Michael Vartan looks good in scrubs
While he has shared the big screen with the likes of drag queens in To Wong Foo, Drew Barrymore in Never Been Kissed, Madonna in The Next Best Thing, as well as Jennifer Garner on the small screen in Alias, the sexy good looks of Michael Vartan are never overshadowed.
The French-American actor has found a new home on the small screen, but instead of the spy business he’s moved over to the medical field alongside Jada Pinkett Smith on the new cable medical drama HawthoRNe, which debuted on TNT last week.
During a recent press call, Vartan talked about his role in the series as well as well why he’s essentially a pansy.
Why HawthoRNe?
With a busy career in both film and television, why did he settle on HawthoRNe? "First and foremost Jada," Vartan said. "Getting an opportunity to work with her was very exciting. And also I really liked the concept of the show. I know there are a lot of medical dramas out there but this one is different in the sense that it tells the story of what goes on in the hospital from the nurse’s point of view and that was just interesting and a different take on this world that I had ever seen before."
Having worked on the broadcast television side of the TV business (Alias and the short-lived Big Shots were both on ABC), Vartan does see a difference in working on a cable network. "Obviously in the day-to-day operations of the set it’s the same thing. But I think with cable you’re allowed to be a little more creative and a little more inventive. And there are a lot less suits, as we like to call them, if you will, on set that sort of throw their 2 cents in the mix. It feels like a much more relaxed and laid back production team." Vartan added, "We don’t have to go through 15 different channels and the whole hierarchy of however the hell that works to begin with. So in that sense, yes, it’s very different and it’s nice, I like it that way."
Once Vartan stepped into the role of Dr. Tom Wakefield (producers recasted the role from the original pilot) he is found the fit to be comfortable. "My character in HawthoRNe, obviously, is a doctor; he’s head of surgery so there is a serious side to him. But we’re just wrapping up episode 6 right now. We’ve definitely developed the chemistry between [mine and Jada’s] characters and they joke around a lot more than they do in the pilot or even in the first couple of episodes so that’s coming along and that definitely is more fun because everyone wants to have a good laugh once in a while.
