Showing posts with label Major Crimes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Major Crimes. Show all posts

Thursday, 3 July 2014

Interview: Graham Patrick Martin - Advocate.com

[Source]

How Major Crimes' Actor and Gay Showrunner Created One of Best Gay Characters on TV

The TNT series' Monday July 7 episode proves it can be done. Actor Graham Patrick Martin talks with us about Rusty, playing a homeless queer youth, gay TV cliches, and why being called a "faggot" hurts.

BY Diane Anderson-Minshall  July 03 2014 4:00 AM ET 

Graham Patrick Martin's Rusty was one of the most important characters bridging The Closer's finale to the Major Crimes premiere. Since then he's created one of the most complex, fleshed-out, confusing, maddening, hopeful, and loving gay characters we've ever seen on cable TV. Next Monday's episode lets Martin showcase his acting chops as Rusty comes to terms with his mother, his past, his new family, and himself.

The Advocate: You’ve had a great storyline, going back to last year, on Major Crimes. Did you have any concerns about taking the role?

Graham Patrick Martin: I think my concerns are the same as every actor. Can I find this character and make it come to life properly? And, at first, it was just a one-off guest-starring role on the Closer finale. I almost didn't even audition! I was asleep when I got a the call saying I had a same-day audition in three hours, and I thought, If I read this part and it's not good, I'm not going. And I remember being irritated because I liked it. And I decided I really wanted to play it. So I got up and really worked on it and then, while we were shooting it, I began to like the character so much I didn't want to leave him behind. So I was very happy when James Duff and Mike Robin asked me to stay around for Major Crimes.

Crime dramas aren’t usually known for portraying fully fleshed-out gay characters, but Major Crimes seems to be doing just that. What do you attribute as the reason the show has gotten it right with this character?

I think part of the reason my role is more authentic than a lot of other gay parts you see on television is that I'm not there just for laughs. Also, the trauma of having been on the streets as a hustler because I was abandoned by my mother gives me something of a unique journey in the basic cable-network television universe.

I know this is a story that was really important to executive producer James Duff. What has he told you about the role, the story arc?

Of course, you'd have to ask James this question, but I know he's told me the part's based a little on him and that he wasn't very popular in his late teens. He didn't have a lot of friends his own age. And he ran away from home when he was 17 and finished high school on his own. I haven't discussed this aspect of the role with him very much because I'm playing it how I see it and how I feel it. He can say it's him, but it's me.

You came on the scene as a homeless teen turning tricks to survive. Were you able to talk to other homeless LGBT teens before or during the role?

I did not talk to any homeless LGBT teens in preparation for this role. I didn't think it would feel good to talk to a homeless teen for the benefit of my performance, then turn around and collect my series regular paycheck. Just didn't seem right to me. I also played a character with a similar background in a film called Somewhere Slow. For both roles I instead decided to read as many blogs and testimonials as I could by people who had experienced this world and gotten out of it. Look, it's pretty dark, really, when you sit down and think about it, Rusty's life. I try to keep that darkness nearby without playing it. Because Rusty is essentially a hopeful character. But people need hope for a reason, don't they?

There was a tough episode in which a 13-year-old trans girl named Michelle is murdered and her family are suspects. That’s every trans kids worst nightmare. How does filming a tough story like that affect the actors?

Everyone has there own process. A lot of times, Rusty doesn't really have much to do with the crime; he's more the personal side of things. And so the intense elements of the procedural in "Boys Will Be Boys" didn't involve me. But the guy who was bullying the transgender kid is brought in and calls me a "faggot." And that felt really horrible. There wasn't much acting going on in that moment, because it was just so ... well, rude does't exactly cover it. I don't understand the whole name-calling thing.

Your character’s storyline for me is resonant, not because of issues of identity or orientation, but because I’m the child of an addict. What part of Rusty’s life resonates with you the most?

I think the part of Rusty I find most interesting is that he doesn't ever accept the role of victim. He is not always out there doing the right thing, either. He makes mistakes. And then he tries to rebound. And he actively wants to take responsibility for his own life. Sometimes he doesn't succeed, but he tries. Which is why his mother and her addictions drive him crazy. His determination not to get dragged back into her madness is a sign of growth. But he doesn't fully let go of her either. I think that's how it works. You turn your back on the addiction, not the person. But it's hard, because they look alike.

Do you hear from other people who connect with what you’re going through on the show?

All the time. It's wild to be visiting New York and crossing the street and having someone yell out at me, "Hey, Rusty!" Or to be recognized when I go out as "the kid on Major Crimes." And I think people relate to the journey he's going on because finding out who you are is something every young person has to do. It's part of becoming an adult. Plus, everyone has to come to terms with the role sex plays in their lives. Rusty dramatizes that. And, I think, the LGBT community relates because Rusty doesn't really have many of the old clichés attached to gay characters on television. He doesn't sing show tunes. He doesn't get all excited about figure skating during the Olympics. I think he's probably more interested in sex than he lets on. And that might be pushing his crisis a little.

I remember watching you on The Bill Engvall Show. Jennifer Lawrence was also an unknown as your sister. Did you have any idea you two were destined to be where you are?

I loved doing that show and I loved working with Jennifer. I like to tell a story about when Engvall first premiered — I believe we scored 3.5 million viewers. Upon hearing the news, she sent me a text saying, "Oh, my gosh, we're rock stars." I love telling that story because of how excited she was at the modest viewership our show gained. Having no clue that she would be nominated for an Oscar three years later. Such a kind and humble girl, and she was great at comedy. Really great. You can say she's gifted, because I think that's true, but she has done remarkable things with her gift. As for me, I have a way to go before I catch up with Jennifer. And I don't know where my future will take me. But we had fun with Bill. And I remember that early part of my professional career happily. I have no dirt. This is probably a terrible interview. I've been lucky not to have had bad experiences.

On the Engvall Show and Two and a Half Men, you’re comic relief, which is so different than Major Crimes. What have you learned the most in this role?

It's hard to say what you learn acting a part. You find bits and pieces of yourself that are inside the character you play. You locate the relatable aspects of that character to your own life. So, in a way, every part you play forces you to discover things about yourself you might not have learned otherwise.  I have never been a homeless gay kid on the streets of Los Angeles, but because of Rusty, I have thought a lot about what that must be like — and how important a home and a family were to me growing up. Sometimes I drive by these kids on the street and now I know what's going on, and I didn't before. It's sad. For some reason, as a society, we don't care about these children very much. They're thrown away. We treat our pets better.

Your character gives Major Crimes a chance to deal with LGBT youth, sex work for survival (or surrogate parents), foster care systems, mentoring, fear of violence, cycles of neglect, and also, you know, solve a crime each week. What’s left for Rusty? Is happiness and stability in his future?

It's great to be able to deal with adult issues and the crisis of neglect and abuse in our culture and to show a kid fighting to survive that, and make something of his life. He didn't start out believing he had much of a future. In the second episode of Major Crimes, he tells Sharon [Mary McDonnell], "People like me don't go to college." And I think that's largely true. But I also think it's great to see a character who's reaching for something that others don't believe he can grab — and to show him not giving up. When he's cornered, Rusty finds a way to fight back. I'd like to see him do some of that when he's not cornered. He has it in him.

At one point Sharon says, "Rusty, what you are is who I love. And all of you is coming home.” Can you imagine what the world would be like if every kid got to hear that?

Rusty handed Sharon his soul in that moment. And she just loved him. Period. She didn't push him to explain himself. She didn't demand explanations he didn't know how to make. She just loved him. Is it obvious to say that most children do better when they're loved? Do you get mad at a kid for being left-handed? Do you make someone explain to you why they have brown eyes? In that moment, Rusty is actually very ambiguous, because he still doesn't know how to say the words out loud. And Sharon tells him it doesn't matter. Yes, I think it would be a much better world if more children were treated that way.

Last year the entire cast shot a PSA about bullying for GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network.  

I was very proud to participate in the GLSEN PSA. Actually, every single member of our cast participated in it. It was just one of those no-brainers we decided to do while filming the story about the transgender kid. Don't beat children. Again, it sounds like a pretty obvious thing to say. And not at all like a political statement. Don't hit kids! Why do we have to be told this? But we do.

Monday, 13 January 2014

Major Crimes season 2 finale


Major Crimes season finale.
I loved The Closer very much, but I love Major Crimes more. I love the relationship between Rusty and Sharon, I love Buzz & Dr. Morales. I can't wait the next season already.

Monday, 23 December 2013

Monday, 2 December 2013

Bill Brochtrup in Major Crimes


Bill Brochtrup in Major Crimes. He will be in the 15th episode(it would be aired on the 16th), too.

Wednesday, 6 November 2013

Major Crimes - Fan Question - Tackling Issues

Monday, 15 July 2013

An article from The Backlot

[Source]

“Major Crimes” Tackles Coming Out And Gender Dysphoria

by Jim Halterman | July 15, 2013

**Warning, this post contains moderate spoilers for tonight’s episode of Major Crimes.**

Graham Patrick Martin as Rusty Beck on TNT’s Major Crimes
Procedural crime dramas aren’t typically the venue for three dimensional gay characters and nuanced coming out stories. The popular TV genre tends to focus more on the case of the week than character, but this season TNT’s Major Crimes is finding a healthy balance between the two.

The spin-off of The Closer is currently in its second season with high ratings and a weekly plethora of whodunit criminal cases dissected (and solved) by Captain Sharon Raydor (Mary McDonnell) and her team, comprised primarily of characters carried over from The Closer like Detectives Provenza (G. W. Bailey) and Flynn (Tony Denison).

And then there’s Rusty.

Initially brought in for one episode at the end of The Closer, the troubled teen (played by Graham Patrick Martin) was carried over to Major Crimes as a regular character. (As he’s a major witness in a murder case, he’s been living with Raydor under protective custody.) Rusty’s orientation has been thus far unclear, but his past as a homeless a teen prostitute has certainly raised questions.

Rusty is heavily impacted by the crime in tonight’s episode, “Boys Will Be Boys” (written by Jim Leonard and out Executive Producer James Duff). The episode revolves around identity in that a 13-year old murder victim named Michelle. It’s quickly revealed that is a physiological male with gender dysphoria. We also learn that her family members are suspects– and they display various levels of acceptance with Michelle’s gender dysphoria. Rusty may not be involved in the solving of the crime, but he’s around enough to realize that the question of identity is something he can very much relate to.

(l-r) Guest Star Tom Berenger, Martin and Mary McDonnell
In one scene from the episode, Rusty discusses the case with Raydor’s estranged husband, played by guest star Tom Berenger. Here’s how EP and episode co-writer James Duff describes the scene:

The transgender child’s father gives her dresses and Rusty’s like ‘why didn’t you just put a great big target on her back?’

‘Raydor’s husband responds, ‘I think it was very brave of her to wear those dresses. Sometimes it’s as dangerous trying to hide who you are as it is wearing something outlandish. And people can’t always hide who they are as you probably know.’

Rusty looks at him and says ‘why do you say that?’ And Sharon’s husband has to struggle to come up with an answer because obviously Rusty believes he isn’t, in some ways, batting on our team. And that’s a great moment for his character.”

Wisely mirroring real life, Rusty’s coming out has not been easy or fast as is evident by the recent plot point of Rusty taking on a girlfriend, which Duff said would only confuse things more for the teen. “He’s going to ask this girl to come study with him and things are going to get serious between the two of them because she really likes him and he doesn’t know how to handle it.”

In playing Rusty, Martin said there is a reason behind everything the character is doing. “Rusty’s never had normal, but he strives for it. I think it’s the driving force behind everything he does,” Martin told us from the show’s set during the filming of this episode. “Last season when he realizes his mother isn’t coming back…it’s devastating and now ‘how do I make this normal?’ and Sharon really presents that for him. I mean she’s a fantastic mother. She has been a mother and so it’s just kind of like making this life, this new life work, I think.”

Rusty may have found the mother he never had in Captain Sharon Raydor.
But more is coming this season, and an upcoming case also affects Rusty more than may initially be seen on the surface. “We come across a case of sexual abuse that really begins to unravel him,” Duff said. “When you have sex as a younger person, when you’re 15, 14, 13, boys think they want it, and boys will go after it, but it leaves a scar. It’s like violence. Because while our bodies are physically ready for it, emotionally we are not. And in sex with older men, which is what [Rusty] was doing on the streets, as he’s fond of saying, he was a teenage prostitute. And he has repressed memories [and] his repressed feelings about that come back to haunt him and end up desolating him. And he’s trying so hard to be normal and be a good kid and it’s more than he can handle. It’s actually more than virtually any child can handle.”

Rusty’s story certainly isn’t the norm for a television crime drama. “It was an awkward thing to put at the center of a procedural,” admitted Duff, who co-created The Closer and created Major Crimes. “But it served so many values at once because I think it helps to humanize the lead, Sharon, her character. And it gave her a challenge and a chance to see another side of herself.”

Martin agreed and added that Rusty has also found family figures in the variety of detectives that Raydor manages. “Sharon is the immediate family member, but by association,” Martin said, “Provenza is definitely a father figure and Rusty kind of has moments with each of the cast members and everyone takes this kind of protective role over him.”

Executive Producer/Creator James Duff
Duff said that Rusty’s story is one that has taken him back to his own past. “It’s really put me in touch with the calamities of my childhood,” he said. As a teen, Duff was trying to figure his sexuality out and went to someone he trust for help – a priest. “I thought I was being incredibly brave by going and talking to him about it because I didn’t know what else to say. And he told me that the reason I was having these feelings was because the devil wanted me. I was a devout Christian, and Jesus loved me, and he wanted to separate me from Jesus so I all I had to do was pray. And if I prayed hard enough, the temptation would be taken from me. So I prayed like mad for months, on my knees, in my bedroom.” Needless to say the feelings didn’t go away (though Duff told the priest they had so he wouldn’t go to his parents) and he now realizes “that’s how intensely I did not want to be out of the norm and out of my religion, really.”

And as for what is coming with Rusty throughout the rest of the season, expect the Philip Stroh case (the one in which Rusty is the star witness) to continue to pop up. This will put the teen, and perhaps those around him, in a not-so-safe place. “I can tell you that yes, he is in danger. It’s not just smooth sailing,” Martin teased. “Throughout this season it really comes back to haunt Rusty, and Philip Stroh is not just silent in a way.”

Major Crimes airs Mondays at 9pm on TNT. Fans can also live tweet with Duff and cast members during tonight’s episode.

Monday, 17 June 2013

Christopher J. Hanke - Major Crimes

It's not Marcus from Brothers & Sisters ;p

He is a kind of cute, isn't he?

Monday, 13 August 2012

Major Crimes



I still don't like Captain Sharon Raydor's charactor though, I'm glad we still have Jonathan Del Arco and Phillip P. Keene but according to IMDb, Jonathan will be in 4 episodes and Phillip will be in 2 episodes at the moment. That means we can see Phillip on only one episode at the moment. That's too bad.