Interview with Kenny Johnson
(part 2)

August 14, 2015 | In the second part of our interview we talked to Kenny Johnson about "Sons of Anarchy", "Bates Motel" and "Chicago Fire".

Click here to read Kenny's answers about "The Shield" and his upcoming show "Secrets and Lies".

Foto: Kenny Johnson, SOA Party Weekend - Copyright: myFanbase/Nicole Oebel
Kenny Johnson, SOA Party Weekend
© myFanbase/Nicole Oebel
Note: © myFanbase 2015 - The interview is exclusive to myFanbase and may not be published on other websites or the like. You may share the first two questions (up to 180 words) if you link back to this site. Translations other than English and German may be posted with full credit including the link to this site.

Sons of Anarchy:

It was just beautiful how there were all those things, your death scene, Walton Goggins coming in as Venus VanDam, and Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) being the one in the truck in the end. Did Sutter talk about these things?

Kurt wanted everybody in "The Shield" get into his show, too. We all did "The Shield" together so, he had Ronnie (David Rees Snell) in there, he had Benito (Martinez)Benito, Jay Karnes for a while, he had everybody which I think was cool.

Kozik was killed off at that time because of scheduling conflicts. Do you know what would have happened for your character?

I don't know, I was supposed to stay on the show and I went off to do "Prime Suspect" and NBC wouldn't let Kurt write me out. He was gonna write me out and if "Prime Suspect" didn't go he was gonna have me come back. He basically wrote these three episodes and then I disappeared so there was a three months period where they just wouldn't let me shoot because I was under contract and then finally I had a ten day period I said, listen Kurt, write your episode and I'll go do it. And once he had this idea, man I think I'm gonna blow Kenny up! I did it on "The Shield" and people maybe get a kick out of it and appreciate that. So that's how that happened.

And that's how that line came up?

"You gotta be shittin' me!" [laughs]

Was that you or was that Kurt?

That was him! You know in "The Shield" I go, Shane, Shane? Because he takes off, so I did a take where they had me scream, Shane, Shane? [laughs] And then I heard the thing go off and go "You gotta be shittin' me!" It worked but I didn't agree with it. I didn't wanna die, I wanted him to write me off the show but I didn't wanna get blown up that kinda rubbed me the wrong way a little bit, but he goes, people really get a kick out of it... [laughs]

They did I think! Earlier this year we were at the "Sons of Anarchy" convention in Paris with Boone, Tommy, Kim, Theo... and the dynamics between them were just hilarious. What was it like working with them?

It was the same thing. It was crazy and fun. We had wrestling matches every day, Boone, Charlie (Hunnam) and myself, we were constantly shadow boxing and then getting to slap somebody and then we were getting into the wrestling thing. Day to day, between takes we were just like little kids full of mischief and then you get on and do these scenes and everyone had this great chemistry. They were light and fun, you know even though it was a heavy show everybody effortlessly got along. I had a blast while I was there and that was one of the reasons I didn't wanna go. You don't find that all the time. "The Shield" was a phenomenal experience and SOA was a phenomenal experience. You just don't get 'em like that! So when you do you gotta just take it with you!

Foto: Kenny Johnson - Copyright: myFanbase/Nicole Oebel
Kenny Johnson
© myFanbase/Nicole Oebel

Bates Motel:

As the storyline of your character Caleb unfolded it turned out the relationship between Norma and Norman isn't the only unusual relationship in this family. What were your thoughts when you found out the backstory?

I was really psyched. I was jumping up and down, this is so crazy: Norma and Caleb having a baby which was Dylan and nobody knew. I thought that was amazing. They called and it was only for three episodes in season 2 but then when they actually asked me to come back for the entire season 3 I realized it was more like an uphill battle, coming where he came from and doing what he was accused of it's not an easy thing to play as a character. And they tried to... I'm not gonna say redeem him but show as much human remorse as possible and I think they accomplished that but it was definitely not an easy guy to live in or to play.

It seems Caleb got as much closure as he was ever going to get from Norma or Dylan. But do you think he can really stay away, knowing that his family is in danger being around Norman?

That's a good question. I think that's something that the writers are dealing with now. They have an objective and a place they wanna go with season 4. We'll see, I can't really say anything about it. I have no idea.

And then there was the day "Opie" came to White Pine Bay. How fun was that reunion?

That was phenomenal! They told me they had this character written and they said, we want Ryan Hurst to do it and we know you guys get along really great. Ryan was offered a movie at the same time and he was gonna go do the movie. So I reached out with an email and said, listen I know you got this film with a really good actress and that's awesome but I'm just gonna put it out there, it'd be awesome if you could come and do this show, but please do what's right for you! And he said something about that email got to him and over the next three days he changed his mind from the movie to come to the show. So then he came down and the whole time he kept saying, you're the only reason I'm here. It was awesome that he came and it was really cool and interesting to play off of that character, too. He was so good at that guy!

Chicago Fire:

Welch was introduced as an antagonist when he told Dawson that he doesn't want a female firefighter on his squad. Sure viewers were on Dawson's side, but do you think Welch did actually have a point?

Are there guys that feel that way? I'm sure! Back in the 80s they passed that law where a certain amount of females and ethnicities have to be let into each department to make it of well rounded and fair. So some guys might score higher than women in the physical aspect of it but in the other aspect maybe not. It's really give or take and what person can do the job. Do you know this person is gonna have your back and save your life - is something you gotta ask yourself. And whether it's a male or a female as long as they're physically able to do what they're hired to do then you gotta trust the person next to you. Welch obviously had issues with it but it also went into more personal things because of his past and things he knew about Jesse Spencer's character. [Dawson] proved herself and that's that!

As his storyline progressed Welch decided not to go along with Chief Pat Pridgen. Was that the breaking point for Welch and Casey finally getting along?

Yeah, they finally got over the hump. When it comes down to loyalty and doing the job, you wanna be great at what you do. If you just flat out lie about something to get somebody out of there then you become a scumbag like them and I think no matter what his personal feelings towards female firefighters are he's not a liar. He's not gonna lie to jeopardize somebody's job and he knew that Jesse's character was a good firefighter and great at what he did so he didn't wanna lie and be a schmuck like Pridgen.

I know you like to do the physical stuff so what is it like with the action scenes on "Chicago Fire", are there real firefighters on set explaining what to do?

Yeah, they have a guy there that was second in command of all the fire houses in Chicago and he was the tech advisor. He was there telling us technically what's wrong and what's right and how to use the oxygen tanks, how to turn them on and basically do everthing in a fire, how to repell, how to save people and so he would go through that. And all the extras and even some of the recurring actors are real firefighters. It's always cool to be surrounded by the real deal because they'll tell you whether you're doing it right or not. It made me nervous cuz I thought ok, I'm playing a lieutenant who's kind of a prick and my first scene I'm sitting in this thing full of real firefighters around me, they were not actors. And I'm thinking they are gonna think I'm such a schmucky actor [laughs] and what I'm doing is wrong cuz I didn't really know what a lieutenant really would be like in that situation but I created my own character and when we did this scene they were like, you know what you remind us of a lot of lieutenants that are out there. They're exactly like you! You're like the real deal. That made me feel a little more like I was on the right track at least.

And last but not least, what tv shows do you enjoy watching?

Right now "Wayward Pines" is my new show. I watched "Game of Thrones" on the plane over here. "Vikings" is another show that I like and then "Bates Motel", I was a huge fan of the first season, I was addicted to it so the fact that I came on to that was even better for me because it was the only show I watched that year, so it was perfect!

With your looks you'd make the perfect viking!

Yes! I took a bunch of photos and said please push me for that. Travis Fimmel is a good friend of mine, we box at the same gym. I would love to be on that show. My mom was born in Latvia, my dad was born in Sweden so I got kinda that nordic look...

...and the viking blood!

Exactly! I don't think my management pushed me for that yet, I'd like to. After I get done with "Secrets and Lies" going to "Vikings", man, that would be... yeah!

Thank you for having this little chat with me!

Thank you so much, you're awesome!

Click to read part 1 of the interview with Kenny Johnson

Nicole Oebel - myFanbase

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