Mark Collier – Just Shoot Me
Soap Opera Weekly: You seem happy to be in California, even though you’re working all day and it’s raining.
Mark Collier: I miss L.A. a lot. I loved living down in Venice.
Weekly: It has a very different pace than New York.
Collier: Everyone walks slow and goes about their own business. It was a tough adjustment moving to Manhattan. I still have a tough time with it.
Weekly: How do you keep yourself entertained in New York?
Collier: I have some friends who live in Jersey, so I go hang out there a lot. They have a nice house with a pool and a bar that we built in the back. We have big parties on the weekend.
Weekly: Usually people come into the city.
Collier: No way. I get out of the city. There’s stuff to do there if you want to go to the museum or Central Park, but I’d rather get away from it all and go to a small town with regular bars. We have a good time. There’s a group of us that are on a soccer team together: Me, Roger Howarth (Paul), Jesse Soffer (Will), Agim Kaba, (ex-Aaron), Michael Park (Jack) and a couple of other guys. We have a game once a week.
Weekly: Roger has said that all he watches on TV is soccer. Is he any good?
Collier: Very good. He and Jesse both are.
Weekly: Are you any good?
Collier: I am. I’m more of the defense specialist, so I basically man the defense state. They score the goals. I make sure they don’t get scored on.
Weekly: Speaking of scoring, do you ever find yourself rooting for one side versus the other in your many soap love triangles?
Collier: Certainly. There was a time when it was Mike, Katie and Simon and I wanted Mike and Katie. I knew that she loved Simon, but I didn’t see why. I felt like Simon was never there for her and Mike was the good guy who was always there for her.
Weekly: You weren’t alone. Some fans are still rooting for Katie and Mike.
Collier: I know. We get mail and it seems to be half and half. There’s something cool about that. Terri (Colombino, Katie) and I were a little upset, because our characters only had one week of happiness.
Weekly: You wanted more?
Collier: There’s a cool chemistry there. It’s fun to watch and it seems believable. That’s what is great about this. You know the two people still want each other, but there are certain things going on. You’re always thinking, “If you could fix this one thing about this person, man, this relationship would be so much better.”
Weekly: What would Mike fix about Katie?
Collier: Her dishonesty. It’s not that she does it to hurt. She just plays these games because she’s trying to get her way. It’s more a juvenile thing than a malicious thing, so you want to say, “Look, I really do love you. You don’t have to play these games. Let’s come out and say it.”
Weekly: What about his current love, Jennifer?
Collier: I like him with Jennifer. There is a different dynamic. With Katie, Mike’s always backpedaling, having to deal with her games. Jennifer doesn’t do that, so Mike has become stronger. He’s more of a protector and he can take care of her, as opposed to playing the games he has to play with Katie.
Weekly: How does working with Jennifer Ferrin (Jennifer) and Terri compare?
Collier: Their characters are written so different, it’s tough to compare. Terri plays this quirky, romantic comedy…sweet, but a little sneaky at the same time. It’s a lot of fun and it’s refreshing. Jennifer is a lot more serious. I feel incredibly fortunate to be working with both of them.
Weekly: What is the energy like at the set?
Collier: It depends. One day everybody’s messing with everybody, giving each other a hard time, and another it’s low-key and mellow. But everybody gets along really well. We have a lot of fun.
Weekly: How do you guys keep busy during the downtime between scenes?
Collier: I have an Xbox in my dressing room and Michael has a Playstation in his, so we basically sit around and play games, watch movies and goof off. It’s like being in a fraternity house for the day.
Weekly: Do the ladies get into any of this?
Collier: Not too much. Terri will come down and watch a movie every now and then.
Weekly: Aside from your soccer crew, does the cast get together outside of work?
Collier: It’s tough, because some of us have kids and the other group on our show is underaged. So, either they’re going to get arrested or I’m going to be changing diapers.
Weekly: Are you the only adult without a kid?
Collier: Yes. I’m in the middle. I’ve gone over to Michael Park’s house and stayed the night, hung out with his kids and had a great time.
Weekly: Does being around everyone’s kids make you antsy to have them?
Collier: I’m antsy to have them until I get around a bunch of kids and then I’m usually like, “Whoa, this is a lot of work!” You’ve got to be mentally prepared for that situation.
Weekly: Are you preparing?
Collier: It’ll happen when it happens.
Weekly: You’ve got to find a girlfriend first.
Collier: Yeah, that might help (laughs).
Weekly: I wouldn’t think it would be that hard!
Collier: Well, it is. A lot of times we’ll meet people from different shows, but that’s damn near impossible, because we’re both working so much with different schedules.
Weekly: They need to bring some single women to your show.
Collier: Yes, although that’s kind of tricky too. You can’t mess with somebody from the show either, because if things don’t go well, it gets weird. It’ll come one day.
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