Sheriff Ethan Speaks! PART 2
by Craig Byrne (PlanetKrypton@aol.com) - May 2003

This interview is not to be reprinted in any form without the permission of KryptonSite. This interview was conducted via e-mail in May 2003.

Previously at KryptonSite... Mitchell Kosterman (Sheriff Ethan) talked about his popularity among fans, his early episodes, and Smallville's unsung heroes. Today, Kosterman talks about doing Smallville, particularly during its second season, including "Suspect" where Ethan surprised everyone...

Mitchell Kosterman's appearances on Smallville begun with "Jitters," even though we didn't really know for sure that Ethan was sheriff until the episode "Obscura." Having such a title guaranteed we'd see the man with the badge on the show several more times.

One particularly memorable Sheriff Ethan moment for fans came in the episode "Lineage." The episode required a flashback, and in it Ethan showed up wearing Elvis-like sideburns. "When we first talked about 'Lineage,' Producer/Director Greg Beeman said he thought I should grow my side burns 'a bit'. I did grow them, but, because we were shooting out of sequence, the makeup person had to shave them off on the first day of shooting 'Lineage.' The makeup department had a set of fake sideburns on hand and they installed them after the hair department had applied the rug. They were huge and I remarked that they seemed a little excessive, but the makeup person said they were what Greg Beeman had asked for. I have no idea where the confusion came from, but when I went to show Greg the sideburns he was on set and I said, 'Hey, Greg, what do you think?' He gave me a thumbs-up and said, 'Great' and went back to shooting the scene they were working on. I went back to my dressing room to wait to be called to set for my scene," Kosterman explained.

"It wasn’t until weeks later, long after “Lineage” had aired, that Greg told me he was shocked at the huge sideburns. He told me he hadn’t been paying attention and it was a little dark when I showed them to him. He says when I came back to shoot he thought, 'Oh, my god, what did I approve!' But he said he thought about it and decided it would be all right for Ethan to have crazy sideburns. It was interesting. I think he was right. It was fun.

The Ethan sideburns in "Lineage" sparked a lot of discussion on online message boards such as the one at KryptonSite, where Kosterman tells us what he found to be the most amusing things he had read: "The funniest thing I saw was the thread where someone said that the actor playing Ethan was Renny Harlan and they went on for a few pages about the other things he has done until someone set them straight. They actually showed a picture of him in the thread. I am sorry, but I didn’t see the resemblance. My 19 year old daughter Cassie and I got a good chuckle out of that."

"And I loved it when someone compared me to Elvis when discussing the sideburns in Lineage and someone noted that Ethan had moved to another town when they saw me doing an episode of John Doe," he added.

The popularity of Sheriff Ethan was put to the test later on in Season 2 with the episode "Suspect." (NOTE: if you do not care to know the outcome of the episode, read no further) In the episode, Lionel Luthor was shot, and Jonathan Kent was implicated. The episode had a surprise ending where we learned that the shooter was actually the sheriff, manipulated and forced to crack by the magnificent evil of John Glover's Lionel.

So does Kosterman think it could have happened? "I can say I believe it is perfectly plausible Lionel could make Ethan crack the way he did and I can think of an intriguing and satisfying story-line that covers that. Lionel has established himself as a world class manipulator. I am sure this makes sense to you in light of Lionel’s comments about me on 'Calling' and how he worked on Chloe’s weakness for Clark in that episode.

"I have (in real life) worked in law enforcement for most of my adult life. I know that the things that make people commit crimes are a complex combination of motives and circumstances. By never making it simple, by never neatly wrapping things up, Smallville makes their world seem much more real and interesting. I love that about the show.

"I am confident the fans want to hear why Ethan flipped. Whatever Miles and Al decide, I hope the fans will soon be made privy to the real motive behind Ethan’s actions and what exactly he did. And I hope I can be a significant part of that exposition," Mitchell Kosterman told us. He also offered apotential spoiler. "Ken Biller told me there is a script where I come back. He wouldn’t tell me more, except to add that he and Miles had discussed it but he wasn’t making any promises. I was told by others that it depends, at least in part, on audience reaction." Fans, here's where you come in... get started on that message board!

If anyone on the Smallville cast stood out as being a joy to work with, Kosterman specifically mentioned John Schneider. "He and I are close in age and have a similar set of values. He is a very generous man. He is polite and friendly to everyone and his demeanor never seems to change, even when he is working exceptionally hard. For 'Suspect' we shot for dozens of hours while being rained upon. For anyone who does not know, real rain does not 'read' on camera so it is necessary to make a real downpour in order for the camera to capture any drops. What they have to do is apply a 'rain tower' to the area. A rain tower amounts to a sprinkler system that actually looks like an antenna, or series of antennas, like the many branched ones they used to use for TV's before cable. They pump huge amounts of water down on you so that it becomes difficult to speak and almost impossible to see. And you are instantly soaked through.

"On the nights we shot those arrest scenes for 'Suspect' there was supposed to be a helicopter swishing around above us so they took a giant fan, which is really an aircraft propeller in a cage (think: everglades boat), and pointed it at us. This drove the water directly into our faces and made even breathing difficult. The temperature at this time was hovering just over the freezing point. Each time they yelled cut, John and I would have hot blankets thrown over us and we would be pushed over to a propane heater where we would steam like rice in a pot. By the end of the night, the shivering was uncontrollable.

"I was glad when it was over. My brother Clif, who is a Teamster bodyguard (he is Sharon Stone’s bodyguard and Kurt Russell’s bodyguard when they are up here), pushed me into a van and rushed me back to my dressing room trailer so I could get my body heat back. After I was dry and dressed, a knock came at the door. It was John. He had heated a few ounces of a very fine Scotch Whiskey in a brandy snifter and he passed it to me saying “Cheers”. He was always like that. He was always thinking of everybody else. He was never demanding things for himself. The last day I worked on the show I gave him a bottle of Scotch that comes from the area where my mother was born.

"When we were working, John would always lead me gently into a discussion about the scene. He never asserted his opinion; he asked questions like, 'So, Ethan, why do you think we are here?' and he’d listen to my answer and then maybe ask a few more questions until finally he would nod and smile and say something like, 'Yeah, I think so too'. He had an influence on the other cast. One crew member remarked to me that he thought it interesting the younger cast members joked around a little less when 'Dad' was on set. He was very good with directors too. He knows a lot about shooting TV and he was very reliable when it came to coming up with an idea of how to block a scene. (Blocking, for those who don’t know, is planning how the characters are going to physically move during the shot so that the cameras are ready to follow them and the lighting crew can light the correct spots). But he never did this in an opinionated way or a way that made anyone feel small. He always did it graciously and in good humor."

Kosterman also had very nice things to say about Annette O'Toole. "Annette was so darn nice she reminded me of my own mom, who is much older than Annette but has the same sweetness. Neither she nor John fit the stereotype of a Hollywood actor. Overall, the cast and crew of Smallville were the best bunch I ever worked with. I am not ashamed to say tears came to my eyes when I had to say goodbye," he shared.

He told us a little bit more about saying goodbye. "I had already said goodbye to my friends John and Annette. It was painful. I didn’t get to talk to Kristin until the wrap party but we hadn’t worked much together anyway. Allison and I have never spoken as far as I can remember. I saw Michael at the wrap party and he was very nice. Greg Beeman, I said goodbye to at the wrap party.

"I will miss Greg [Beeman]. My sources told me he championed my cause on several occasions in production meetings when it was proposed that they 'kill the Sheriff'. Apparently he said something like, 'Leave him alone. He shows up, he knows his lines, he does his job. Let him live.'Or, so it was told to me. Greg is a funny, easy-going guy who is extraordinarily supportive of actors. I will be very happy if I get to work with him again."

Going back to "Suspect," we asked Mitchell Kosterman which scenes may have been them most difficult to do. "Physically, the rain scenes I mentioned above were the most demanding. But the most difficult scene was the one in 'Suspect' where Clark catches me at the hospital. The script said 'Ethan breaks down and cries'. I think there were people who felt I could not do this. The makeup person offered me menthol (which is blown into actors’ eyes to make them tear up) but I have never used it and I sure didn’t want to in this important scene. I felt this scene was a gift to me from the producers. It’s hard to explain, but an actor just wants to act. To be given some real drama where he can show what he can do. It just doesn’t happen very often that you get the chance in series TV. There was no way I was going to fake it."

"On that night there were also some unusual pressures," he added. "It was the last shot of the episode and the last shot of the day. It was my last time on set and there was another episode being shot in the same hallway with a different director. The way the scene was written there wasn’t going to be a lot of time to 'work up to' the emotion. Director James Marshall, who went to high school with my brother Clif and who I have known most of my life, helped me in a kind of pre-shoot test of emotions and let me do plenty of takes and fed me dialogue while they shot my close-up. Tom said some well timed non-scripted things off-camera that was a big help too. When it was done everyone seemed very happy. The crew were complimentary and so were Tom and James. Strangely, even though the pressure had been enormous, when it was over I felt an odd sense of disappointment there weren’t more people there; perhaps John or the other cast, maybe Greg Beeman or Ken Biller or Joe Davola. As it was, I just got into a teamster van alone as the crew started to pack stuff up and went to my dressing room to sign out for the last time."

Kosterman and his family still enjoy Smallville. "My whole family has seen every episode. We still watch it. We think it’s the best show on TV right now. I still try to visit KryptonSite and Smallville Canada every night," he tells us.

He also has good things to say about the show's young stars. "Michael, Tom and Kristin all have huge careers ahead of them. Michael already has a reputation as a terrific actor, Tom is developing as one of the brightest stars in film and TV, and Kristin has talent, beauty and integrity. John and Annette are already stars and they will be for some time. I think the one you are most likely to see grow most significantly is Tom. He has come so far already but I think he has much more potential to be realized," he says.

When not acting, Mitchell Kosterman tells us "I have a house and three active kids. I am fixing up the house and it’s gardens and I like that. I am involved with my brother Clif in Rally Racing (see www.kostermanracing.ca). I have some computer and video equipment I like to play with and some digital cameras. And I write quite a lot."

On-screen, you can now see him playing "Colonel Tom Rundell, Cheyenne Mountain Complex Public Affairs Liaison" on Stargate: SG1. "In the double episode we are shooting right now I am a foil for Saul Rubenek’s character who is a reporter who has been 'embedded' at SGC by presidential request to document the goings on using videotape. Saul’s character and mine are at odds about what constitutes good journalism.

"The episodes are directed by Andy Mikita, produced by Michael Greenberg, Andy, Rick Anderson and Rob Cooper, and they also star Robert Picardo (from Star Trek) as well as all the regular cast. Michael said the episodes are the best stuff they have done in the seven years they have been shooting. I am very proud to be a part of it and hope I can do more episodes. It is rumored the show will shoot an eighth season after they wrap in October."

And with that, our interview with Mitchell Kosterman is now over. Thanks again for reading, thanks to Mr. Kosterman for participating, and shoutout to Al Gough and Miles Millar - let's see that Ethan episode!

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