USA's White Collar Another Well-Tailored Program
This Crime Drama Is So Smooth It's Criminal
Oct 27, 2009 Stephanie Sigafoos
Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) is a guy whose luck may have just run out. Just a few months before his scheduled release from prison he escapes, intent on finding the love of his life before she disappears for good. But when Caffrey is recaptured by the same FBI agent (Tim DeKay as Peter Burke) who put him behind bars, he makes a proposal too good for the Bureau to pass up. Now Neal isn't one of the bad guys -- he's the one helping to catch them.
Getting Under The Collar of White Collar
On the set of USA Network’s stylish new series White Collar, a crew rehearses a dolly shot of a non-principled actor walking in and out of a dry cleaner’s business. They film the same thing eight or nine times, extras taking direction on which way to walk, while pedestrians simply weave around the orange cones surrounding the location.
Nobody stops, nobody stares. It’s simply business as usual in a city where television and movie locations come and go, but remain as much a fixture as the Empire State Building or the Brooklyn Bridge.
Just a few blocks away are the show’s real stars – Bomer and DeKay – in the middle of another marathon work day. They’re part of a crew that’s already been to Columbus Circle, trekked to 42nd St and 5th Avenue and eventually moved to the northwest side of Central Park, surrounded by a small village of trailers, cameras, cables, lights and a hoard of young production assistants that often scatter like ants when their walkie talkies spike with chatter.
No one would confuse Bomer – guarded, shy and maybe even a bit nervous – for a guy whose star is about to rocket into the stratosphere. Or maybe he just doesn’t know it yet. But as White Collar was prepping for its debut episode he projected an unmistakable confidence in the show and his co-stars.
As Neil Caffrey, a con man now teamed with an FBI agent, Bomer has his first leading-man role following stints on NBC’s Chuck and ABC’s short-lived Traveler. His career, nearly a decade long, is also reaching a whole new level now that he’s landed at USA. His face is suddenly everywhere – on buses, taxis, billboards, magazines and in subways – as the cable ace enjoys the kind of success some broadcast networks only wish they could duplicate.
“That is a great feeling, artistically, it’s a great feeling to know that you’ve got—you know, go do 13 (episodes), go do a bunch, as opposed to oh, we got four and they didn’t kill us yet, we got four more, they didn’t kill us yet,” says Bomer. “ You feel there’s a comfort there and I think they stay true to their logo, characters welcome.”
Viewers certainly appreciate the effort. White Collar’s premiere episode attracted an audience of more than 5 million on a Friday night, its numbers doubling a now-cancelled program in the same time slot a year earlier. Much of the appeal lies with Bomer’s turn as an eloquent, sly mastermind now working with the guy who put him behind bars.
Caffrey's Cohorts
White Collar is fueled not only by Caffrey’s genius, but his frustration with staying on the right side of the law. Wearing an ankle bracelet as part of his get-out-of-jail agreement, it prevents him from tracking Kate, the love of his life who packed up and moved on while he was still in prison.
“I like to think of myself as romantic and I guess I understood the part of him – and that to me, has always been the driving force,” Bomer added. “I mean, his compliance with the FBI and all that stuff, ultimately is really so he can get closer to Kate and find her.”
Caffrey’s crime-fighting partner is Peter Burke (DeKay), a by-the-book agent who’s also a stickler for hard work and relies on the steadfast support of his wife Elizabeth (Tiffani Thiesen) while away from the job. Plus Caffrey and the Bureau also have an ally in Mozzie (Willie Garson), a man with deep connections and extensive resources in the criminal underworld.
“There's a lot of questions of how much is the FBI aware of me,” says Garson. “So it's coming that eventually Peter's going to have to eventually know who I am, and then can we use him, and what's the legality of--how much can the FBI actually use me to do anything. And so that's actually developing right now on this last episode (being filmed).”
Matt Bomer and Tim DeKay star on the new USA Netwo
|
Bomer and DeKay during White Collar's press junket
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Film & TV
Latest Articles