Jimmy Smits shares message for ‘Sons of Anarchy’ fans
By Michael Aaron Gallagher of StayFamous.Net
Jimmy Smits. Photo by Prashant Gupta/FX.
In the competitive landscape of cable television, the biker drama Sons of Anarchy continues to deliver strong ratings. Part of the show’s secret to success is its all-star cast, which includes veteran actor Jimmy Smits (NYPD Blue, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith) in his role as Nero Padilla.
In a recent interview with StayFamous.Net, Smits talked about the popular series, now in its fifth season on FX.
Michael Aaron Gallagher: “Have there been any moments on Sons of Anarchy when you saw a particular performance or a scene and thought, ‘This is really great television, something that could hold its own against any show or movie out there?'”
Jimmy Smits: “What I saw in season three, which really cemented for me that the show had jumped to a different gear with that whole—for lack of a better word, the whole Irish storyline that was introduced when they went to Belfast. That whole back and forth was really quite intricate.
A lot of it, I thought that they were in Ireland for real. I was believing that they were somewhere else, and a lot of it was shot here. They did go and do some skeleton work to do exteriors out there, but that was really quite, quite wonderful—Titus Welliver, who’s a friend from NYPD Blue days, and now he came in and did a wonderful job with them. The performances there were very, very intricate by everyone involved, and jacked up the storyline to another kind of level.
Some of this stuff that Ryan [Hurst]—Ryan, I have a lot of respect for him as an actor, and the kind of scenes that I saw, prior to jumping on board, between him and Jax character—what Charlie [Hunnam] does—were very, very special. Just the grittiness of the show, the grittiness of the show just sold me 100%, and I think that it—like you say—it can go up against any film or TV show out there.”
Charlie Hunnam as Jackson ‘Jax’ Teller, Katey Sagal as Gemma Teller Morrow, Jimmy Smits as Nero Padilla. Photo by Prashant Gupta/FX.
Michael Aaron Gallagher: “Do you have a message for the fans of the show? Is there anything you would like to say to them?”
Jimmy Smits: “Keep watching. We’re so very, very happy that this season that loyal fan base that has been around has grown exponentially. To hear all of the wonderful things that we have around the table when we’re reading new scripts or out there in the grittiness of the motorcycle deserts riding around with—when the guys are riding around, that fan base has increased, and the numbers have increased exponentially.
The show has grown even more popular, so everybody’s really happy with that. With that comes a kind of responsibility not only to that loyal fan base, but to the new folks that are around that are watching it to keep on doing it. So you’ve got to keep—everybody’s conscious of we’ve got to keep upping the ante and keep raising the bar.”
Sons of Anarchy airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX.
“Jimmy Smits shares message for ‘Sons of Anarchy’ fans”
Copyright 2012 by Michael Aaron Gallagher
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