When we left off last season, Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) realized that his secret mental list of seven possible Red John suspects wasn’t so secret — Red John knew them all. The two have been circling each other for years, and now it seems that their final showdown is about to begin.”That list of seven makes a kind of a quantum leap forward now that both Jane and Red John realize the endgame is nigh. Things move fast and explosively and excitingly over the first few episodes of the show,” executive producer Bruno Heller tells EW. “I would say if those people who are, you know, interested in following the Red John saga, they can’t afford to miss any of these episodes.”
What’s in store for the drama’s sixth season? Read EW’s Q&A with executive producer Bruno Heller below.
Teresa’s clearly more obviously developing feelings for Patrick. How will that come into play this season?
Oh, absolutely. That’s the backbone of the show, that relationship and how they feel about each other. Just like in any real relationship over time their feelings about each other change and develop and we’ll see where that goes.
Do you have anything specific in mind for that?
Well, here’s the thing. What, when this is a question rather than an event, if and when Jane catches Red John? The reason for being in the CBI is gonna change and his whole sort of ‘What’s he gonna do with his life?,’ ‘What’s she gonna do with her life?’ [changes]. So as time rolls on, rather than them changing, life is changing, the world around them is changing, and they have to change too. And that puts them in a different relationship with each other.
And speaking of Red John, so we left off with a list of seven suspects, Will any of the seven be showing up this season? Can you talk a little bit about what could be happening with that?
Certainly, all seven of those suspects will be part of this season and the CBI, Jane, and the CBI are doing their best to work out which one of them is Red John. I can tell you it won’t be a sort of Ten Little Indians type of of set up, it’s more of a Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which one of these guys is the guy. [After this interview was conducted, it was announced that fans will find out Red John's identity by the end of the calendar year.]
Will Red John being caught necessarily mean the end of the show? Have you thought about pacing in that respect?
Well, I’m one of those people when a movie ends, I wanna know what happens next, like in the end of Moby Dick, I wanna know, how –he’s adrift in the ocean – what’s gonna happen next? I always watch that scene of people coming home and saying ‘I thought you were dead!’ So yes, if and when Red John is caught we wanna find out what happens to Jane and Lisbon after that because so much of his life has been defined by that hunt for Red John, who he really is and what you’d really like to be doing haven’t really been explored yet so like I say, if and when Red John is caught then we need to find out what happens next.
I can’t quite work out how Red John knows about the suspect list.
Yeah, well that’s part of it. And that mean she knows that Jane knows that he knows so to speak, which means that we’re getting very close to Red John here, and how Jane plays that and how Red John plays him back is a big part of the early season. And there’s no vamping going on here….you can’t afford to miss one.
SRC
Sep 30, 2013
Mentalist Creator Bruno Heller on the Shocking Season 6 Premiere: "It's the Final Showdown"
Red John is back with a vengeance on The Mentalist. The serial killer who has made a game out of tormenting Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) promised Jane in the Season 5 finale that he was going to start killing again until Jane captured him — or vice versa. And he didn't waste any time in sticking to his word.
By the end of the Season 6 premiere, Red John has lured Jane's partner, Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney) to a house, where she discovers his latest victim: Brett Partridge (Jack Plotnick). (Guess we can officially eliminate Partridge as a Red John suspect! One down, six to go.) Seconds after a dying Partridge spits out Red John's poetic calling card, "Tiger, Tiger," Lisbon herself is snatched by John.
Mentalist boss Bruno Heller breaks down the Red John suspects
The episode ends with Red John using Lisbon's phone to call Jane, and painting his signature smiley face in blood over Lisbon's (unconscious? dead?) face. TVGuide.com asked Mentalist creator Bruno Heller to weigh in on the game-changing season premiere. What's Jane's next move? Is Gale Bertram (Michael Gaston) now the prime suspect? And what's the hidden clue in the final scenes? Read our Q&A with Heller below to find out:
Well, no one can say Season 6 is off to a slow start! Why the decision to kick off the season with such a cliff-hanger?
Heller: Things are happening essentially in real time, and it's the final showdown. So as promised last season, Red John is getting active again and things are going to go all guns firing until the denouement, for sure. It had to be that way. And it's great fun making it that way. These last few episodes have been such fun to make, because up to now, we've been taking tiny baby steps towards the truth. Now the light at the end of the tunnel is coming closer. For the writers and actors, it's immensely exciting.
There is a clue buried in that final sequence that will pay off big time in the finale of the Red John story. A very big clue. No one will get it from the clue as it is laid out in the episode, but it will pay off later.
Going back to the beginning of the episode, we see Lisbon and Jane struggling with hiding their suspicions, particularly about Bertram, as they continue to do their jobs. Assuming Lisbon is still alive, is this a struggle that will continue for the rest of the season?
Heller: Not for the rest of the season, but it's certainly a problem for these first few episodes. How do you confront these people when they know what you know, but you don't know which one of these seven people is your man? They very much have to get into each one of these suspects' business and to look and them and to investigate them and to spend time with them. So, it's a game of cat and mouse. It's not clear who's the cat and who's the mouse.
Fall TV: Hot scoop on returning shows
Bertram taunts Jane and Lisbon about getting close to Red John and says coyly, "I am many things to many people." That exchange certainly casts a lot of suspicion on Bertram.
Heller: Yes, it does. He's a very suspicious character, and those suspicions are not without foundation. [But] they're not necessarily the foundation that we think they are. One of the things that is going to be revealed in these next few episodes is that there is a whole lot more going wrong in California law enforcement than simply Red John. And Bertram is both a prime suspect as Red John, but also deeply involved in that other plot.
So his motivations for sending Lisbon and Jane away may have nothing to do with Red John?
Heller: He might be a good guy with a secret agenda, or he might be a bad guy with a secret agenda.
Lisbon tells Jane he seems like he doesn't know what to do next. Knowing Red John has the list of seven names seems to have really shaken him up.
Heller: Every time Red John has fooled him or tricked him before, Jane has been able to work out, at least in theory, if not in practice, how it was done. Jane is a magician himself, and magicians pride themselves on knowing how tricks work. There's no such thing as magic. It's a trick. But here's a trick that's been played on him that he simply can not work out how he did it. And that really does throw him for a loop, because in his arrogance and pride, Jane has ... never contemplated the notion that this guy could be that much smarter than him. And it raises the issue that Lisbon raises that Jane dismisses as strongly as he can. ... Maybe he is psychic. What if Red John is the real deal? That's kind of a mind-blower for Jane, and he really doesn't want to grapple with that. But he has to, because how the hell did he do that otherwise? That's what confronts Jane and that's what sort of paralyzes him, to a degree.
Was it a good move for Lisbon to tell Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) about the Red John suspects?
Heller: It was both the right move and the wrong move. She's a cop and she has to do what a cop would do. When Jane seems to be unable to work out what to do next, just as Red John's revelation about the list is shocking for Jane, Jane's shock is shocking to Lisbon. So she falls back on her training and protocol and procedure. And it starts to open up a fissure between Jane and Lisbon, because the closer they get to Red John, the more the fundamental differences between them become clear. As long as Red John was a sort of theoretical target, the differences in the way they go about their business could be papered over. But now we're getting to a point where Lisbon's moral code and her professional code, and Jane's willingness to do any damn thing required, comes to a crunch.
As Jane and Lisbon get closer to solving the mystery of Red John, what effect does the case have on their personal relationship?
Heller: They start imagining what life would be like after Red John, and a great deal of the buried emotions between them are coming out. They've always been very much in a brother and sister relationship. But they're not brother and sister. Both of them are discovering feelings about the other one that they didn't really know they had, because there's been this overarching mission that they're both on that has masked that. Now those feelings are starting to bubble up to the surface. Especially for Lisbon ... now that she's looking to the future and can visualize a world in which they're not chasing Red John together, she's looking at the prospect of finding Red John but losing Jane. Because clearly after Red John is captured, Jane is not going to be wandering around Sacramento solving homicides. He was there long enough to do this job, so now things are going to be different. Although she can't articulate it to herself, she's beginning to feel the pangs of separation. Jane himself is going to get glimmers of his old self back, his old life, and that brings up the same issues for him.
Is it fair to say that if Jane catches Red John, he'd also destroy a part of himself?
Heller: What we'll be dealing with after that is very much about, what happens when you achieve your heart's desire, but what your heart desired was something very dark? He's going to be satisfying bloodlust. I guess he is making the world safer for other people, but that's not his motivation. His motivation is personal, angry, hate-filled revenge. Jane has always had that dark rage inside him, but he's made it a point of pride never to show that. He always seems graceful and light on his feet and full of positivity, but he's been driven by this dark force. And once that cloud is lifted from him, it's both joyful and baffling, because what do you do next? And how are you changed by doing something like that?
At the end of the episode, Partridge is dead and Red John has Lisbon. What's Jane thinking in that moment when he gets the phone call from Red John?
Heller: He's both incredibly guilty for allowing Lisbon to go off on her own and also, as usual with Jane, thinking, "Dammit, I knew I was right. I knew you were wrong. You really screwed up now." And that moment of realizing that he has put Lisbon (or Lisbon has put herself) in such great danger is also illuminating for him, because I think at that moment he's realizing ... this is someone I love, and I have put her into the hands of a very evil man. And that's my fault. So for him, it's a quiet but stunning realization that she's not just a colleague, but someone he can't live without. And also it doubles down on his desire to kill the man that's done this.
What did you think of the season premiere of The Mentalist? Could Lisbon really be dead? What should Jane do from here? And who is Red John? Sound off below!
SRC
By the end of the Season 6 premiere, Red John has lured Jane's partner, Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney) to a house, where she discovers his latest victim: Brett Partridge (Jack Plotnick). (Guess we can officially eliminate Partridge as a Red John suspect! One down, six to go.) Seconds after a dying Partridge spits out Red John's poetic calling card, "Tiger, Tiger," Lisbon herself is snatched by John.
Mentalist boss Bruno Heller breaks down the Red John suspects
The episode ends with Red John using Lisbon's phone to call Jane, and painting his signature smiley face in blood over Lisbon's (unconscious? dead?) face. TVGuide.com asked Mentalist creator Bruno Heller to weigh in on the game-changing season premiere. What's Jane's next move? Is Gale Bertram (Michael Gaston) now the prime suspect? And what's the hidden clue in the final scenes? Read our Q&A with Heller below to find out:
Well, no one can say Season 6 is off to a slow start! Why the decision to kick off the season with such a cliff-hanger?
Heller: Things are happening essentially in real time, and it's the final showdown. So as promised last season, Red John is getting active again and things are going to go all guns firing until the denouement, for sure. It had to be that way. And it's great fun making it that way. These last few episodes have been such fun to make, because up to now, we've been taking tiny baby steps towards the truth. Now the light at the end of the tunnel is coming closer. For the writers and actors, it's immensely exciting.
There is a clue buried in that final sequence that will pay off big time in the finale of the Red John story. A very big clue. No one will get it from the clue as it is laid out in the episode, but it will pay off later.
Going back to the beginning of the episode, we see Lisbon and Jane struggling with hiding their suspicions, particularly about Bertram, as they continue to do their jobs. Assuming Lisbon is still alive, is this a struggle that will continue for the rest of the season?
Heller: Not for the rest of the season, but it's certainly a problem for these first few episodes. How do you confront these people when they know what you know, but you don't know which one of these seven people is your man? They very much have to get into each one of these suspects' business and to look and them and to investigate them and to spend time with them. So, it's a game of cat and mouse. It's not clear who's the cat and who's the mouse.
Fall TV: Hot scoop on returning shows
Bertram taunts Jane and Lisbon about getting close to Red John and says coyly, "I am many things to many people." That exchange certainly casts a lot of suspicion on Bertram.
Heller: Yes, it does. He's a very suspicious character, and those suspicions are not without foundation. [But] they're not necessarily the foundation that we think they are. One of the things that is going to be revealed in these next few episodes is that there is a whole lot more going wrong in California law enforcement than simply Red John. And Bertram is both a prime suspect as Red John, but also deeply involved in that other plot.
So his motivations for sending Lisbon and Jane away may have nothing to do with Red John?
Heller: He might be a good guy with a secret agenda, or he might be a bad guy with a secret agenda.
Lisbon tells Jane he seems like he doesn't know what to do next. Knowing Red John has the list of seven names seems to have really shaken him up.
Heller: Every time Red John has fooled him or tricked him before, Jane has been able to work out, at least in theory, if not in practice, how it was done. Jane is a magician himself, and magicians pride themselves on knowing how tricks work. There's no such thing as magic. It's a trick. But here's a trick that's been played on him that he simply can not work out how he did it. And that really does throw him for a loop, because in his arrogance and pride, Jane has ... never contemplated the notion that this guy could be that much smarter than him. And it raises the issue that Lisbon raises that Jane dismisses as strongly as he can. ... Maybe he is psychic. What if Red John is the real deal? That's kind of a mind-blower for Jane, and he really doesn't want to grapple with that. But he has to, because how the hell did he do that otherwise? That's what confronts Jane and that's what sort of paralyzes him, to a degree.
Was it a good move for Lisbon to tell Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) about the Red John suspects?
Heller: It was both the right move and the wrong move. She's a cop and she has to do what a cop would do. When Jane seems to be unable to work out what to do next, just as Red John's revelation about the list is shocking for Jane, Jane's shock is shocking to Lisbon. So she falls back on her training and protocol and procedure. And it starts to open up a fissure between Jane and Lisbon, because the closer they get to Red John, the more the fundamental differences between them become clear. As long as Red John was a sort of theoretical target, the differences in the way they go about their business could be papered over. But now we're getting to a point where Lisbon's moral code and her professional code, and Jane's willingness to do any damn thing required, comes to a crunch.
As Jane and Lisbon get closer to solving the mystery of Red John, what effect does the case have on their personal relationship?
Heller: They start imagining what life would be like after Red John, and a great deal of the buried emotions between them are coming out. They've always been very much in a brother and sister relationship. But they're not brother and sister. Both of them are discovering feelings about the other one that they didn't really know they had, because there's been this overarching mission that they're both on that has masked that. Now those feelings are starting to bubble up to the surface. Especially for Lisbon ... now that she's looking to the future and can visualize a world in which they're not chasing Red John together, she's looking at the prospect of finding Red John but losing Jane. Because clearly after Red John is captured, Jane is not going to be wandering around Sacramento solving homicides. He was there long enough to do this job, so now things are going to be different. Although she can't articulate it to herself, she's beginning to feel the pangs of separation. Jane himself is going to get glimmers of his old self back, his old life, and that brings up the same issues for him.
Is it fair to say that if Jane catches Red John, he'd also destroy a part of himself?
Heller: What we'll be dealing with after that is very much about, what happens when you achieve your heart's desire, but what your heart desired was something very dark? He's going to be satisfying bloodlust. I guess he is making the world safer for other people, but that's not his motivation. His motivation is personal, angry, hate-filled revenge. Jane has always had that dark rage inside him, but he's made it a point of pride never to show that. He always seems graceful and light on his feet and full of positivity, but he's been driven by this dark force. And once that cloud is lifted from him, it's both joyful and baffling, because what do you do next? And how are you changed by doing something like that?
At the end of the episode, Partridge is dead and Red John has Lisbon. What's Jane thinking in that moment when he gets the phone call from Red John?
Heller: He's both incredibly guilty for allowing Lisbon to go off on her own and also, as usual with Jane, thinking, "Dammit, I knew I was right. I knew you were wrong. You really screwed up now." And that moment of realizing that he has put Lisbon (or Lisbon has put herself) in such great danger is also illuminating for him, because I think at that moment he's realizing ... this is someone I love, and I have put her into the hands of a very evil man. And that's my fault. So for him, it's a quiet but stunning realization that she's not just a colleague, but someone he can't live without. And also it doubles down on his desire to kill the man that's done this.
What did you think of the season premiere of The Mentalist? Could Lisbon really be dead? What should Jane do from here? And who is Red John? Sound off below!
SRC
'The Mentalist' boss on [spoiler's] death -- and more to come!
Warning: Do not read this post if you haven’t watched the season premiere of The Mentalist.
At the end of last season of The Mentalist, we narrowed down the list of Red John suspects to seven. And by the end of tonight’s premiere, that number had changed.
Yup, RIP Partridge. He was the first suspect to fall. But will Lisbon (Robin Tunney) be the next victim? Read on for our chat with executive producer Bruno Heller.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Obviously, you started off the season big by killing off one of the suspects right away. Tell me about the decision to kill Partridge first.
BRUNO HELLER: It wasn’t my decision; it was Red John’s decision. And it’s part of a much larger, dastardly plan that will reveal itself over the next few episodes. This is a good question. This is the first time I’ve been asked this question, but it’s a very good point. Why DID he kill Partridge? What possible reason could he have for that? A very good reason will be revealed down the line. So it’s both a fun way to start the season and embedded in that scene is a big clue to the identity of Red John that will pay off big time later.
Well, he did whisper ‘Tiger’ before dying.
Yes, he did. And that’s another clue that will have big ramifications later on. These next few episodes, essentially the first episodes of this season, all have those kinds of revelations and clues and hints and big steps forward in the mystery. And all will be revealed.
When do we revisit the Tiger clue?
Watch episode 4 and you will get some answers to that in episode 4. I can start very specific now about those. Episode 4 will give you some answers that go a long way to answering that question.
I have to admit, Partridge was my No. 1 suspect. So after he died, I thought to myself, ‘Of course he’s going to go first!’
That’s the thing. Everyone has different No. 1 suspects, which is good. That’s one of those things as a writer; you can spend a lot of time weighing which one people think is the likely suspect. That’s very much a subjective choice. I know that are a lot of people out there who think Jane is Red John still.
…even though you’ve said explicitly he’s not!
I know. They don’t necessarily have to believe me, I suppose. I’ve never denied that it was Lisbon. So I suppose it could be Lisbon.
For you, as a writer, was it ever going to be someone else first?
No. Because like I say, as convoluted and as elaborate as the plotting might appear, you have to know exactly what you’re doing way before you do it. So things might seem mysterious or too complicated to work out what the hell is going on, but as these episodes unfold, the story will unfold itself in a clean and clear fashion. It was very important that Partridge die at this point in the story. It’s not just — he didn’t just kill him as an act-out.
Can we expect more deaths among the suspects?
Yeah, you can expect more deaths of suspects; I think I can say that without giving too much away. It’s not a Seven Little Indians thing, where one drops dead every week. But part of Red John’s plan involves bad intentions toward the other suspects on that list. It’s not a good list to be on.
What I found interesting was that you brought the rest of the team into the fold so quickly. Tell me about that decision.
Well, because, we’re getting to the point right now where they’re getting so close to Red John that the cracks between John and Lisbon and how they like to operate are becoming much clearer. When Red John was an abstract target, Lisbon could put up with Jane’s very different moral universe. Now that they’re getting closer, it’s exactly that kind of issue that’s going to cause conflict between them. Jane’s obsessive secrecy is very much in conflict with Lisbon’s professional and personal desire to keep things above board and honest. She needs and wants the help and support of the team because she feels uncomfortable freelancing — because she’s not a freelancer, she’s a cop. And Jane has the freedom to do whatever he wants but she has to think about the law. So partly for that reason, and partly because….up until this point, Red John has been able to pull all kinds of tricks on Jane but he’s always been able to work out how a particular trick was done and how Red John got the better of him. But here, Jane has no idea how it’s possible Red John got that list, and it raises the terrible prospect in the back of his mind that maybe Red John is a psychic. Maybe Jane has been wrong his whole life. In which case, his whole set of beliefs have been thrown into question and Lisbon — seeing that in Jane — is a little spooked because she’s never seen Jane genuinely stymied and genuinely unable to workout what the hell is going on. So she feels she has to take the initiative and take control of the situation. As you see it, it ends up to be the right decision in the moment but the wrong decision by the end of the episode.
Preview the next episode.
That story continues. I’ll tell you, one of the outstanding questions for Jane leftover from last season is how the hell did Red John get into his head and know about that young woman who died who was a child in Jane’s childhood. How did he do that? That question is going to be answered. But at the same time, every week we’re still telling a closed whodunit story which is solved every week. So it’s as much that story as the other story.
SRC
At the end of last season of The Mentalist, we narrowed down the list of Red John suspects to seven. And by the end of tonight’s premiere, that number had changed.
Yup, RIP Partridge. He was the first suspect to fall. But will Lisbon (Robin Tunney) be the next victim? Read on for our chat with executive producer Bruno Heller.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Obviously, you started off the season big by killing off one of the suspects right away. Tell me about the decision to kill Partridge first.
BRUNO HELLER: It wasn’t my decision; it was Red John’s decision. And it’s part of a much larger, dastardly plan that will reveal itself over the next few episodes. This is a good question. This is the first time I’ve been asked this question, but it’s a very good point. Why DID he kill Partridge? What possible reason could he have for that? A very good reason will be revealed down the line. So it’s both a fun way to start the season and embedded in that scene is a big clue to the identity of Red John that will pay off big time later.
Well, he did whisper ‘Tiger’ before dying.
Yes, he did. And that’s another clue that will have big ramifications later on. These next few episodes, essentially the first episodes of this season, all have those kinds of revelations and clues and hints and big steps forward in the mystery. And all will be revealed.
When do we revisit the Tiger clue?
Watch episode 4 and you will get some answers to that in episode 4. I can start very specific now about those. Episode 4 will give you some answers that go a long way to answering that question.
I have to admit, Partridge was my No. 1 suspect. So after he died, I thought to myself, ‘Of course he’s going to go first!’
That’s the thing. Everyone has different No. 1 suspects, which is good. That’s one of those things as a writer; you can spend a lot of time weighing which one people think is the likely suspect. That’s very much a subjective choice. I know that are a lot of people out there who think Jane is Red John still.
…even though you’ve said explicitly he’s not!
I know. They don’t necessarily have to believe me, I suppose. I’ve never denied that it was Lisbon. So I suppose it could be Lisbon.
For you, as a writer, was it ever going to be someone else first?
No. Because like I say, as convoluted and as elaborate as the plotting might appear, you have to know exactly what you’re doing way before you do it. So things might seem mysterious or too complicated to work out what the hell is going on, but as these episodes unfold, the story will unfold itself in a clean and clear fashion. It was very important that Partridge die at this point in the story. It’s not just — he didn’t just kill him as an act-out.
Can we expect more deaths among the suspects?
Yeah, you can expect more deaths of suspects; I think I can say that without giving too much away. It’s not a Seven Little Indians thing, where one drops dead every week. But part of Red John’s plan involves bad intentions toward the other suspects on that list. It’s not a good list to be on.
What I found interesting was that you brought the rest of the team into the fold so quickly. Tell me about that decision.
Well, because, we’re getting to the point right now where they’re getting so close to Red John that the cracks between John and Lisbon and how they like to operate are becoming much clearer. When Red John was an abstract target, Lisbon could put up with Jane’s very different moral universe. Now that they’re getting closer, it’s exactly that kind of issue that’s going to cause conflict between them. Jane’s obsessive secrecy is very much in conflict with Lisbon’s professional and personal desire to keep things above board and honest. She needs and wants the help and support of the team because she feels uncomfortable freelancing — because she’s not a freelancer, she’s a cop. And Jane has the freedom to do whatever he wants but she has to think about the law. So partly for that reason, and partly because….up until this point, Red John has been able to pull all kinds of tricks on Jane but he’s always been able to work out how a particular trick was done and how Red John got the better of him. But here, Jane has no idea how it’s possible Red John got that list, and it raises the terrible prospect in the back of his mind that maybe Red John is a psychic. Maybe Jane has been wrong his whole life. In which case, his whole set of beliefs have been thrown into question and Lisbon — seeing that in Jane — is a little spooked because she’s never seen Jane genuinely stymied and genuinely unable to workout what the hell is going on. So she feels she has to take the initiative and take control of the situation. As you see it, it ends up to be the right decision in the moment but the wrong decision by the end of the episode.
Preview the next episode.
That story continues. I’ll tell you, one of the outstanding questions for Jane leftover from last season is how the hell did Red John get into his head and know about that young woman who died who was a child in Jane’s childhood. How did he do that? That question is going to be answered. But at the same time, every week we’re still telling a closed whodunit story which is solved every week. So it’s as much that story as the other story.
SRC
Cast Of ‘The Mentalist’ Spills (Almost) Secrets From Season 6
Click link below to see a video:
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/09/29/cast-of-the-mentalist-spills-almost-secrets-from-season-6/
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — “The Mentalist” has more twists and turns than the 405 Freeway. And it’s a much more fun ride.
For five seasons, the hit CBS show has enthralled viewers with plot twists and a whodunnit, serious drama and light comedy.
Andrea Fujii, reporting for CBS2, sat down with the cast recently to get them to spill, or try to, information about what is coming up this season.
“One thing I find sets the show apart, balancing drama and comedy with a crime of the week procedural thing,” says Simon Baker, star and one of the producers of the series.
This year the show is promising answers. For one thing, the mystery of who killed Patrick Jane’s family.
Jane has come up with a list of seven men who could be Red John, the man who killed his wife and daughter. And Red John, in turn, knows he’s on the list.
Cue more drama.
“The show started off with such a big, bold premise,” says Baker, “with Jane driven to pursue the killer of his wife and daughter, and to seek revenge, and we’ve finally come around to the idea of stitching it up.”
Baker told Fujii he’s excited about the prospect of where the show can go from here.
“You use the term game changing, but it’s bold, that’s what it is. The idea of potentially risking the idea of cutting off what people are drawn to in the show,” says Baker.
The cast told Fujii who they think Red John might be.
Baker insists he really doesn’t know.
“Do I know? I don’t know,” he says, smiling, “I could know, but I have just chosen not to. Completely.”
“I think about it, but in funnier terms, its probably not going to be Bret Stiles, because Malcolm McDowell would just charge us too much money,” quips Robin Tunney who plays Teresa Lisbon.
All theories aside, the show remains popular around the globe.
“It’s like this worldwide phenomenon, they seem to really like the mentalist,” says Tunney.
At the start of the show’s sixth year, the cast is especially grateful to the loyal fans.
“The fact that I am in a position and have been on a show for six years, that people have showed up to watch week in and week out, I’ll be eternally grateful for, it has had a major impact on my life,” says Baker.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/09/29/cast-of-the-mentalist-spills-almost-secrets-from-season-6/
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — “The Mentalist” has more twists and turns than the 405 Freeway. And it’s a much more fun ride.
For five seasons, the hit CBS show has enthralled viewers with plot twists and a whodunnit, serious drama and light comedy.
Andrea Fujii, reporting for CBS2, sat down with the cast recently to get them to spill, or try to, information about what is coming up this season.
“One thing I find sets the show apart, balancing drama and comedy with a crime of the week procedural thing,” says Simon Baker, star and one of the producers of the series.
This year the show is promising answers. For one thing, the mystery of who killed Patrick Jane’s family.
Jane has come up with a list of seven men who could be Red John, the man who killed his wife and daughter. And Red John, in turn, knows he’s on the list.
Cue more drama.
“The show started off with such a big, bold premise,” says Baker, “with Jane driven to pursue the killer of his wife and daughter, and to seek revenge, and we’ve finally come around to the idea of stitching it up.”
Baker told Fujii he’s excited about the prospect of where the show can go from here.
“You use the term game changing, but it’s bold, that’s what it is. The idea of potentially risking the idea of cutting off what people are drawn to in the show,” says Baker.
The cast told Fujii who they think Red John might be.
Baker insists he really doesn’t know.
“Do I know? I don’t know,” he says, smiling, “I could know, but I have just chosen not to. Completely.”
“I think about it, but in funnier terms, its probably not going to be Bret Stiles, because Malcolm McDowell would just charge us too much money,” quips Robin Tunney who plays Teresa Lisbon.
All theories aside, the show remains popular around the globe.
“It’s like this worldwide phenomenon, they seem to really like the mentalist,” says Tunney.
At the start of the show’s sixth year, the cast is especially grateful to the loyal fans.
“The fact that I am in a position and have been on a show for six years, that people have showed up to watch week in and week out, I’ll be eternally grateful for, it has had a major impact on my life,” says Baker.
Sep 28, 2013
Series boss raises questions for Jane’s post-Red John future (spoiler, season 6th)
We have made it no secret here over the past several weeks that we are in the middle of changing times at “The Mentalist.” The first half of this upcoming season is going to focus very much on the hunt for Red John, while the story that follows that revolves very much around the ever-important question of what happens next.
When you’re Patrick Jane and you’ve spent such a huge chunk of your life taking on one foe in particular, we imagine that there has to be almost a shell-shocked feeling that comes the realization that you now have all sorts of new adventures and cases waiting for him out there. Speaking to TVLine, creator Bruno Heller tries to examine what these avenues could be for Simon Baker’s character, and the questions that he will find himself asking whenever this case is finally cracked:
“Once Moby Dick has been killed, what happens next? You have to tell the story about how Patrick gets back to shore. … We have a great story for that saga, because it begins a whole new saga. Where does he go from there? How does he live with what he’s done? Can he find happiness? All of those are big questions we are going to explore.”
There will be a list of Red John suspects that will be very clear at the beginning of season 6, but over time this will start to slowly dwindle until we get the answer. Let’s just hope that the extensive amount of hype for this ends up being worth it.
src
When you’re Patrick Jane and you’ve spent such a huge chunk of your life taking on one foe in particular, we imagine that there has to be almost a shell-shocked feeling that comes the realization that you now have all sorts of new adventures and cases waiting for him out there. Speaking to TVLine, creator Bruno Heller tries to examine what these avenues could be for Simon Baker’s character, and the questions that he will find himself asking whenever this case is finally cracked:
“Once Moby Dick has been killed, what happens next? You have to tell the story about how Patrick gets back to shore. … We have a great story for that saga, because it begins a whole new saga. Where does he go from there? How does he live with what he’s done? Can he find happiness? All of those are big questions we are going to explore.”
There will be a list of Red John suspects that will be very clear at the beginning of season 6, but over time this will start to slowly dwindle until we get the answer. Let’s just hope that the extensive amount of hype for this ends up being worth it.
src
Spoiler: HOW WILL JANE AND LISBON’S RELATIONSHIP CHANGE AFTER RED JOHN IS CAUGHT?
We have several episodes to go before Red John is caught. (But having seen Sunday’s season premiere, I can tell you they waste NO time narrowing down the suspects.) That said, we know an end is coming, which begs the question: What comes next for The Mentalist — and The Mentalist?
If we’re talking about the show itself, there’s an answer. But exec producer Bruno Heller wouldn’t utter a word about it when I sat down with him last week with some other reporter. (“I can’t say more than that because arcs by their nature, as soon as you shoot an arrow in the air, it lands somewhere. And I don’t want to shoot that arrow quite yet,” he says.) He merely confirmed that another big arc will make itself clear and it would have a personal connection to our characters. But while he was mum on that front, he, Simon Baker, and Robin Tunney were very forthcoming about how Jane and Lisbon would change post-Red John, saying after the storm, there will be much for both characters to deal with emotionally.
“I think they’re both going to start thinking in ways that they never have before about the other person,” Heller says. “They’ve always had this mission but now the mission is gone. After that, they have the luxury of thinking of each other as individuals — a man and a woman. That’s going to be explored in-depth.”
Baker, meanwhile, says he doesn’t see the post-RJ world as a shift in dynamic for the pair so much as an opportunity to explore interesting questions. “Do they look at each other and go, ‘Jesus you’re annoying’ or do they look at each other and go ‘Let’s lay down and make love,” he says. “It’s an interesting road to go down,” agrees Tunney.
But is it safe to say that Jane and Lisbon will at least admit their love for each other? Well, Heller hesitates to use the word love in a romantic sense, but, he says, “I think there’s a great deal of love between them and they now have to find out what kind of love that is and what does it mean.”
src
If we’re talking about the show itself, there’s an answer. But exec producer Bruno Heller wouldn’t utter a word about it when I sat down with him last week with some other reporter. (“I can’t say more than that because arcs by their nature, as soon as you shoot an arrow in the air, it lands somewhere. And I don’t want to shoot that arrow quite yet,” he says.) He merely confirmed that another big arc will make itself clear and it would have a personal connection to our characters. But while he was mum on that front, he, Simon Baker, and Robin Tunney were very forthcoming about how Jane and Lisbon would change post-Red John, saying after the storm, there will be much for both characters to deal with emotionally.
“I think they’re both going to start thinking in ways that they never have before about the other person,” Heller says. “They’ve always had this mission but now the mission is gone. After that, they have the luxury of thinking of each other as individuals — a man and a woman. That’s going to be explored in-depth.”
Baker, meanwhile, says he doesn’t see the post-RJ world as a shift in dynamic for the pair so much as an opportunity to explore interesting questions. “Do they look at each other and go, ‘Jesus you’re annoying’ or do they look at each other and go ‘Let’s lay down and make love,” he says. “It’s an interesting road to go down,” agrees Tunney.
But is it safe to say that Jane and Lisbon will at least admit their love for each other? Well, Heller hesitates to use the word love in a romantic sense, but, he says, “I think there’s a great deal of love between them and they now have to find out what kind of love that is and what does it mean.”
src
The Mentalist 6x01
While investigating the murder of a man who had been missing for two years, Jane and Lisbon secretly continue to narrow down the list of Red John suspects.
The Mentalist Season 6: A Look Back And A Look Ahead
by Mack Rawden, src
Upon first glance, the format of The Mentalist isn’t a whole lot different from other procedurals. Each season contains a majority of bottle, mystery of the week episodes interspersed with a few attempts at catching the big bad. What sets The Mentalist apart, however, is that the so-called big bad has been the same killer since the first episode of the first season. In fact, the title mentalist, Patrick Jane (Simon Baker), only spends time solving cases with the CBI in order to hunt for Red John, the serial killer who murdered his family.
Throughout the show’s run, Jane has slowly gotten closer to catching his nemesis. Thanks to Lorelei Martins (Emmanuelle Chriqui), our hero is now closer than ever. During Season 5, she off-handedly mentioned him shaking hands with Red John, though she refused to divulge his identity. Using timelines of the killings and other clues he’s previously gathered, Jane locked himself in his upstairs office at the CBI and was able to narrow the list of suspects down to seven: Bret Stiles, Gale Bertram, Ray Haffner, Reede Smith, Bob Kirkland, Sheriff Thomas McAllister and Brett Partridge.
Heading into the end of the season, Jane was convinced he finally had the upper hand on Red John, but in the final episode, the antagonist murdered Martins and revealed he’s well aware of the list.
As you can tell from the promo, the Red John hunt is coming to an end. Season 6 is even subtitled Red John: The Final Chapter, which is perfect timing. I’m all for teasing out a storyline and making loyal viewers really earn it, but five seasons of hunting the same man was getting a little tiresome. More importantly, since each season increased Red John’s power, he’s now almost too scary, manipulative and intimidating. Far better for creator Bruno Heller to end the madness this year and allow future seasons to be dedicated to Jane trying to move on and perhaps meeting a new villain to obsess over.
Obviously, the Red John resolution is what people will tune into Season 6 for; however, I would like to see the show continue to offer some bottle episodes. Programs start to get into trouble when they drift away from their basic format, and the basic format of The Mentalist has always been a mix of Red John and routine murders. After all, in real life, it’s not as if Lisbon (Robin Tunney) and company would be allowed to avoid the basic responsibilities of their job in order to focus on one serial killer exclusively.
Upon first glance, the format of The Mentalist isn’t a whole lot different from other procedurals. Each season contains a majority of bottle, mystery of the week episodes interspersed with a few attempts at catching the big bad. What sets The Mentalist apart, however, is that the so-called big bad has been the same killer since the first episode of the first season. In fact, the title mentalist, Patrick Jane (Simon Baker), only spends time solving cases with the CBI in order to hunt for Red John, the serial killer who murdered his family.
Throughout the show’s run, Jane has slowly gotten closer to catching his nemesis. Thanks to Lorelei Martins (Emmanuelle Chriqui), our hero is now closer than ever. During Season 5, she off-handedly mentioned him shaking hands with Red John, though she refused to divulge his identity. Using timelines of the killings and other clues he’s previously gathered, Jane locked himself in his upstairs office at the CBI and was able to narrow the list of suspects down to seven: Bret Stiles, Gale Bertram, Ray Haffner, Reede Smith, Bob Kirkland, Sheriff Thomas McAllister and Brett Partridge.
Heading into the end of the season, Jane was convinced he finally had the upper hand on Red John, but in the final episode, the antagonist murdered Martins and revealed he’s well aware of the list.
As you can tell from the promo, the Red John hunt is coming to an end. Season 6 is even subtitled Red John: The Final Chapter, which is perfect timing. I’m all for teasing out a storyline and making loyal viewers really earn it, but five seasons of hunting the same man was getting a little tiresome. More importantly, since each season increased Red John’s power, he’s now almost too scary, manipulative and intimidating. Far better for creator Bruno Heller to end the madness this year and allow future seasons to be dedicated to Jane trying to move on and perhaps meeting a new villain to obsess over.
Obviously, the Red John resolution is what people will tune into Season 6 for; however, I would like to see the show continue to offer some bottle episodes. Programs start to get into trouble when they drift away from their basic format, and the basic format of The Mentalist has always been a mix of Red John and routine murders. After all, in real life, it’s not as if Lisbon (Robin Tunney) and company would be allowed to avoid the basic responsibilities of their job in order to focus on one serial killer exclusively.
Mentalist Boss Bruno Heller Breaks Down the Red John Suspects
It's the beginning of the end for the Red John story line on CBS' The Mentalist. Creator Bruno Heller has promised that the case which has plagued Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) since Season 1 will be solved this year. And based on the Season 6 premiere, Heller and Co. aren't wasting any time in getting to the conclusion.
The kickoff episode (Sunday, 10/9c, CBS) picks up immediately after the conclusion of Season 5, with Jane and Lisbon (Robin Tunney) in possession of seven names — one of whom will be exposed as Red John midway through the season. By the end of the premiere, one suspect will be out of the running, one will (arguably) have emerged as the frontrunner, and Lisbon and Jane find themselves closer to Red John than they've ever been before. And in this case, that might not be a good thing.
"We've never really started a season with this kind of situation in which our guys are very, very close to the bad guy, but the bad guy knows exactly as much as they do," Heller tells TVGuide.com. "It's an interesting chess position that they're both in as we start. ... In this first episode, Lisbon is dealing with the fact that Jane for the first time doesn't seem to know what to do next. And that scares the hell out of her."
We asked Heller to make a case for each of the seven suspects. "All of those guys have reasons to hide aspects of their personality," he says. "It's just a question of whether they're hiding for ordinary prosaic reasons or for sinister, evil reasons."
Read Heller's assessment of each and then tell us which one you think is Red John:
Brett Stiles (Malcolm McDowell): "He's certainly a frontrunner, partly because it's Malcolm McDowell," Heller quips of the recurring guest star, who plays the leader of the Visualize cult. (Not to mention his history of insanity.) "He has the money, he has the resources, and he certainly has the kind of single-minded temperament and lust for power that you would expect to have from someone like Red John," Heller notes.
Gale Bertram (Michael Gaston): As the CBI director, Bertram is certainly in an ideal position to carry out the Red John killings. "[Being] well-placed inside a law enforcement organization, gives him a lot of power," Heller says. "He has admitted that he is a duplicitous and a manipulative person already. We know he can play two sides of the same issue very well. He's certainly got the intellect for it. Whether he has the depth of evil required of this guy, that remains to be seen." Will Jane and Lisbon be able to keep their suspicions about their boss secret this season?
Bob Kirkland (Kevin Corrigan): The Homeland Security agent is "a dark horse," according to Heller. "If you were a betting man, he'd be an outside shot I think, but a good dark horse. He is probably the most mysterious of the candidates, and that makes him suspicious. His behavior sometimes, even what we've seen of his behavior, is inexplicable and even murderous. So, if he ain't Red John, he's certainly one weird cat."
Ray Haffner (Reed Diamond): Heller characterizes former CBI supervisor and cult member Ray Haffner as "the sort of Richard Gere-as-villain type. Smiling, charming. Maybe seems a little too shallow to be a serial killer, or too light. ... With Haffner, he always seems smiling and cheery but there always seems to be a dark cloud behind that smile. That, more than anything, would be what made me suspicious of him."
Reede Smith (Drew Powell): Reed certainly has a temper, but does that make him a killer? "He doesn't even try to hide his anger. He's clearly a man with issues," Heller admits. "The question is, Red John is obviously a very, very intelligent person. What would be a better place to hide your real sort of psychopathic anger than behind a mask of anger? Probably most people are expecting Red John to be a calm, cool, collected type of person. If you were Red John and you wanted to disguise yourself, then you would certainly disguise yourself as the kind of red-faced, angry kind of guy that he can be."
Thomas McAllister (Xander Berkeley): "Again, he's well-placed as a law enforcement official," Heller says of Sheriff McAllister. "He, like Kirkland, has a lot of mystery in his past that makes it difficult to judge. He's a dark horse candidate. He's not a Top 3. He hasn't displayed any signs of madness or anger or homicidal tendencies. So, there's no handle on which Jane can put his suspicions — which in itself is suspicious."
Brett Partridge (Jack Plotnick): "You've always got to be suspicious of the nerds," Heller cautions. "He's both a slightly embittered soul and a very intelligent person. Someone who feels they've been underestimated, underrated and mistreated by the world. Demographically, he's right there where a profiler would say, 'Yeah.'" As far as his career choice as a forensic investigator, "That's exactly the kind of job that a serial killer would want to take up. That's exactly the interests that a serial killer would have. [But] he always appears slightly weedy. Is he concealing strength or is he really that flaccid a person? It's hard to tell."
tvguide.com
The kickoff episode (Sunday, 10/9c, CBS) picks up immediately after the conclusion of Season 5, with Jane and Lisbon (Robin Tunney) in possession of seven names — one of whom will be exposed as Red John midway through the season. By the end of the premiere, one suspect will be out of the running, one will (arguably) have emerged as the frontrunner, and Lisbon and Jane find themselves closer to Red John than they've ever been before. And in this case, that might not be a good thing.
"We've never really started a season with this kind of situation in which our guys are very, very close to the bad guy, but the bad guy knows exactly as much as they do," Heller tells TVGuide.com. "It's an interesting chess position that they're both in as we start. ... In this first episode, Lisbon is dealing with the fact that Jane for the first time doesn't seem to know what to do next. And that scares the hell out of her."
We asked Heller to make a case for each of the seven suspects. "All of those guys have reasons to hide aspects of their personality," he says. "It's just a question of whether they're hiding for ordinary prosaic reasons or for sinister, evil reasons."
Read Heller's assessment of each and then tell us which one you think is Red John:
Brett Stiles (Malcolm McDowell): "He's certainly a frontrunner, partly because it's Malcolm McDowell," Heller quips of the recurring guest star, who plays the leader of the Visualize cult. (Not to mention his history of insanity.) "He has the money, he has the resources, and he certainly has the kind of single-minded temperament and lust for power that you would expect to have from someone like Red John," Heller notes.
Gale Bertram (Michael Gaston): As the CBI director, Bertram is certainly in an ideal position to carry out the Red John killings. "[Being] well-placed inside a law enforcement organization, gives him a lot of power," Heller says. "He has admitted that he is a duplicitous and a manipulative person already. We know he can play two sides of the same issue very well. He's certainly got the intellect for it. Whether he has the depth of evil required of this guy, that remains to be seen." Will Jane and Lisbon be able to keep their suspicions about their boss secret this season?
Bob Kirkland (Kevin Corrigan): The Homeland Security agent is "a dark horse," according to Heller. "If you were a betting man, he'd be an outside shot I think, but a good dark horse. He is probably the most mysterious of the candidates, and that makes him suspicious. His behavior sometimes, even what we've seen of his behavior, is inexplicable and even murderous. So, if he ain't Red John, he's certainly one weird cat."
Ray Haffner (Reed Diamond): Heller characterizes former CBI supervisor and cult member Ray Haffner as "the sort of Richard Gere-as-villain type. Smiling, charming. Maybe seems a little too shallow to be a serial killer, or too light. ... With Haffner, he always seems smiling and cheery but there always seems to be a dark cloud behind that smile. That, more than anything, would be what made me suspicious of him."
Reede Smith (Drew Powell): Reed certainly has a temper, but does that make him a killer? "He doesn't even try to hide his anger. He's clearly a man with issues," Heller admits. "The question is, Red John is obviously a very, very intelligent person. What would be a better place to hide your real sort of psychopathic anger than behind a mask of anger? Probably most people are expecting Red John to be a calm, cool, collected type of person. If you were Red John and you wanted to disguise yourself, then you would certainly disguise yourself as the kind of red-faced, angry kind of guy that he can be."
Thomas McAllister (Xander Berkeley): "Again, he's well-placed as a law enforcement official," Heller says of Sheriff McAllister. "He, like Kirkland, has a lot of mystery in his past that makes it difficult to judge. He's a dark horse candidate. He's not a Top 3. He hasn't displayed any signs of madness or anger or homicidal tendencies. So, there's no handle on which Jane can put his suspicions — which in itself is suspicious."
Brett Partridge (Jack Plotnick): "You've always got to be suspicious of the nerds," Heller cautions. "He's both a slightly embittered soul and a very intelligent person. Someone who feels they've been underestimated, underrated and mistreated by the world. Demographically, he's right there where a profiler would say, 'Yeah.'" As far as his career choice as a forensic investigator, "That's exactly the kind of job that a serial killer would want to take up. That's exactly the interests that a serial killer would have. [But] he always appears slightly weedy. Is he concealing strength or is he really that flaccid a person? It's hard to tell."
tvguide.com
s06 spoilers
Anything good about The Mentalist, preferably about Jane and Lisbon? — Lexi, via Twitter
ADAM: With the show wrapping up the Red John story line this season, creator Bruno Heller hints that the unresolved sexual tension between the core duo will perhaps move to the fore. "I think they absolutely love each other," he says. "Have they ever laid there at night and thought about the other one and what that would be like to be a romantic couple? Of course they have, and that's exactly what they're going to continue feeling and thinking." Then again, catching Red John might change those feelings altogether. "They care so much about each other, [but] with the stakes being ratcheted up by Red John being ever-present, it's a pressure-cooker situation," Simon Baker says. "They have to lean on each other more, but it's also going to be easy for them to blow each other's fuse."
Src: tvguide
Question: Do you have any scoop on Bones, Castle, Glee, The Mentalist or Once Upon a Time? –Janika
Ausiello: I see… a Mentalist scoop in your future. Though we know that Amanda Righetti and Owain Yeoman are leaving at some point this season, and though we know Van Pelt and Rigsby are heading for a wedding, it’s still hazy on how/why exactly the characters will be written off of the show. “The hunt for Red John is reaching its climax,” series creator Bruno Heller notes. And with that, “the CBI is thrown into turmoil… so Rigsby and Van Pelt – and Cho – are forced to find new ways to be in the world.”
Question: I’ll love you forever if you give me a spoiler about The Mentalist! –Natasha
Ausiello: Bruno Heller says that after Red John’s capture this season, a big new arc will kick in — though he’s loath to utter a word about it. “As soon as you shoot an arrow in the air it’s going to land somewhere, and I don’t want to shoot that arrow quite yet,” he explains. “I would say that one of the luxuries if we do indeed catch and get rid of Red John… is that it’s a huge weight and burden off the shoulders of Jane and Lisbon and everybody else, so it’s a good life change, it gives them freedom and a sense of being able to breathe again. So while there will be gripping arcs of the kind that the audience is used to, we’re going to take this opportunity to open it up a bit.
tvline
ADAM: With the show wrapping up the Red John story line this season, creator Bruno Heller hints that the unresolved sexual tension between the core duo will perhaps move to the fore. "I think they absolutely love each other," he says. "Have they ever laid there at night and thought about the other one and what that would be like to be a romantic couple? Of course they have, and that's exactly what they're going to continue feeling and thinking." Then again, catching Red John might change those feelings altogether. "They care so much about each other, [but] with the stakes being ratcheted up by Red John being ever-present, it's a pressure-cooker situation," Simon Baker says. "They have to lean on each other more, but it's also going to be easy for them to blow each other's fuse."
Src: tvguide
Question: Do you have any scoop on Bones, Castle, Glee, The Mentalist or Once Upon a Time? –Janika
Ausiello: I see… a Mentalist scoop in your future. Though we know that Amanda Righetti and Owain Yeoman are leaving at some point this season, and though we know Van Pelt and Rigsby are heading for a wedding, it’s still hazy on how/why exactly the characters will be written off of the show. “The hunt for Red John is reaching its climax,” series creator Bruno Heller notes. And with that, “the CBI is thrown into turmoil… so Rigsby and Van Pelt – and Cho – are forced to find new ways to be in the world.”
Question: I’ll love you forever if you give me a spoiler about The Mentalist! –Natasha
Ausiello: Bruno Heller says that after Red John’s capture this season, a big new arc will kick in — though he’s loath to utter a word about it. “As soon as you shoot an arrow in the air it’s going to land somewhere, and I don’t want to shoot that arrow quite yet,” he explains. “I would say that one of the luxuries if we do indeed catch and get rid of Red John… is that it’s a huge weight and burden off the shoulders of Jane and Lisbon and everybody else, so it’s a good life change, it gives them freedom and a sense of being able to breathe again. So while there will be gripping arcs of the kind that the audience is used to, we’re going to take this opportunity to open it up a bit.
tvline
Jack Plotnick's Interview
The Mentalist’s Jack Plotnick Talks Playing Brett Partridge, Being A Red John Suspect & Flies
The Mentalist season 6 is slated to premiere this coming Sunday and if you know anything about yours truly, I am VERY excited to see how it will pan out especially since we know that the Red John saga is coming to an end.
With so many exciting news & spoilers coming out, we are very fortunate here at TV Equals to have gotten the fantastic honor and opportunity to chat with someone who knows a little bit about what is coming this season, Jack Plotnick who plays Brett Partridge, one of the Red John suspects.
In our chat, Jack talked about been playing Brett Partridge since the pilot episode, working on the season 6 premiere and more. Check out what he had to say below and don’t miss him in the season 6 premiere episode of The Mentalist this Sunday September 29 at 10 pm on CBS.
I’m such a fan of your character. Isn’t this an exciting season?
Jack Plotnick: I’ll say, definitely very exciting.
You’ve been with this show from the pilot onward. What’s that adventure been like for you?
Jack Plotnick: Well it was really cool to have been part of the pilot because I was there when all those actors were just meeting each other, and actually because I was in the pilot episode, I even went with them to meet an actual, I think he was, an FBI agent to discuss how they do what they do. I really felt like I was part of the family because I was there when they were all just meeting each other, getting to know each other. That feeling really continued every time I would go to the set. Everybody remembered me and welcomed me in a really warm fashion. So it’s always been a wonderful place to return to, and I have some really wonderful memories along the way. It’s been fun to get to each appearance to learn more and more about my character and have him go from just getting to know him better…and yeah.
How did you react when you found out that your character was going to be on the list of seven suspects?
Jack Plotnick: I was incredibly excited. I had heard a rumor that it was possible, and I just thought that was wonderful and couldn’t wait to find out if it was really going to happen or not, and then when I found out it was happening, it was just so cool. It was really exciting. I love the way that it was presented on the episode. I think the way those pictures come down like that was so cool, and getting to be the last photo was especially chilling. So that was a lot of fun.
Let’s say you turn out to be Red John, is there something about your character that you would’ve liked to incorporate from the get go, or are you fine with not having known the whole time?
Jack Plotnick: Well, I played it like I was Red John from the beginning.
You’re actually in the premiere episode of season six. What can you tease about that episode? There’s a photo that’s out where you’re with Jane and Lisbon on a beach.
Jack Plotnick: That beach was next to the Salton Sea. There was a tremendous amount of flies in the air. So what I recommend watching is how many times the flies actually land on our faces while we’re trying to act. It was really one of the most difficult things I’ve had to deal with as an actor, staying in character while flies land on your face. It was incredible because when we would sit down, I remember I saw Robin [Tunney], she was sitting there and there were like sixteen flies on her leg and there’s nothing you can do about it. Simon [Baker] came over and just swatted them away, but ten seconds later they’re right back again. What I loved is that Simon and Robin had such a wonderful sense of humor about it. They’re such good sports, and nobody ever got upset. Simon certainly teased the location manager about it because on top of the flies, the smell was just excruciatingly terrible.
The Mentalist Season 6 Premiere The Desert Rose (3)
Is there a difference in how you approach Brett Partridge now as compared to the beginning?
Jack Plotnick: No. I always approached it like Red John because that seemed appropriate.
The character has always been super specific, to the point that Patrick Jane was irked by him from the get go. Was that in the script, or did you add that in?
Jack Plotnick: The creepiness was in the script. However, in the pilot, Simon adlibbed an extra line and it’s been a while since I’ve watched that scene, but that final line where he says – shoot – on his exit, he added an You’re ghoulish.’ He says, ‘You’re ghoul,’ and then he said something else. The point is that he added and he definitely really enjoyed that aspect and played it up even more. But it was written in the script. That’s kind of what they wanted from the character, the idea that he’s a little too into the…he’s always been ultra fascinated by the different acts that Red John does and by the violence. It doesn’t even matter if it’s Red John. I think he just seems a little too into gore.
What can you tease beyond the premiere for this season for your character this season?
Jack Plotnick: I’ve been very busy and we all worked really hard to make this season awesome and exciting, and that I can’t wait for the audience to see it. I can’t really say anything past that.
Do you have any other upcoming projects you can talk about?
Jack Plotnick: Oh, yes. I directed a feature film called ‘Space Station 76‘ that stars Patrick Wilson, Liv Tyler and Matt Bomer and Jerry O’Connell. We hope that will be in festivals and theaters next year. It takes place in the future as we had imagined it in the 1970′s and it’s a dark comedy, and it’s sort of like ‘Space 1999′ meets ‘The Brady Bunch’ in space.
That’s been a big part of my life in the last year, and also a musical I co-wrote called ‘Disaster!’ It’s going to be premiering off Broadway next month and people in New York can see that. It’s a 1970′s disaster movie musical with all hit songs from the ’70′s. They can find that on Facebook. The website is disastermusical.com and I’m really, really proud of that. That’s premiering in October.
If you could guest star on any TV show, which one would it be?
Jack Plotnick: Oh, gosh, well for me there’s no question. For me it has to be ‘The Love Boat.’ I’ve got to be on ‘The Love Boat.’ I’ve got to walk in front of the blue screen and go up on the deck with that blue screen and sky, and I was to have a drink with Gofer. I want to sit at the captain’s table. I want my character and Julie to have some torrid affair. Yeah, that’s what it’s going to be.
Src: tvequals.com
The Mentalist season 6 is slated to premiere this coming Sunday and if you know anything about yours truly, I am VERY excited to see how it will pan out especially since we know that the Red John saga is coming to an end.
With so many exciting news & spoilers coming out, we are very fortunate here at TV Equals to have gotten the fantastic honor and opportunity to chat with someone who knows a little bit about what is coming this season, Jack Plotnick who plays Brett Partridge, one of the Red John suspects.
In our chat, Jack talked about been playing Brett Partridge since the pilot episode, working on the season 6 premiere and more. Check out what he had to say below and don’t miss him in the season 6 premiere episode of The Mentalist this Sunday September 29 at 10 pm on CBS.
I’m such a fan of your character. Isn’t this an exciting season?
Jack Plotnick: I’ll say, definitely very exciting.
You’ve been with this show from the pilot onward. What’s that adventure been like for you?
Jack Plotnick: Well it was really cool to have been part of the pilot because I was there when all those actors were just meeting each other, and actually because I was in the pilot episode, I even went with them to meet an actual, I think he was, an FBI agent to discuss how they do what they do. I really felt like I was part of the family because I was there when they were all just meeting each other, getting to know each other. That feeling really continued every time I would go to the set. Everybody remembered me and welcomed me in a really warm fashion. So it’s always been a wonderful place to return to, and I have some really wonderful memories along the way. It’s been fun to get to each appearance to learn more and more about my character and have him go from just getting to know him better…and yeah.
How did you react when you found out that your character was going to be on the list of seven suspects?
Jack Plotnick: I was incredibly excited. I had heard a rumor that it was possible, and I just thought that was wonderful and couldn’t wait to find out if it was really going to happen or not, and then when I found out it was happening, it was just so cool. It was really exciting. I love the way that it was presented on the episode. I think the way those pictures come down like that was so cool, and getting to be the last photo was especially chilling. So that was a lot of fun.
Let’s say you turn out to be Red John, is there something about your character that you would’ve liked to incorporate from the get go, or are you fine with not having known the whole time?
Jack Plotnick: Well, I played it like I was Red John from the beginning.
You’re actually in the premiere episode of season six. What can you tease about that episode? There’s a photo that’s out where you’re with Jane and Lisbon on a beach.
Jack Plotnick: That beach was next to the Salton Sea. There was a tremendous amount of flies in the air. So what I recommend watching is how many times the flies actually land on our faces while we’re trying to act. It was really one of the most difficult things I’ve had to deal with as an actor, staying in character while flies land on your face. It was incredible because when we would sit down, I remember I saw Robin [Tunney], she was sitting there and there were like sixteen flies on her leg and there’s nothing you can do about it. Simon [Baker] came over and just swatted them away, but ten seconds later they’re right back again. What I loved is that Simon and Robin had such a wonderful sense of humor about it. They’re such good sports, and nobody ever got upset. Simon certainly teased the location manager about it because on top of the flies, the smell was just excruciatingly terrible.
The Mentalist Season 6 Premiere The Desert Rose (3)
Is there a difference in how you approach Brett Partridge now as compared to the beginning?
Jack Plotnick: No. I always approached it like Red John because that seemed appropriate.
The character has always been super specific, to the point that Patrick Jane was irked by him from the get go. Was that in the script, or did you add that in?
Jack Plotnick: The creepiness was in the script. However, in the pilot, Simon adlibbed an extra line and it’s been a while since I’ve watched that scene, but that final line where he says – shoot – on his exit, he added an You’re ghoulish.’ He says, ‘You’re ghoul,’ and then he said something else. The point is that he added and he definitely really enjoyed that aspect and played it up even more. But it was written in the script. That’s kind of what they wanted from the character, the idea that he’s a little too into the…he’s always been ultra fascinated by the different acts that Red John does and by the violence. It doesn’t even matter if it’s Red John. I think he just seems a little too into gore.
What can you tease beyond the premiere for this season for your character this season?
Jack Plotnick: I’ve been very busy and we all worked really hard to make this season awesome and exciting, and that I can’t wait for the audience to see it. I can’t really say anything past that.
Do you have any other upcoming projects you can talk about?
Jack Plotnick: Oh, yes. I directed a feature film called ‘Space Station 76‘ that stars Patrick Wilson, Liv Tyler and Matt Bomer and Jerry O’Connell. We hope that will be in festivals and theaters next year. It takes place in the future as we had imagined it in the 1970′s and it’s a dark comedy, and it’s sort of like ‘Space 1999′ meets ‘The Brady Bunch’ in space.
That’s been a big part of my life in the last year, and also a musical I co-wrote called ‘Disaster!’ It’s going to be premiering off Broadway next month and people in New York can see that. It’s a 1970′s disaster movie musical with all hit songs from the ’70′s. They can find that on Facebook. The website is disastermusical.com and I’m really, really proud of that. That’s premiering in October.
If you could guest star on any TV show, which one would it be?
Jack Plotnick: Oh, gosh, well for me there’s no question. For me it has to be ‘The Love Boat.’ I’ve got to be on ‘The Love Boat.’ I’ve got to walk in front of the blue screen and go up on the deck with that blue screen and sky, and I was to have a drink with Gofer. I want to sit at the captain’s table. I want my character and Julie to have some torrid affair. Yeah, that’s what it’s going to be.
Src: tvequals.com
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