#jonbokenkamp

The broadcast of The Blacklist has concluded on Italian television. James Spader is currently on a work hiatus, and we thought it was the perfect time to give you a little gift.

Exclusively for the followers of Italian Spader Web, we are publishing an interview (in both Italian and English) with actor David E. Harrison, better known to The Blacklist viewers as Ivan Stepanov, a recurring character in the eighth season and crucial to Raymond Reddington's past. David kindly agreed to answer some of our questions, and now that the series has ended, he shares insights and stories from the show's set. To read the full interview: https://sites.google.com/view/harrison-interview/english

Hey all check out our #youtube channel for great #interviews and highlights. Search for #TheBlacklist Exposed!

Caution: some readers may find some of this material to be sensitive.

“You’re looking at this all wrong. You have to think differently”

Are you my father? No

Yes, Elizabeth is my daughter.

What a conundrum. How can this ‘man’ not be Elizabeth’s father, but Elizabeth is his daughter?

If Elizabeth is Red’s daughter, then Red must be her parent. But if Red is not her father, what other parent could Red be?

Interesting? Even the nickname, Red, is interchangeable for gender. It’s a nickname almost always attributed to a red-head. And who in our universe was a red-head?

‘Blacklist’ Hiatus: An Interview With Creator/Executive Producer Jon Bokenkamp (Part 1)

Spoilers!

By

JASON EVANS

“The Blacklist” is taking a short 2-week break as it gets ready for what promises to be an exciting final four episodes of season two. Among the highest rated shows on network TV, “The Blacklist” has provided viewers with a combination of a serial crime drama along with a mystery, spy thriller.

Today and next Thursday, with no new recaps to fill your time, I am going to present parts 1 and 2 of my interview with the show’s executive producer, Jon Bokenkamp. I hope you find lots of fun nuggets of information to satisfy your curiosity about “The Blacklist.”

Jason Evans: You left us on a cliffhanger last week, Jon, with Red shot and bleeding in the street. Now, we all know that Red cannot die – I mean, you can’t kill Red or Liz, right?  – but can you give us a hint of what happens next?

Jon Bokenkamp: Well, we open on a funeral as Red is being buried… No, just kidding. As far as what is coming next, we pick up immediately. We are in that moment — Dembe and Liz are under fire, Red is bleeding, he’s clearly been wounded in a horrible way. The next episode is energized and fast-paced. It’s not a typical episode where Red and Liz meet up and he gives her a case with this person that we don’t really know about. Instead, this time we’re playing catchup the entire episode, which is kinda fun. And, in terms of the last four episodes of the season, there’s this vacuum that has been created with Red being shot. Liz is going to have to step up and help resolve the situation.

JE: Oooh, I like that. The last time Red’s life was really threatened, in the “Anslo Garrick” episodes, you and I spoke and you said Red would come out of it as a “man on fire.” I love that description and we got that episode where he just hunted down everyone who had betrayed him. It was great! Are we going to see the vengeful Red again?

JB: I would not be surprised to see the vengeful Red again. Things are building to a crescendo here with Red and this business with the cabal run by David Strathairn. We’re going to push all that forward.

JE: We got a hint of that angry and vengeful Red when he confronted Jasper last week. Red was at his best there.

JB: “Run like the prairie wind,” was what Red told Jasper. I’ll tell you this, James Spader is shooting a scene today with the man who plays Jasper. So, you can guess what might happen there.

JE: You get such great guest stars; in recent episodes we’ve seen Strathairn, Amanda Plummer, Ron Pearlman, and Lance Henrickson; who’s on your wish list of folks you would love to have on the show?

JB: Wow, great question. I have always loved Donald Sutherland. Maybe it is because of the movie “JFK” where his character represented the paranoid conspiracy theorist inside all of us [note- Sutherland played an unnamed character who reveals a wide ranging plot against Kennedy in the 1991 Oliver Stone movie]. I love Donald Sutherland. That scene – a man sitting on a park bench in Washington DC with a fedora, that would fit pretty well into the landscape of our show. Ha! I need to think more about this question but I love unexpected and strange people. Like I love Steve Buscemi. I think somebody like that would be fantastic.

JE: Folks who bring a lot of character to the character. I get what you mean. Any hints of guest stars in the final few episodes coming up?

JB: Well, you’ll certainly see more of David Strathairn. We will see Mr. Kaplan again. But there’s nobody else specific that we have lined up.

JE: Let me ask, how much do you think about the numbers for the Blacklisters? Tom Keen was #7, The Decembrist (Alan Alda) was #8. The highest number we’ve seen was The Stewmaker, who was #161. How high do the number on Red’s blacklist go and, most importantly, do you know who the top 5 are?

JB: Yes and no. I know a few who, in the mythology of the show, will end up in the top 5. But, to be quite candid – Spader said this once –  there are as many Blacklisters as there are episodes that NBC will let us do. There’s no hidden algorithm or method to the Blacklist numbering. But, they are sort of weighted. The Stewmaker might be off a bit because that was one of the first few episodes we did and he might be higher if we were doing his episode today. We do think a bit about it and wonder, “where does this guy fit? How would Red rank him?” So that’s how we come up with the numbers.

JE: I noticed that Vanessa Cruz, the subject of last week’s episode, was the highest number of the season thus far. I loved the way Mr. Kaplan recruited her onto Red’s team at the end of the episode. I’m sure she’s going to play a role in things sometime soon, right?

JB: Well, we were just trying to find a different way to tell the stories. Most of the time the Blacklisters are either caught or they often end up dead. We just thought it would be fun for one to get away. And then we wanted to know, “What does Red get out of this?” Knowing that he’s always looking to expand his empire, we thought who better than a beautiful, brilliant framer to be in his pocket? It’s fun to think about his team – Dembe, Mr. Kaplan, Brimley, and Glen at the DMV…

JE: I love Glen!

JB: Those characters are so much fun. And she seemed like somebody to add to his crew. We do have ideas about how we may bring her back, perhaps even this season, but nothing definite yet.

Well, that’s it for now. In part 2 of the interview, I ask Jon Bokenkamp about some of the lingering mysteries of the show – like what Red pulled out of the back of that Presidential limo buried under the Kenyon Family house –  and I ask if we will ever see Aram and Samar get together romantically. Check back here next Thursday evening to find the answers.

And, if you have an idea for a good question to ask the folks behind The Blacklist, post it in the comment section of send it to me on Twitter @TVFilmTalk. I’ll get the best ones in front of Jon Bokenkamp and we will see what he says!

See you in the comment section…

‘Blacklist’ Hiatus: An Interview With Creator/Executive Producer Jon Bokenkamp (Part 2)

Speakeasy is trying to help fans of “The Blacklist” endure the 2 week break the show is taking ahead of its final four episodes by giving our readers a bit of exclusive info on the show. I spoke with the show’s executive producer and creator, Jon Bokenkamp. You can read part 1 of that interview here, and the conclusion of their conversation begins below:

Jason Evans: I want to talk about some of the show’s mysteries. In all the excitement over Liz finding the Fulcrum and the court case that brought Tom back, there are some mysteries that have cropped up briefly and have never been answered. I know you can’t give me definite answers, but can you tell me if we will revisit the mystery man Red located from Fitch’s safe who disappeared in a pool of blood earlier this season? Is he gone?

Jon Bokenkamp: No, that person is not gone. That person… uhhhh… comes back in short order.

JE: I thought so. Another mystery that was left hanging – what about the brief case that Red got out of the trunk of the limo under the Kenyon Family church? By the way, was that a Presidential limo?

JB: See, that’s what I love about the way you guys watch the show. It was a Presidential limo and there is a briefcase that is floating around out there that is not just a random, “Ooh, this would be fun,” kinda thing that will never pay off. We will pay it off. You might also remember some sort of key that was found in a bottle that may be of some significance. So, yes there are several of those little Easter eggs that are left out there that we will be bringing back together in these last four episodes.

JE: The key in the bottle was from the fifth episode of this season, “The Front,” right? They had all the bottles dangling from the trees and Red just went up to one and pulled a key out of it. It is amazing how much Red knows about everything!

JB: I know. He knows a lot (laughs)!

JE: A lot of people loved the backstory we got earlier this season about Red’s right-hand man, Dembe. Are we going to get any more Dembe-centric episodes to give him a little more of a role? It feels like he spends a lot of time on screen but he rarely has more than one line.

JB: It is interesting, we’ve talked about that a lot. We’ve talked a lot to Hisham Tawfiq, the actor who plays Dembe, about who he is, what his relationship is; he’s clearly one of Red’s most trusted confidants. There’s nothing immediately this season that we are going to do but he’s absolutely a character that we realize we could do more with in terms of the stories that we tell. You know, the first season was such the Tom and Liz show in terms of how tethered to that story we were. If we went off and told the story of another character it felt irresponsible in a way. Hopefully, in the second season we’ve gotten to know these other people a little bit better. Between Samar and Cooper with his illness and Ressler with whatever demons he may be battling; we’ve been getting to know the people of the show. That is something we are always striving to do better. It is such a plot driven show it sometimes feels like we have forgotten about these guys but we are definitely trying to expand that part of the canvas.

JE: Speaking of that, we’ve been playing so much attention lately to Cooper’s illness it feels like Samar and Aram and Ressler’s stories have faded a bit. I have to ask, are Samar and Aram ever going to get together?

JB: (Laughs) What do I say to that? Maybe they have been together. Maybe they are hiding it or something. I can tell you that, at the moment, that is not a story that we are going to learn a whole lot more about immediately. I don’t have anything juicy to tell about them… sorry! But, believe me, it is the topic of a lot of conversations.

JE: Now that he has gotten his passports from Liz, has Tom fled? I’m sure he’s going to come back, right?

JB: It is s storyline that I love and I know a lot of people feel very passionately about it. Certainly Tom will be playing a role in where things go from here. His relationship with Liz is not over.