Author: Emma Loggins
Date: 2008-12-05

Interview:
We had the honor of sitting down with Aldis Hodge, one of the stars of TNT's Leverage, and Leverage Executive Producer Dean Devlin recently to talk about the series. We'll be bringing you Part 2 of the interview with Dean Devlin next week. Until then, check out what Aldis Hodge had to say about his character, the series, and his acting career:

So how did you get involved in this project?

Aldis: Well I did the regular acting thing. Just auditioned and ran it up the lines. Get an audition, a call back, and get a network. I got lucky enough to hit my stride.

Now your character is a computer genius, but he is more of the badass cool guy and not geeky at all. How much of that is your influence?

Aldis: I think it was more a partnership there. Our executive producer wanted a fresh look on the standard of a geek. Now the aesthetic has changed. It's not all, ya know, the high water pants with the loafers and a super buttoned up tie. We're cooler than that. It's okay to be smart. Smart is sexy. We can be a little stylish. Pocket protector, the BlackBerry. It's all different. It's more of a collaborative effort. They allowed me to put as much into it as I possibly could, which I love, because it gave me so much freedom to do what I do. And I'm a geek to the hip. I don't know that much about sports, and I know more about science, animals, anatomy and what kind of gadgets are out there. I do cars, I'm a car dude all day. So I think it was definitely a collaborative effort of them writing, having the character put in front of me, and me being allowed to do what I can do with the character.

Now you say that you're a geek but how much preparation did you do for the character? Did you already know a lot of the computer stuff?

Aldis: I knew none of the computer stuff. I'm computer savvy on a very basic level. But I started learning about hackers later on, and it's a very interesting world. Not as complicated as one might think. I do know how to type. And that's all I can do (Laughs).

What's your favorite thing about this character?

Aldis: The fact that he is intelligent. As an actor, as an African American actor the roles are very limited. Usually it takes awhile to get a good role and not a product or a stereotype. I mean I've played thug-this and killer-that for so long it got boring and tired. It started to be make me unhappy in my career, but this role comes along, I can actually play a cool person. He knows what he's doing, and yes he's a thief but he's doing it for the right reasons. He's actually an intelligent person, and that is what I love. Everything that went along with the job, great people, great cast, great production and great crew... we actually had a really great set and a good environment. This job has been amazing, and I've had fun working on it. It's probably been one of the best networks I've worked with, TNT, probably one of my favorite jobs so far.