By Mike McCarthy
Lenny Platt is an American actor who got his start at the University of Florida. Lenny started out as a Criminology major and then fell in love with theater. In his first two episodes of Quantico, Lenny’s character Drew Perales was called Tebow and Johnny Football by Priyanka Chopra’s character, Alex Parrish. You have also seen Lenny in Gotham, How to get away with Murder and a long stint on One life to Live. He also runs a company in New York called BBQ Films that immerses the entire audience into some cult classic films. Check out Lenny Platt in Quantico on Sunday nights at 10PM on ABC.
If you have any interest in checking out his company BBQ Films go to their website: http://www.bbqfilms.com and see their past parties.
Wingman Magazine: So you are from Philly, went to U of Florida and do filming in LA or NY. So the ultimate question is: What sports town do you support the most?
Lenny Platt: I moved around a lot, but I am a Florida Gator through and through. That’s the team that I have the most allegiance for. I think a lot of it has to do with playing high school football in Tallahassee. Living that southern football lifestyle and then going to such a powerhouse football school for college. I was there for the Tebow years and the Joakim Noah basketball championships, so it was a blast. I bleed orange and blue.
Wingman Magazine: Your character Drew is coming in as a new NAT on Quantico and throwing a wrench in the machine. What kind of trouble can we expect to see in the second half of the season?
Lenny Platt: To use Joshua Safran’s terminology: Season 1A is what has aired and Season 1B is what we are seeing now with my class. In Season 1A, Alex was the alpha dog, top of the class, faster strongest, smartest person in the room. What has been fun with our class with the upperclassmen, my character, Iris Chang and Will Olsen who come in and shake the dynamic up. In the Quantico timeline it shows that they really aren’t the top of the class and that someone may be even better than them. It’s been a lot of fun to see it develop. And now with the characters that myself, Li Jun Li and Jay Armstrong Johnson, the three new guys, it’s been interesting to see how our lines also interact and weave themselves into the 1A characters and how our paths are more connected than we know. It’s a lot of fun to be on a show that is this mysterious and this intricate as a puzzle.
Wingman Magazine: How much of the fall premiere did you watch before you got the call that you were cast?
Lenny Platt: I got to watch the first nine episodes before I got the call. I was a big fan of the show last year, during pilot season. As an actor you get all of the scripts for all the pilots, things are broken down to tell you what the show is about. Of all the shows I read, I thought Quantico had one of the best premises and would be a show that I would watch myself. There was a time in my life that I thought I wanted to be an FBI agent. I was a criminology major at the University of Florida. The FBI is a really intricate and important law enforcement agency in this country, and everything they do, Joshua Safran mentioned it in an interview that each season will show different ways that the FBI protects this country. So I think as a premise, I can see this show going eight seasons with fresh content each season.
I watched the first eleven episodes with the audience, engrossed in the story. And to show up and join the show has been a lot of fun. We’re all detectives on set trying to figure out who’s the bad guy. The writers are smart and are leaving clues if you really pay attention. I have been putting this together. We are shooting episode 119 now and only have four episodes left to shoot. So I am putting things together, and I am much further ahead of the audience now and figuring out the puzzle. No matter what time the script comes through, all of the actors are on their phones reading the scripts trying to figure out what their fate is. Not a lot of job security in the Game of Throne era of television, everyone dies sooner or later. I was killed after 2 episodes of Gotham, but like a Phoenix I have risen. I am Tebowing right now.
Wingman Magazine: How serious does it get on set of Quantico? Obviously it’s a pretty volatile event that this is covering.
Lenny Platt: First off, everyone takes the work very seriously and is the utmost professional, and we all realize the gravity of the story we are telling, so everyone at work approaches it at gravity. There are a lot of important things that the show is saying, like the story with Raina and Nimah, and the life of a muslim-american and the perspective that is being told through these characters, and Raina’s more devout beliefs. It’s a fun show, there is action and romance but there are more important things that the show is trying to say, and everyone takes it very seriously. They know that with the audience that continues to grow, and it’s really trying to show a diverse perspective, and all of these people are coming together protect this country. LIke with my character Drew, what would make an NFL star quit and become a government employee and a public servant?
Wingman Magazine: You are coming onto Quantico half way through a season. Is it tough walking onto a set where everyone is a family already and being the new guy?
Lenny Platt: We all hang out and go out in Montreal. Montreal is one of Anthony Bourdain’s favorite cities for food, so it’s been a lot of foie gras and other incredible food. It’s a great place, full of culture and history and music. We have been very lucky to shoot it up here, and even better that El Nino hasn’t shown up and made it freezing.
Wingman Magazine: At the end of your first episode, it looks like you and Parrish are being paired up. Without giving too much away, scale of 1-10 how bad will it get between the alpha male and alpha female of the show?
Lenny Platt: There is an alpha and an omega thing going on with our characters, John and Jacob talked about it and it’s really building on this alpha/alpha dynamic which has been a blast to play. Priyanka is an incredibly talented, does her own stunts so we have been running, gunning and chasing together and has been great to shoot in Canada.
Wingman Magazine: Having been on Gotham, Blue Bloods and now Quantico, how proficient are you with a weapon now?
Lenny Platt: My dad and one of my younger brothers are in the Army so I have always been around firearms. My dad always thought that it was important that if guns were going to be in the house, that you had to be proficient in them. At this point, I know my way around it but I am always learning and it’s fun to play cops and robbers on tv. It’s a good day at work when I get to strap on SWAT gear. I spent my Saturday with the onset armor shooting firearms. He took me out and showed me how to use the weapons that the elite FBI teams use, like HRT ( Hostage Rescue Team) for example. It was my day off and that’s how I spent it, so it’s not a bad day.
Wingman Magazine: I am intrigued about your company BBQ Films. What’s it all about, and what could someone attending experience?
Lenny Platt: We put you inside your favorite movie. What that means in the simplest way is we call it immersive cinema. We play a cult film at a venue that feels like a set from that movie, we have actors, music, food, music, props and the audience comes in costume as well. For example we did the Fifth Element on a yacht and turned it into the Phloston Paradise. We created Shredder’s lair in Brooklyn from the original Ninja Turtles film, we had skate ramps and arcade machines. We just screened Beetlejuice and recreated the wedding, and couples are going to come and get married by an actor who is playing Beetlejuice and got ordained as a minister. It’s a blast and we are giving people a reason to come back to the theater. For New York Comic Con last year we took over club Terminal 5 and recreated the rave scene in the first Blade movie.