John Noble: Skirting the Fringe

by Cynthia on November 25th, 2008

They say there is a fine line between genius and madness and nowhere is that more evident than on Fringe.

Dr. Walter Bishop is as likely to be found milking a cow in his lab as he is examining a new virus under a microscope. But playing a crazy genius is harder than it looks. Too much crazy and it becomes a comic performance. Too much genius and the audience can’t relate. Finding that balance means finding the humanity in a character and that’s where actor John Noble really hits the mark. To me, he’s like an Alzheimer’s patient who is all too aware of his mind slipping away. He can be funny and charming one minute and frustrated to the point of anger the next. Love him or hate him, you can’t talk about Fringe with out talking about Walter. And if you’re going to talk about Walter you might as well go right to the source:

A Q& A with Fringe star John Noble

So, how fun is it playing Walter Bishop?

John: It’s as much fun as it looks. It’s an absolute hoot. It’s obviously got serious aspects to it, but I treat it as a hoot to play the thing. Preparation, well, that’s probably the hardest bit, getting the timing right and doing the preparation on the scientific work, but working on Fringe is a great job. I mean it’s a great group of people to work with, and amazing scripts from the minds of J.J. Abrams and other people. They’re geniuses. Living inside their heads much be a very strange thing to do because they’re always coming up with something different.

But as fun as Walter is, he can be a little scary.

John: Yes. It’s the dark side to stuff, isn’t it? I guess it exists in all of us. But with Walter, because of who he is and how he is and how bright he is and how disturbed he is, it just sort of surfaces a bit more often and a bit more radically than it does in most of us. It’s certainly interesting to play, and it shocks the people I’m playing with at times. You see these shocked reactions from the other actors, but that all makes some good fun too.

Do you have a head for science?

John: Yes, I do, but more on a theoretical level than a practical level. One of my best friends, a fellow who I shared a house with many years and we were at the university together; he’s a brilliant scientist. My thought was the art, his was the science, but we could talk for hours. He was also quite mad. Whatever he did he did with absolute passion and focus and so if we were out drinking and partying, or if he was playing tennis or football or going after a girl, whatever he did, it was with complete and utter focus. That’s one of the aspects that Walter has as well. He’s an amazing man, and I’ve based a lot of this on him.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve learned so far working on the show?

John: I get more interested in the neural aspects of it, I suppose, than say the parasitical elements of it. When it goes into that sort of neural stuff and it’s a little strange in that sense, I get very excited about it. Obviously the parallel universe episode we did, which was called “The Arrival,” was probably outside of the realm of what we normally think about, although I have to confess, I had a very similar conversation about parallel universes with a friend of mine sitting in the university campus 30 years ago looking at the stars, and so it was an interesting thing to revisit that.

On Screen and Off Screen Relationships

The relationship between Walter and Peter is really pivotal in the series, can you talk more about that?

John: From my point of view, and I think Josh Jackson will back this up, the thing that has held our interest most so far has been that relationship. We’ve probably talked more about that, Josh and I, than about anything else. We just kind of feel that it’s special to do that sort of thing and feel a bit of responsibility to try and get it as right as possible. Judging by the feedback we’re getting, it’s working, and it’s resonating with a whole lot of people.

The depth of their relationship will continue to grow. There’s no question about that. It’s not going to turn into any sort of soft, “Oh, I understand, and now I know I love you” time, and walk away into the sunset. It won’t happen any more than it happens in families. But they’ll continue to grow.

What about Olivia and Astrid?

John: It’s been one of the things that has had to come slowly. We’ve had a man who has obviously been – I don’t think he would have ever been particularly good with women anyway, you know. I think he would have been a pretty horrible husband, not because he’s a bad man, simply because he wouldn’t have thought to be nice. Then he comes out, and he’s confronted with these two girls, and he doesn’t know how to talk to girls, so it’s taken time to learn. He still can’t remember “Astrid’s” name. Which is, I have to say, one of the great joys is working with Jasika on that whole, you know, the name business. She is such a funny girl. I can’t wait to see what they come up with her eventually, but she’s a very, very funny woman.

The one with “Olivia” is fascinating because that’s far deeper. My sense is that “Walter” starts to feel almost paternal towards her. But obviously you can’t go into that path, and just on occasions I can see that “Olivia” wants to ask “Walter” something, but then she’ll back away. We’ve seen a couple times that that’s happened. Somewhere down the track, I think that there will be a coming together of those two, and I don’t know this for a fact, but I just feel it’s inevitable, and I think it’s something that “Walter” and “Olivia” will need to do.

What have been some of your favorite scenes or moments thus far in the series that we’ve seen?

John: Anything to do with the cow, I mean, I adore working with the cow. The cow makes me laugh. I don’t know why. Everyone gets all sort of gooey and funny when the cow comes in. And then, of course, I got to milk the cow and, you know, because they rang up and said, “Do you need some coaching to milk a cow?” And I said, “Certainly not. I could milk a cow. I’m a country boy,” so that was great fun milking the cow. I don’t know.

In the pilot where we’re eating Chinese watching “Sponge Bob,” and that cow was on our necks, myself and Jasika. That was the funniest thing because it was nuzzling up against us trying to get the Chinese food. It wouldn’t stay until I gave it some, but it was just the funniest night doing that scene about 4:00 in the morning. Those sorts of things, there’s a whole lot of them.

One of my favorite games at present is to try and make – I’ve got this thing where I try and make “Broyles” laugh because Lance Reddick plays it to a tee. So I go out of my way whenever I have a scene to try and make him laugh. Of course, as actors, we have great fun with this because, in rehearsals, I succeed. But as soon as the cameras roll, there’s no way. It’s going to be absolute headlines across the nation. “Broyles Smiles” one day.

Skirting the Fringe

What do you think of the whole idea of Fringe science?

John: In my lifetime, lasers were considered to be some sort of futuristic foolish idea. This is in my lifetime, and we use them on a daily basis for everything now. I believe we are only tapping the edges of what is potential … as we learn more through quantum mechanics and string theory, we’re finding out that all sorts of things are possible that we didn’t think were. We’re becoming less ignorant as to the possibilities. We can imagine the impossibilities, as J.J. Abrams likes to say.

Do you have a message for the fans?

You know, I think the journey of Fringe has only just started. Every energy that I sense around the place is to take this good, very good show, and turn it into a great show. That’s the discussion. That’s the energy that’s going into it, and your support, it’s going to be a great ride. I think it’s going to be an amazing ride, so thank you so much.

Watch for all new episodes of Fringe on November 25^th, and December 2^nd. Then Fringe returns on January 20^th, with all-new episodes, same timeslot, Tuesdays at 9:00 right after American Idol.

Cr: George Holz/Barbara Nitke/Eric Leibowitz/Craig Blankenhorn/FOX

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