(April 2009) - PCM recently participated in a media phone interview with actors Jeff Goldblum, Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe from TV's Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Vincent and Kathryn costar as Detectives Goren and Eames on the USA television show. Check out the Q&A where fans can learn all about the latest news with the actors careers and the show!

Q: Jeff, you're known for your dramatic roles and also for your dry sense of humor. I was wondering why you chose to be on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Do you at least get to express some of your sense of humor while you're doing the show?

J. Goldblum: Yes, such as it is. Maybe I'm funny sometimes, maybe not so funny other times, but yes. They actually write, Dick Wolf has been fantastic, kind, cordial and brilliant, I think. And they have a brilliant staff of writers and producers and they have intendingly built a part that is suited for some of the things that I like to do and can do. That's what they've tried to do and after seeing the first episode that was aired I think there's some humor in there. Along with the solving the crime and the very passionate part of this character and serious part of the character, I think there's some humor in it; I'm enjoying some of the funny parts of it.

Q: Detective Nichols seems to work from an observational point of view, where he's working on motivations more than just the facts. So he's kind of intuitive a bit. How would you describe your character if you were actually Nichols describing the character?

J. Goldblum: I'll take a crack at it. Yes, I think you're right. I am an intuitive fellow. Of course people know that both my parents were shrinks so I was sort of raised in an atmosphere where there was that interest in the human mechanism and the human psyche and what makes people tick. And yes, I think I'm particularly creative and adventurous and improvisational and spontaneous in my inner impulses and patterns and deeply curious and appetized in the unfathomably mysterious and delicious phenomena that is the human being and who we really are.

And why certainly people go off the rails and commit murder here in New York City, that interests me particularly, and oftentimes I find it's a mistake of identity and having their ego built around mistakenly and their sense of identity built around some aspect of form, if you will, in their lives, either their careers or their reputations or their bank accounts. That mistake gets them into trouble and they wind up doing risky and awful things in order to pursue that mistaken notion and defend it and help that survive. It's a bad, but not uncommon disease of the psyche that I find results in murder sometimes. I'm a humble student of that whole subject.

Q: Were you nervous when you were being filmed during a scene where you got to play the piano in an episode?

J. Goldblum: I did take lessons. Our parents gave us music lessons early on in Pittsburgh and I took to it and loved it. I kind of guess it's a hobby of mine. I've always played piano ... I decided on being an actor, I played the ragged cocktail lounges here and there, a couple of jobs while I was still in high school in Pittsburgh and then have always had a piano where I am, where I live and now where I work, too. I just love to play all the time. For the last several years I've had a jazz band called the Mildred Spitzer Orchestra in Los Angeles and when I'm off work we book ourselves into places and play gigs around town.

Then, yes, they knew about it a little bit and worked it into the character so my character, Detective Nichols, is able to play a bit and in these couple episodes, one that you saw already, maybe that first episode, and there's another one where I play. No, I'm not particularly nervous. I get excited and I got excited about it, but I always was sort of thrilled to play. Even when I play gigs these days I have no career aspirations or no fear of criticism. I really do it because I love to do it. Whenever I do it I love to do it, so it was particularly enjoyable for me having it be part of a scene or two.

Q: Kathryn, what about your role continues to challenge you?

K. Erbe: Finding ways to - let's see. That's a very good question. I don't know, every day we have new challenges, just in dealing with the new actors that we get to work with. We have new writers on the show, new producers and I feel like it's a challenge just staying involved with the work that we're doing and staying actively involved in finding ways for Eames to stay important to the stories and to bring a positive - just have a positive effect on what we're doing.

Q: And Vincent, after so many seasons, how do you all continue to maintain chemistry between each other?

V. D'Onofrio: I think it's been eight years now, so I think that anything the audience sees is just whatever has happened naturally in the eight years. I think that both of us kind of just rely on that - the history of the show and the history of the characters - to just somehow translate to the audience in some way.

Q: Vincent, with the events of last season's finale, what is your character's mental state at the beginning of the season? Is he resolved about - resigned himself to all of the loose ends being tied up or is he at all - has he broken down at all in the face of everything that's happened to him and his nephew being missing?

V. D'Onofrio: We never really tie anything up when it comes to Kate and my characters, because it's - they always want to leave it open. You know, we tie up criminals, but - we'll end those stories, but not - they'll never really shut any kind of storyline down completely, so it's kind of open as to what's going to happen with my character, I don't know. I think that this eighth season, I just - you know, I just played it differently than last season, but last season was very, very extreme. So this season, it's like he's just trying to be a cop, trying to do the best you can kind of a thing.

Q: Vincent, what is it like to be developing a character over several TV seasons as opposed to having to develop a character in a two-hour film?

V. D'Onofrio: Yes, it's completely different. When I first started the TV show, I kind of thought it's ostensibly about the character, and did a lot of planning and stuff. Most of the planning went out the window, and then I just kind of tried my best after that. With a film, it's much more - it's really planned out scene by scene and there's a real solid arc hopefully most of the time. The structure of the film is in three acts, you know it's going to end - it's easier to plan out a role like that. It's just as interesting but it's a completely different thing.

With the show, it's just wide open. We just keep doing it, and there's different crimes, different little stories to tell. So it's two different things. I think I just always will prefer films. I just think that's my favorite thing to do. But Goren's a great character, so it's good to do.

Q: Have you worked with any particularly interesting guest stars or bad guys for the new season?

K. Erbe: We have a lot. We have Lynn Redgrave, we have Scott Cohen and Kathy Baker are in the episode Sunday night. We had a great time with them. Who else, Vince?

V. D'Onofrio: We've also worked with some really good unknown actors, like young people that were really good. We're very lucky in that way, that most times we get really good actors, whether they're known actors or not.

Q: What do you like best about your character?

K. Erbe: What do I like best about my character? What I like best about my character is she usually has the right thing to say. She knows what to say; she's fairly straightforward and doesn't seem to have difficulty making choices. Nothing like myself in real life. I rarely know the right thing to say and she seems to almost have infinite courage and she's sort of like my fantasy of what it would be like to be like that - strong all the time and know what to do all the time and have a clear idea of what the right thing is to do and that sort of thing. So I like that about her. I like that she's a strong woman in a tough job and a scary job. I think they're both courageous. I think most of NYPD is very courageous. So that's what I like about her.

Q: Goren is always touted as being this unstable genius and the brains of the partnership, and sometimes you're there to be like the dry witness conscience. Are you okay with this role, or do you think Eames deserves more respect?

K. Erbe: Sometimes I get a lot to do, Eames has a lot to do, and sometimes she doesn't. I've fought for the whole time for her to have more of an impact on the work that they're doing, and it's gone up and down. I like being the dry wit. I wish I actually did more of that these days. The humor has kind of gone out of the character and so I would like to find a way to bring that back.

Q: What got you started in acting in the first place?

V. D'Onofrio: I was introduced to it by my dad at a very young age, because he was always involved in community theater and stuff. So I used to run lights and sound and stuff like that for plays and things. But I really didn't think of acting until I guess I was like 18, and then - I don't know, it just - I just thought I'd try it out. I don't really know why. I think it was just in my life, really. I think it's my dad's fault. So I just thought I would give acting school in New York, in Manhattan, a try, so I did. And then I guess I just caught the bug and went for it.

Q: What kind of advice would you give to new young actors coming up as far as what kind of education they should get and how they should pursue an acting career.

K. Erbe: What would you say, Vin?

V. D'Onofrio: I think when I was younger I would have said go to like a private acting school or something like that, but I think that these days, the drama departments and the universities are so great that I think that's the way to go, and unless they want -

K. Erbe: Get an education.

V. D'Onofrio: Get an education. Go into the drama department, whatever, film department, or just like the arts section of a university and - start there, study there. And then after that, go to the city you want to live in, like L.A. or New York and then try to be - then try to get jobs. Do theater and stuff. But when I was younger I would have said just go straight to the city and take an acting class and try to get jobs. But I think these days - I've been checking out universities and stuff and I know some teachers and some teachers that teach writing, film writing, and I know some drama teachers and - they're all really good teachers, so - I'm swaying towards that now.