Seeing vampires
SheKnows:The Librarian series in many ways pays tribute to all the great film franchises of the past. Would you agree?
Noah Wyle: I feel in some ways we paid great homage to previous franchises with the first two. We were trying to be in keeping with the tone and the style that they employed. This time around it felt very much like we’d found the character’s voice in our own style and rhythm and passed this type of story telling. It feels very much our own and this feels the most original to me. It’s just a pleasure.
SheKnows: Where do you see heading next? There are elements of The Librarian that are terrifically funny…comedy perhaps?
Noah Wyle: In terms of where I’d like to go in the future it’s you know – yeah I would love to do more comedy. You know, it’s sort of coming back around full circle for me because I – the beginning few seasons of ER – I was pretty much comic relief on the show. The more dramatic story lines involved Tony (Edwards), George (Clooney), Eriq (LaSalle), Juliannna (Margulies) and Sherry (Stringfield) to a large degree and I was the guy tripping over the tray of piss in the background. There’s nothing more fun than a good pratfall.
Louisiana lightning
SheKnows: Why Louisiana for The Librarian: The Curse of the Judas Chalice…a chance to work in New Orleans and help that city?
Noah Wyle: (It) was really a question of identifying the part of the country that had the richest mythology in sense of history that would align itself well with our storytelling and that sort of pointed towards Louisiana and it was a really quick jump from that to wanting to do a good karmic turn and bring some work to that city and employ some of their local craftsmen and fuse the economy with some cash and then we you know – setting up on their folklore.
SheKnows: Anne Rice lives there, too!
Noah Wyle: They’ve got a very rich vampire tradition, a very rich sort of Haitian and French influence and pirate influence. It worked extremely well for us for a storyline. The irony is that we got down there and found out that we were the 11th production to have that noble idea and that the crews were pretty well taken.
SheKnows: How was working with Jane Curtin and Bob Newhart? Both are legends.
Noah Wyle: Well I mean I grew up watching Bob on both of his shows and Jane on SNL for sure. They were both heroes of mine and the first day of filming on the first Librarian movie was this scene in which I was sandwiched between them walking down a flight of stairs and it became very quickly obvious to me that I needed to figure out how to play off of them in a way that would maintain my sense of character and at the same time give them the flexibility to do what they do best. So that was extremely intimidating. They are exceptional people to have on set. Bob’s energy reserves are incredible and when you are working a 18 or 19 hour day having somebody with his anecdotal reservoir on hand to keep people entertained is worth it’s weight in gold.
ER changes everything
SheKnows: Did you keep up with ER’s plotlines while you weren’t on the show? Carter’s exit was a little more fluid.
Noah Wyle: I didn’t watch for a couple of years after I left. I described it as watching somebody else raise my kids and it can be difficult, but I can honestly say that it still fires on all cylinders. Not all maybe, but still quite a few and it still has teeth. When I left the show after the 11th season – I call it a divorce with visitation rights. I left eight outstanding episodes for them to spread around wherever they wanted to.
SheKnows:ER’s final episode ever will air in May. After 15 years, what are Noah Wyle’s final thoughts?
Noah Wyle: Now that the storylines are writing to a focused endpoint I find that the episodes that are turning out this season to be on par with some of the best we’ve ever done. In many ways I grew up on that show. I started as a single living in a duplex apartment with a cat and walked off married with one child and one on the way. I mean it was all encapsulating and I’m really excited about going back and having a hand in writing the last chapter.
SheKnows: What about ER as pop culture icon? Is it to early to say?
Noah Wyle: You know it’s really difficult to say. I mean that show changed my life. I mean completely. I walked on it at 22 years old and walked off it at 34 years old and every relationship in my life had been redefined to my family, to my friends, to money, to where I live, to everything. It has been the most defining chapter in my life by far.
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