>HR: Well, let’s get everybody involved now. What I’d like to do is ask every member of the cast how he or she got into the show, and have you, Alexa, comment a little later on any of their readings or their auditions that were especially—

Wendell Pierce: Aww, shh…

* Deirdre Lovejoy guffaws *

HR: … memorable to you. As long as you keep it clean. Okay.

WP: I wanna hear this.

HR: Robert Wisdom.

RW: Oh, wow. Um, yeah, well, actually, if… if I’m right about this, I think I went up for The Corner that David and Ed did for HBO. And uh, that went well, but I wound up taking another film. And, um, maybe two years later, I was down in New Orleans doing the movie Ray and this call came through for an audition for The Wire. And I was a HUGE fan of the show. And, uh, I told my manager, I said, “Don’t screw this up.” You know.

* laughter *

RW: So, uh, and then I think, you know, I think we went on tape, and then, blah blah blah, and you know, there was this whole process of auditioning, but when it came through, it was like… (shakes head) you know… but then, I wasn’t sure… you know, the actor’s disease is that you never think you’re good enough. And so I figure the first day I’m walking into Baltimore, these guys, like, are so hardcore that are in the show, so I said, “Ah, they’re going to fire me, I don’t know,” and they give you so little direction. So, I’m in my trailer, and Ed and uh, the great Bob (Colesberry), came into the trailer that morning and they kind of grilled me. And, uh… * laughs * (they) grilled me in their very understated way, um, with a welcome, and just sized me up. And that was about it. And then, that was in the second season, the end of second season. Um… but it was a pretty straightforward thing. But all I know is, like, I had no idea what was in store for this character at that point. Um… and, and it came full blossom in the year of reform, year three of the show. And it’s been one of the greatest characters I’ve had a chance to play.

HR: Alright, Chad.

Chad Coleman: Yeah, um, well, I was one of those actors that watched the show all the time, and was like, “They ain’t never gonna cast me.” * laughs * “It’s good, but…”

* laughter *

CC: So, initially, I did a reading with Idris at the Public Theater in New York.

HR: That’s Idris Elba, who…

CC: That’s correct.

HR… played Stringer Bell.

Michael K. Williams: The LATE Stringer Bell.

* laughter *

CC: That’s right, he’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead. Um… and when we finished, he said, “Man, you know you could be on that show, easy.” So…

* laughter from the panel*

CC: That’s what he said to me, I’m just being honest, really. This is the path.

* laughter *

CC: A year later, I came in to audition for some other show. And (Alexa) did a… kinda… (tilts head)… head to the side. When I finished the audition I was like, “Oh, boy, that must have been terrible.” But I think she was sizing me up to see if I could come in for this new character that they were developing but there was no, uh, sides (lines actors use during an audition) for. And so then I went on tape, and David and Ed, they called me in, and… I truly feel like I had an out-of-body experience in the room. I really appreciated that they directed me. You know, I did the first scene, and we talked. And I had said to myself before going in, “Please, I hope they direct me,” you know. So, it was um… once we talked a little bit, it was just strange, man. I forgot… every line went out of my head before they told me to do that scene. And then it just… happened, so, that’s how it was for me. I think, you know… there’s a lot of vulnerability to the character, you know. I don’t know if people really see it, but there’s… there’s something about him that’s incredibly vulnerable that I think I connected to, that strength and vulnerability balance. And it worked out.

HR: And you’re not having an out-of-body experience now, that’s in the past, right?

* CC laughs *

HR: Alright, Jim.

Jim True-Frost: Yeah, I was cast, um, at the point where the pilot had already been shot, um, and they were looking for my character, Detective Pryzbylewski, and a few others to start the season, the first season. I um, was blissfully unaware of how… what the potential for the show was, and, and uh, I think I would have been paralyzed if I had the experience that Chad had of having watched a season of the show.

CC: Mmm hmm.

JTF: But I just, you know, was thinking that maybe it was just another police procedural, so I was, you know, pointing my gun and screaming, “Get down on the floor, get down on the floor!”

* laughter *

JTF: And I think they thought I was just enough of a lunatic to play Pryzbylewski.

* laughter *

JTF: Um, they also, at that point, I think, um, knew just enough of me, because I had done an episode of Homicide, um, to again know that I was, you know, sort of in this weird, kind of loser-ry, but some kind of weird potential…

* laughter *

JTF: … um, character. That was the kind of guy I played on this episode of Homicide. Both Clark… Clark Johnson was directing the pilot, and he had acted with me in the episode of Homicide. And David, and I think Bob Colesberry, too, both remembered me from that. So that was my introduction to them and that’s how I landed on the show.
______________________________________________________________________
This ain't a scene
it's a
got
damn
arms
race