Mandy Finally Opens Up About His Departure

[nwjarvis.livejournal.com]

Details behind the cut...



Something strange about the spam filtering prevents my posting the link on the community board, so check my LJ for details.

Comments

[liliaeth]

might be best to add a link to your post at least though.

Either way it's obvious that he clearly missed the entire point of the series.

[liliaeth]

I totally agree. I always felt that Gideon got far too much attention in the early seasons. Making the show Gideon and those other guys. It wasn't until he left that they could truly start developing the other characters.

That and the way he insults the show, not realizing that not only is CM about agents stopping monsters, but more specifically, that it's a show where female agents get to on occasion save the day and other women, children and men.

[nwjarvis.livejournal.com]

While I do like the S1 and S2 episodes, I definitely think the show came into is own after it became more of an ensemble.

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

Apparently if the URL is too long, LJ won't let you post it. I had a similar problem with a link I tried to post in a different community a couple of days ago.

As for his comments about the series, while I can certainly understand not wanting to deal with the subject matter day in, day out, however-many-hours-a-day for five years, how did he NOT know what the show was about when he signed on? It's about serial killers. And yes, that is what serial killers do. Maybe not all of them, but a large number of them hunt women.

[iceprnce1.livejournal.com]

You know everytime I've read Mandy talk about CM and his disliking the violence I always think, duh? Did he read the title of the show at all?

Joe Mantegna says he's so glad Patinkin left he has a picture of him over his bed so he can thank him nightly.

[nwjarvis.livejournal.com]

Don't most actors at his level at least read the script before they agree to shoot the pilot?

[thecowboycliche.livejournal.com]

Joe Mantegna says he's so glad Patinkin left he has a picture of him over his bed so he can thank him nightly.

Hilarious.

[tragicllyhip.livejournal.com]

Thats pretty much what Matthew G said, in so many words. Well whatever, he's an odd man, and next time don't take a series about chasing serial killers and expect there not to be some horrors every week.

I like the show because they catch the killers, and i find that comforting, however unrealistic

[gothrockrulz.livejournal.com]

He left because he couldn't take the violence depicted anymore? Hmmm. Guess it would be difficult for an actor to have to deal with such dark subject matter day in, day out, especially if they were struggling with it in the first place.

[pwalkeri.livejournal.com]

I've only recently gotten into CM, so I don't really know any of the backstory about Mandy, but I don't see the issue with his interview. He was being honest about the fact that he had misjudged how they were going to portray the show, and he couldn't do it anymore. I mean, there are a lot of crime shows that include violence, but don't include it to the extent that CM does, so I don't think he was a total moron or anything for misjudging how intense the show was going to be. I mean Elle left seemingly because she was homesick, and that should have been something she had taken into consideration before accepting the job, but sometimes the reality is harder than what you expect. Maybe I'm just giving him too much credit. *shrug*

That said, I like Rossi better as a character so I'm not sad Giddeon left. I felt like his character's whole plotline revolved about the when and how Giddeon was going to leave eventually anyway.

[gsyh.livejournal.com]

I'm sad that Gideon left because he was my favourite, but I think he left at the right time, and that it was necessary for him to leave for Reid to grow.

Like, MP plays a lot of mentor-ish type of characters, considering Mentor Occupational hazard, his characters should either die or leave because it's going to get weird when their protege gets older. Like, in Dead Like Me, he played Rube Sofer, who was very sledgehammery subtextually the surrogate father of George Lass - he calls her peanut and he calls his actual daughter the same thing in the flashback. George was only 18 when she died and became a Grim Reaper, so it was fitting for her to have a father figure, but she was also starting to grow out of it.

...and speaking of DLM, it's a series about people dying of accidents, but unlike Final Destination, there is no gore at all, and though the humour was occasionally dark, Rube wasn't a dark character - he also liked Charlie Chaplin, and said in show that the humour of a man getting hit by a block of cement depends on maintaining their distance so they don't see his pain, and that's how the reapers should work. Even though Rube participates in the process of people getting killed and he's not a sociopath, he's over all a light hearted guy. To get into role, MP mostly just acts fatherly towards Ellen Muth.

To get into role for Inigo Montoya, MP recalled the loss of his father to cancer, and the actor meant it when the character said "I want my father back".

Gideon's character is actually a little bit like Rube's, but much darker, because well, he's close enough to see the pain, he even invites the victims into his head. To pull this off convincingly for a method actor, that would SUCK.

Like, me, I can see how much it can suck, because while I didn't go into acting, I did use to be a drama club nerd and I used the same, actually feel the same emotions as my characters by drawing on memories where I felt like that - and the time I played a suicidal character I had a really really really terrible month.

...and profilers, profile - he didn't PLAN to leave abruptly like that, he thought about it for a long time, he thought he could do it, and then on script day, he thought he'll give himself an hour to get himself together before going to do the job he hated, and then another, and then another.

[cold-ember-32.livejournal.com]

The issue is that he just stopped showing up. Literally, one day he just didn’t show up to a table read. Everyone else turned up to start work on season 3 and he just…didn’t. He didn’t let his contract expire or go to the show runners and tell them he wanted out or anything – he just stopped going to work. Which is absolutely ridiculous to anyone who has ever had a job, honestly. Plus, it makes it worse that he had the entire hiatus to tell someone – anyone – that he wanted out instead of blindsiding them and forcing the writers to scramble to wrap up his storyline. Not to mention he pulled the same crap when he was on Chicago Hope, too. I really doubt people would be anywhere near as annoyed if he had handled the whole situation like an adult and if he didn’t make a habit of bailing on shows.

Personally, I like Rossi far better, too, but the way Mandy left has always rubbed me the wrong way; it felt incredibly disrespectful to everyone involved – the rest of the cast, the writers, the crew, and the fans. So as much as I prefer the show post-Gideon, it still bugs me, and from the responses to this interview it seems like I’m not alone in that.

[nwjarvis.livejournal.com]

I've only recently gotten into CM, so I don't really know any of the backstory about Mandy,

Looking back, it doesn't seem like such a big deal now. At the time, it was a near catastrophe. The first few scripts were written, and their lead actor doesn't show up. There was a mad scramble to put something on tape for the first episode, to rewrite the scripts that were already done, and to put together some kind of story to explain Gideon's exit.

A lot of people evidently thought the show would never survive - that's how much of a mess he left them in. But they worked very hard, and kept it together, and - until TPTB started meddling with it again - made an even better show.

Here's a video clip in which Ed Bernero and other cast and crew talk about it:

[thecowboycliche.livejournal.com]

Here's the article (http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/tv-zone-1.811968/why-did-mandy-patinkin-quit-ci-five-years-later-he-speaks-1.3536240). Hopefully that link works.

So what I get from that is, he decided to keep doing it for a while because he didn't want to not have a job, and he didn't realize what he was getting himself into. The show is about criminal profilers who hunt serial killers. How did you NOT know what you were getting yourself into? Yeah ok bro. His whole statement is only a tad self-righteous, isn't it? Good thing I have no love loss for Gideon whatsoever. Rossi > Gideon any day of the week.

This is interesting, because there have been a lot of rumors swirling around about a familiar face coming back for the season finale. Someone who was kind of in the know had spoiled saying Gideon, but Erica had shot that down. Since, the writers have confirmed that someone is coming back, be it only for the season finale. With these comments so recently, I doubt highly that it's Gideon. That leaves who? Elle? Ashley?

PS I don't watch "Homeland", but how violent is that? I wonder what issue he'll come up with so he walks away from that show too.

[tonieboo0013.livejournal.com]

I could've sworn I read on Criminal Minds' twitter that the guest for the season finale WILL be the Gideon character!

[define-serenity.livejournal.com]

/butts in

Homeland follows the story of a CIA agent (Claire Danes) convinced that an American prisoner of war (Damian Lewis) has been turned and is now working for terrorist. Mandy plays her mentor at the CIA. it's not really that violent, it's more to do with the unravelling of Carrie's mind, her conviction that she's right, Brody's reason for working for terrorists while he's trying to reconnect with his family. Mandy's a minor though not unimportant character, Carrie's voice of reason, very set in his beliefs - i personally recognize a lot of Gideon in him. i really hope he sticks to this show, it's so great ._.

[wordsinviting.livejournal.com]

While I don't agree with his explanation whatsoever I find it amusing that he did get out before the storyline's started sucking. IMO of course. ;)

[nwjarvis.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but a really long time before.

[dhae_knight_1]

For one thing; he was the lead, and one day he didn't show up. Now, if it was in the middle of the season and he suddenly reached the limit, I could accept that. But at the end of the hiatus? And he didn't warn anyone that he didn't really want to go on? That's just disrespectful. To everyone.

For another; he thinks CM is misogynistic? I... don't think that word means what he thinks it means. Is the majority of victims women? Yes. That's realism. Does CM offset it by putting strong women in the lead? Yes. CM is one of the least misogynistic shows on TV. Heck, they pass the Bechdel test more often than not (and manages that feat by having more than a lone token female in the cast).

And lastly; okay, so he got surprised by the fact that a show about serial killers is dark. That comes as a bit of a surprise to me that you can be surprised by that (not that I don't appreciate the challenge of making a show about serial killers that's all kittens and sunshine), but okay. He's upset (still?) that people likes the show, but rationalizes it as people liking the fear factor (I don't, personally, watch horror; I like CM because they catch the bad guys, and because the team is at the center - one of many reasons I dislike the latest unsub-centric style). Okay. But he actually petitioned the showrunners to change the show? This massively successful show that gives a lot of people work? That gives millions of viewers enjoyment? WTF?

I'm sorry, but that's just downright arrogance. That's looking down from your high horse and going; "I know what's best for everyone, better than they know themselves." That's what I can't accept.

I think Mandy leaving was the best thing that could happen to the show. Out from under him, the team blossomed and it truly became an ensemble show. And I love Rossi. He's everybody's favorite uncle. He has Gideon's experience (if not his brilliance), but for him it's become all about getting the team to run smoothly. Which is perfectly in character with Mantegna who seems to be the kind of actor who likes to work with good people on good scripts and couldn't care less about promoting his own career or person above the show or anyone on it.

[paksenarrion2.livejournal.com]

This is what Mandy does. He walks off shows when he gets tired of things. He did it on Chicago Hope, he did it on CM and i have no doubt he will do it in the future. Frankly I find him unprofessional in the extreme. Which saddens me, because I love Inigo Montoya. :(

[night-sky99.livejournal.com]

One thing I'm left wondering is what about Dead Like Me? It didn't have nearly the type of horror and murder, but it could get graphic at times. I wonder if because DLM was more comedic, if that's why Mandy was okay with it.

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

I agree it's completely unprofessional for him to just not show up one day out of the blue and leave everyone scrambling to pick up the pieces after he ditched them. Just speak up, dude, don't let it get to the point where you screw everyone over because of issues.

But tbh, having seen what the show turned into, with all the emphasis on torture-porn? It was prob for the best. Back in the beginning, it was dark, yeah, but they didn't lovingly focus on the unsubs harming their victims as much as they do in the later seasons, which is a large part of why I stopped watching, when it stopped being mainly about the psychology of it, the profiling, and more about 'let's see how much gratuitous torture we can squeeze in now'. If Mandy thought it was getting bad back in s3, I can't imagine how he'd deal with it now!

[nwjarvis.livejournal.com]

Totally unprofessional.

If his sanity was at risk, I understand that he needed to get out. I had to get out of my first marriage to save my sanity, but I didn't just disappear one day. That's just not the way grown-ups handle things.

Hell, if he couldn't bring himself to face them, I'm sure he's got a manager and/or agent - one of them could have contacted Bernero and said "We have a problem".

[alexandria-t.livejournal.com]

Something's just occured to me, I wonder if anyone knows the answer. What ramifications were there for Mandy when he walked out? He says one of the reasons he took the job in the first place was for financial stability. I'd assume he had contractual obligations, considering he walked out after hiatus ended. You'd think he had a contract or had been optioned for season 3 at that point, which means he'd be liable for breach and damages. Was he? With all this stuff about Paget and how she's admitted CBS threatened to sue her if she walked and didn't fulfil her option requirements I'm wondering how much it cost Mandy. If they didn't sue him, well, that's a BIG double standard.

[nwjarvis.livejournal.com]

Everyone involved has always been very close-mouthed about what, if any, penalty there was to Mandy as a result of his bail out.

We heard that after considerable discussion he did agree to return for, like, one day of shooting to give them some scenes to use to wrap up his story. It was implied that he returned with poor grace. Those of us following the story at the time speculated that he only agreed to do it if Jason's departure wasn't portrayed as a suicide, and if he didn't have to do any scenes with the regulars (the scenes he shot were the scenes of him writing in his cabin and the diner scene, along with some voiceovers.

For whatever reason, the network seems to have handled him with kid gloves - showrunner Ed Bernero was also puzzled, from some of his comments - he was pretty blunt, considering that he was an employee of the same network and couldn't afford to just cut loose.

Here's a link to a NY Times article from July 2007 about the departure:

NY Times Article (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/arts/television/19mind.html?n=Top/News/Business/Companies/CBS%20Corporation)

My favorite quote from the article:
Mr. Patinkin is scheduled to return for one episode to explain the departure of his character... Mr. Bernero said. “Frankly, I don’t know why we’d think he’d show up for that day.”

As far as a double standard goes, I think it had more to do with big name/small name than male/female.