Actually, if I had to do it over [leaving the show the West Wing], I’d do the same thing, because lost in the shuffle of it is that Aaron [Sorkin] left the same year I did. And I would not have wanted to be on The West Wing with somebody else writing it.
Helmut Newton shot the ad campaign [for Bad Influence]. It’s [James] Spader at the top of his game, right after Sex, Lies And Videotape. It’s sexy. It’s weird. It’s dark. The characters are great.
If somebody else is achieving more than I am, that means I can do it, too. Everybody has the ability to raise themselves up, and my life has been marked by that.
If people are attracted to me, I like to think it’s because I’m an interesting person, fairly smart, well-rounded, with a good sense of humor. I would like to think that’s what I am. I would like to think people see it.
The really good thing about my career is that I never went through a phase where I played characters who had names like “Partygoer,” “Waiter,” or “Guy #1.”
It’s the media that take an isolated incident and make it a deciding factor in a presidential campaign, as opposed to the real issues, like abortion, the homeless, the deficit. The same is true with actors and their lifestyles.
Sam Seaborn is the best character that’s ever been written for me, certainly. By far. And it’s a timeless show [The West Wing], one that’s having another resurgence now, with people so in an uproar politically.
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