Dollhouse

The actor discusses his favorite episode, his love for Steve DeKnight and his YouTube stand-up comedian alter ego

Harry Lennix, trained and versatile actor from Chicago, has spent the past two season on Joss Whedon’s controversial Fox series DOLLHOUSE as Boyd Langton, who started out as the handler of Eliza Dushku’s Echo the Active (someone who’s personality can be wiped and imprinted with a new constructed personality). Boyd was promoted to head of House security last season, but continues to keep a concerned eye on his one-time chief charge. In an exclusive interview conducted prior to news of DOLLHOUSE’s cancellation, Lennix shares some of his thoughts on Boyd, the series and his unusual new project.

iF MAGAZINE: When you did the first season finale episode, ‘Epitaph One,’ did you guys at that point think, ‘Okay, this is the end of the show’?

HARRY LENNIX: Well, there was certainly that possibility. I mean, we thought the script was a kind of homage, a kind of swan song, a kind of way to say what might have happened had the show been able to go on. So I think yes, I think that we were sort of saying, ‘This is the last one that there will be.’

iF: How and when did you find out that DOLLHOUSE was picked up, and were you surprised?

LENNIX: I was a little surprised. I remember very well that I was in Chicago, I know that for sure, and I remember being very happy. I was not surprised, but a little shocked.

iF: Were you surprised and/or gratified that your character and Amy Acker’s Dr. Claire Saunders/Whisky character evidently get together?

LENNIX: Yes, I was very gratified. I think Amy Acker is a brilliant, beautiful actor. I’m always excited to work with her. She’s doing another show this year [ABC’s HAPPY TOWN], for at least part of the year, but I love working with her. I love working with Olivia [Williams], Eliza [Dushku] – it’s an excellent cast.

iF: Were you happy when the story allowed Tahmoh Penikett as former FBI agent Paul Ballard to start working more closely with everybody?

LENNIX: As Harry Lennix, yes. As Boyd Langton, no. Boyd Langton, the character I play, is very much against this, given the fact that this guy is an FBI guy, we have no idea where his allegiances are, so my character is very dismayed, but I as an actor am happy to have Tahmoh around.

iF: There have been budget cuts on DOLLHOUSE for the second season. Are you seeing that in any respect except the change from film to digital?

LENNIX: Yes. There are several less crew people around. The set was already there and the set is sterling. But I have never conflated bigger budgets with better [filmmaking]. Never. On the contrary, when an artist is forced to take limited resources and make it work, then it usually turns out better than when somebody has more than they can use.

iF: There has also been a change in show runners. Sarah Fain and Elizabeth Craft have gone over to Fox’s LIE TO ME, and REAPER creators Tara Butters and Michelle Fazekas have come onto DOLLHOUSE. Have you noticed any differences because of this?

LENNIX: I loved what Sarah and Elizabeth did. I think they’re very, very talented writers. I have no doubt that in America talent is not at a premium. I think there’s a lot of talent. There’s usually a lot more talent than there is opportunity, so I’m glad somebody else gets a chance to get on the show and see what they can do.

iF: It’s probably too early to call it on Season Two, but do you have a favorite episode or favorite scene you got to do in Season One?

LENNIX: My favorite episode from last season certainly was ‘The Target,’ which was a take-off on THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, which I thought was a good story, which I read in high school. When I read it, I was like, ‘Man, this is just like THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME.’ I remember with what dexterity Steve DeKnight wrote and directed that episode. I was delighted to work on that.

iF: Now that DeKnight is in New Zealand running SPARTACUS, might you be paying a visit to that series?

LENNIX: I would love to visit New Zealand, I would love to be on SPARTACUS. I love Steve DeKnight. He’s a good man, an excellent, excellent writer and director, and any occasion to work with him, I would jump at.

iF: Did you like ‘The Target’ for the bonding between Boyd and Echo, or just the opportunity to run around in the woods?

LENNIX: Way more the opportunity to work with Steve and Bond with Echo than to run around in the woods. I’m a little past my physical prime [laughs], but I still love the fact that this show allows me to do some action stuff that I haven’t had a lot of chances to do in my career, so it’s a lot of fun, so I enjoyed that as well.

iF: Were the woods particularly insect-ridden?

LENNIX: A lot of no-see-ums, a lot of gnats, a lot of mosquitoes. It was pretty bad. But you grin and bear it.

iF: Did you do anything during the hiatus between the first and second seasons of DOLLHOUSE?

LENNIX: I directed a show in Chicago [at the Congo Square Theatre Company] called ST. JAMES INFIRMARY, a brilliant play by a prodigious playwright by the name of Brian Tucker. And I got married.

iF: Congratulations. Also in Chicago?

LENNIX: No, Austin, Texas.

iF: Austin – good music scene.

LENNIX: It is. But I’m from Chicago. I’m hard to impress [laughs].

iF: Do you have any other upcoming projects?

LENNIX: I’m in the middle of raising capital for a feature film that I’m going to produce and star in about a comedian who is fictional but who a lot of people believe actually exists. His name is Ron Waters and if you go to YouTube or FunnyorDie and just plug in ‘Ron Waters,’ you can see his stand-up routine.

iF: And ‘Ron Waters’ is played by you?

LENNIX: That’s me. I am like Andy Kaufman [playing] Tony Clifton. It’s kind of like that. I’m eager to [do the film]. I’m going to be producing this in L.A., Chicago and in Denmark, so it’s going to be a lot of fun.

iF: Does the film have a title?

LENNIX: It’s called MR. SOPHISTICATION, but if you type in ‘Ron Waters’ on YouTube or FunnyorDie, that will be the thing that pops up and you’ll see me doing a stand-up routine about Mohammed Ali.

iF: How long have you been doing comedy as Ron Waters?

LENNIX: Oh, about a year-and-a-half now. We haven’t shot the film yet, but we have done some stand-up routines and it’s a lot of fun.

iF: On DOLLHOUSE, any chance that Boyd could need to be imprinted as a comedian?

LENNIX: [laughs] That would be really fun. I would love that. Boyd is particularly conservative and Ron is particularly provocative. [Regarding] DOLLHOUSE – I’m excited and I’m grateful that we have a second season and I think it will be a great opportunity to show what the show can be.