TVSquad Talks To Marc Anthony on his "HawthoRNe" Guest Spot

[JamesG]

Marc Anthony Talks "HawthoRNe", Working With Jada Pinkett Smith & Life With JLo
by Maggie Furlong
posted Aug 9th 2010


Marc Anthony is known for his singing career and his high-profile marriage to Jennifer Lopez, but the man can act too.

He shows up on TNT's "HawthoRNe" this week (Tues., Aug. 10, 9PM ET) and again next week as a possible love interest for Jada Pinkett Smith's Christina Hawthorne.

As we reported back in April, Anthony will play Nick Renata, a straight-laced cop who meets Christina while investigating a child abduction.




We caught up with Anthony to hear all about working with Jada, being the set's errand boy and whether or not we'll see him on TV again soon.





What can you tell us about your mysterious cop character?

I play Det. Nick Renata, who I think we agreed was a transplant from New York. God knows how he ended up in Richmond. [Laughs]

But I cross paths with Christina Hawthorne and all kinds of stuff goes down.





Well Christina butts heads with pretty much everyone she meets ... is it safe to assume there'll be some tension when you first meet?

Yeah, but I'll tell you one thing --

I don't take any of her crap, at all, from the first second to the last. I remember filming the episodes and everyone was saying, "But nobody talks to her like that." And I'm like, "Well I'm not just anybody ... I'm Nick Renata." [Laughs]

He really just gave it to her. It's a really, really nice little arc, and something special happens for sure.





And she obviously responds well to the fact that you dish it right back at her, huh?

She needs a strong man in her life! A real man!





But she needs a strong man to stick around a while longer and we only get you for two episodes ...

Yeah, it was actually funny how it happened. I've always wanted to work with Jada, and so this opportunity came around, and it was on short notice.

It was one of those things ... we did everything to make it happen and it went so well that I signed on for another episode. A lot of very interesting things happen, and I'm really looking forward to seeing people's reactions to it.













Have you and Jada known each other for a while?

Many years, yes.





Being friends, were there any scenes -- love scenes perhaps -- that were uncomfortable to shoot?

No, no -- we could actually play off of what we knew of each other. We had some semblance of the small little buttons that we could press in a scene. There was a lot of ad-libbing and us figuring it out, but it was absolute fertile ground.


That's one thing I must say: You step on to a set with an established cast, and you never know how that's gonna go, and I've done that before. But on the set of "HawthoRNe", it was probably one of the most gratifying, fulfilling experiences of my acting career all the way around.

It was just fertile for ideas, everybody was open, it was refreshing, the talent was just stellar ... it was almost addictive. Which is why for the second episode, we did everything in our power to be a part of it. I felt like I'd be missing something if I didn't spend another day on the set.













Does the story leave things open for Nick to possibly return another time?

I don't know! [Laughs] Nick I think has a crush on Christina -- you'll get that.

You'll get that there's all kind of possibilities. You'll see.






Who else do you get to play with on the show?

Besides Jada, I didn't want to see or talk to anybody, so ... I'm just kidding! [Laughs] No, I was serving everybody lunch and getting them cookies and snacks and juice and hanging out. I was on the set most of the time.

I've been touring for years, and to be on set is just refreshing for me. I remember taking roles just to take a break. I'd end up on a film set just to get some rest.




Was it hard to get into the mindset of a cop?

Will [Smith], Miguel [Melendez, a producer] and Jada really were open to letting me figure out who Nick Renata was, and he just jumped into my body.

It was one of those things where it was like, "Oh my god do I know this guy." And I knew exactly how to play Renata.












Are you open to doing more TV now?

Not as a whole. The situation has to be right obviously, but I made it very clear to Jada and her team that, if ever, it would probably be this.


Honestly ... I don't say that lightly. Working with them was just a dream. When it ends up being a thousand times better and more fulfilling and gratifying than you expected ...

I'm looking forward to coming back and seeing what happens.







Jada is so talented, but also so much fun on set.
What's the one thing she'd probably kill you for saying, but that people don't know about her?

[Laughs] I'm going to say that she's like an elevated child. [Laughs] But how sensitive she is, how open she is. Just that light in her eyes when she speaks.

She's just alive that way. You can tell in her eyes ... it's like the window to her soul.





She's got plenty of energy too, much like your wife.

Oh, Jen absolutely adores her, and thinks that she is the best actress out there. As she's said a thousand times, "You're simply working with the best," which made me very happy.

And it's true.






And I hear you and Jada are getting a little payback -- Will and Jen might be working together soon.

Is that Overboard remake ever happening?

They've always wanted to work together ... they've been talking about working together for a while. I'm not at liberty to talk about any of that, but I'm looking forward to all of us working together again.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/08/09/ma...iew-hawthorne/