CRESCENT People: Wait. Was That? Yeah. It Was. It Was Jonathan Dickson.
If you’re from Anderson or went to USC or have been involved in Republican politics or used to watch the WB or UPN networks on WASV in the Upstate and you saw a familiar face while watching HBO’s Emmy nominated, Golden Globe winning hit series Boardwalk Empire last night, you weren’t imagining things.
That was 1992 TL Hanna and 1997 University of South Carolina graduate Jonathan Dickson serving as your humble delivery boy.
CRESCENT caught up with Jonathan and talked with him about his appearance on one of the biggest shows on television. If you missed last night’s episode of Boardwalk titled “Two Boats and a Lifeguard,” check your listings, and make sure to look out for South Carolina’s Jonathan Dickson.
YOU FOUND BOARDWALK OR BOARDWALK FOUND YOU
I had actually auditioned several times for Boardwalk Empire. Different roles and what not. The way they work here in New York is, if you go into an audition, so for like a show or something and the casting director likes you, you might not be right for that role or that part, but they like you and they want to see you for other roles. They will just keep calling you in. Yeah, my agent submits me for things but the one thing with hanging in there with the acting industry, you start to get to know casting directors. They like you, they remember you and they go “You know what? This would be a good role for so-and-so.” Or “I’d like to see so-and-so for this role. Maybe this isn’t working, but we’re shooting an episode 2 or 3 episodes down the road where I think this might be a right fit for that person.” So you get called back in. When I came in for this role, which, it’s not a glorious role or anything, it’s under 5 lines, which is called an “under 5.” But you get a SAG voucher for it, you get a credit, so I get a credit on IMDB because I have lines. I am not, what they call in the industry “a piece of meat,” which are the extras who just stand around all day and are moved from place to place to place. I actually get a dressing room. I get a wardrobe. I get a stylist. I get a makeup person. I get all the bells and whistles that go with that. It just happened, when I came in, my dressing room was right new to Steve Buscemi’s dressing room. I got to talk to him. I got to see him. That was cool. Talked to him. Super nice guy “Hey, man, how you doing?” I’m like “You’re Mr. Pink…you’re Mr. Pink!”
Actually, I had just read a thing about him with 9/11. I actually thanked him. “Thanks for what you do.” He was a fireman and he actually went down, put on his gear and went down 9/11 and helped pull people out of the rubble and stuff. Didn’t say anything to anyone, just went to the old fire station. And they say he still hangs out with fire station guys. There’s some bar the boys all go to. His unit. He’ll go down there sometimes and just drink with them, and whoop and holler it up with them. And on 9/11…I’m sure there is an article somewhere you could look online about it. He actually went down and helped pull people out. All dressed up, all in his fireman gear. (NOTE: We found a piece about it HERE.)
And they say, he’s just a down to earth, nice guy and you know what, he is. You might think he is creepy and crazy if you watch Con Air and other flicks, but when you meet him, he’s just nice and down to earth and I actually wasn’t finished with my scene when he left and he left the set in t-shirt, shorts and a backpack. “Well, man, I’m done. See you later.” “See ya, Steve, nice to meet ya, nice to talk to you.” His kids take swimming lessons at the YMCA. He’s just a down to earth nice fella. And that was really cool because I was a little….and I’m not normally intimidated by people, but … and I’m never star-struck but when I was having to go get my hair cut for the show. They have to give you the high and tight and comb me over and all that, make it look that era. I’m just in regular clothes and I had a production assistant who was assigned to me to take me around so I’m on the elevator and we’re going down… they do a lot of the scenes and things at the Brooklyn Naval Yard in Brooklyn, which is not far from where he lives. So we’re going down in the elevator, and I’m just excited to be working on this show. It’s a great show, it’s a new show, it’s won some Emmys and got a lot of buzz. We’re going down the elevator and the doors open on the bottom floor where I’m supposed to get my hair cut in one of these trailers and who is standing there, right when the doors open? I mean right on the door, not even back so you kinda take him in, but right on the door, and I’m standing by the door and it opens and there’s Nucky Thompson. I mean, all dressed up. He’s got the full outfit on, the full everything, the hair slicked back…
So, he’s standing there, all makeup on, and I was just like “Uuuuuhhhh, hey!” I wanted to say “Hey, Nucky” but it was sort of like “Whooo, hey!” The doors opened and he’s just there. You know, I’ve never seen him. I’ve never met him before, I just know him from TV. And most of the people I’ve ever met, ever worked with have been really nice.
Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan, Jimmy Fallon, everybody is nice and great and fun. And Steve Buscemi is just standing there looking like hardcore Nucky Thompson. I was like “Hey!” He was like “Hey, man, how you doing?” I’m like “Going to get my hair cut.” He’s like “I just got out of there.” It was so cool. And then we ended up sitting next to each other getting our make up and stuff done a little later. So that was neat. And I just talked to him for a few minutes in his dressing room.
It was funny. Our dressing rooms were away from everyone. Everyone else’s was way down this hallway and Steve Buscemi and I are literally next door to each other. And I don’t know if that was just by design or they just said, put the delivery guy in this room and this just happens to be next to Steve Buscemi.
I’ve seen people now, talk to him, “Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh.” Then you meet him and he is just seriously, you could just sit down and have a drink with him and cut up and laugh and tell jokes. He is just an everyday Joe like you. He’s very appreciative and he’s very kind and very down to earth. We got along great. Like I said, we didn’t really have this big half hour conversation because there was a lot of work to do and you’re moving and it’s hurry up and wait, go here and to there and what not. But in the few minutes that we spoke, he was just a cool guy. Just a good guy. I was like “You’re cool, Nucky, you’re cool.” So that was great, I really enjoyed….then the fact that I teach at the YMCA. I teach kids to swim. He has kids in swimming lessons at the Y. So immediately, found a way to relate and I thought that was kind of cool. That he’s doing it to me. How neat is that?
It was awesome.
AFTER THE ELEVATOR RIDE, IT WAS TIME TO GET TO WORK.
They do rehearsals for everything. There are a million people on the set doing a million different things and you shoot the same scene over and over and over so they get different angles and different things. You do the wide shot and the close up and the medium shot and the long range. Those sort of things. And you have to remember…and this is another thing that makes a good actor a good actor. Called continuity. What you do in one shot, you have to do in the next shot and you have to do in the next shot and you have to do in the next shot. So you’re doing something over and over and over.
You’re here to work. You’re here to create characters. You’re here to be part of a team to make this show come off and make people out there enjoy what’s going on on the Boardwalk.
We’re in there and we’re rehearsing a few times and they take us back and forth to our dressing rooms while we wait and then they bring in stand-ins for us. We actually get to where we are going to film it. We’ve gone through it. We’re not dressed yet. We’ve done the hair cuts and all this stuff, but they let us keep off part of our outfits. So nothing gets wrinkled. Nothing gets messed up, that sort of thing.
While they’re building the different sets and things and changing things around and camera angles. When we actually go in for the shoot after we’ve done umpteen thousand rehearsals, oh, my gosh, it was so cool. I tried to take a picture with my camera, but it didn’t come out. It was terrible.
Once you’re on set, that’s very unprofessional. You don’t take pictures of stars, you don’t pull your camera out and start hemming and hawing and everything. That why they have an on set photographer that does all that stuff. I may never see those pics, but they have someone who does that. And when you’re a regular or recurring role on the show then you get privy to that sort of stuff. So I’m trying to be taken as a serious actor so I don’t do that.
I’ll do it off stage and behind the scenes. Taking pictures of wardrobe, things like that. That’s one thing, but for me to pull out my camera and say, “Hey, Steve Buscemi,” no. Act like you’ve been there. It’s like when the Gamecocks were tearing down the goalposts every game we won. Act like you’ve been there. I wanted to email Dabo Sweeny after he was crying on the field after he beat Auburn. Dude, act like you’ve been there. Clemson has a history. They have a storied tradition. Act like you’ve been there.
Anyway, the coolest thing, and I hadn’t dealt with this on set before because I had never been in a show set way back in the day, prohibition, 20s, 30s, 40s, that whole era. I’ve never been in that type of period show before. So when I came back, the set looked completely different. It was the same set we had been rehearsing on, but they had released the steam fog all over the whole sound stage, the whole studio stage had the fog set in. So everything kind of looked like that old time hazy, smoky kind of environment and it just gave this whole appearance to… I was like “Wow, I am really in Boardwalk Empire. I am here. This is Boardwalk Empire. This is awesome.” So I’m really excited to see it.
JONATHAN DELIVERS HIS SCENE
I did my scene and we did it a thousand different ways. I had to hit different marks. They wanted me to walk different ways because…the scene I’m in…and it’s not a long scene. I actually come walking in and just with the way they want the shot set up and what not, they make me walk in different ways, walk to different places because I’m a delivery man, so I’m dressed like a delivery guy and I have a delivery package from Nucky Thompson to this federal prosecutor.
Her name is Esther Randolph, played by Julia Nicholson, who is really sweet.
When I walk into the scene, you’ll see postal people with their letters and bags walking around and what not, and I come walking in with this big ol’ basket full of ripe peaches. They smelled good, man. They smelled like good ol’ Southern peaches. I wonder if these are South Carolina peaches or Georgia peaches? That’s my question.
In this scene I come walking in with this big basket full of peaches and a card from Nucky Thompson and so I go over to one of the characters. I actually I yell he motions me over, and I come over and tell him these are from Nucky Thompson and I hand him the basket. I put the basket on the desk in front of the prosecutor and him and he pulls the card off from Nucky and it says “Thanks for saving my life, you’re a peach.” I was like “That’s just classic.” Thanks for saving my life, you’re a peach. He reads that and I walk out. And that’s pretty much it. Those are my lines. I walk in and holler for the guy, then I come over and tell him these are from Nucky Thompson and hand them over and he reads it and I’m out of there.
It’s funny, this episode of Boardwalk Empire is called “Two Boats and a Life Guard.” That’s actually what I’ve done my whole life, the swimming, the pool, the life guarding, the teaching. I thought it was kind of ironic to come full circle.
Look for Jonathan next this coming February on a new reality show on BRAVO called “The Love Broker.”
You can also follow Jonathan on Twitter (@JonnyDHollywood) or Facebook.
