Interview with Michael Urie

AE: Do you get input into your character?
MU: By the time the scripts reach us, it’s like too late to change things. But I get input in the moment, for sure. And I get to improv and ad-lib and stuff, and any time I have a fitting, I get a lot of input in what I’m wearing and things like that. It is very receptive to any kind of ideas and comments.

AE: Is there any chance Marc and Amanda might get a show of their own, and if so, what would you want the set-up to be?
MU: I think it would be really funny if Marc and Amanda left Mode and went to work for Mode UK.

AE: You just want a free trip to England, don’t you? I can see right through that.
MU: I think it would be fun, I definitely wouldn’t want to do anything like that until Betty had run its course, but I think it would be funny if they continued on and Amanda was actually the receptionist and Marc was still Wilhelmina’s assistant.

AE: With Marc you’ve created such a strong iconic character, and I wonder if there’s any concern with being associated with such a strong character, sort of like Sean Hayes with Jack on Will & Grace. Or as an actor do you just not worry about being typecast; do you just want to run with a hit as far as it goes?
MU: It’s definitely like you can’t get cast until you’ve been typecast, so I’m thrilled to have a job, but it’s completely a concern although Sean has had an interesting career since Will & Grace.

I fear more the Michael Richards/Kramer thing, though I would never freak out in a comedy club. I think that’s where I’m lucky is that with a half-hour show so much of it is captured in the moment with the audience. I think the nature of that kind of acting like on Will & Grace...so much of Sean Hayes is thrown into that. More of himself is thrown into that just because of the sheer spontaneity of that work.

I don’t know Sean, but I get the sense that I’m not as much like Marc as that, and I know personally that there’s a lot of other things that I can do and hope that other people will buy into it even while I’m still doing the show and after. At the same time, who cares? I’m having the most fun I can imagine.

AE: What’s the reaction to your character been back in your hometown of Plano, Texas? What do your folks think about it?
MU: They’re really excited. I have a friend who’s a DJ in Dallas and I call in to his show all the time. My family isn’t really there anymore so I don’t get back very often, but the response is great. I don’t know how they feel about it in the wider, more rural parts of Texas. They’re probably not so into the show, but where I come from is really good – big suburb, right next to a big city and I think they just love it. My friend who was in Dallas last Halloween said that he saw about six Bettys, a couple of Betty and Marcs and then a group that was the entire cast. So I think Dallas loves Ugly Betty.

AE: Did you have any scenes with Victoria Beckham?
MU: I did. She’s really cool. She’s really, really sweet and Sir Beckham and the whole Beckham throng came and they were all really sweet. And those boys are really huge!

AE: I heard you were teaching them to fake kick.
MU: Yeah, there was a fake kick in the scene and they were like, “How did you do that?” and so I showed them how to fake kick somebody. And you know they’re all soccer players, whether they mean to be or not, and they knew how to kick, that’s for sure.

AE: Does Marc get along with Victoria when she appears on the show?
MU: Marc is obsessed with her. He even has a special outfit for when she shows up. And at one point, she plays herself, but she’s brought on to be one of Wilhelmina’s bridesmaids – actually to be her maid of honor – and when she appears in her bridesmaid’s dress, I run over and say, “Oh, my god – it’s perfect!”

AE: You play the gayest character on the gayest network on the gayest show. Do you ever just want to pull out a six-pack and turn on a New York Giants game? Does it ever get to be too much gay, gay, gay?
MU: (laughing) Every once and a while . . . I do like my action movies and my Miller Lite, so occasionally it is a bit overwhelming, but generally it’s okay. It’s fun.

AE: Ugly Betty is truly one of my favorite shows. It goes from bust a gut funny to outright touching on a dime. When Justin was your intern, you were explaining the intricacies of rice cakes to him, but then realized how much Justin missed his dad and you stopped and you became very sweet and helpful. Is it hard to switch gears in a scene like that?
MU: Actually, I find that the more abrupt it is, the easier it is and the more honest it comes across. I think that’s a thing that the writers have done and that the actors, specifically the ones who play the silly characters, strive to maintain.

When these characters that you know of as being over the top and eccentric and outrageous do have the serious moments, they come out of nowhere. You see it’s just a mask that they’re wearing and that they can take it off when they need to. And when they do, I think you can make ‘em laugh, you can make ‘em cry and when sweet, sincere moments are butted up against moments of absolute hilarity, it grabs you and you can’t look away. If it was to ease into a serious moment and you hear the music playing, and there’s a moment and there’s a tear and all that stuff, you wouldn’t buy it. But when it comes out of nowhere and you have no time to think about it, it really works.