Interview with Big Love Actor Joel McKinnon Miller (Don Embry)

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Ex-Duluth actor hits big time in "Big Love"
BY CHRIS HAMILTON
NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

It just might be the haircut: a flattop so geometric it could have come from a G.I. Joe action-figure mold.

The most memorable 'do in Hollywood is what helps get former University of Minnesota Duluth student and hardworking TV, stage and screen actor Joel McKinnon Miller recognized by the public and casting directors alike, Miller said with an easy laugh via telephone from his Los Angeles home last week.

The husky blonde has been on TV's most popular shows, including "Everyone Loves Raymond," "Desperate Housewives" and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." But that's not saying you'd know his name, as he is the first to admit.

He is a character actor, after all.

And that's really fine by the 46-year-old Rockford, Minn., native who married Duluth girl Tammy McKinnon. Miller said he's really only interested in working in the profession he loves and earning enough to support his family.

However, the down-to-earth Miller may soon have to part with some of that anonymity.

The actor is a central cast member on HBO's new hit show about Utah polygamists, "Big Love," which follows "The Sopranos" on Sunday nights. He's still a little giddy over getting a personal phone call from show star Bill Paxton that they've been renewed for next season.

So far this season, we've learned that Miller's character, Don Embry, is best friends with the show's renegade Mormon protagonist, Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton). They are also business partners in a burgeoning hardware chain.

Don and Bill apparently have left a fringe religious compound. (Miller said they'll almost certainly explore that history next season.) Meanwhile, his character is considering taking on a fourth wife in addition to Peg, Verne and JoJo. That's the subject matter of Sunday's episode, "A Barbecue for Betty."

Miller said he knew from the start that he would be a character actor and is proud of it. His dream is to emulate the careers of nontraditional leading men such as Brian Dennehy or the late John Candy. Or at least continue to get steady work.

Miller's father-in-law, Ron McKinnon of Duluth, confirmed that Miller really is as nice as he seems. The retired teacher called Miller "very family-oriented," "a really nice guy" and "someone who doesn't sit around waiting for something to happen."

DNT: This is your first series regular part?

JMM: I've been out here since '91. The first big show I got a break on was "Murphy Brown," which was the No. 1 show at the time. I was really lucky because I was in almost every scene. They don't write parts like that for guest stars anymore because they need to keep room for all the stars, because they are paying them a lot of money. This part was fantastic. I had to audition many times for it, because they didn't know if they could trust me because I didn't have any TV credits. That started to open doors for me. But I bartended and waited tables until like '96. I held onto it (the bar job) as long as I could. It was my security blanket.

DNT: Do you see any similarities between Minnesotans and Utah Mormons?

JMM: I gotta be careful what I say here. Boy, I guess not really, no. That's a whole different I don't really know. No comment. How about that?

DNT: Do you consider yourself a character actor?

JMM: Yes. I'll never be the guy with the beautiful woman.

DNT: You do get three, though.

JMM: I do get three and possibly a fourth. I know that, because I'm a supporting regular, I'm there for the stars. The nice thing is as it goes on, I have more people see me (about 4 million watch each new episode) and they say, "Wow, love the show." People are getting hooked on it. A lot of industry people like it. I can see it growing from the reaction I get when I go to the gym.

DNT: What's been you family's reaction to the show?

JMM: Oh, they love it. My in-laws were in Florida and had a "Big Love" party with some of their friends. I get somewhat embarrassed because there's some, uh, uh, adult entertainment in there. (Paxton's character tries Viagra to keep up with three wives.) My mother and father-in-law and my wife's two sisters had come out for the premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. HBO sent a limo. It was really fun to see it through their eyes and enjoy it with them. But it was a little uncomfortable to sit there with my mother-in-law watching the first episode. It's like, "OK, what are we watchin'?"

DNT: Do you think your character completely believes in the religious aspects of polygamy, or do you think he just likes having three or four wives?

JMM: Oh, that's the thing you'll notice in the episodes. One thing that is not being done is that we are not making fun of this religion. We don't make fun of our religion nor do we make fun of the mainstream Mormon religion. I think that's one of the neat things about it. They didn't have to go there. These people believe that the more wives and children they have, the higher their position in Heaven will be. Just listen to the things I say to Bill: "This is our path and we have to walk it with decency. This is our choice." He does believe it totally, and Bill does, too. Well, Don also loves women, too. He does enjoy women.

We don't even know yet how many children Don has. We have a lot more to learn about what all Don has going. Possibly in Season Two. That's the fun thing. I think there's 16 or 17 season regulars on the show. That's a lot of back stories we need to learn.

DNT: You sound like you have a lot of affection for the business, like you're still in awe of it.

JMM: I love it. I still love going to work and being on the set. I love to be the first one on the set.

DNT: Has anyone ever summed up for you what kind of characters casting directors see you as?

JMM: I have a lot of success being the buddy, being the partner as I am in "Big Love." I did an episode of a show called "Cold Case," where I played just an awful character. It was great for me as an actor to get out of my comfort zone. I've gotten a lot of notice from that episode because it's not what they're used to seeing Joel do. But it was one of those parts where I came home at the end of the day and wanted to shower.

DNT: What's "Big Love" done for you? It's a good program and the controversy can't hurt.

JMM: The first day I walked on the set at Santa Clarita (Calif.), where we shoot the show, they'd taken over this building about the size of an airplane hanger. And they built those three complete houses with the pool in the backyard and everything. It's really cool. This is the kind of set that you'd see on a movie. The kind of money that they spend is on a movie, not a TV show. To be a part of that and the quality of people you have (executive producer) Tom Hanks' company Playtone and directors from HBO and that company's reputation for quality. Just to be a part of that is huge. (Each episode is shot over 10 days. The shooting schedule is longer than most TV programs.)

DNT: I was just thinking about all the stand-ins they use while filming. Does yours have a flat-top? Where did that thing come from?

JMM: In '96 I was doing this terrible movie in the Philippines that went straight to video, called "Dead Men Can't Dance." It's just one of the worst movies you'll ever see. I was asked to play the part of a sergeant and asked the hairdresser to give me a flattop. When I came back, my agent saw me, she said, "Let's keep the hair and get new pictures taken." It was the best advice she ever gave me. It just made me stick out a little differently from everybody else. Someone said to me the other day, "That's the most famous haircut in Hollywood." I thought that was very funny. (Miller now has three agents to handle TV and movies as well as commercials and voiceover work. In the late 1990s, he would have up to a dozen national commercials in rotation at once. Now he worries about being overexposed.)

DNT: You should get it shellacked or get some insurance for it.

JMM: Yeah, right. Maybe bronzed. It's been good to me. And it allows me to play every kind of character.

DNT: Do they have a stable of HBO actors, because you've done a lot of work for them ("Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Deadwood" and "Six Feet Under")?

JMM: I've done a lot of stuff for HBO, and part of it is coincidence. And part of it is, yeah, they like to use a lot of the same people. They use a lot of the same directors and crew. They whole crew (on "Big Love") is from "Deadwood." They are a very loyal company.

DNT: You were on one of my favorite shows, "Curb Your Enthusiasm." You were (a doctor) who tried to cheat Shaq (O'Neil) at Boggle, right?

JMM: It was one of the more nervous experiences I've had as an actor. Now I love to improvise. And even on "Big Love," Bill Paxton and I will make up things and it stays in. It's just little things to round out the character. The writing is so good you really don't have to mess with it.

On "Curb Your Enthusiasm," I was hired to do improv. (The show is famous for not using scripted lines.) And I went into the audition and did a certain thing, and it got me the job. When it came to taping, I thought, "Well, this is improv, so I better make something up for every take." It wasn't working, and Larry David finally said to me, "Remember what you did at the audition, can you just do that?"

It was really nerve-wracking. When you're with Larry David and Shaq, those are two pretty big stars. Now how much talking should I do? In the end, I just wish they had our lines written out. Shaq gets this many. Larry gets this many. And I say this many. It ended up turning out real well, and it's actually one of the more popular episodes.

DNT: So Larry David is as big a schmuck in real life, right?

JMM: What? Oh, no. He's actually a nice guy. That's the thing, people hear all these stories: "This star this" or "That star that." I would say 99.9 percent of the people out here are fantastic. It's like any job. You get one person who's a challenge in your office or wherever.

DNT: Of course, maybe even a few.

DNT: If you collected autographs, you'd have almost a full Hollywood set.

I probably should. I have one picture with an autograph, and it's John Candy. It's from his last movie, and it's called "Wagons East." We were in Mexico...

We ended up standing there for an hour talking about how much we missed our children and how much we liked what we did for a living. He was as nice in real life as he was in his movies....

(Miller's part was done, and he had to return home before filming completed. He left a photo of Candy and him together for Candy to sign. Several weeks after Candy's sudden death on March 4, 1994, of a heart attack, Miller received the photo from a mutual friend, signed by Candy.)

It's my one little treasure that I have. I've worked with James Garner, Candice Bergen and William Shatner, all these wonderful people. It's really fun, but I've never been big into autographs and pictures and stuff.

DNT: It seems as though it would be very difficult to get steady work as an actor or character actor. How do you credit your ability to do that?

JMM: It started at UMD, being in so much of the plays and was so busy singing in the opera program and everything that I didn't do all my (class) work. I would have got my degree otherwise, but I got the experience; and I got a job in John Houseman Acting Company (where he toured the United States for three years performing Shakespeare).

DNT: So when did you graduate from UMD?

JMM: It's funny you asked that, because I just started working on that with the acting head of the (theater) department, Tom Isbell. They (UMD) called me and wanted to use me in the alumni magazine, and I told them, "Well, I'm not an alumni because I never graduated." I'm a little shy on my degree. I want to finish just to be an example for my children and show them how important it is. Although, for me at the time it wasn't because I started working. My daughter is 16 and she's getting ready for college, and I'd like to be able to share that accomplishment. I told them that I hope my experience and success to this point will help, but I also said I'm not afraid to do the work.

DNT: Do you and your family ever make it back to Duluth?

JMM: Oh, yeah, I love Duluth. We get there a couple of times a year. We usually come in the summertime. When you live in California, you don't keep up on all the winter gear. (His favorite restaurants are Sammy's Pizza on First Street and Deluxe Coney Island; he golfs the public courses at Enger and Lester parks.) We like to swim on Park Point or skip rocks at Brighton Beach and have a picnic with (Russ Kendall's) Smoked Fish and some wine and cheese.