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December 07, 2004
Alda Throws His Hat in the 'Wing'
By Rick Porter
Zap2it.com
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) When "The West Wing" was starting up back in 1999, Alan Alda was reportedly one of the actors considered to play President Jed Bartlet, the role that eventually went to Martin Sheen.
The story may be apocryphal. If it is true, the show's creator, Aaron Sorkin, and NBC must not have pursued Alda very doggedly, because he doesn't really recall it.
"People have told me that, and it may be true," Alda says. "I actually can't remember."
Five-plus years later, though, Alda will take a run at the fictional Oval Office. He joins "The West Wing" Wednesday (Dec. 8) as Arnold Vinick, a Republican senator from California who announces his candidacy to replace the outgoing Bartlet.
"He's one of those ideal candidates in a way, because he's moderate on social issues and conservative fiscally, and is willing to debate the issues," Alda says of the character. "So in many ways, he's an idealist."
Alda, who won multiple Emmys for writing, directing and acting on "M*A*S*H," says he took the part "as an act of faith" in executive producer John Wells, whom he knows from a stint on "ER" five years ago. Alda earned an Emmy nomination for a guest-starring arc in which he played a respected doctor who was starting to show signs of Alzheimer's disease.
"What made me want to do it mostly was the chance to work with John Wells, and all the people that work on 'The West Wing,'" he says. "I think they're really exceptionally good actors."
Thus far, Alda has shot only the first episode of 10, spanning this season and next, that he's signed to do. In that time, though, he's discovered a few parallels between "The West Wing" and his best-known work.
"It's a lot like we were after we'd had a long run on 'M*A*S*H,'" he says. "We had a shorthand with one another, and we could just jump into a scene because we knew the characters so well. And in between scenes we'd kid around and have fun. These people are very funny between scenes. It almost feels like an extension to me of what we went through on 'M*A*S*H.'"
Alda sounds eager to dig deeper into Vinick, but he's appropriately diplomatic about the character's chances of actually becoming president: "I have no plans at this time," he says with a chuckle. "I do not plan to take office.
"I look at this kind of realistically," he adds. "I have no idea what [the show's writers] have in mind, and I kind of doubt I would want to do a weekly show. But before I even get to a decision like that, what would they do with all these Democrats [on the White House staff] they have under contract if I won the election? I think we should all get serious here."
Posted by Jo at December 7, 2004 08:28 AM