James Purefoy is deliciously evil in FOX’s The Following

Refreshingly, James Purefoy doesn’t pretend he hasn’t read the articles of other celebrities in similar shows. He read Mandy Patinkin’s interview in Vanity Fair about Criminal Minds, but he believes they’re doing two different shows and that he won’t bring the darkness home. Admittedly, I’m not certain about that – both shows deal with the evils humanity commits against humanity. While Criminal Minds is torture porn, The Following graphically delves into humanity’s darkness through its realistic portrayal of Carroll’s terrible acts.

So, why won’t he take Joe Carroll’s evil back to his bedroom? Easy — his craft. “British actors tend to be quite good at turning it on on action and off at cut.” For him, “it’s make believe” and “kids on the playground.” He talked about Americans fetishes over violence and slightly picked at his own show, where in American TV sexuality is bad, but “shoving ice pick into an eye. Yay!” Note: That’s one of the initial scenes in The Following. Only James Purefoy could make blanket statements about American TV to American writers/bloggers/journalists while doing press about an American TV show that he stars in. While he mocked method acting, calling it a “masturbatory tool,” he also admits it’s a craft that takes years to accomplish.

I feel we barely asked him any questions. He just sat at our table and talked. In fact, he jokingly analogized the interview with an “open therapy session.” In the middle of one of his monologuic answers, he lost track of his response. Unsurprisingly, I loved him more for it. Although he claims he never takes his character home, I have to disagree, because he totally slipped into his character during our interview. Carroll’s posh accent fit him like a tailored velvet suit. I could totally see James as a serial killer, just doing it to do it. So, um, ladies, watch out.

I’m seriously struck by how similar both actors are to their characters. I have to laud the casting and production staff for hiring two incredibly charismatic leads. Purefoy looks forward to causing a great deal of pain for Bacon’s character, like putting a hook into someone’s intestines and gently tugging. He doesn’t believe he’ll be in an orange jumpsuit for all of the season(s), and suspects/hints his character will find a way.

Unfortunately, our mini-tete-a-tete in the beginning proved the only time I spent with the delicious James Purefoy as a lovely PR person cut off my question at the end. For my (very short) interview transcript and the full video, see below. Don’t forget to watch The Following on Fox every Monday (new episodes) and Friday (repeats) night at 9 PM.

An: I’m so frightened to sit beside you right now.

James: I haven’t even got shackles on.

An: OK. Excellent.

James: I could get you right now.

Other Interviewer [stopping our fun]