A great interview with Teddy Coluca aka Brimley ,he talks lengthly about the show, James and his influence and care for castmates ( Clark ) , Jon Bokenkamp and his part as Brimley and what has changed. For all who are interested ..enjoy :)

so here we go

http://www.absolutemusicchat.com/music-qa-sessions/in-conversation-with-teddy-coluca-actor-the-blacklist-only-murders-in-the-building-30-rock/

PC: That is so great!

TC: So, I do get to have a little input. I am a foot soldier and James to me is the General. Whatever he tells me to do, I will do it. And there have been times where… You know, I don’t want to be disparaging of anybody but directors are like myself–they are hired guns, they come, they go. Some of them, like the script supervisor Christine Gee, direct an episode here and there. They work for a month, they do a week of prep, a week of post-production, and they will shoot for two weeks. So I remember doing a scene with James in the episode where I had the headphones on and James reminded me “Remember… Teddy, your character, talks loud.” We did a rehearsal with a new Director I’d never seen before, and he gave me a note. And he said, “Too big, way way too big. Bring it down a little bit, bring it down.” I said, “Okay, I will bring it down. But in every episode I do James reminds me that my character talks loud.” He still insists that I bring it down a little, and I say “ok, whatever.” I did almost the exact thing in the next rehearsal, and he said, “That’s better, that’s better.” So my point is that James is the general, but he doesn’t act like it. He’s not around cracking the whip or anything, and I’ve never ever ever seen him upset on a set. He is the best. He treats me like we’ve known each other since Kindergarten.

PC: Every single person I have interviewed who works on The Blacklist – whether it’s cast or crew –  has nothing but nice things to say about him.

TC: I was there one day when we were having a problem. There was an episode years ago where we were trying to work with a goat, and the goat
was adamant – it would not move. You couldn’t pull it or push it. So finally they had to cut the goat’s scene because it just wasn’t working. They had to rewrite the whole scene to make it completely different and James didn’t lose it. He is just wonderful.
Before Covid, every time I would say goodbye to him he always kissed me on the cheek and hugged me. He always asks me about my grandchildren. It’s funny because we had a running gag. Every season I’d come back and I’d have another grandchild. At one time it was 4 then 5 grandchildren and now I’m up to 8. I have heard from two different journalists that have interviewed James that mentioned me by name… and he may say this about everybody, I’m sure he said this about Clark also… but he said, “Teddy is my favourite guest star on the show!”

PC: He probably would say that about a few people to be fair.

TC: One actor called me up, Lenny Venito was his name. He was the mailman on The Blacklist, he ends up getting shot if you remember. And he said to me, “Teddy, what do you think, what should I expect when I go there?” I said, “It’s the best set you’ll ever work on!” He worked on the show and he called me two days later. He said, “Teddy, I called you ’cause I’ve got to tell you I was working with Spader and we had a little break. I said to him, ‘We have a mutual friend in Teddy Coluca.’ James said, ‘Teddy!’ and with that… his whole demeanour changed, his whole personality changed.” Another friend was walking into a Broadway show one night and he noticed James Spader behind him walking in with his wife. My friend turned to him and said, “James, Teddy Coluca loves you” and he said, “I love Teddy Coluca.”

PC: I think he is genuinely a nice person. I saw him talk about how much he adored Clark in a recent interview.

TC: I’m gonna tell you another story… If you remember the episode with the snake?

PC: Yes, in the shopping trolley.

TC: I had more dialogue, and more hypoallergenic pillows… all these types of words which are not really part of my normal way of speaking. I had a tough line because I’d quit on him. It was late on a Friday, it was the last scene shot of the day, it was midnight because when you work in television as the week goes on the later you work. So the snake is around me and I’ve got more dialogue than I’ve ever had, and James can see I’m not that comfortable. He is standing in front of me and he looks me right in the eye and says “Teddy, it’s just me and you here… just me and you.” And we did the scene, and I’m not trying to pat myself on the back, but we did the scene and I got it word for word. We really thought we were going to be there for a while. They said “Cut” and James looked at me and said, “You’re the man.”

PC: When I interviewed Clark, he talked about when his dad died. He was meant to be filming the next day, and his dad had told him he mustn’t let the team down. So he arrived at the studio ready to film his scene with James. Obviously very upset and he told me James couldn’t have been nicer. He gave him a hug and he held Clark’s hand all the way through the scene – not literally – but in a very caring way. It was an emotional scene anyway, but James got him through it by being kind.

TC: He is so smart, he knows his lines and your lines. The last episode I did was when he and I were sitting in the horse barn. We were doing the scene and my line was “I was hooked the minute I saw her drain the entrails.” At one point I said, “I was hooked the minute I saw her drain the entails,” and he said, “entrails.” I said, “What did I say?” He said, “entails!” Let me tell you… he picks up things like that all the time, he is so smart. I love sitting there watching him work.

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PC: Everyone always says James is the best, but recently I was talking with Aaron Peterson from The Blacklist Exposed podcast who knows Jon well. He said Jon is one of the nicest, kindest and most genuine people in the business.

TC: He wasn’t jaded like a lot of people can be, although the people I just worked with couldn’t have been nicer. His base was always Nebraska. He would go to LA when he had to.

PC: My only worry is he has always said he (and James) knew the end game from the beginning and is now being forced to change that storyline by Sony or whoever and that’s what’s made him walk away.

TC: Jon told me he had 10 seasons in him, so I don’t know where it’s going to go from here. I’m there for the ride whatever happens.

PC: I guess as long as James stays on the show people are going to watch.

TC: You are the perfect example, I will tell you why… The show does okay in the United States. It clearly has a fan base here, but around the world it’s huge! I get tweets from Australia for example. I’m sure you have seen the different posts, Wendy Wales (from Wales) I don’t know if you know her, she’s a great fan of the show.

PC: Yeah. She will be thrilled when she hears you mentioned her.

TC:  Sony owns the show, and it’s probably quite lucrative for them. I always say no actor is bigger than the show, but I would make an exception maybe for Spader. With the play The Producers playing on Broadway people always said once Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane leave, that would be the end of the run. But it wasn’t, it ran for another 5 years using other actors.

PC: It’s all changed now with last season’s finale episode.

TC: Sometimes my wife and I will watch it together and afterwards look at each other and say, “What the hell just happened?!” Some seasons have been better than others, but here we are into season 9 and there’s something to be said for that. But it’s all Spader. If you look at his track record – Boston Legal was very successful. He told me personally that TV is his thing and it’s been very good to him. Making movies is nice and all, but he likes the stability of television.

PC: I think he likes the input he has on The Blacklist. I’ve heard he gets his script delivered and then the next morning is on the phone to Jon making changes to the dialogue or whatever.

TC: He’s got a wonderful wonderful situation there and, you know, he is what he is. He is quite comfortable with his life. He’s got his two older sons and his younger one…

PC: And a gorgeous wife!

TC: Yes, though I don’t know her.