Jack Stehlin Interview: There’s Nothing Clichéd About “Weeds”’ Gay DEA Agent

AE: There was a lot of discussion on our site whether the show was deliberately trying to be provocative. I think there was a bottle of lube on the nightstand? I think a lot of people were thinking, "If they go somewhere with this, this is great, but if they don't, it seems somewhat exploitative."
JS: Right on the head. Hey, I had that worry myself. I was like, "Is this going to be a joke? Create a hoot and then just throw it away?" I was concerned about that. As the season went on, I got some great scripts culminating in that really fabulous script for the final episode.

AE: I thought that was the best episode to date, the finale of the last season. Obviously, you were featured prominently. It was amazing television, kind of brought the whole season into focus.

JS: I thought so, too. I was really excited. When I saw the script, I thought, "Wow. To play a scene like that is a real opportunity." It made me think of my mentor Al Pacino. It was like, "This is a Pacino scene, man! This is incredible!"

AE: The flirting with Celia earlier in the season, was the character going to go in a different direction?
JS: I should tell you, there was a scene that was cut that Celia and I shot, where I asked her out and she turned me down and my feelings were hurt. I don't think they had any idea where they were going. I think they were just looking for some way to do it, and then this idea popped up. Then they cut that scene when they decided. It was supposed to be in the sixth episode last season, but they cut it and went the other way.

AE: It's always interesting to see the finished product and it looks so seamless, but you often hear stories about how everything is thrown together. It almost destroys the illusion when you hear about the sausage factory and all that behind the scenes. But in the end, all that matter is whether or not it works.
JS: I imagine the writing room is a wild place. They are constantly trying new things. They live on the edge, especially in the second half of the season, because it's kind of in response to how it's going. It gets more creative as we go.

AE: So Captain Till was killed [last night]. What was your reaction when you learned they were going to kill your character off? Were you disappointed?
JS: Oh yeah. I was very disappointed. I don't know why or where they're going with it, but for whatever reason they decided that's the end of that road. But I fell into it. I went in thinking it was going to be one episode at the end of Season 2.

I've now done twenty episodes, and, I think, had a considerable impact on the show in the last couple years. It's a very gratifying feeling, but of course I'm disappointed. You always want to be part of something that people are really enjoying, and is successful, and you have such an interesting character. I'm really glad that word got out there, because I think it's going to have an influence on what might happen for me in the near future.

AE: Would you say this is your most high-profile TV role to date?
JS: Oh yeah, I think that's certainly true. Although, I've had reoccurring roles on shows that had much bigger audiences. JAG had a much bigger audience. Buffy the Vampire Slayer had a much bigger audience. I had good roles, but this role was so much better because of where I was able to take it. 

AE: I think that's partly because of who's watching what shows, and partly because of media arrogance. Weeds is a bellwether show. It's one of those shows that the people who talk about shows watch.
JS: No question about it. We used to make jokes about JAG [on which I appeared], "Oh, please don't watch this." Everybody in America watched JAG, but nobody in Hollywood. It's the opposite with Weeds. Everybody in Hollywood watches Weeds, and nobody in America.

AE: I watch it sometimes with my mouth hanging open. It's such a Blue State show as opposed to a Red State show. I wonder as I’m watching it: is there a single television set in all of Alabama tuned into this show?
JS: There's probably a few sneaking it in. It would be interesting to note that my guess is that a lot of people do sneak it in. There's this kind of a perverted part of all of us, if you will, that wants to have a relationship with something that has that kind of truth in it. We see ourselves in it even if we don't want to admit it.