Bartlet4America News Archive

Sheen campaigns for another term as 'West Wing' president

Now in reruns, "The West Wing" inaugurates its fourth season with a two-hour episode at 9 p.m. on Sept. 25.
By Bridget Byrne
Associated Press

Martin Sheen, who plays chief executive Josiah "Jed" Bartlet in the highly-rated NBC series, received his third Emmy nomination for the role in July. It was one of 21 Emmy nods the drama is up for this year; the awards are to be presented Sept. 22. "The West Wing" has won 17 Emmys since its 1999 debut, including two for best dramatic series.

Hard on the campaign trail when the new season starts, President Bartlet presumably wins another term in office because Sheen has signed a new three-year contract that reportedly awards him around $300,000 per episode.
"I signed an agreement to keep it secret and as far as I'm concerned it's still a secret," Sheen says, declining to confirm the trade-paper reports.

On the first season of "The West Wing," Bartlet was to appear only about once a month. "The only thing the contract said I could not do was play another president elsewhere. I was fine with that," says Sheen, who in 1983 starred in the title role of the TV miniseries "Kennedy."

But it quickly became apparent to "West Wing" producers that "the old man," as Sheen calls Bartlet, should be a full-time, anchoring presence on the ensemble show created and written by Aaron Sorkin.

For Sheen, the high-profile role has been a life change "career-wise, personally, economically. When you get as lucky as I've been on this, the money is for all the years that you prepared."

The 62-year-old actor was smitten by the movies as a child.

"I just knew instinctively I could do that thing those guys were doing up there," he says. "And if I didn't do that, some measure of me would die."

His varied career has included dozens of film and TV appearances over 35 years, as well as occasional stage work. He won an Emmy for a guest shot on the CBS sitcom "Murphy Brown" in 1994, and he next plays a lawyer in Steven Spielberg's upcoming feature "Catch Me If You Can."

Sheen and wife Janet have four children, all actors: Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Renee Estevez and Ramon Estevez.

Born in Dayton, Ohio, to politically conscious, working-class parents of Irish and Spanish heritage, Sheen says he developed a concern about social justice early on. One of 10 children, he supplemented his father's factory-worker income by caddying at a country club.

"I was formed in large measure during those years. They were difficult, but I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world because I was working for the over-privileged, the insensitive, and I learned that there were two different societies," he says.

Still politically active, Sheen pleaded guilty last year to trespassing on government property during a protest against missile defense at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. He was fined and placed on three years' probation.

The actor says he's uncomfortable when President Bartlet uses the military "because I think violence is a reflection of despair." But he never tries to change a "West Wing" script.

"Aaron (Sorkin) knows exactly what he wants to hear and if you deviate from it even a note, it's something else," Sheen said. "So I trust his instinct and his talent far more than I trust my own."

Overall, the actor - who describes himself as "a radical, a liberal Democrat, a practicing Catholic" - feels compatible with this fantasy president, who he believes incorporates the "very best of John Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton."

"West Wing" director Thomas Schlamme says he sometimes has to push the loquacious Sheen - who seems to have endless time for others - to make Bartlet a little more "short and quick with people." But the director says nothing can erase the "human empathy" that comes through in the actor's eyes.

In the fictional Oval Office, Bartlet has a plaque on his desk similar to one President Kennedy was said to have had.

"I refer to it a lot," Sheen says, referring to himself, not his character. "It's a 13-word prayer. It's very powerful. 'Oh Lord, your sea is so great and my boat is so small.' That kind of says it all. Life is difficult. It's supposed to be."

Lowe Hints at Staying on 'West Wing'

Zap2it.com

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Rob Lowe may be backing away -- slightly -- from his assertion that he'll leave "The West Wing" when his contract expires in March.

According to Reuters, Lowe said Thursday (Aug. 29) in an interview with a Los Angeles TV station that "Nothing would make me happier" than being able to stay with the show past March.

"But at the moment, no one has told me that anything has changed. We'll see," said Lowe, who plays speechwriter Sam Seaborn on the Emmy-winning White House drama.

NBC announced in July that Lowe would leave "The West Wing" during the coming season. The actor was reportedly asking for a pay raise shortly after Martin Sheen, who plays President Jed Bartlet, saw his salary tripled to a reported $300,000 per episode.

Lowe makes about $75,000 per show, the same as when the series debuted in 1999. At that time, he was the biggest name in the regular cast (Sheen was originally going to be just an occasional presence). The show quickly became more of an ensemble piece, however, with the fictional White House staffers getting roughly equal screen time.

Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, John Spencer and Bradley Whitford all negotiated raises before the beginning of last season; they all make roughly $70,000 per episode.

Lowe's comments Thursday came a day after Sheen, appearing on "Access Hollywood," urged Lowe to reconsider, saying "We’re hoping he will have a change of heart."

For his part, Lowe doesn't appear to bear any ill will toward the show or his castmates.

"I'm so disappointed that it's turned out this way and that I have to go," he said. "My contract takes me to March, and I'm going to live up to it. And when I do go, I'll have been there longer than a lot of people in the real White House."

Rob Lowe: On the Record

Access Hollywood/MSN

Rob Lowe has a "labor of love" that he's making a personal crusade. The West Wing staffer talked to Access Hollywood's Nancy O'Dell about that crusade, and for the first time he addresses why he is leaving the hit NBC political drama.

"No one is more disappointed than me. But it's clear to me that I got to go," said Lowe.

And go he will. Rob Lowe will leave The West Wing in March 2003 when his contract runs out. Nancy told Rob about Martin Sheen's public message to him. In the message, Martin said he had hope Rob would have a change of heart and decide to stay with the show.

When asked how he felt about that, Rob told Access: "Well, I love him like a father and you can see why he's so supportive -- we are family. You know, but listen, Martin should stop beating up on me and beat up on some other people and maybe I'll end up staying," laughed Rob.

Rob then explained a bit further. "I have very specific reasons why it's clear to me that I don't have a future there. But I don't want to get into them out of respect for the show, how hard everybody works, and what we've accomplished. And believe me, no one wishes it were different more than me because I love it."

So what will Rob do to occupy his time when he wraps up West Wing? Well, part of Rob's new life will include involvement with a cause that is very close to his heart. Rob's father, Chuck, was diagnosed in 1991 with cancer, and thanks to successful treatment he's cancer-free today. Now Rob is taking a stand as spokesperson for By My Side, a one-on-one support network for cancer patients and their family members.

"What I learned from my dad's cancer was that it's great to have family that supports you. But there's no comparison to being able to talk to somebody who has your type of cancer, who is getting the same treatments you have and who's been there, " said Lowe.

The new season of The West Wing kicks off on Sept. 25 on NBC. Rob's last episode will air in March. As for By My Side, log on to www.bymyside.com for more information.

Sheen Wants Lowe to Stay on 'West Wing'

Zap2it

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Martin Sheen is trying to convince Rob Lowe to hang around "The West Wing" a little bit longer.

During an interview on the set of the NBC drama, Sheen tells "Access Hollywood" that although he initially supported Lowe's decision to leave the series, he changed his mind and wants his costar to stay.

"He's terrific in the show," Sheen says. "I don’t think he has ever been better in anything else, frankly. We keep beating him up, you know, stay with us a little longer. I don’t think it’s much greener anywhere else."

When "The West Wing," debuted, Lowe was the most recognizable cast member. Martin Sheen was originally supposed to have a minor role on the show as President Bartlet, but as time passed, he saw more screen time while Sam Seaborn had less and less. A rumored salary dispute and the fact that Lowe was overlooked for an Emmy nomination this year may also have factored into his decision to leave.

Still, Sheen isn't ready to give up. "We’re hoping he will have a change of heart and that it’s not a foregone conclusion," he says. "It could happen. He could come to his senses and stay with us for a little while."

Cameras roll on Lawrence County Farm for 'West Wing' season premiere

By Rob Owen
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Actor? Politician? Martin Sheen blurred, bent and ultimately erased the line between the two yesterday while filming the first scene from the season premiere of NBC's "The West Wing" on a Lawrence County farm.

Taking his place at a podium before a crowd of more than 400 extras who cheered his arrival, Sheen quickly and easily won them over.

"West Wing" star Martin Sheen, who portrays President Bartlet, laughs with a crowd of extras between takes of the series, filming yesterday on a farm owned by Roberta and Jeff McConnell in Volant, Lawrence County. (John Beale, Post-Gazette)

"Now what is this rally all about?" he asked as the crew worked to position cameras.

"Soybeans!" one person shouted.

"Anarchy!" said another.

"Martin Sheen for president!" screamed a third.

In between takes he told jokes, sang "Love Me Tender" ("Don't quit your day job," one of the extras yelled playfully) and teased fans about upcoming plot developments.

"I was hoping my re-election was a foregone conclusion, but I just read the script," he said. "Can you see James Brolin in 'The West Wing'?"

Brolin plays the Republican opponent to Sheen's Democratic incumbent, President Josiah Bartlet. Though it may be a tough road, it's a sure bet Bartlet will win another term.

"The focus [of the upcoming season] is going to be the election," said actor Richard Schiff, who plays communications director Toby Ziegler. "That's really important to us because if we lose, we're all out of jobs, our characters and the actors."

In the episode, Bartlet attends a campaign rally on an Indiana soybean farm, with portions of Western Pennsylvania substituting for the Hoosier State. Press secretary C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) is on hand for the rally, too.

Series regulars, from left, Richard Schiff, Janel Moloney and Bradley Whitford chat while awaiting their turn before the cameras.

Toby, deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) and his assistant Donna Moss (Janel Moloney) get left behind on the farm and spend much of the season premiere trying to catch up with the president's motorcade.

The episode, which airs Sept. 25, is titled "20 Hours in America," and begins with Bartlet at the farm rally. Red, white and blue balloons and bunting decorated a stage constructed for the faux president's appearance and extras held signs, including one that read, "Bartlet: Eight more years."

"Don't get me wrong, I like his thinking," Sheen said as cameras rolled, easily becoming his character and segueing into a reference of past plots and the president's wife. "But I think I've probably tested the Constitution about as far as Abby's going to let me for a little while."

Yesterday's scene was supposed to be filmed Friday but the schedule was reshuffled due to rain. Filming took place near Volant on Kemland Farm, home of Jeff and Roberta McConnell, who sat with their family in the first row of extras during the rally scene.

Roberta watches "The West Wing" regularly, but Jeff doesn't get to see it as often. "Generally it's on in the evenings when we're out in the barn milking our cows," he said.

Roberta, who runs Roberta's Tours of Lawrence County's Amish country, has been amazed by the small army a TV production requires.

"It's been just crazy. That's the only word I can use to describe it," she said, laughing, as she compared the number of vehicles entering and exiting her driveway to a highway entrance ramp. "It's the opportunity of a lifetime, but it's kind of nuts."

Last Tuesday, Roberta watched as a crop duster circled over the farm, waiting for the director's signal to fly into camera range.

"I could tell when they radioed to bring it in because it quit circling and would go to the adjacent farm and go down low," she said. "You could see them spray the crops. We don't do crop dusting here, but they do in Indiana and they have to make it as close to Indiana as possible."'

Brent Baker, 10, plays an impromptu ball game with Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff (not in picture) yesterday. Brent is the nephew of Roberta and Jeff McConnell, who own Kemland Farm near Volant, Lawrence County, where "The West Wing" was being filmed.

Roberta said "The West Wing" crew began descending on their property Aug 17, building the platform for Bartlet's speech and doing "what they call dressing the set, getting things ready."

Limousines (for the presidential motorcade) and Indiana State Police patrol cards were parked behind barns to hide them from the camera's view. A kitchen on wheels was brought in to prepare food for the cast and crew.

"It's not just that the food is good, it's the presentation of the food," Roberta said. "Everything is so fancy. It just blows me away. I keep telling them they can stay on another week if they'd like because I don't cook like that."

Lunch was served yesterday afternoon under tents in a nearby mowed cornfield. For four hours prior to that, Whitford, Schiff and Moloney filmed a scene that comes after the big rally and will take up about 90 seconds of the two-hour episode. It's the moment the trio realize they've been left behind. Donna tells Josh there's no "trailer car" in the motorcade they can ride in.

"Good budget cut," says an exasperated Josh. "Good item."

The scene was shot from more than four different angles, requiring changes in camera position. Some takes were punctuated by the sound of helium balloons popping. Other times, filming was delayed due to noise from airplanes overhead or while waiting for the sun to come out from behind a cloud. Whitford, pantomiming, used his hands to attempt to shoo the clouds away.

He said location shooting, though difficult for actors who are away from their families, "gives the show a real legitimacy." All three actors featured in the bulk of the scenes shot here said local residents were welcoming.

Schiff compared filming on a road near an Amish farm to being on a movie studio lot.

"Here we are, doing a political drama, and the people next door are doing an 18th-century Western," he said. "It's like they're just passing through the commissary. That's what it feels like. There's camera trucks and technology everywhere, and then you see a horse and buggy vintage 1852. They've been sweet. They wave, they keep to their business, which is interesting, but they've been very accepting of us."

On Friday, their day off, Moloney said she and Janney went shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh.

"How pathetic are we?" she said, laughing. "We just walked around."

Schiff, who's married to Greensburg native and actress Sheila Kelley ("L.A. Law"), said he didn't get a chance to visit his in-laws, but he was hoping to do so yesterday.

At one point during his visit, Whitford walked along the river, memorizing his lines.

"We spend a lot of our lives in Los Angeles and New York where they're used to seeing actors walk around," Whitford said. "So I had the not uncommon experience when you get out of Los Angeles -- and this happened here in Pittsburgh -- of people telling me I look exactly like that guy on 'The West Wing.' "

"I just tell them, 'I get that all the time.' "

'West Wing' filming in district creates a buzz

By Rob Owen
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In the back yard of their home along a stretch of Route 208 between Volant and New Wilmington, Lawrence County, Susan Gerle and her 14-year-old son Matthew watch over their fence as Hollywood makes a rare visit.

With an Amish farm between their yard and the closed road where the first day of filming is taking place, the Gerles can see only specks sitting in the bed of a pickup that's pulled by a camera truck. But they know those specks are cast members from NBC's "The West Wing."

A camera hangs over the truck's cab at the end of a metal arm. Gerle pulls out her camera and takes a picture.

I was in my back yard and saw this strange-looking truck and I thought, surely this can't be it, and it is!" she said. "Things like this don't happen in New Wilmington. This is fantastic!

"I wonder what the Amish think about this. I really do."

Twentysomething sisters Stacey Armagost of Du Bois, Clearfield County, and Crystal Armagost of Pittsburgh set out from Du Bois at 7:30 a.m. yesterday. Standing near a one-room Amish school house at the intersection of state Route 208 and Old Mercer Road where scenes were being shot, they peered into the distance, hoping the actors would be driven past them after filming was done.

"It's like the world's first good political show," Crystal said, "and the actors are so good."

Co-executive producer Christopher Misiano directs this "West Wing" episode.

"We're going to be moving buses and a lot of stuff around," he said two weeks ago as he prepped for the shoot. "It's really ambitious."

In the episode, President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) attends a campaign rally on an Indiana soybean farm, with portions of Western Pennsylvania substituting for the Hoosier State. Press secretary C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) is on hand for the rally, too.

Communications director Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff), deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) and his assistant Donna Moss (Janel Moloney) get left behind on the farm and spend much of the episode trying to catch up with the president's motorcade.

"They're out in the field talking some farm business with a local and they just miss it," Misiano hints. "We don't want to tip our hand too much. We go crazy when the NBC promo guys do that: 'Come, see why the butler did it!' "

Suffice it to say, imagine this episode as "The West Wing" version of "Planes, Trains and Automobiles."

Later in the day, production moved to an old municipal building that was painted to look like a gas station along a country road.

"Play Hoosier Lottery Here," read one sign on the small building, which promised repairs ("Flats fixed," "Lube," "Tune up") and groceries provided by the proprietor, A. Critlaw.

In addition to the scenes on dusty roads and down at the farm, "West Wing" will also shoot in a motel lobby, at a diner and next Monday, cast and crew will be at the Bridgeville Public Library filming railroad station scenes (the library will be closed that day).

The farm rally, to be shot Friday and Saturday, will employ hundreds of extras. That's complicated enough, but being this far from the show's home base adds additional complexity to the production.

"We're used to it a little bit by virtue of going to Washington, but we have an infrastructure there and you become a little more familiar with it," Misiano said. "[Producer] Neal Ahern set up camp in Pittsburgh and the people he found to work in the production office were astoundingly good. These people were doing things before you thought of them."

Misiano has previously directed episodes of "Law & Order," "ER," "Third Watch," "Now and Again" and "Brooklyn South." He said each series has its particular challenges.

"If you direct 'ER,' there's the prop work, the blood and gore and medicine that's really important to that show. This show is an incredibly verbal show. The words are so important and so great that you don't want to distract from them and at the same time, you want to visually enhance them.

"Sometimes the challenge is to take what seems like a cerebral experience and make it a visual experience and give it some kind of kinetic energy," Misiano said. "As a director, you want to add to the storylines in a somewhat subtle way to enhance what [series creator] Aaron Sorkin has already given you, which is an interesting, beautiful script. Sometimes if the director doesn't bring something else to it visually, it could wither."

With plans to shoot about a third of the two-hour season premiere (airing Sept. 25) in Pennsylvania, Misiano has already directed the remaining scenes on the show's soundstages in Burbank, Calif.

"That's all done. We're already editing that material," Misiano said. "We'll come to Pittsburgh, shoot that material, edit that material and then go back to Washington to shoot a couple scenes a week before the show airs."

At this point in production, episode four is being filmed on the Warner Bros. lot. That requires creative scheduling to accommodate the days cast members will be in the Pittsburgh area filming.

"We've tried to put the trip over a weekend to be able to have some characters here only a day," Misiano said. "Hopefully [when you're watching episode four] you won't really feel like people have departed [to film these scenes in episode one]."

Misiano said Rob Lowe's decision to leave the series later this season had no bearing on his absence from this location shoot.

"Rob is an integral part of this script," he said. "He's actually the main focus back in the White House. The script was written way before any of that happened."

Along Route 208, Sonia Taylor of Hermitage waited to see the actors as they were shuttled away from the location. A native of Newfoundland, Canada, she said watching "The West Wing" has been an education. Her husband grew up in America, and when they see a real White House official on a newscast, he helps explain the person's role.

"He'll say, 'Oh, that's C.J.' or 'That's Sam,' " she said. "It's really helped me to understand American government."

Playing Politics

Bradley Whitford ['81] has left "yuppie scum" roles far behind with his Golden Globe-winning performance as a top White House aide on the popular TV show, The West Wing

By Cynthia Rockwell
Wesleyan University Magazine
Summer 2002

You might think that Bradley Whitford ’81, award-winning actor on NBC’s The West Wing, could take a lunch break that lasted as long as he wanted.

But his beeper goes off and immediately he’s due back on the set, despite the half-eaten tuna sandwich in front of him at the WB commissary (a linen-napkin-and-fresh-sliced-fruit sort of restaurant). He takes a last bite and picks up wallet-sized photos of his children that he pulled out during the meal. “Freakishly cute,” he calls them and then strides off toward the West Wing set, responding to his interrupted respite with equanimity.

Whitford’s assistant, Cathy Herd, who joined us for lunch, asks a waiter to wrap Whitford’s sandwich. She’ll give it to him later on the set, during a break. “Assistant” seems a more formal title than her actual role. She has no desk, no office with her name on the door; she has her cell phone and car. She keeps track of Whitford’s schedule, arranges appointments, answers media requests, and handles his correspondence. A young actress herself, she is the wife of Whitford’s manager and functions as a family friend rather than an ambitious Hollywood go-fer.

Frequently, she says, he’ll put in 14-hour days stretching well past midnight. Meanwhile, his wife, Jane Kaczmarek, is keeping up with her award-winning role in the weekly series, Malcolm in the Middle. And the couple has two children under the age of four.

During one particularly bad week, Whitford worked until 3 a.m., came home and packed, grabbed some sleep from 4 a.m. until 9 a.m., then caught a flight to Washington. The following day the cast shot at the White House until 2 a.m., before speaking at the Georgetown University lecture series the next evening. Then they flew back to L.A. to begin work at 9 a.m. the following morning.

Despite the demands of a busy shooting schedule, he does his best to maintain a normal family life.

“Jane and I are an old-fashioned couple,” Whitford explains. “Part of the reason we fell in love and married is that we’re both from big, strong Midwestern families, and we both want a big, strong Midwestern family—but we also want to act in Hollywood. It’s a strange combination, and Jane and I really do feel as though we’re always playing defense. Our kids are only going to be young once. And I know I won’t be lying on my deathbed wishing I’d done another TV show, but I might be wishing I’d spent more time with them.”

Household and professional assistants help free up their time. Herd watches over Whitford with a mother-hen concern: “I tell him, ‘Your schedule is really filling up.’ But as busy as his life is with his kids, his wife, his work, his charities and all the award events, he stays extremely gracious.”

Whitford knows that a simple stop at a convenience store can turn into a marathon conversation with fans.

“In Los Angeles, we don’t feel so visible, because we’re usually in our car,” Whitford notes. “But once we leave the city, we spend more time talking to people who come up to us because they recognize us.” He is critical of actors who begrudge this as a drain on their time. “I think actors who complain about this should just sort of shut up. Fans just want to express their admiration.”

Whitford garners a multitude of starry-eyed-fan sites on the Web, but he’s oblivious to it. And these fans, while gushing over his dimples and sex appeal, love him for his un-Hollywood-like devotion to his wife and family.

Whitford is quick to focus instead on the way celebrity status enables him to have an impact on issues he cares about. “If either Jane or I show up for a fundraising event or an activity for a cause, we can get a camera there. We do feel overwhelmingly fortunate about our good luck, and we want to use it productively.”

It took a little while, says Whitford, to feel comfortable with this role in creating publicity. At first he deliberately kept his beliefs to himself, concerned that he’d be seen as a dilettante. “Then I thought, ‘This is ridiculous. I shouldn’t have to shut up,’” he recalls, “so I was very active in the presidential campaign.”

Raised as a Quaker, Whitford is opposed to the death penalty, as is Kaczmarek, and both spoke out on that topic. He is passionate about another issue as well.

“My friend John Shestack [’82] has an autistic son. John started Cure Autism Now—I was able to be the celebrity lubricant; fame got me into Washington offices. Then the Children’s Health Act 2000 passed under President Clinton; Title One under that provision provided funding for treatment of autism. Being involved in getting a bill passed was fascinating.”

An episode from the second season of West Wing, “The Stackhouse Filibuster,” is a fictional rendering of the process of passing that bill. Like the rest of the show, it never intends to be a factual record of events; its aim is to stay true to the heart of the matter. When the show opens, a 78-year-old senator is delivering a filibuster until an amendment is attached to the Family Wellness Act to allocate money for autism care and research. It’s Friday evening, and the West Wing staff is waiting for him to finish so they can leave for their weekend plans. Amazingly, the senator continues longer than anyone believed possible. Then they discover what is driving him on: love. He has an autistic grandson. The West Wing staff call senators still in D.C., and 28 come back to aid their colleague. The filibuster is a success, so the Senate will reopen the bill on Monday to add the amendment.

“I’ve always been interested in politics,” says Whitford. “I suggested that we follow the process of getting a bill passed, and show that it can be ugly. Yet ultimately, the Wellness Act really made a difference in people’s lives. It made me feel optimistic about an otherwise really flawed, screwed-up system.”

Lest anyone think it might be easy to whisper topics for the show in Whitford’s ear, he’s quick to point out the reality: “We get lobbied by a lot of people who say, ‘Hey, why don’t you put this on the show?’ As if we actors had anything to do with the writing.” It’s entirely up to Aaron Sorkin.

Whitford and Sorkin originally met more than a decade ago, through mutual friends, after Whitford had graduated from Juilliard and was acting on Broadway. Sorkin recalls in The Official West Wing Companion that Whitford’s reputation, even back then, was of “a great guy... He can just take what you write and knock it out of the park.” Sorkin cast Whitford in A Few Good Men on Broadway.

It was during those years that he met many of the other actors who would, more than a decade later, become West Wing cast members.

“I worked with John Spencer [Leo McGarry],” Whitford recalls, “and already knew Richard Schiff [Toby Ziegler]; his brother was my roommate at Wesleyan. Allison Janney spent 12 years doing play after play after play. You get confidence through that. I think this cast is so good because almost everybody started out in New York theater.”

Whitford also met Kaczmarek about that time, at the insistence of Jane’s roommate. Their expectation for the meeting was low: neither wanted to get involved with another actor. The reality: they found they had a lot in common. Their coffee date turned into a long walk with lots to talk about (“Practice for the walk-and-talk scenes common to West Wing,” one reporter quipped) and ultimately marriage. Then the two left Broadway to try for success on the other coast in television and film.

Whitford has described his life in L.A. until West Wing as “driving around meeting people and trying to get them to like me.”

Somewhat reluctantly, he took roles as a character actor in movies. “When you do that, you get typed. I was yuppie scum.” He scowls in mock-villianous manner, but explains typecasting sympathetically.

“There’s an economic reason for it: They’re making an $80-million movie. The producer and director don’t want you there so you can broaden your creative horizons; they want you there because they know that you can do that character they need. Allison Janney had a similar experience—she played goofy characters.”

“As an actor,” he explains, “you always feel you’re swimming upstream. You always have the feeling that there’s a better job that you could have had, but you didn’t get. Jane and I had been doing that for a long time, and then, suddenly—with West Wing and Malcolm—we have a sensation of what, I assume, surfing feels like. It’s ‘Oh!’ and all of a sudden we’re being pushed and there’s no friction.

“To get lucky, in terms of having a good television show, is extraordinary for one person,” he adds. “For it to happen to both of us at precisely the same time is a miracle.”

Neither had planned on such a miracle, and it came just as Kaczmarek had intended to take time off to raise children. She took the role with Malcolm only because they were renovating their house and the future of West Wing was uncertain. Then both shows took off.

Now the formerly “evil yuppie” is Josh Lyman, deputy chief of staff in West Wing’s fictional White House. Lyman is dedicated, complex, and loyal to his cause. Likewise, the formerly typecast Allison Janney gets to stretch as the sexy and smart White House press secretary C.J. Cregg. “What makes West Wing work and what makes it worthwhile to act in this show,” says Whitford, “is that we’re using all our cylinders.”

Is there a part of Bradley Whitford in Josh Lyman?

“You’re always playing a version of yourself,” he says. “I think that Josh Lyman pretends a certain confidence that he doesn’t possess; Josh genuinely believes he has confidence, but there’s a kind of bravura to him. I think I have that, too, and I got it from being a little brother. I grew up working the toughest room there is: trying to disarm my older brother by making him laugh.

“But as for getting to know my West Wing character, I really do wait for Aaron to tell me about Josh. We were a year and a half into the series when I did an episode in which I talk about my sister dying in a fire when she was babysitting me, but I had run outside. I realized, Oh, I’m a guy whose sister died when she was 16. There’s a lot we don’t know about our characters, that we establish as we go along.”

All the experience, along with the wait—for the children, for the fame—seem to have fed his underlying sense of gratitude. It’s also given him enough wisdom to dispense one piece of advice to young actors who want to come to L.A.: get life experience, gain some depth before you make the move. “When you act, you’re always playing a version of yourself,” he reiterates. “You can’t bring more to the role than what you are.”

Outside the set, we wait until a blinking red light goes off, which indicates the crew is no longer filming. We walk through the door of what looks like a cement cargo storage warehouse to find elements of the West Wing set—finely carved woodwork, grand paintings, and lush carpets—cluttered with microphones, tripods, cameras, and snaking wires.

The West Wing cast, ready for filming, stands around the conference table, stretching, taking sips of water, bantering. Herd provides me with headphones, and I watch on monitors while the cast runs through one segment several times. To an outsider, the process is inexplicable: the last take seems as flawless as the first. They call it a wrap and take a break.

Back at Whitford’s trailer, I see the walls are covered with eight-by-ten matted photographs of his children—seated on the steps, standing chest-high in garden flowers, climbing on a jungle gym, and blowing out birthday candles on a cake. “Who was the photographer here?” I ask. Whitford indicates with a nod that it was he, the doting father.

Otherwise, the trailer is clearly a place to crash, with a big plaid couch wrapping around the inner walls, and a few blankets draped around, along with various jackets that must have been worn here and then forgotten. Whitford grabs one for each of us (the L.A. wind is surprisingly brisk) and we go to sit outside on a wooden deck in the sun. Herd hands him the rest of his tuna sandwich.

“The main thing I like about the character—that I also really like about the show—is that almost every episode is a version of the problem: How dirty do your feet have to get to get an inch of what you want done in a world that’s based on compromise? Josh wrestles with this constantly.”

A young crew member comes over to where we are sitting and hands Whitford a piece of paper. It’s the schedule for the rest of the week. Whitford studies it and his shoulders slump a bit, but he says “thank you” to the messenger and folds the paper into his pocket. Someone else calls over from the door that the break is over. “Already?” Whitford asks. “You’re joking!” He isn’t, and Whitford’s leash is reigned in. He leaves me with a thought about the mix of art and reality in West Wing.

“We’re always asked if we are sentimentalizing the motives of people who actually work in the White House. We’ve spent a lot of time with people in both the Clinton White House and the Bush White House. I don’t think we’re sentimentalizing any of their motives. They do believe they are doing the right thing. I disagree passionately with a lot of people in the Bush White House, but if you believe that they think they’re not doing the right thing, you’re crazy.”

Library to serve as train station in 'West Wing' episode

By Treshea N. Wade
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

The Bridgeville Public Library temporarily will be resurrected as a train station for NBC's popular "West Wing" series.

A crew from Warner Brothers, which produces the Emmy-winning drama, is scheduled to spend Aug. 26 at the library filming scenes for the show's season premiere.

The library, on Station Street, is in a former Penn Central Railroad Station that was purchased and renovated in 1968.

Steve Hough, assistant location manager for Warner Brothers, said the exterior of the library will be used as a train station. Hough said crews will begin today building a deck that will extend from the library to a train that three "West Wing" characters will be rushing to board.

Hough said the scene will include deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman (played by Bradley Whitford), communications director Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) and Lyman's assistant Donna Moss (Janel Maloney). The three will be in a car that speeds down Dewey Avenue and turns onto Station Street toward the train station. The actors will run frantically to the platform and jump onto the train.

"We picked this spot because Bridgeville has a very unused railroad track and it was very easy to basically buy the track and the six-car train for a day," Hough said, adding that the area looks "historic."

More segments will be shot on the train as it travels to Washington, Pa., and stops at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum. Everything will be shot in one day, depending on the weather, Hough said.

Library Director Elaine Downing said the library board worked over the years to keep the former railroad station "authentic-looking." In recent years, the exterior was painted and lanterns consistent with that era were installed.

Hough said TV and movie crews have used areas such as Sewickley, Shadyside and Squirrel Hill, but Bridgeville was the "breath of fresh air" needed for the scene.

Final decisions will be made Thursday when show officials will be in town.

"That's when we will make sure that everyone is happy with everything we plan to do," Hough said.

Bridgeville Parking Authority President David Regine said the production crew has yet to tell him how much of the parking lot adjacent to the library they want to use. The authority will decide Monday whether to charge Warner Brothers for use of the 32-space parking lot.

Regine said parking is "tight" in that area, but residents and employees should be able to manage for a day.

"Railroad Street will probably be blocked off; there will be less parking spaces — yes, it will put people in a bind. But you have to think of the benefits. They are bringing in a large crew that will need food from our businesses. It will be nice to see our town on television. I hope we are a friendly enough town where they would want to come back again," Regine said.

Warner Brothers will shoot scenes in various rural locations from Aug. 20 to 27. Much of the filming will take place in Volant, Lawrence County. Although the crew is shooting in western Pennsylvania, the action will be set in a small town in Indiana.

Lyman, Ziegler and Moss get left behind and spend much of the two-hour episode trying to catch up to the presidential motorcade.

The Lowe Down

What really made Rob Lowe quit ''The West Wing''? The former Brat Packer says his character had become useless, but insiders say Lowe wanted more money and didn't like playing in an ensemble

by Nicholas Fonseca & Lynette Rice
ew.com

Karen Hughes isn't the only heartbreaker in the Beltway these days. Just weeks after the presidential counselor departed the Bush administration, another passionate politico announced plans to leave 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Come March, after 16 of the season's 22 episodes, NBC's ''The West Wing'' won't have Rob Lowe to kick around anymore.

While the 38-year-old actor said he's leaving the Emmy-winning political drama because his role has diminished since the show's 1999 debut -- ''There was no longer a place for Sam Seaborn on 'The West Wing,''' he said in a statement -- insiders say Lowe's exit was partly fueled by money. Lowe joined ''Wing'' as one of its highest-paid actors, earning about $70,000 per episode. That figure has held steady while castmate Martin Sheen's recently negotiated salary is more than four times that amount. In addition, costars Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, John Spencer, and Bradley Whitford are now on par with Lowe, thanks to July 2001 shenanigans in which they threatened a walkout unless they got a pay hike. (Their previous earnings? Roughly $30,000 per episode.) At the time, Lowe also asked producers for a raise and was told to wait an extra year. He did. But according to a source close to the actor, this year ''Rob never even got to the point where he could discuss a raise. They said, 'We're not negotiating.''' (In another Lowe blow, he was missing from the list of nine ''Wing''-ers who received Emmy nods.)

Given the current economic climate, fattening Lowe's wallet could be risky -- particularly since Warner Bros. Television will soon enter discussions with NBC to renew its licensing fee, which expires after the upcoming season. With its large ensemble cast and creator Aaron Sorkin commanding increasingly hefty salaries, ''Wing'' costs an estimated $2.7 million per episode. (That's in line with other 3-year-old dramas like ''Third Watch'' and even cheapie stalwarts like 12-year-old ''Law & Order,'' which boasts a $2.2 million-per-episode price tag.) But Warner -- a division of Entertainment Weekly parent AOL Time Warner -- has yet to turn a profit on the show. That's why one NBC insider says Lowe's request was denied: Warner execs feared a rerun of last summer, with the other ensemble players also stomping back to the bargaining table.

Still, one source close to the situation says Lowe reacted too quickly: ''If he would have been willing to wait, things might have changed. Warner could have figured out how much money they were going to make [on a new licensing deal].''

But when it came to Lowe, it wasn't just the economy, stupid. Though his stature first helped the show secure a spot on NBC's schedule, he grew frustrated as his character became less prominent after the first season. ''Rob doesn't want to be part of an ensemble,'' claims the source. In an EW interview last year, Lowe admitted that ''Wing'' ''is not a fun show to do...the hours are extremely long.''

Lowe's movie-star background wasn't an easy match in the relatively low-rent TV world: A show insider says he would often insist that his wife, Sheryl, apply his makeup for on- and off-set appearances, and he (alone among the cast) once requested a private jet from NBC for a trip to advertising up-front presentations in New York City. (Lowe didn't get the jet -- nor did he attend.) Says another ''Wing'' source, ''Martin had to sit him down at one point to talk about his attitude.'' Responds Lowe's spokesman: ''If he was so bad, they would have kicked him off the show. And if he didn't want to be part of an ensemble, he wouldn't have taken the show in the first place.''

Despite all the apparent backstage drama, Lowe's departure took at least one NBC exec by surprise. At a Peacock party held hours after the July 24 announcement, network entertainment prez Jeff Zucker was overheard asking Whitford if he'd heard from Lowe -- and why he'd chosen to leave. The exit is particularly puzzling given the career boost ''Wing'' gave the actor, who emerged as part of the Brat Pack but was sidelined by a 1988 sex scandal and trudged through the '90s with straight-to-video thrillers and spoofy bit parts in films like ''Tommy Boy'' and the ''Austin Powers'' movies. Aside from a supporting role in next year's Gwyneth Paltrow comedy ''View From the Top'' and a starring gig in CBS' holiday flick ''The Christmas Shoes,'' his slate is clear.

Alas, the history of actors walking away from Nielsen hits isn't encouraging. Consider the examples of ''Three's Company'''s Suzanne Somers, ''Dallas''' Patrick Duffy, and ''Cheers''' Shelley Long. Even David Caruso -- whose cranky 1994 exit after just 26 star-making episodes of ''NYPD Blue'' turned him into a media whipping boy -- recently admitted he ''mishandled the...situation quite handily.''

A Lowe confidant says that other networks have approached the actor about headlining possible fall 2003 pilots, but many question his chances of landing a more plum TV gig. Says one top agent who has worked with the actor, ''Whatever Rob's aspiration beyond 'The West Wing,' he has virtually no chance of ever finding a writer of Aaron Sorkin's caliber.'' But at least there'll be reruns.

"West Wing"ers Bradley Whitford and Dule Hill on Emmy highs and Rob Lowe

By Scott Huver
Hollywood.com

It was just another night in Tinseltown--if any old night includes hanging with a pair of West Wing cast members, Bradley Whitford and Dule Hill, who shared their thoughts on being nominated for Emmys and the impending departure of series co-star Rob Lowe.

A family affair

The morning of July 18 Whitford--who plays White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman--and his wife, Malcolm in the Middle star Jane Kaczmarek, awoke in the pre-dawn hours to the news that once again, not one but both actors in the family had been nominated for Emmy awards for their respective series. "It was exciting," said the actor. "It happened last year and we couldn't imagine that it would happen again."

Whitford added that after last year's Emmy bonanza (he took home the supporting actor trophy and there were five West Wing victories in the major categories) he tried not to get too excited about this year's nominations.

"I turned off all the phones and I said, 'I don't care, whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen, I just want to get some sleep,'" he said. "So of course, you wake up at six in the morning and you can't get back to sleep, and finally we turned on the television and it was over and the phone hadn't rung."

The couple wondered briefly if they hadn't been shut out, but soon found out that the news had been derailed by a special delivery of a different kind. "Our publicist hadn't called and she usually calls right away. It turned out that she had gone into false labor."

Speaking of labor, with all the good tidings the family's received recently (the couple is expecting their third child and Kaczmarek recently got a hefty salary hike) we had to wonder: Does Brad walk around all day high-fiving everybody he sees?

"I've been high-fiving everybody for so long, I think that it's obnoxious!" he said with a laugh. "Jane and I felt very lucky before we got these TV shows. It's a miracle to get an acting job, and it's a miracle for that job in television to get picked up, and it's a miracle for it to do well, and it's a miracle for it to get recognized, and it's a miracle for any one person to be recognized. To be able to go through this strangeness together is unbelievably lucky." Added the actor, "There's a lot of high-fiving--and lactation--at my home!"

King of the Hill

Of course, Whitford's was just one of a bountiful 22 nominations bestowed on The West Wing, which earned acting nods for stars Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, Stockard Channing, Mary Louise Parker and Janel Moloney. One of four West Wing actors contending in the supporting actor category (with Whitford, Richard Schiff and John Spencer), is Dule Hill, who plays presidential aide Charlie Young.

While many fans of the show might've expected the nomination, Hill clearly did not. "My publicist asked the day before, 'If you get nominated do you want to talk to the press?' and I said sure, but in my mind I was like [in disbelief], 'Please.'

"So the phone rang, and my first thought was that hope there's nothing wrong back in New Jersey where my family is," Hill continued. "But I picked up the phone and she started screaming, [high-pitched], 'You got nominated for an Emmy Award!' And I said 'What? What are you talking about?' 'You got nominated for an Emmy Award!' I said, 'Get out of here!' And then the ride just started."

One might think that with kudos doled out to so many on The West Wing's team the mood on the set might be just a little bit giddy. But Hill says the cast and crew allowed themselves only a few celebratory moments before rolling up their sleeves and getting down to the business of making television. "We kind of just go to work," he said. "Everybody was happy when the nominations came out, but we've always been about that, even in the previous seasons."

Highs and Lowes

On a less celebratory note, Whitford and Hill were sorry to hear that Rob Lowe, reportedly unhappy over diminished screen time and salary concerns, decided the upcoming season will be his last as Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn and he will depart the series after 16 episodes. Both actors said they knew the move was coming well before the news broke.

"I talked to him before and my only concern was that this was a centered, considered decision that he'd made," said Whitford. "He's been a big part of a wonderful time that we've shared and I just wanted to make sure that he wasn't making an impulsive decision with huge ramifications. He convinced me that he wasn't and that he really wanted to do this. I completely support him."

Hill said Lowe's intent to leave the fictional White House staff hasn't impacted the actors' camaraderie thus far. "The mood, to me, seems to be fine," he said. "I can't speak for anybody else. Myself and Allison and a couple other people wish he didn't have to leave. He's taught me a lot. His trailer's right next to mine, we have a good time, we talk a lot. I just wish he didn't have to go, but each person has to take his own journey.

"Rob has had a long career already and been successful, so I'm pretty sure he's gonna be fine," Hill added, chuckling. "Enough people come and tell me how much they love Rob Lowe--I won't miss that! 'Rob Lowe--I had his poster on my wall!'"