Raphael Sbarge has played a lot of disturbed individuals in his 40 years as an actor, even as recently as this week’s episode of Criminal Minds. He is therefore particularly delighted to have been cast as good conscience personified, Jiminy Cricket on ABC‘s Once Upon a Time. He recently took the time to speak with SciFiMafia.com about the role.
I asked him how he first got involved in the show.
The old fashioned way, I went in there and met them. We read through some stuff, and they said thank you, and I walked out and they chased me down the street and had me come back, and did it again, and then literally a few hours later got a phone call and it looks like it’s gonna come my way. It was one of those things where I guess they told me afterwards that they had a hard time finding — I guess, the temperament of the character? It’s hard to see yourself, you know?
Having said that, you know if you’ve got this kind of iconic character that’s supposed to be your conscience, I guess they were just looking for someone who sort of exuded whatever that is. I was happy to have provided it. As an actor – I’ve been an actor for 40 years, I’ve been in any number of things all over the place, but there are some things that you can’t – it’s sort of your essence that you walk into a room with. I’m very grateful, and I love being a part of it. You know I’ve played a lot of freaky, kind of cannibal, killer kinda characters as well [laughing], but I was really happy that this particular guy is “moral”.
He did know the part he was reading for when he went in:
They said it’s for Jiminy Cricket, and of course my first thing was, do they want a vocal match? What do they want? What I heard back was, they just wanted “real.” In a way now, just looking back, it’s sort of a cornerstone or hallmark of what I think they’ve done. (They) take these characters which now, even going in to this season, sort of run the gamut, and have put together a kind of a way of telling a story using what we know about the characters historically, the qualities associated with them, and literally reinventing them, with a flair and intelligence and incredible integrity.
Having done so over and over again, I’m just so struck with how my kids, who don’t necessarily know characters, have been introduced to them. and my mother, who’s 80, who watched and grew up on all these movies, is as equally engaged. I find that really remarkable, to talk generationally to an 8-80 demographic, and not pander or do anything kind of cutesy or treacly but really intelligent; it’s quite a remarkable feat.
With such a large cast, I was curious if they did a table read or had some other way of all being together at the same time. “No we don’t, because a lot of people come up from the states [the show is shot in Vancouver]. We did do some of that the first year but then it kind of went the way of all things, because it was too hard to coordinate with everyone’s schedules. It’s easier to do (that) in LA because everyone’s already there. We have scenes like, we had one last week, where everyone, all of the kind of the ‘core group’ were there, and it’s sort of like an old home week when we do that.”
They are obviously introducing a lot of new characters this year, and they came to us at the beginning of the year, and said, ‘Look, don’t worry, we’re sort of expanding the canvas of our story in order to really go from the microcosm to the macrocosm, as it were, to kind of give us the big picture of it.’ That’s what Mulan and Sleeping Beauty and Capt. Hook and Lancelot and Jack and the Beanstalk and… I think there’s several more [rats, no spoilers]. There is the core group of us, obviously we’re in Storybrooke, around which it started, and we will remain there, and it will continue to come back to that core group, even with all these characters. But (laughing) there are indeed a lot of folks who are a part of our “merry band.”
Will there be an Archie/Jiminy-centric episode coming up soon? “There is sort of a – what I can tell you is there is sort of a crescendo of a shocking thing that is about to happen.” And then there was silence…
So we started talking about showrunners Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis having come from Lost, and the influence that may be having on Once Upon a Time. “I guess very similarly in year 2, they added a lot of characters to the story, so I think they’re sort of using that handbook. (laughing) They seem to have a sort of idea about what keeps people’s attention.”
And secrecy? “Yes, there has been quite a bit of secrecy. They do really try to control the scripts, that they don’t get left lying around, or the “sides” that we get, we have to hand them back at the end of the day. I think that’s part of the allure of the storytelling, they give you a whole bunch of new information and they leave you with a whole bunch of new questions, and you always feel almost like a step ahead and a step backwards – oh my god what’s gonna happen now?! – and again I think it’s very skilled storytelling.”
What they’ve done with this show which I think is quite remarkable in a way and really is so different on the landscape is – not to be too hyperbolic about it – but they’ve kind of reinvented the wheel as far as storytelling on TV is concerned. Because when you think about all the cop shows and legal shows and medical shows that have a ubiquitous presence on the dial – (Horowitz and Kitsis) have taken fairy tales and stories and then created stories within those stories, and done so on network television, and done so with this huge ambitious show with visual effects and costumes and all these other elements and different worlds and been able to find an audience, it’s incredible. I marvel at what they’ve done.
When we first went to the TCA last year in the line of sort of (laughing) hardened TV critics, you could just tell they sort of liked the pilot but they’re like, (sarcastic voice) “All right, so what happens when the curse gets broken? What are you gonna do then?” And (Kitsis and Horowitz), kind of with a twinkle in their eye, said, “You know, if we’re lucky enough to get picked up for a full year, we have some ideas, and we believe that this is about telling stories, and that this isn’t just about the curse, the curse is an element, and there’s an opportunity to tell all sorts of stories from all kinds of different places.”
And look, they’ve gone to Shelley now, they’ve gone to Lewis Carroll, they’ve gone to Disney characters and then they’ve gone away from Disney characters, and they’ve somehow been able to do this in a way with a certain logic that has given us an ability to go to places that you wouldn’t (automatically go). And again, even though it seems that they have such a wide canvas, they seem to have enough clarity and rules or structure or spine, such that they’ve been able to maintain the integrity of the story.
With all the surrounding secrecy, does he personally enjoy spoilers, or does he prefer to see a story play out? “I’d rather see it play out. especially with these guys, because they’re so good at really surprising me. Just when you think you have it figured out, then you go ‘oh, you’re kidding me!’ It’s funny because we’re all fans of the show. What the heck’s gonna happen next? So we all run to the next script and can’t wait to read it. Because we’re all farther along (than the viewers), but we’re all equally hooked on this kind of storytelling, where they’re, like, [laughing] giving you a little bit of heroin, to stringing you along until you get your next fix.”
Sbarge doesn’t know what’s in store for Archie in the future. “I like to say that the future scripts for Once Upon a Time and the nuclear launch codes are kept in the same undisclosed location.” So they don’t tell you what’s ahead for your character, to inform your performance?
I wanna say probably in some ways I wish they did, but maybe it’s also because … they’re still figuring it out. They’ve got so many things in play. I heard that one story that we kind of got into was going to be completely different, and then they changed it. So, I think they obviously go with their gut and go with their feelings, and then I’m certain the studio and the network have something to say about it as well, but they are very much engaged, and everything is on the table. (There’s) an ability to keep it fresh and keep it moving. I applaud that. And again I don’t know how you would do this without that. There is something organic inherently about the storytelling. It’s whimsical and creative. Literally. I mean, there were some people who came over to me and said, “I never knew that was Jiminy Cricket’s backstory!” I just sort of nod and smile.
I think they probably have an idea of, in (episode) 10 they want to do this, you know, kind of for the arc of the season, and I think they probably have an idea for the arc of the next season, but I bet you that is subject to change, as inspiration hits them.
Any idea how they want to eventually end the series? “Gee whiz, I have no idea. And I’m not just saying that, I really have no idea.”
In an effort to get any more info at all on what’s to come, I asked him which characters he might be interacting with the most this season:
Archie has, at the beginning of this season anyway, in his response to the curse being broken, his initial response was to run, and say let’s get the hell out of here, it’s evil and it’s terrible and I gotta get out of here, and then was turned back, obviously, with a vote to try to stay and fight. How he then responded was in this case to try and, as opposed to running from what he was most frightened of, approach her. And he went to Regina and tried to speak to her conscience. and try to essentially reason with her, and say “I know there is something that’s good in there, and I want to talk to her.”
And I am inclined to say that is something that has been a big focus for him this season, which is really working with Regina, trying to help make sense of her. And also doing that as an advocate for Henry. That is really what he has always done, whether it’s talking to one of his mothers, or at least on Henry’s behalf, that is what he has been trying to do. So Regina obviously is a big focus, and he’s trying to come to terms with her not using magic, and what those implications are.
And then with what’s in store, sort of this “dramatic thing” that I’m teasing you with, is sort of a –will be a –- I can’t tell you too much more –- it’s all in Archie’s continuing to have to try and do the right thing.
At that point it became clear that the spectre of – Horowitz? Kitsis? Regina? – had him spooked, and I reassured him that we wouldn’t get him into trouble. So, sorry Oncers, no real spoilers here, other than “a shocking thing that’s about to happen,” but we couldn’t really expect more from Jiminy Cricket, now, could we? And since the midseason finale is this Sunday, maybe we’ll see that “shocking thing” very very soon.
Thanks so much to Raphael Sbarge for taking the time to talk with SciFiMafia.com about Once Upon a Time.
The Once Upon a Time midseason finale airs Sunday, December 2 at 8/7c on ABC.
