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Soap Opera Digest: Given that GL was your grandmother’s favorite, do you believe it was fate that you booked the show?
Doug Hutchison: I do believe in fate. I think if you look at the spider web of your life, you’ll find that at certain points during the journey, you were at the right place at the right time. You might not know it at that time, but you hit this little vibration and that goes into the next area of the spider web. Suddenly, you get old enough and you start looking down from above at the whole spider web — the map — and you go, “Oh, wow, that happened because that needed to happen.” When we are down here going through it, sometimes it’s chaotic. It’s painful. It’s a struggle. We rail against it. We go through our losses. It’s a roller coaster ride of joy and sorrow. I think if you step back enough to look at it, you will see that your life is designed in a way to give you the gifts that you need.Digest: What are other life-changing points for you?

Hutchison: There are so many. It’s a vast question. I had an experience that changed my life drastically when I first moved to N.Y.C. back in 1984. I moved here to go to Juilliard. It’s a very long and detailed story. I’ll try to give you the nutshell story, but it’s hard because it’s so magical, in a way. So, if you take pieces out, it sounds kind of bizarre. I was obsessed with an actress by the name of Ruth Gordon. She is one of my favorite actresses. I don’t know why. I just had a thing for Ruth Gordon. When I got to New York and got settled in, I was living at the West Side Y on the Upper West Side; those were our dorms, basically. I was going to Juilliard and I was working on the weekends at a croissant shop at 66th and Columbus. I ended up reading a book by Ruth Gordon called An Open Book. In it, she listed certain things in her chapters that suggested where she might be living in New York City. [He describes the landmarks she can see from her apartment building, about which she writes in her book.] I am this naive Midwestern kid, in New York for my first time, and I end up stringing all these clues together and I decide I am going to go out and find Ruth Gordon. I do. I set out. I am looking. I go to a market that she mentioned and asked people about her. On my journey, it started to rain and I headed back home. I am standing on Broadway and 58th Street waiting for the walk sign. I look up into the rain and there’s the MONY sign flashing its time and temp. I realize that I am on a patch of Broadway; right around the corner is Central Park South. I look behind me and down the street is a fire station and across the street is ABC Studios. I’m like, “Holy moly. [These are the spots] that she described in her book.” I remember I looked up and I thought, “She is up there. She could right now be looking down at me looking up at her.” I rushed home and I wrote her a letter. I just spewed out how much I loved her. I said, ‘”I’m an actor. I just got accepted at Juilliard. I am loving New York.” The next day, I went back to Central Park South between 6th and 7th, and I decided she must live on this block, somewhere in one of these high-rises. So, I take my letter and I go up to the high-rise to the security guard and say, “Does Ruth Gordon live here?” He says, “Uh, no.” I go up to the second high-rise. “Does Ruth Gordon live here?” “No.” I walk up to the third high-rise and I am thinking, “Even if she did live here, are these guys going to tell me? I could be a stalker or a psycho or something.” Then I remembered a quote in her book — she had all these great quotes — very inspiration stuff for a young actor. One of her quotes was: “To be an actor: have an idea and make it work. Push it forward. Believe.” So I take the letter up to the third high-rise and say, “Does Ruth Gordon live here?” The security guard never hesitated and said, “Yes, she does.” I said, “Oh, can you tell me what apartment she is in?” He says, “19-D.” He probably got fired months later. I said, “Oh, can you give her this letter for me?” And he said, “Certainly, son.” I gave him the letter and I walked away. I was ecstatic. I ran home and I wrote her another letter and I mailed it. Every week after that, I sent her a letter. I must have sent her 50 letters during the course of the summer before school began. When school started up in September, it consumed me, but I never gave up. Every Sunday after I got off my shift at the croissant shop, I would run over to Central Park South and sit on a bench in the park and read and watch people walk by hoping to catch a glimpse of Ruth Gordon. All these little weird things started happening. In school, they gave us tickets to certain Broadway shows … I got sick and I couldn’t go the weekend of the show, so I gave my ticket to my friend. Monday morning in movement class, my friend is standing next to me and says, “I went to Kipling on Saturday night. Guess who was sitting in front of me? Ruth Gordon.” Everyone in my class knew of my obsession at that point, and I swear, by the time October rolled around, they were sick of hearing about it from me and praying that I would meet the woman and stop obsessing about it. People were spotting her all over time. I was going crazy.
[In the Digest print interview, Hutchison explains how he did meet Ruth Gordon. That meeting led to her husband, Garson Kanin, paving the way for Hutchison to land his first professional acting job.]Digest: It’s an example of the impact that following your intuition can have.
Hutchison: I’ve had my voice lead me to some very painful experiences, too. At the time, I didn’t understand why. It would confuse me and I’d say, “Well, I was following my intuition, what’s up?” It’s always in retrospect — every single time in retrospect — get it. I understand why I had to go through it. I understand why I was led to it and I understand what I needed to get from it in order to move into the next chapter, step through the next door. It’s an exciting way to look at life when you consider everything that happens to you is ultimately a gift…. It’s a great struggle. It’s the human condition, that’s what it is. I don’t know if you are spiritually inclined, but all of our spiritual leaders all had the same kind of struggle we all have. We are half-human, half-angel. Our angelic side gets the higher picture. When we are jacked into the angelic side, we’re still. We breathe. We will empower. We touch others and then we step into the human side, the ego, the soap opera, if you will, of our lives. As long as you can maintain the balance, it can be just as fun because we can then wrestle around with the drama and experience what it is like to be a human being, which is just a glorious, glorious gift. So, I think that people who have the answer, if there is an answer, probably have feet planted in both worlds, planted pretty soundly. If you lean too much in either direction, you’re not completely balanced.
Part of what is really wonderful about being an actor — whether we do a movie or become attached to something like GUIDING LIGHT, that’s the oldest running broadcast show in the history of the world, we are part of something that is infinite. I realized after making The Green Mile and after it was seen around the globe and we started getting letters and people started responding to it, saying how much it touched them, actually affected people’s lives in very specific ways, I thought, “Wow, I’m part of that. I helped make this happen. I was part of the magic.” When I die, hopefully if the world doesn’t explode, my children’s children’s children will be able to watch The Green Mile or GUIDING LIGHT, which will probably still be coming on in its next transformation. And so it’s this infinite kind of thing. It’s vampiric in a way, you live forever on celluloid or on video. So that’s very exciting that we can be a part of that. So I hope that having been and continuing to be a part of that perhaps can be my little Ruth Gordon going out and touching people.Digest: Did you have any trepidation about playing Roger’s son?
Hutchison: Yeah, I had some pretty big shoes to fill. I remember in part of my research, I was given some retrospect episodes. One was actually a show that Michael [Zaslow, Roger] and Maureen [Garrett, Holly] hosted. I loved the opportunity to be able to see it and be jacked into the past history. Did I have trepidation? No. I knew that as wonderful as Michael was in his role, I could have aspects of him, but I could never be him; I can only be me. So, I knew that I would bring my own stuff to the table. As far as the fans were concerned, it crossed my mind whether I could fill the shoes, whether they would accept it, especially the ones who have been watching the show for years. By the same token, I felt like I could do it. I felt like I was the man for the job and that with carrying Michael and Roger’s legacy back into the show, I could do it honorably. Actors are thieves; we steal a little bit here and there, and I think I am bringing — I am hoping that I am — bringing a little bit of Michael to Sebastian since he is his son, but I also think I am bringing an originality to it as well. In fact, that’s when the story started getting more interesting to me. Recently, the first couple of weeks of work were all about Roger and all of the dialogue, I was almost speaking it in second person because it was always, “Roger said that.” I felt like that and the fact that I was like a deer caught in headlights doing a soap for the first time, if you watch those first 10, 12 episodes, I am fairly flatline. I kind of receded or something. As the story unfolds, I am loosening up. I am getting more passionate.Digest: How did you get your first film role, Fresh Horses?
Hutchison: I was doing an off-off Broadway play called Fun by Howard Quarter that William H. Macy was directing. We were in the process of rehearsing. I was making $12 a week. I kid you not. My agents called me and said, “We’re going to send you on an audition. Now it’s a union film, it’s a major motion picture — I wasn’t SAG at the time — but we’re going to talk to the casting director and we’re going to slip you in. So don’t mention [it] when you go in there.” It was a movie called Fresh Horses, starring Molly Ringwald. I was going in for a pretty sizable, meaty supporting role in this film. David Anspaugh was directing. So I went in and I audition and they put me on tape. I didn’t realize it, but Molly Ringwald had casting approval at that time. They sent those tapes to Hollywood and she liked me enough to pass me along to David Anspaugh for another audition. So I auditioned again, and I got a call from my agents. ‘They are going to hire you, they are going to [slip] you into the union. You are leaving for Cincinnati in a week. I had never been on a film set before in my life. I went to William H. Macy — understand that at this time, William H. Macy was not the movie star he is now. He was still somewhat struggling in New York. I went in and I laid it out to him and said, “I got this offer.” He said, “Don’t do it. Don’t sell out.” I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “You’re an actor. You committed yourself to this play and that’s just selling out. I don’t respect it.” I said, “William, they are offering me a bazillion dollars more than $12 a week. It’s a movie.” He gave me the hardest time and put me on such a guilt trip. I felt so bad having to leave this play, but I did. And now it’s so funny. I am dying to meet him at some point and go. “You remember? Did you sell out?” [Laughs] It was cool. They flew me there a week before my first scene. They knew I was green, so I was able to stand around and absorb. I had a blast. The movie, I don’t know if you’ve seen it, it’s a terrible movie. In fact, one of the critics in L.A., the headline was “Fresh Horse S—.” But I had a blast. Right after that, I got cast in my second movie, The Chocolate War. It is so funny. You start off and go, “Okay, I have arrived. I made my first movie. It led to my second movie.” Right after Chocolate War, I was cast in a play at Yale Rep. So, I was thinking, “It’s just a matter of time until my next movie.” I moved to Los Angeles. Desert period. And that’s how it goes. It’s like a yo-yo, a push-pull thing. There are like bits and pieces of success and then you are back to being humbled by needing to pay the rent and working the [day] jobs. It is a very non-linear journey, this acting. That’s why it’s not for everybody. Out there, it kind of appears that way sometimes. “Who’s that new guy in The Green Mile?” No concept how swirling the whole thing is.Digest: When I look at your resumé, it seems you’ve played a plethora of creepy characters. Why do you think you’ve landed those kinds of roles?
Hutchison: Honest to God, it’s a mystery to me. I don’t know why I’ve played so many villains. It just happened. I have played a plethora of different characters. I’ve played heroes, sympathetic characters, I’ve played the protagonist. Just for some reason, the luck of the draw, the serendipity, the design, the stuff that most people have seen has been the villains. I don’t know why I play them so well. I have some therapists who have theories [laughs], but for some reason, I can just pull them out. I’m a Gemini, so I have a lot of material in here. I have found playing the darker characters is actually a lot more challenging, in a way. What I like to do — and what I hope I am successful at in playing these darker characters — is give them humanity. If you can have your audience feeling for you at the same time that you are this serial killer, that’s what I love. I like to reveal the vulnerability of these scary characters; otherwise, you are just playing a monster. So that’s always my mission when I am given the task to play the darker character. When I talked with Ellen [Wheeler, GL executive producer] at earlier stages, I told her that if we are going to do this potentially long-term, longer term than a two-month movie or an eight-day episodic, I really wanted to create a villain who is vulnerable, mysterious, seductive, giving as well as taking, hurting as well as wanting to hurt. So, I’ve been given the ability to create hopefully, a character that yeah he may be the guy we love to hate, but we are going to get a nice, well-rounded person, someone we can embrace and is not just repulsive.Digest: How did you prepare for Percy (in The Green Mile)? How does that compare to Sebastian?
Hutchison: I think it was almost a month since I was cast as Percy to our first shoot day. So, I was able to get together with a dialect coach. I did a lot of research. I started my journal. I started wearing my uniform as soon as they had it so I could get used to it. I took trips down South, down to Louisiana and Tennessee to get a feel for the rhythms. It took place in the 1940s, so I read a lot of material from that era. All the research, you can get ready. Not on GUIDING LIGHT. Not on a soap. There was no time. The day before I shot, I decided on a look as far as my hair and my goatee, which by the way, the goatee is getting a thumbs down from all my friends, family and colleagues, so I think I might have to phase it out pretty soon. Everyone is giving me a really hard time about it and I don’t know why. I thought it was a very Sebastiany kind of look, but they don’t like it. So the goatee may have to go. So I had no time to prepare for Sebastian. I had no idea how I was going to walk, talk, move, look, really. I am discovering him as the cameras are rolling. I also don’t know where he is going and where the story is going to end up at all. Because of that, my first 12 episodics or so are really interesting to watch because I can see myself trying to discover it. The way I discover it was that I receded. I was not only [trying] to figure out the medium and discover my character through other characters who were responding to me, but because I didn’t have a solid character to take to the table, I receded, I went inside, I went kind of flat because I was trying to figure it out. I am just starting to fuse Doug with Sebastian. I am allowing Doug to come out of Sebastian and vice versa. It has its pros and cons. It’s just different.Digest: How have the types of characters you’ve played affected the way you have bonded with your colleagues on the set?
Hutchison: I found that if the role is severely demanding, I can’t fraternize too much. I can’t hang around on the set and talk and stuff, although in Green Mile, I have to say, that started happening organically, because like I said, Tom Hanks set the pace. It was just a general frivolity on the set. As some times morose or heavy as the story could be, we respected it. When it was the darker aspects, we weren’t running around making jokes. But for the most part, we knew we were just there to play and to support one another and commit ourselves to the story. That was an interesting one for me because when I did A Time To Kill, I played such a departure for me in that role as far as look, language, sound, that I had to stay in character the entire time. I had the luxury of staying in character the entire time because we shot the whole thing in Mississippi. I showed up in Mississippi; I was staying in my crappy hotel room and I didn’t have to shower. I didn’t have to shave. I could drink if I wanted to or smoke. I could become that character in that environment and I could go out into the environment and continue being the character. Because I wasn’t well-known then — I hadn’t done the Green Mile — people hadn’t recognized me, I could get away with it. I would go to cafes, I’d go to McDonald’s, go wherever as Pete Willard — a disgusting, horrible creature. When The Green Mile came, I was used to doing that — staying in character. I even did it with Tooms [on THE X-FILES] in a way. I was by myself a lot and I didn’t hang out. I did a little bit, but not much. So, I was used to that way, which would sort of, unfortunately, block me off from the rest of the people on board. In Green Mile, I thought that was going to happen again for a lot of reasons. First of all, the task was daunting to me. Once I got the role, I was so ecstatic, calling my family and friends. Then, reality sunk in. “I don’t know if I can do this. I have to go toe-to-toe with Tom Hanks, with David Morse. I got insomnia for like, two weeks. I couldn’t sleep and got walking pneumonia. I was so stressed out about it. I really walked into it, thinking, “Man I’m going to concentrate. I’m going to have to just be Percy.” Well, I was for maybe a week. I did keep the accent. I had to because it was a very difficult accent for me. Not only was it a Louisiana accent, it was a North Louisiana accent. Not only was it a North Louisiana regional accent, it was the 1940s. Until I hooked up with the dialect coach, I had no idea it was a different sound than it is now. So, it was not only difficult for me, but for a lot of people in the cast. For me, I knew I had to keep the accent going on and off the set, and so I did. There were aspects of Percy I kept, but I couldn’t be Percy 24/7 because we were shooting in Hollywood and I couldn’t walk down Hollywood Boulevard in my uniform and my stick. People would just laugh. That was an interesting fusion for me. I kept to myself, kept aspects, but I also, for the first time, gave myself over to the joy of the experience of working with these great people and such a fun cast. In i am sam I stayed in character while I was on the set as Ifty. I would go on tangents. It was so cute, because we had the five of us, Sean [Penn] and me and the other guys; two out of five were actually mentally disabled. The other three of us were playing mentally disabled. So, I would come on as Ifty on the set and I would be like, “Hey, guys, what’s going on? We’re going to shoot the scene now and the scenery is green. Green is my favorite color. Kermit the frog is my favorite green creature. I really like The Muppet Movie….” And I would be going on and on and Brad [Silverman, Brad], who had Down Syndrome would say, “Shh, Ifty.” He would go to the director saying, “Ifty is being loud.” So, we just had a lot of fun fusing both worlds in that movie. Of course, on GUIDING LIGHT there is not much of a fusion. It is what it is. I am having fun with the cast and off-screen. I don’t need to be Sebastian 24/7.

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