DeKay rang us up to discuss the pleasures of guest star work (including his character "Bizarro Jerry" on Seinfeld), his role on the sexually charged Tell Me You Love Me, and the one intimate scene he'd love to share with Matthew Bomer.
USA markets White Collar, Burn Notice, and Royal Pains as "guilty pleasure" programming. What do you think that means?
It's interesting. There are these shows out there right now like Breaking Bad and Dexter that have characters on the edge. Certainly, [White Collar] has that too, but it's fun. It's fun to see Neal and Peter try to solve a case each week -- or a caper, as I like to call it. It's just fun fare. Not every episode has violence, which I also think is kind of nice.
Do you think the fun that viewers have is directly related to the amount of fun you're having as an actor in those scenes?
I think that's part of it. Also, I think [creator] Jeff Eastin and the writers have created a great sense of levity to all of this. It always starts with the writers and fortunately, we carry that in the studio and on set as well.
There are so many badges on television these days. Did you feel pressure when you first signed onto White Collar to make your character unique?
I didn't feel pressure in that regard. What I thought, honestly, was how liberating it is to play somebody within the law that is not somebody that is by-the-book or constantly in their office. Viewers also get to go home with him and learn about Peter's relationship with his wife, which is rare. I think this character is great because you see that he doesn't trust Neal completely but he likes the guy and can't help but enjoy chasing bad guys with him. They both respect each other immensely too. Peter recognizes that Neal loves the chase as much as he does.
Before White Collar, you spent five years with HBO on shows like Carnivàle and Tell Me You Love Me. What was the biggest adjustment for you as an actor when you transitioned from premium cable to cable?
The biggest change that I have seen is just that at HBO, we would shoot the entire season before they aired it. HBO was more concerned about the arc of the entire season before it was shared with an audience. Things move a little faster here on cable, but Carnivàle was a big show with a big cast -- a period piece. We would shoot anywhere from nine to eleven days on an episode like that. With White Collar, we only shoot seven days.
Shooting inside those amazing New York City townhomes seems like such a privilege.
It's amazing. Just when you think you have seen every gorgeous multimillion dollar townhouse in New York, production finds a new one -- with a million dollar chandelier that hangs down from the entire length of the stairwell, from the sixth floor all the way down to the entrance. It's just incredible how many beautiful, glamorous homes we have gotten to see.
Does the cast and crew ever interact with the owners?
Sometimes, but they're not usually there. We're certainly respectful of their homes, but they get nervous that one of us will bang up against a $400,000 painting.
No, honestly it doesn't. Those people are going to talk about that aspect of the show because they didn't watch it enough to understand it. That show had a very "selective audience," for lack of a better term. It's amazing how all walks of life come up to me and say something about that show. I mean, really, all walks of life. The HBO marketing department must have just been confused beyond belief because there is nothing that makes sense about who comes up to talk to me about that show.
What types of people approach you?
College kids will come up to me and then I'll turn around and a 45-year-old construction worker will ask me about it. I stop and say, "Wait, you sat there and watched [Tell Me You Love Me] with you your wife?" Retired people come up to me, people of all ethnicities. So when all of that happens, you think, "OK good, people were watching." But we did offend some people.
It was pretty controversial. What did you take away from that project?
Not to get philosophical, but it's great when you do work as an actor and you enjoy your character and then you start to realize that you are actually doing something you like for a living. And it was also fulfilling knowing that we were telling stories that really affected people and changed people. You start to realize, "Oh, I'm making a difference." It was positive, because at first I was nervous to go into that show because I knew it would stir up controversy.
You have a really impressive guest star resume. Is it possible to be fulfilled by a television job when you're only on a show for a few episodes?
It is, actually -- usually because with a guest star role, the characters are sometimes more interesting.
Which of those roles stands out to you?
I guest starred on a show called Standoff with Ron Livingston and Rosemarie DeWitt where I played an air traffic controller who just loses it and holds people hostage. It was wonderfully fulfilling because it was me in one space talking to Ron's character throughout most of the episode.
Confinement sometimes brings the best and worst out of people.
I have always said [to the writers that] I would love to see an episode of White Collar where Neal and Peter get stuck in an elevator. We would just run the gamut of emotions and at the end of the episode, the doors would fly open and you see the two of them singing some song. I keep suggesting it. We'll see.