White Collar returned this month with all new episodes of Season 2. The newest addition to the cast, Hilarie Burton recently sat down with the press to discuss her involvement on the show that brought me to the USA Network! Check it out:
Photo by Gregg Delman
Based on what we’ve seen so far, your character, Sara is capable of being considerably more ruthless than Neal or Peter. Would that be a fair assessment?Well, I think what Sara has going for her is that she’s not confined by the boundaries of working for the government. She gets to be a little bit more creative in her research methods or her repo methods as opposed to the boys who have to answer to Johnny Law. So, yeah, I think she has more freedom and I think she can use that gray area to help these guys that she’s clearly drawn to, whether it’s Peter as a mentor and friend or it’s Neal as an adversary, who is also really attractive.
Was there any research that you needed to do before you began shooting?
Oh my god, yes. I mean, well, once I found out what her profession was I did not know what an insurance investigator did necessarily. I looked that up and it certainly is a real thing. So I had to learn about that and then I also just wanted to take a look at, at what the New York scene was. And so I hadn’t lived in New York in a lot of years and I started looking at the time out in New York, and all the New York centered magazines and the Harper’s Bazaars and all of the publications that kind of glorify all things Manhattan. And, I really like Manhattan. It’s a wonderful place and I liked it when I lived there, and I liked coming back as an adult and having an entirely different experience than I did the first time around.
Trust is always a theme of White Collar between Tim and Peter and Neal. Where would you say the trust has gone between Sara and Neal?
I think that there is an appreciation between the two characters because we’ve saved each other’s life a couple of times in a way. In our first episode there was some danger going on and I think the nature of the relationship is that they’re both trying to prove themselves to one another. I think they were enemies for so long, for so many years, that the idea of winning over your enemy can be very seductive. And so a lot of the angst and tenacity in the relationship—that’s what makes it interesting and that’s where it stems from, this want that Sara has to prove to him, look, I’m not an uptight bitch and the want that Neal has to prove to her, look, I’m not a bad guy, okay? So, yes, that whole effort of wanting to change someone’s mind can be a great motivator.
What has been your favorite wardrobe piece in the second half of the show so far?Oh, man, my favorite wardrobe piece. They got me this— I don’t know anything about fashion really and I’m learning, and they got me this Dolce suit that was just unreal. I wear jeans and slippers all day. I’m covered in vomit most of the time. You know, I’m a mom. So when I get to go to work and put on something that is just tailored to every curve I have, it’s really exciting and it makes you feel really good about yourself and so I have come around; I see the point to fashion. I see what it can do for someone’s self-confidence, and so yes, they, they know how to dress the girl to make her feel good.
How many episodes can we expect to see you in, or is this open ended?
There is a question mark right now. Is that a good answer?
Yes, definitely. Do you think that Sara is going to have a happy ending on this show (when it is time for her to leave)?
The journey for Sara has been really fun for me. I think Jeff Eastin writes for women very, very well. I think he writes them like he writes men. He respects them and thinks that they’re clever and interesting and I think he sees the things in Sara that I like in Sara, so even if her world isn’t roses, it’s interesting. And as an actress, that’s great for me and I think for the audience that’s great. So even if she just dies in another fiery plane crash it will be interesting and good. So I’m all for whatever they decide to do with me.
What would like to see on the show for Sara?
Right now, all you see of Sara is how she exists in Neal and Peter’s world. And I don’t think she’s a woman without a past. Clearly someone with that many walls up has had some stuff go down. So, down the road once, what Sara has found her fit within the group I think exploring more of who she was before and what exists outside of the White Collar circle could be an interesting, interesting place to go.
On a show like this, as an actor how do you prepare when you might be thinking that your character is going in one direction and in the next episode you find out that’s not the case?
I’ll be honest, it’s an exercise in endurance working on a show like this. And I was very fortunate that when I worked at MTV, I’d been acting for years in the theater and so I kind of had been trained in that, but I’d never been trained in live television before so you get one take and you sink or you swim. And you only have 30 seconds in the commercial break to learn all the information that you have to put out there. So on a show like this where we get new scripts the night before every single night, I think that training I received at MTV has really benefited me. And that’s also part of the reason I love television.
When you do a movie and you read the script you’re excited about it when you first read it and you’re excited about it on the first day of set. Well, four weeks into shooting when you already know what the end is and you already know everything that’s going to happen, are you still as excited? In television, especially on this show, we get a new script every night so that excitement is consistently there. And I think that’s what makes it, makes it fun working on something for this long.
So what show would you like to do a crossover with?
Oh, what show would I love to do a cross-over with? Oh, boy, I’ve always really been drawn to period pieces. I really thought Deadwood was awesome and I’ve always wanted to participate in a period piece. And that’s actually how I look at White Collar. If you look at the dynamic between Neal and Peter, that lovable criminal and the guy that keeps him in line; it’s a very kind of 1960s classic storytelling technique, and I look at this show like it’s a period piece.
The fashion in it is very period; it’s very stylized. You could take the characters out of Manhattan and put them in the ‘60s and it would still make sense. You have the doting FBI wife at home, it’s a very wholesome, very wholesome show. And so I think doing a cross-over with like Mad Men or something would be fantastic, don’t you? Time warp.
Who is your dream guest star for the show?
It’s the boys’ show, I’m the new kid. I feel like being the guest star is my dream. I feel very lucky to even be a part of it so I don’t want to start asking for any favors. But, golly, we all, like I said, come from a theater background so perhaps a huge theater icon, Bernadette Peters would just make my life.
How is your character Sara Ellis different than your One Tree Hill character, Peyton?
Oh my god, she’s so different. I think I’m much more self-conscious playing Sara because she’s so far removed from Hilarie Burton. I could go to the creator of One Tree Hill and tell him stories from my high school experience and he would integrate those into the story line and so I always felt very connected to that character. This character has a history that is so different from mine and a frigidness that is so far— I mean —I’m a little bit Vaudeville and, and Sara Ellis is very high end Broadway. And so having to class it up, is very fun for me, and I think it’s helping me become an adult.
Maybe life imitates art sometimes and so as I’m trying to grow up in my personal life I’ve got this very mature woman that I can go to work and play and, and try on a new costume.
For One Tree Hill fans, is there any plot line that you would definitely go for a return there?
Oh, man. I have such a, a fondness for that period in my life and I love all the people there, unfortunately it gets to a point where your personal life doesn’t necessarily allow a whole lot of room anymore for, for just jumping on a plane and going wherever. So while that’s a place that I love and it’s an experience in my life that I really love, I don’t think that it’s going to work out, and, and I still communicate with everybody back there. And I love them as a whole, but no I don’t think it’s going to work out. I’m sorry.
Have you seen any Broadway shows on your time off?
I went for my birthday to go see La Cage Aux Folles, which is a show that I’ve seen a million times and this version that’s up with Kelsey Grammer is just by far the best. I cried. I cried.
Do you have a dream project?
I grew up doing musical theater. That was my thing. I’d been doing it since I was about five and so, I love bravado, I love big shows. I love whimsy, you know I played the witch in Into the Woods and I loved that part. And so I think there is a part of me that one day would like to step back into those outrageous shoes and dance and sing and be the obnoxious little theater kid that I was when I was five.
My favorite moment during the interview: Burton said, “There’s always going to be a little bit of Peyton in me, so if you just watch hard enough you’ll see her.”
White Collar airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on USA.