It was great, and Im a big fan of his.
I remember very, very clearly going to seeAssault On Precinct 13,and seeingHalloweenandThe Thing.
Escape From New York.I saw all these movies, so it was a thrill to work with him.
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Hes very concise, and has a very disciplined way of working on set.
When youre on set, and around the camera, theres no chit-chat.
Any conversation youre having is focused getting the next shot done.
Theres no messing about.
That generally goes for the actors, because the crew are there and working.
So it was quite a brisk shoot then, I take it.
But it was all good-natured.
[Carpenters] a very engaging man, and hes got a great sense of humour.
He kind of teases you.
It was a beautiful place where we shot, near Washington.
A gorgeous part of the country.
And we shot in a real mental institution, as well.
Was your part written for an English actor?
How did makingThe Wardcompare with your experiences onMad Men?
Well, onThe Wardyou could talk about scenes and the script.
You could fill holes in there, and fix things.
Thats normally what happens with a script you get on set and things change.
Now, thats the creator [Matthew Weiner] hes thought of everything.
But you’re free to ask him questions, and things like that.
Often, writers dont like lots of questions.
In some ways, it makes things a lot easier.
For example, you dont question a Chekhov play.
You cant change any of the dialogue, so you just have to make it work.
It was very much a thing of getting up to speed.
I only had that first episode I didnt have that much information.
He wasnt someone who came from that [upper-class] background.
Its a very English thing.
The people around him never let him into the club.
Im not sure if that is true.
Hell become curious about it and start writing for that person.
It feeds back on itself, in away.
He thought that maybe the character was Jewish.
The characters also quite a sharp contrast to Moriarty, in the nextSherlockfilm.
What did you bring to that character?
Is he very different from the one in Conan Doyles stories?
Well, yes and no.
It stays true to the spirit of the books without being a slave to them.
The dialogue has a much more modern feel to it.
But in the books, Moriarty only appears twice.
Hes spoken about a lot, you sense the mans presence.
I mean,Sherlock Holmeshas been done so well in the past.
Im thinking of Eric Porter and Jeremy Brett in theirSherlock Holmesseries.
One of the things I wanted to do was never explain myself.
I think theres a lot more power in that, you know?
Hannibal Lecter never explained himself inSilence Of The Lambs.
He never says why he does what he does.
Is it a concern, though, what you said earlier about British actors being typecast as villains?
Are you careful about the roles you choose because of that?
There are three reasons why someone might take on a role.
There has to be something about the part that fascinates me, that I havent done before.
The third reason is that your landlord doesnt take potential cheques he wants real ones.
You could go two ways with it.
They feel safe that way.
They want to manage their risk.
They want all the actors to play someone theyve seen them play somewhere else before.
Thats what theyre counting on.
They dont want you to show up and do something different.
Theyre terrified of taking risks.
They dont want to take a risk in casting you.
I personally like to change it up.
But its harder to build up that momentum in your work.
In terms of playing the villain, sometimes the villain parts are the best parts.
Some people never loved that.
Which I always saw as being really funny, because, [Chuckles] they sold the company.
No one forced them.
And you go, yeah, because they sold it!
Its like someones bought your house and changed it, you know?
You sold the house.
But thats one of the things that Matt put in there, in the first episode.
In fact, hes a like a soldier.
Theres a chain of command.
Ive heard thatMad Mens been commissioned for three more seasons.
Are you definitely on board for all those?
Im pretty sure Ill be in the next season, but after that, Ive no idea.
Jared Harris, thank you very much.
The Ward is out on DVD and Blu-ray now.
