiar with the show because it�s such a unique show. So those first couple of days of work were very surreal, being a part of it. It was a project that I had been familiar with as a fan and also had auditioned for several times before getting the character of Logan.

Logan was originally only supposed to a limited amount of episodes. When did you get the feeling that he may last longer?

Well, at the point where I came in, it had already been established that it was going to kind of be a year long thing. A thirteen episode kind of thing. So I knew coming into it that it was for that long. Of course, for it being extended further than that, I had no idea. But I did know that he was going to play an important part in that fifth season of the storyline.

The series is famous for its smart dialogue and fast quips. Do you ever get a script and have to look up some of the topical references?

(laughs) Yes. Absolutely. I have a dictionary close by when I�m preparing the scene. I definitely have a dictionary close by to look up certain words, or references of certain people.

In a lot of ways, Rory is such a romantic and Logan is rather cynical. Why do you think they work as a couple?

I think that those differences bring them together. We�ve seen this season how they�ve learned from each other with that. Logan sees that romantic nature in Rory and wants a little piece of that. I think Logan opens Rory up to a new side of the universe that she hasn�t seen. So those differences bring them together.

I know you mostly work with Alexis (Bledel, who plays Rory); what�s she like to work with?

I was thinking last night, it�s unbelievable how Alexis has been able to shoulder a TV show with so much of the pressure for six years. She got the job when she was seventeen or eighteen. Alexis and Lauren � it�s their show. They have to shoulder so much of the responsibility and pressures and demands of being on a TV show. Just the amount of time and work and effort that goes into it. She�s very, very inspirational to me that she can shoulder this burden. She�s been doing it for six years and she�s twenty-three now. That�s what�s most impressive to me. It�s kind of a joy to watch just how she�s able to go from scene to scene and day to day and be able to shoulder the burden of the show.

Now, I�ve only seen you in Hack and Gilmore Girls, and the characters of Jamie and Logan are very different in most ways, but one thing they had in common is that they had some run-ins with the law. Obviously Logan is rich enough that he isn�t doing it for profit. Do you think it was just boredom on his part that he gets into trouble so often?

I think that it comes from a place of � that he has all the means necessary to do whatever he wants. You mentioned that, with the money. It�s just a kind of a feeling of � he feels like he�s untouchable, in a way. Anytime he�s ever gotten in trouble, he�s been able to get out of it. So he doesn�t have a frame of reference where he gets into trouble and it really, really puts people in danger for any extended period of time. He has these means to him, so he does whatever he wants because he can. The difference � with Jamie is very, very much completely different with Hack. A lot of those were because he was a troubled kid, he�d get into trouble and I don�t think that � Logan�s not a troubled kid. He has all these means and he takes advantage of it.

In all of the episodes revolving around the newspaper, Logan is usually not willing to work hard but when he does do work it is pretty much acknowledged that he is a very talented journalist. Then in the recent episode where they had to get the paper out in a few hours, he pitched in totally and it showed he knew a lot about the business side of publishing too. Do you think he is avoiding working too much on it to piss off his father? Do you see him getting into the newspaper business eventually?

You know, that episode was very telling as to the capabilities that Logan has. It�s not that he can�t do it; it�s just that he doesn�t want to. You saw with that episode that if he wants to do it, he�d be very, very successful at it, because he�s been around it his whole entire life. I think that a lot of times it has to do with because he�s grown up with it and his father says you have to do this, it is a certain thing that he is just rebelling against his father. That�s one piece of it. The other piece, I also believe, is that at least at this point in his life, Logan wants to do other things. It goes back to the other question you asked me. He wants to experience life in a different way at age twenty-two. He doesn�t want to be that responsible kid that he thinks would happen as an adult. So it�s two-fold. One, he is rebelling against his father, and two, he doesn�t want to live as an adult right now. He wants to be a kid and take all the advantages as a kid. Where he�ll go down the line, hopefully there are going to be some storylines come into play. We�ll see as the season progresses. I think it would be very interesting to see who he would be as an adult in the business world. It certainly makes sense for him, if he is going to be an adult in the business world, to be a part of the paper in some fashion. I�m hopeful, actually, that Logan at some point � when he decides, okay, I have to become adult � that is the path that he takes.

I know that you�re ahead of me as far as what you know on the storyline, but in the last aired episode Logan�s father comes down on him hard and tells him he�s going to have to spend a year in London. Now I�m assuming since we�re talking now that Logan won�t be gone for that long, but did that whole turn of events surprise you?

I know that things have been building kind of to the end of the show and the last couple of episodes that have been on the air are kind of pushing the storylines towards where they want to finish the season. So, I think that piece specifically was just to show that it�s not going to be smooth sailing for Logan and Rory. They have issues to face � in their relationship and externally as well. Those things haven�t gone away. Those differences that they have are still issues, you know? So I think that�s what that piece was about. So I think it was kind of just setting up those ending storylines. It didn�t surprise me, because I felt it was about that.

Logan and his family have had so many problems over the two seasons that you�ve been on. Do you see there being a big blowout somewhere down the line? As a trust fund baby who is so used to a certain lifestyle, do you think that Logan could ever just completely cut himself off from them? Or do you think he�d sort of toe the line to stay with the family and the money?

He certainly has walked that line over the course of the last two seasons. We�ve seen him walk that line where he�s able to � Logan is very good at understanding people�s limits. Pushing them to their limits, but not over them. That�s a characteristic that he has that�s very important with his family and his relationships. So he�s able to push that family to the limit of frustration, but not cutting him off. If at any point if somebody went to their limit and he went too far, I think he�d bring them back a little bit. (laughs) So that�s kind of how I�d answer that�

Speaking of turn of events, on this season�s episodes there has been a certain amount of controversy amongst the fans because for the first time in the series, the relationship between Lorelai and Rory has been rather strained. Do you think it�s just a reflection of the natural tendency for college-aged girls to fight with their mothers?

I think it was strained in the beginning of this season because their relationship was going to go to a new place. At any time, to have growth, it kind of becomes strained first. That�s what we saw in the beginning of the season. Rory was finding her own way � in a different light that was influenced a lot by Logan�s character and what we�ve talked about so far. Their relationship was strained, because it was going to go through a period of growth throughout this season. I think that they�re starting to talk together about different things. They�re both � their relationship is now different. I think that it�s going to be at a higher level. The conversations that they have, the honesty that they have and the relationship that they have is going to be even stronger that it was in years past. In order to get to that new place, they had to go through that strain.

When I was in college, big party weekends usually didn�t revolve around staying in heated tents, drinking fine wines, wearing ape masks and jumping off towers with umbrellas. Do you think that sense of fancifulness is one of the charms of the series?

(laughs) That was, you know � last season the Life and Death Brigade � certainly an element of storylines that the new character Logan brought to the show, which I thought was wonderful. It was a side which you could see instantly who this guy was. He has huge amounts of money. He takes risks. He�s going to spare no expense to have fun. Those are three huge pieces that we�ve seen carried through last year and into this year. Those storylines are going to come up again towards the end of this season, as far as the taking risks aspect was concerned. So it was a perfect way to show in kind of a fantasy world and a heightened reality. I mean, (laughs) certainly I never went to any of those kinds of parties. That�s what Logan�s life is. It is heightened. It is almost a fantasy world that he lives in. It was a perfect way to show a lot of his characteristics, but not force it on the audience. That was a very fun episode for me.

I read an interview with (series creator) Amy Sherman-Palladino recently in which she said that with the recent merge of the WB & UPN to become the CW things were a little up in the air for the show and it hasn�t been renewed yet. That was kind of surprising to me, because in all the articles I read about the merger at the time Gilmore Girls was one of only a handful of series on both networks that were considered a given to return. Have you heard any more news about how the merger is going to affect the show?

We have not been officially renewed. I think most of those things happen in May timeframe as far as it being officially renewed. With the talk of the merger, a lot of people are just looking at the top-rated shows for the WB and UPN. And Gilmore Girls this season has been either one or two this year in the WB. So I think that when they were looking at � as far as whether it would be television or news � where they�re talking about this merger, they looked at what the top-rated shows are on both of those networks and figured that those would be the ones that would be the flagship shows to start off the new network. Although it�s not official, it certainly would make sense that they would keep one of their highest rated shows. But it�s definitely not official and I think anytime you�re looking at something different it is up in the air. Until, basically, they give us the official word that we all have jobs, then (laughs) it�s not official, you know? That�s the way it is. But if you could try and make an educated guess on things � and that�s what people have been doing � if you made an educated guess it certainly would seem that Gilmore Girls would be back. But at this point it is still just a guess.

Do you have any ideas for the show that you�d love to see them do � either about Logan�s character or more in general?

I would like to see if they could develop the business side of Logan�s character more. Like those instances at the paper, but at an even higher level as far as in the business world as an adult. He�s close to graduating, so if he is going to graduate, it would be interesting to see who Logan would be as an adult in the business world. That would certainly be something that I�d like to see.

Ideally, how would you like for people to see your career?

When I first came to LA and I sat down with my dad, we were talking about a game plan. It was the slow road to the things that I wanted to do. Very purposeful. I think that we�ve seen that in the six and a half years it�s been kind of incremental for me. That�s very important to me; to build that skill set incrementally and to develop as an actor as I move forward. And then taking that into the future, it�s just making choices that are challenging for me as an actor. Trying to vanish into these different characters. That�s the goal. One of my favorite actors is Philip Seymour Hoffman. I�ve followed his career ever since way, way back, and he�s been able to do that � whether it�s been Boogie Nights, Magnolia or The Talented Mr. Ripley. That run, and of course now you see it with Capote. It�s about the work that he does. In order to answer your question very quickly that�s what it is. I want it to be about the work that I�ve done and not about anything external.

Are there any misconceptions you�d like to clear up?

I don�t think so. (laughs) If there are then I don�t know about them � which is completely possible. There could be plenty of misconceptions out there about me, but I�m a pretty private person so I wouldn�t know about it if there was. (laughs again.) At least at this point.

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