A write up from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from July 4, 2002 - Tony Shalhoub

[nantucket_wings]

Shalhoub obsessive about role in 'Monk'
Last Updated: July 3, 2002
Television



Joanne Weintraub
E-MAIL | ARCHIVE


Cab driver Antonio Scarpacci of "Wings" had his loony moments. Pop novelist Ian Stark of "Stark Raving Mad" was, if not quite as deranged as the show's title suggests, certainly a colorful guy.

But both characters were models of serene sanity compared to Tony Shalhoub's latest alter ego, Adrian Monk.

"Monk," a weekly series debuting next week on the USA cable channel, stars Green Bay native Shalhoub as a criminal investigator with a gimmick. USA's promotional campaign sums up the character this way: "Obsessive. Compulsive. Detective."

'Monk'


Photo/USA
Tony Shalhoub plays detective Adrian Monk who has Obsessive-Compulsive disorder in the new show "Monk."


When to Watch

What: "Monk"
When: 8 p.m. July 12
Where: USA


His shirt buttoned tight around his throat, his dark eyes wary, this former San Francisco police detective exhausts himself trying to avoid dirt, disarray, heights, bad smells, loud noises and most other human beings.

In the middle of a murder investigation, he begins to obsess about the gas stove he may or may not have left on in his immaculate apartment.

But before advocates for those with psychological problems start firing off angry e-mails, they might want to spend some time with Monk.

True, he's plagued by obsessive thoughts and compulsive behavior, but his shrewd, nervous intelligence leads him to clues that lesser detectives overlook. In the comic-dramatic two-hour premiere, he's revealed to be a 21st-century Sherlock Holmes with a Dr. Kroger (Stanley Kamel) - his shrink, of course - instead of a Dr. Watson.

Dressing the part
Taking a break from shooting in Toronto to chat on the phone, Shalhoub says he began his research for the role by visiting Kroger's real-life counterpart, a Los Angeles psychotherapist who specializes in obsessive-compulsive disorders.

After talking with Shalhoub about the condition, which can take a variety of forms, the therapist gave him videotapes of sessions with patients.

Watching this intimate footage helped Shalhoub develop the insight no textbook could provide and the empathy a good actor needs.

"What was most interesting to me is that (obsessive-compulsives) are very aware and self-conscious of their compulsions and their problems," Shalhoub says. "They sometimes become agoraphobic because they're too embarrassed by their own behavior to go out in public."

Monk, too, is embarrassed that he has to touch every third post when he strolls over a bridge with his nurse and assistant, Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram). But his drive to get out there on a juicy homicide trumps his fearful fantasies.

Shalhoub has been gratified to be asked to help shape his character from the start, much as he was on such films as "Big Night" and "The Man Who Wasn't There."

He says Monk's conservatively patterned, severely buttoned-up shirts, unadorned by ties, were his idea, developed in discussions with the costume designer: "I didn't want the tie because it might flap or go (askew). He's so controlled that I imagined him with everything sort of fitted and close to his body. And I liked the long coat (Monk wears) because it suits his personality, too. It covers him up."

As Shalhoub portrays him, Monk is no creepy nut case but a sympathetic, even admirable character. Told as much, the actor sounds pleased.

"I really dislike stereotypes," he says. "I'm glad Monk isn't written as one, and I'd never want to play him as one."

Avoiding stereotypes
The one stereotype the 48-year-old actor is most insistent on avoiding is the one that clings to his particular ethnic group.

Shalhoub, who's of Lebanese descent, says he'd sooner tear up his Screen Actors Guild card than play an Arab terrorist.

Fortunately, he hasn't had to do either. In addition to his new TV role, he can be seen reprising the role of Jeebs in "Men in Black II," and he's been working on a new boxing movie, "Against the Ropes," with Meg Ryan and his old "Wings" buddy Tim Daly.

With his dark, wiry hair and Roman profile, this nice Lebanese boy from Wisconsin has played a whole antipasto platter of Italians and Italian-Americans, including "Wings' " Antonio, Bob Rossetti in the film "IQ" and even Enrico Fermi in "Day One," an old TV movie.

His boxing promoter in "Against the Ropes" goes by the name Larocca. And the role that won him his most glowing reviews, along with the 1997 National Society of Film Critics Award for best supporting actor, was the masterful Chef Primo of Stanley Tucci's "Big Night," who poured his soul into his seafood risotto.

The one sort of character he seldom plays is a mayo-on-white-bread Smith or Jones.

"When I was on 'Wings,' Tim Daly used to call me 'Ethnos,' " says Shalhoub with a soft chuckle.

He laughs, too, when he recalls one of his first stage roles, as an African-American servant in "You Can't Take It with You" at Green Bay East High School. But it's a different kind of laughter.

"It was actually pretty horrible, although it's funny, too," he recalls. "Green Bay, at the time, had hardly any black people. I was about as dark as you could find, so that's the part I got. That's the way the times were."

Although he lives in California with his wife, actress Brooke Adams, and their two daughters, Shalhoub says he still makes it back to Green Bay regularly: "Yeah, I still have Packers tickets." But his favorite place in Wisconsin is more out-of-the-way: Gills Rock, at the tip of Door County, where his family goes for yearly reunions.

Asked if he himself will admit to any compulsions, Shalhoub hesitates just a beat before replying: "Everyone has them, I think. It's just a questions of degree, really."

For instance?

Another hesitation.

"For instance, I have a thing about loading the dishwasher. Nobody seems to be able to load it the right way but me. It just so happens I know exactly how everything should go - plates, glasses, silverware, everything.

"It's not that somebody else couldn't do it. It's just that they don't know how as well as I do."

Joanne Weintraub will answer questions about new summer and fall TV from 10:30-11 a.m. July 6 on "The Steve Bertrand Show" on WGN-AM (720).




Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on July 4, 2002