Andy Milder is one of th stars of the hit Showtime comedy series Weeds, which premieres its third season tonight, August 13, at 10pm.  Andy plays Dean Hodes, the unfortunate husband of the domineering Celia (Elizabeth Perkins).  At the end of the second season, Dean discovered his wife was having an affair with his best friend, Doug Wilson (Kevin Nealon).

Andy spoke to BuddyTV about the upcoming season, working with new cast addition Matthew Modine, and some of his favorite film and television roles during his long career.  Below you will find the complete interview transcript as well as the mp3 audio file.

Hi, this is John from Buddy TV, and we're talking with Andy Milder from the hit Showtime series Weeds. How you doing?

Good, how are you?


I'm OK.

Excellent.


Now, Weeds starts its third season next month, correct?

Yes it does, August 13, set your TiVos accordingly.


Will do. Have you already finished filming the season, or are you still…?

Funny you ask, today is July 25. No we are not, in fact, today we start the very last episode.


Wow, so you're toward the end. I don't suppose you can tell us anything about the last episode, or anything that happens this season?

I can tell you this, which is it ends – in my opinion anyway – it ends very satisfactorily, but still leaving you wanting more.


This season, you mean.

Yes.


Is it anything like, 'cause at the end, the second season was full of six or seven huge cliffhangers. So are we gonna get all of those addressed in the premiere episode coming up in August?

It's not all of them, most of them will be addressed, yes. I'm trying to remember if any of them were held off to the second episode. I think they're all addressed immediately, but I don't wanna be quoted on that, because I could be wrong.


Yeah. But in the first couple…

Yeah, absolutely, everything gets addressed. In fact, stuff that people didn't think would ever get to be addressed, gets addressed in this season. So it's pretty cool.


That would definitely be interesting to watch. Now, another new switch for season three is the addition of Matthew Modine and Mary-Kate Olsen.

This is true.


Did you get a chance to work with any of them?

Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to work with Miss Olsen, but I did get a chance to work with Matthew Modine. And I will say two things: one is that everyone else in the cast whom I've asked about Mary-Kate have said that she's just the nicest person, and a pleasure to work with. Everyone loves her work.

I will speak for myself when I say Matthew Modine is the nicest guy, he's like, crazy nice. He's one of these guys, like how can you be that nice, Matthew Modine? But then again, so is Kevin Nealon. So yeah, kudos. He was great, he was a lot of fun to work with, and really, it was just a blast. I've been watching his work forever, so it's kind of cool to get to work for him.


You have a lot of nicest people, it's also a very talented cast. I'm wondering, are there any people, you said you didn't get to work at all with Mary-Kate Olsen. Are there any other of the cast members who you don't get to work with as much as you'd like to?

Hell yeah! I've never had a scene with Tonye, who plays Heylia, and I'm dying to because I think she's great. And frankly, I had the privilege an awful lot with Elizabeth, who is in my opinion just so good. So that's a joy, but I would certainly also love to get to work more with Mary-Louise, because I think she's great.

And I would also love to… there's a lot of people I'd like to work with more. I get to work with Justin a little bit, or I'd say I'd wanna work with him more, because I think he's great. Romany and I have had this season, almost nothing to do with each other, which is a shame. Because last year, I got punched, that was fun.

You know, it's tough, these questions are kind of loaded. Because for me to say I don't want to work with everybody, it wouldn't just be foolish of me, it's true. We really have such a great cast of talented people, that it's like you want to work with everyone selfishly. Because you think, “Man, they're so good, I'm gonna look good acting with them.” (laughter) You know, they'll make me look better by having me in the scene. So that's why it's especially such a privilege to get to work with Elizabeth as much as I do.


Yeah, and Elizabeth and Mary-Louise obviously both nominated for Emmys…

Yeah, how great is that?


How are they reacting to that news this past week?

You know what? I have not seen them since. I have not been there, my home's in Georgia, I haven't been there since they got nominated. So I have yet to personally congratulate them, I assume they're handling it in stride. They're both class acts. They've been nominated before, I assume they'll be nominated again. I hope they win.


Bet they will. Well, Mary-Louise obviously has been nominated for plenty of things. This is her first nomination for this show, though she was somehow not nominated for the first season.

Yeah. The Golden Globe was pretty cool, though, we were very happy.


I imagine, beating all those [Desperate] Housewives

(laughter) Yeah.


Now, one of my favorite parts about Weeds is that starting with the last season and going into this season, every episode starts with a different musical artist covering the theme song. I'm just wondering, do you or the actors on the show get to meet with any of the musicians? Or do you get to offer suggestions as to who you think should cover the song?

Unfortunately, we don't get to meet. It would be cool if we did, but we do have a little bit of input. I certainly have tried using some, and actually had some of my stuff listened to. All the music on the show's really cool, even the interstitial music, really awesome.

So occasionally an artist will come into my universe, and I'll introduce it to Mark Burley, he's one of our producers. Or Craig Zisk who directs and is a producer, even Jenji Kohan or Roberto. I'd just, “Hey, take a listen to this.” And if they're into it and the artist isn't crazy expensive, it's a good way to get them into it.


So what specific artist did you pitch them?

You know what? I don't want to say, just so much as I don't know if they are gonna use them or not, I don't wanna get anybody in any trouble for that.


OK, that sounds fair.

Especially not me, 'cause you know I avoid trouble, that is.


Yeah. Now, you've done a lot of guest work on all other shows from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, to Dharma and Greg. I'm just wondering, is there a single acting experience aside from Weeds that you favor more than the others?

Well, that's really tough. I mean, I will tell you that one of the best experiences I ever had was on Apollo 13, and it was an amazing experience. Because for some reason, something like this doesn't come along very often, where everyone's of one mind. Everyone loved that film, and there's actually five or six of us who, with no other affiliation but that movie, meet every Thursday for lunch in Los Angeles.

So that's such a rarity, such a cool story. I'm gonna say that's probably the best, although certainly. I have to say it's funny you mentioned this, I was just talking to someone the other night about this same thing. Ted Danson, I'm also gonna say Ed O'Neil, and believe it or not, Ted McGinley, are three of the nicest people I've ever met. They just went so far out of their way to make people feel welcome on their show, that it's really cool.

You know, when you're a guest star, you do not always feel welcome. That's not because people make you feel unwelcome, it's just that people don't think about it. These guys all thought about it, it's really cool, it's really thoughtful, really special.


You do a lot of voiceover work, and obviously the people hearing your voice right now can tell that you have a very commanding, authoritative voice.

That belies my personality and my look, doesn't it?


(laughter) Do you prefer one to the other, in-front-of-camera acting versus voiceover acting?

You know, they both have their pros and their cons. The great thing about voiceover is, it's instant gratification. You go in, a microphone sits there, you read copy. You don't memorize it, you read it, and it's done. It's ready to go, they're ready to put it on the air. Whereas on camera, you sit around for all day, while they set up the shot. And you read three lines, and you come back next day, and you sit around all day and read three more lines.

Now that makes on-camera sound crappy, but really, on-camera's great. I mean, it's why a lot of us got into this, because we love theater and we love film and tv. So they're both really great. One way which voiceover can be described, is kind of on-camera acting distilled. It's kind of a free basing of on-camera performance, but by the same token you're not using your whole instrument. Kind of want to get out there and be on camera, and so its hard, they're both very satisfying in different ways.


OK.

What a lame answer, I'm sorry.


Oh no, that's interesting! And my final question would be, are there any other TV shows on any network that you're particularly fond of, or would love to somehow be a part of?

Wow, I have to admit, I'm a kind of TV addict. There's a ton of shows I'd love to be a part of. I guess I start in network, and say how much I love Dexter. Man, Dexter kicks ass, I think it's great. I totally got hooked from episode one… oh no, are you gone?


No, I'm here.

Oh, OK, I thought we got disconnected. I totally got hooked on episode one and loved it. I'm trying to think of what other shows… I mean, I'm a huge Heroes fan. And actually going there on that Dharma and Greg that you referenced earlier, Masi was, Masi Oka rather was on that show, so that was kind of cool.

And I know Greg Grunberg just from back in the day, and I'm a big fan of both of theirs, and wish them all the success in the world on that, 'cause that has been a lot of fun to watch. Golly, man, there's just so many. My mind is overwhelmed. Kind of half-joking, I almost want to be on Hell's Kitchen.


(laughter) Are you a cook or a chef?

No, but neither is anyone on Hell's Kitchen, (laughter) with the exception of Gordon Ramsay. I got to say there are a lot of shows I'd love to be a part of, but those right now, I mean. I think Dexter, oh, and 30 Rock. Holy smoke, I can't believe I almost forgot 30 Rock, which I think is so genius. It's just, thank goodness someone has made the sitcom work again, in a way that it's just really doing a great job with them.


Definitely have to agree with you, all the shows you listed there, I am also a huge fan and you have excellent taste in television.

Oh, God bless you, sir.



-Interview conducted by John Kubicek
(Image courtesy of Showtime)