Interview conducted by Josh Horowitz
October 9, 2003
A character actor to some, that fourth Ghostbuster to a generation, Ernie Hudson has his spot in the annals of pop culture. He’s the man who knew when someone asks you if you’re a God, you say yes! Now, after doing some time in OZ, the 57-year-old Michigan native has his shot at headlining his very own series. Chances are, you’ve seen Ernie suit up for police duty before in films like THE CROW. Now, all you have to do is tune in to ABC on Sundays at 8pm to catch him patrolling the streets in 10-8.
Josh Horowitz: How ya doing?
Ernie Hudson: I’m good, man.
JH: Congratulations on the new show.
EH: Thanks. I think it has potential.
JH: How many of these have you done? How many pilots that never got off the ground?
EH: I’ve done my share. Most of these things you do just the pilot. I did a thing called BROKEN BADGES a few years ago and it got picked up for eight [episodes] I think. I did a thing called THE LAST PRECINCT. We did eight shows. Never thirteen so this is kind of new. Also this is an hour show so it’s pretty exhausting. I’m a little bit surprised about that actually.
JH: You’re surprised that you’re exhausted?
EH: I’m surprised at the amount of work. Physically the hours get to be a little wearing.
JH: And it’s also an energetic role for you.
EH: And that’s the fun of it. What I liked about the character is the fact that he does have the energy. He is active, especially physically active. I’ve never gotten the chance to do a lot of that.
JH: I heard you lost some weight after the pilot?
EH: Yeah, between the pilot and the next episode we filmed, I lost 25 pounds.
JH: Is that addressed in the next episode or is it just a miracle diet?
EH: There was talk about putting a line in about it. I don’t know if it shows that much on me but I know how I feel. I carry weight a certain way. In the arms and shoulders, that’s not going to change much.
That’s who I am. After the pilot with all the running, I realized I’m not going to be able to do this if I don’t lose weight. And then people are like, what if the show goes five years. I’m thinking, I can’t even last this year!
JH: So how did you lose the weight?
EH: I went on that Atkins diet. Once I cut out the carbs, the weight just came off.
JH: How does it feel to have a lot of the weight of this show to be on your shoulders as well as Danny Nucci’s?
EH: Well, in a fight sequence its not so much the guy who has to throw the punch as the guy who has to take the punch well to make it convincing. I love working with him. It demands that you show up and be conscious and pay attention. Because when you’re tired you just want to go, tell me where to stand, what do I say because it’s like 1:30 in the morning and I just want to go home.
JH: I noticed a pattern in the pilots you mentioned like BROKEN BADGES and THE LAST PRECINCT. How many cops is this for you?
EH: Oh my God. I don’t know. Cops are one thing but I’ve done a lot of law enforcement and I consider that FBI, CIA, and wardens. But one of the things that attracted me to this role was that after OZ, everything I was getting was in a suit. And it started to feel like the same dog gone suit whether it was a warden or a principal or what. Like when I did MISS CONGENIALITY, they wanted that kind of authority and I want to play something beyond that.
JH: Do you feel like there was an Ernie Hudson type when casting agents thought of when they thought of your face?
EH: I think for a long time there hadn’t been and that was a blessing on one hand and it was a curse on the other because it was hard for me to build enough of a TV Q if you want to call it that. You have to be seen a certain way so they know how to market you. I was out there trying to get any role that I can. I wasn’t sure what casting directors saw. Once I got into OZ and got into that suit thing, I was very clear what that was but that wasn’t what I wanted to do. I don’t want this to be the end of my career doing this. It’s been a little bit hard to get that star status in terms of the studio. And this may help that. A lot of fans come up to me for different reasons. There are fans who love THE BASKETBALL DIARIES who have never seen THE SUBSTITUTE or CONGO. So maybe with this role, you get the chance for a lot of the fans to center around something. TV has a way of doing that.
JH: Is there a day that goes by that GHOSTBUSTERS isn’t mentioned to you?
EH: Not a day when I’m out. Somebody will always say “who you gonna call” without fail. What gets me is that all say like it’s the first time I’ve heard it. They really worked hard to think this thing up. It’s always, “Hey Ernie” and then there’s a pause. “Who you gonna call?”. And they just love it. I’m glad to have been a part of something that’s almost a part of our culture now. I didn’t make a whole lot of money doing it but its nice to have on the resume.
JH: Did you get a little bit more the second time around at least?
EH: Very little. Bill Murray’s per diem was probably bigger than my salary. The weird thing is I always thought it would be from that point on, I’d be able to build a career around it but I can’t honestly say there was anything work-wise that came out of it. And in some ways maybe it was a hindrance.
JH: Why do you think that is?
EH: Well for a lot of us, you think that if you are seen and the audiences are aware of you the, studios are automatically aware of you but that’s not the case. The studios have their own idea of who is
worth it and who is not. While that movie made me popular, I think there were a lot of roles I lost because they started seeing me as a comedian which I’m not. I had to really fight for THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE because they wouldn’t see me because I had done GHOSTBUSTERS. And finally I was able to get in. The attention span of the industry is very short.
JH: You ride these different sort of waves as an actor I guess…
EH: Yeah, you do. After GHOSTBUSTERS there was a drought. I couldn’t get arrested. And then WEEDS came around with Nick Nolte and I started to work again. But it does come in waves.
JH: The acting industry is so varied. I mean, you’ve put a lot of years into studying your craft, doing theater and all that. And then there are models turned actors for instance. Does it sort of stick in your craw at all when someone can come in with no experience in acting and succeed?
EH: It’s an odd thing. There is a like-ability factor to people and I don’t know how much of that you can learn. There are some really good actors who just don’t grab us the right way. And then there can be some guy doing construction who happens to be working on a big directors’ house. I’ve found that people who lay a strong foundation do tens to be around a lot longer. My intention was to be around for a long time. And I knew the only way to do that was to lay a foundation. A lot of people in the industry think you can do it if you have a certain look or if you have certain friends and frankly I didn’t have any of those things. I don’t have that many friends. I ain’t that good looking. So I better know what I’m doing.
JH: Are there people you’ve worked with who taught you a lot about the craft or business of acting?
EH: Nobody took the time to school me or help me or give me insight of just how to survive. But working with different people you learn not so much by what they say but by watching them. I worked with Nick Nolte on WEEDS. No matter how much he had partied the night before, he had this amazing way of pulling it together when they said action. Suddenly you saw this guy transform in front of your eyes. I wanted to know how to do that. Working on this show with Danny Nucci who is much younger than me—he wants so much for this to work. He’s in there breaking the script down and all that. For me personally, it ain’t that complicated but it inspires me because I go, well if he’s willing to do this, let me take another look at it as well.
10-8 airs Sunday nights at 8 PM on ABC
E-MAIL THE AUTHOR | ARCHIVES
