'Suits' Star Patrick J. Adams on That Headlock, Casting Tricia Helfer as the Female Harvey
Fans of USA's Suits may think the drama is over now that Mike (Patrick J. Adams) and Louis (Rick Hoffman) have reached a ceasefire after Louis put Mike in a headlock last episode. "In my mind, I wanted to at least put up a good fight and make Mike look like he knew what he was doing, because I knew the Twitter rampage that would come my way after for getting beaten up by Louis Litt so quickly," Adams says. "But it was all worth it for the scene that followed, because you get to see two guys really get back on the same page and realize that there's no point in continuing this conflict."
However, this is Suits, so think again. In Wednesday night's episode, which marks Adams's directorial debut, Mike wants to take a whistleblower case and Harvey, as you'll see in the exclusive clip below, isn't thrilled about it. "Mike is doing his same old falling into a case that is tearing at his heartstrings and trying to do the right thing, and Harvey is acting a little differently because he's looking out for Mike in a way he wasn't before," Adams says. "He's defending him, even though he's picked a really poor case to start defending him."
Related: 'Suits' Postmortem: Creator Talks Jessica and Louis's Chess Match
What may please Harvey is the opposing counsel, Evan Smith, played by Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer, who Adams suggested for the role. "The minute I read the script, I thought of her. I've worked with Tricia before; we did a pilot that didn't go many, many years ago. She's [a fellow] Canadian. I'm a huge Battlestar fan," he says. "But mostly, I was just excited because I think Harvey has had these beautiful, petite brunette women. He has a type. And I thought, 'We've never seen the feminine version of Harvey Spector — tall, confident, blonde, gorgeous, wicked smart.'"
Here's what else Adams can tease about the episode:
* He got to shoot inside Jessica's home for the first time. "That was a great challenge for me to really figure out what her home would look like, and how we would shoot it, and to delve into that relationship [with Jeff]. Because I have almost no scenes with [Gina Torres] and very few scenes with [D.B. Woodside], I haven't gotten to spend any time in that world, and that was exciting."
* For comic relief, Louis will still be demanding respect... from the firm receptionist. "I loved having Louis Litt back in fine form with all the confidence in the world, and then getting to tear him down a little bit. It's obviously so much fun to shoot with [Rick], because that's just where he shines."
* There will be some saucy exchanges. Without spoiling too much, when you hear Mike's "subpoena" line, know that Adams tweaked it slightly so it "felt a lot more filthy." And when you hear Harvey speak French, give credit to Gabriel Macht for lengthening the joke. You'll know what we mean.
* Also, listen for the music. "I did my edit of the show with all this music, and I wasn't thinking about budget. In my brain, it's free! The post people called me towards the end of my edit, and they were like, 'Just so you know, you're at a quarter of a million dollars of music, which, guess what, is about 15 times the budget of our show for music,'" he says laughing. "So there was a ton of great music in there — some of which they fought for and kept. But obviously, we had to lose a few big pieces of it because it was mindbogglingly expensive."
* Being behind the camera suited him. Even if when he was directing Harvey's final scene of the episode, Adams was as sick as he's ever been in his life. "I thought I had Ebola. I was dying. I couldn't even stand up straight," he says. "But the fun part is, when you don't have to be on-camera, that part doesn't matter anymore. Being sick and being an actor is the worst, because you feel like, I LOOK TERRIBLE. THIS IS GONNA BE AWFUL. And so you become fairly unpleasant. But when you're a director, you get to just sort of put on your giant Canada Goose coat and drink hot soup and whisper things to people. You get to be that sort of elusory director character, which is much more suited to my taste."
Suits airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on USA.
