A Computer Is Also a Screen, Wil Wheaton Discovers
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: March 10, 2005
Viewers of tonight's episode of "CSI" may find Walter oddly familiar. Under the Hollywood dirt and scabs, the actor playing a drug-addicted murder suspect may bring to mind a teenage Starfleet officer, or a boy who once sought a corpse. That's because Walter is played by Wil Wheaton, once a wildly successful child actor who these days endures sometimes-painful lulls between gigs - and has, in response, transformed himself into a quirky star of the blogosphere.
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Mr. Wheaton said that on the "CSI" set, he had to manage a potential conflict between his new writerly self and the professional actor. "It was unbelievably difficult for me the first two days I was working on the show to be very present," he said. "They'd say 'Cut!' and I'd say, 'I can't wait to write about this!' "
If he was distracted, it didn't show, said Duane Clark, the director of the episode. Mr. Wheaton had originally tried out for a smaller role, a hotel clerk. But after seeing his audition tape, Carol Mendelsohn, one of the executive producers, suggested giving him the meatier role of Walter, even though the writers had drawn him as an older alcoholic. A younger drug addict, she said, might prove more menacing, more interesting.
At first, Mr. Clark said, the writers said, "Wil Wheaton, a crack addict - are you nuts?" But Mr. Clark said that Mr. Wheaton brought "a lot of scary volatility" to the role.
"He really dug his teeth into it," Mr. Clark said, "and on his own came up with a backstory of who Walter was."
"He really filled out what could have been a caricature. " he said.
To Mr. Wheaton, the experience on "CSI" is proof, if any is needed, that he's still in the game. "When you say a 'former child star,' you may as well say 'failed child star,' " he said. "The fact is, Jodie Foster is a former child star. Ron Howard is a former child star. I am a former child star. It doesn't have to mean anything."