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ARTICLES - "Married to the job"

Married to the job by Abbie Bernstein
Alias The Official Magazine, Issue 2 Jan/Feb 2003

Interrogation: Michael Vartan
To Sydney Bristow, hours have passedbut for her professional and personal partner Michael Vaughn, it's been two years. He's given up hope and married someone else! Actor MICHAEL VARTAN finds real-life challenges on Alias to be a lot simpler than those faced by his character. Words: Abbie Bernstein

Michael Vartan is what's known in the business as a "trooper". His colleagues report that he spent the day prior to this interview leaping across rooftops while suffering from the flu. He turns up uncomplaining in the production office, still under the weather but charmingly candid, self-deprecating and boundlessly enthusiastic about Alias and all his co-workers on the hit series.

Michael Vartan grew up moving between France, where he was born, and the United States; his passport says he's American. He made his feature film debut in the 1991 Un homme et deux femmes (A Man and Two Women) and appeared in the Italian film Fiorile before working in the US on films including The Pallbearer (one of the producers was Alias creator J.J Abrams), The Myth of Fingerprints, Never Been Kissed, The Next Best Thing and most recently One-Hour Photo, co-starring with Robin Williams and Connie Nielsen.

On TV, he's appeared in Ally McBeal and Friends, played Sir Lancelot in the mini-series The Mists of Avalon and has embarked on his third season of Alias as Sydney Bristow's now married, one-time love interest, CIA Agent Michael Vaughn.

Alias Magazine: How did you get into acting?
Michael Vartan: My mom's friend was a director who asked me if I wanted to be in this documentary (1988's Black Leather Jacket). I said "No", and he said, "I'll give you $600.00 a day", and I said, "Okay, sounds good to me." It literally all started from there. I was way too shy to be an actor. So I got forced into it and now I love it.

How did you become involved with Alias? What did you know about Vaughn when you auditioned?
Not much really. They didn't really know what was going to happen with the character, as he was in the last scene of the pilot briefly. But I read for J.J. (Abrams), who I'd worked with before on The Pallbearer. Then they tested me on the usual rigmarole for the studio and the network, and I got the job.

Did you have a fondness for the spy genre prior to Alias?
Oh yeah. James Bond-Sean Connery. Actually, I think (Pierce Brosnan) is not a bad Bond. But I love all the old, early 1960's movies the Sean Connerys: Dr. No and Goldfinger. As a kid, I watched those. What more do you want: a tuxedo, great gadgets and pretty girls. That's just like every little boy's dream, growing up.

Are there any similarities between you and Vaughn, apart from the obvious physical ones?
(Laughs) I consider myself a pretty normal person, and I think (Vaughn) is, too. I don't get too up, don't get too down. I think he's much more righteous and much more aggressive about work and things like that, but I think we're pretty much the same. That's the fun thing about being on the show. It's not like a year-long study in character work, because that would be exhausting. There are a lot of scenes I can just show and just start saying lines.

Vaughn has a lot of jargon in his dialogue. Is that difficult to learn?
I think my one strength as an actor is that I have a facility with learning lines. Normally, I read (a scene) two or three times and I've got it down. I think that comes with practice, too, especially with this kind of dialogue. You have to shift your mind to, "Okay, now I'm learning word for word as opposed to everyday speakable dialogue." It's a different kind of thing. I can't wait to audition for something where I get to say, "Hey, you know." (Laughs) That would be a nice change of pace. Luckily (on Alias), we have great writers, so a lot of times, it's not hard at all.

Do you do a lot of your own stunts? Apparently you were leaping over rooftops while ill?
The rooftops I was leaping over weren't exactly 50 foot gaps - they were little water mains. Most of the stunts are done by Jennifer (Garner). The few things I've had to do, yes, I do most of my own stunts. That's simply because what they ask of me is pretty minimal. In terms of the fights, I've been fighting a lot more lately (at the end of season two). You do as much as you can. The other day, David Anders (Sark) and I had a fight and they ended up using all our footage for the fight. Obviously, it was cut very quickly, so it gives the illusion that it's really happening. There are certain things that I wouldn't do. I'm terrified of flying around in a helicopter, so if a scene calls for me to be hanging out of a helicopter at 6,000 feet, I'd call for Tommy, my stunt double. He's funny, because a lot of the things they ask me to do really aren't that hard, I end up doing them. He's like , "Are you going to give me some work? Come on, man, let me do something-I drove all the way from Bakersfield."

What's the most difficult aspect of playing Vaughn?
If you're sick, anything's hard to do-getting out of bed is a pain. But just in terms of the show itself, (even) when we're still shooting at 5am on a Saturday morning downtown, it's fun. You're working with a crew that you love, and actors that you love to hang out with. We're in this little alley in downtown LA and we're making a little movie. There really is nothing bad about this show.

Does playing Vaughn opposite Jennifer Garner's Sydney come easily?
Yeah. We're such great friends. I think when you know someone well and the cameras are on you, of course some of your personal life is going to (show). Victor (Garber) is one of my favorites. We have a great realtionship off-camera, and I wish there were scenes where we could play that a little more. (In) our scenes, with Victor, he's always talking down to me and putting me in my place. (Laughs, does a Victor Garber impression) "Vaughn, you idiot!" With Jennifer-I've aid this before-I (challenge) any actor male or female, to not have chemistry with her. She's just so easy to work with. She's so sweet and it's fun, and now with the turn our characters have taken, it makes it even more ridiculously fun. Once, we had this love scene, and we just couldn't stop laughing. We're very lucky. And you'll probably hear this from all the actors. (whispers) Don't tell anyone we actually like what we do.

Who among the guest stars have you been most excited about?
Ethan Hawke. Unfortunately, I only had a half-a-second goodbye in a scene, but he was just cool to act with. He's someone that is a peer that I look up from my generation. It was just great, "Oh, my God, Ethan Hawke's working on our show." That was a lot of fun. But you know, they're all great for different reasons.

Do you have any favorite props?
My gun is one of my favorite props. We have to use these MP-4 submachine guns that are pretty cool. I've learned it pretty well. I know how to work all the bits and pieces. Vaughn is not the prop guy, really (laughs).

Vaughn has been injured and poisoned a few times now. Are those scenes difficult to play?
Oh, it's the easiest thing in the world. You just put a little white make-up on your face and you lay there and fall asleep (laughs). Those are the easy days!

On Alias, we can't take anyone's persona for granted. Would you like it if Vaughn went bad?
Since we're still in the early years of Alias, being the good guy is fine. I think that if he (Vaughn) were in the show for a much longer period of time, maybe turning to the dark side would be fun, just in terms of changing it up for a season. Again, I'm just so lucky to be working with these writers. Whenever they want to take it, I have absolute faith that it will be fun.

Do the actors talk with each other about how you'll all play your scenes together?
I think we all do our own thing. Everyone's got such different ways of approaching acting. When I look at people like Victor and Ron (Rifkin), they have such a strong theatrical background. I can't even imagine what goes through their minds before a scene. I don't think they could imagine what goes through mine (laughs). For me, I hear "Action", and all I really try to say is the lines as naturally as I can. There's no sort of method behind it. Some days, I'm much more relaxed and better at it. It's such a strange thing. There are certain days where it really feels like (the camera is) not even there, and there are days when you feel you can't even move. I just stopped trying to understand it because I think I never will. (Acting is) a very strange profession, it's a very strange thing to do, to live out extremes. The thing about film and TV is, the camera's not in when you're doing the dishes. No one is going to tune into that. So inevitably, you're either in a greatly heightened situation or you're incredibly low. It's just weird to live that out and try and have people watch you. Most people who are going through a crisis don't want other people to see them, but here we are. I guess in a weird way, it's fun.

Do you have a preference between television and film?
Now, the crossover is so normal. Ten, 15 years ago, you were either a TV guy or a film guy. That's obviously not the case any more. I think my perception of that is a little warped because of Alias, because we do have a great time here, and the actors and the crew I work with I love so much. I have a feeling that this is as good as it gets and everything from now on is going to be disappointing.

What have been the highlights so far on Alias?
It's such a fun set. Someone could tell me, "You're going to be doing this for the next 10 years", I'd gladly sign. We have so much fun and the people I get to work with every day are so great, so I think the whole show itself is a big, ongoing highlight for me.

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