Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic; Michael Bezjian/WireImageHey Scandal fans, anyone else feel the burning desire to reach through your screen and punch Charles "Chip" Putnam in the face last night?
We never condone violence, no, no, no…But if anyone has it coming, it's Michael Trucco's character Charles Putnam, who made his debut last night as Abby's (Darby Stanchfield) horribly abusive ex-husband.
Chip (a k a Battlestar Galactica and Revenge alum Michael Trucco) reappeared in his bid for Senate, rattling Abby to the core, and ultimately meeting the barrel of her gun in a parking garage. (He lived, but dropped out of the race.)
So how could that parking-garage scene have been different? What did Kerry Washington do to floor him? And what's the prospect of Battlestar ever coming back to TV? Read on…
Wow, you're creepy.
That seems to be the overwhelming reaction on Twitter. Everyone wanted her to shoot me in the face. It's great, because it means I'm doing my job.
Darby said you have "mad douchebag skills."
Ha, I know! I'm putting that on my resume. Michael Trucco: Mad douchebag. Special skills: Rides motorcycles, rides horses, shoots guns and mad douchebaggery.
I was surprised we didn't get any flashback scenes that showed their backstory. Do you think you'll be back?
I mean, I'd be open to it in a heartbeat. Aside from Scandal being the number one show on TV, it was a really great experience. I feel like I just got to dip my foot in the well and I'd love to do more. I feel like there is possibly some potential resolution. Charles kind of disappeared and withdrew his candidacy, but I don't feel like they've really buried the hatchet yet. He kind of slinked back into the shadows. And this is the kind of show that is intense and loves conflict so I feel like there's room there. But it's not up to me.
The thing that was most revolting about Chip is that he seemed to have no remorse whatsoever for the horrible things he did to Abby.
That's something that Darby and I talked about. That these two had a passionate relationship and maybe there were times when things crossed the line, Chip thought to himself that ‘Hey, that's just what happens in a crazy passionate relationship.' And I feel like I wanted to put something into that character that was almost a sense of ignorant denial, or how horrible it was. For him to say, look at you, you look great, if I weren't married we could try it again.
The scene with the gun, we did it a lot, with different reactions from me. Sometimes, it was fear which is the obvious response. And another time it was disappointment, like, ‘Really, a gun?' Another time it was like, ‘Hey, that turns me on.' We did all of these kind of weird things and it was really fun to put in different ideas as to how he feels about her pulling the gun. It was different levels of creep, I guess.
Last night was your first time being a part of the Scandal Twitter party. How was it?
It was like getting thrown into whitewater. It was a raging river. Once I went in, it was insane. Everyone was like, "Yeah, shoot him in the face, Abby!" I was also floored by how much the cast participated. It's like a virtual party space.
Tell us something no one knows about the Scandal set.
Here's all you need to know. When I got the show, they said you have to be available on a Sunday, because for whatever reason they were a little behind and had to shoot on Sunday. We were on the stages and it's a Sunday, and these people work their butts off every day. And I'm in the makeup trailer and in walks Kerry Washington. I looked at the call sheet and she's not on there. She wasn't working. But it's a Sunday and she comes in and takes a seat and the makeup girls go, ‘What are you doing here?' And she said, ‘Ah, you know, I heard you guys had to work on Sunday so I came in to give you s--t and I heard Shonda bought a taco truck for everybody.' And in my mind I thought, here's a woman who works every single day on this show, she could do anything she wants on her days off. And she shows up to set just because she wants to. She introduced herself to me and she was so sweet and I thought, that speaks volumes of the kind of set that is. One of the stars has a Sunday off and just pops by to say hi to everybody.