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5 Questions With: Callie Thorne

by Angie Argabrite, posted May 26th 2009 6:00AM

Filed under:
Celebrity Interviews

"I was very, very nervous that I was not going to be able to do that, and that I was going to get fired"

You may know Callie Thorne as "Crazy Sheila" Keefe from 'Rescue Me.' Most fans do -- and when they call her that on the street, she answers. For five years now, Thorne has been the unstable, bittersweet comic heart of the riotous and raw Denis Leary series that follows a crew of NYC firemen and their families surviving in a post-9/11 world (FX, Tues., 10PM).

We chatted with Thorne about Sheila's craziest moments, when she was scared she was going to be fired ... and why her castmates are afraid of her.

CALLIE THORNE Q&A

You may know Callie Thorne as "Crazy Sheila" Keefe from 'Rescue Me.' Most fans do -- and when they call her that on the street, she answers. For five years now, Thorne has been the unstable, bittersweet comic heart of the riotous and raw Denis Leary series that follows a crew of NYC firemen and their families surviving in a post-9/11 world (FX, Tues., 10PM).

We chatted with Thorne about Sheila's craziest moments, when she was scared she was going to be fired ... and why her castmates are afraid of her. -- By Angie Argabrite

Callie Thorne Photos

NEW YORK - APRIL 02: (L-R) Actor Michael Lombardi, executive producer Jim Serpico, actor Lenny Clarke, actress Callie Thorne, actor Adam Ferrara, actor Denis Leary, actor John Scurti and executive producer Peter Tolan attend the premiere of "Rescue Me" season 5 at Radio City Music Hall on April 2, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Michael Lombardi;Jim Serpico;Lenny Clarke;Callie Thorne;Adam Ferrara;Denis Leary;John Scurti;Peter Tolan

Getty Images

NEW YORK - APRIL 02: Actor Michael Lombardi, executive producer Jim Serpico, actor Lenny Clarke, actress Callie Thorne, actor Adam Ferrara, actor Denis Leary, actor John Scurti, and executive producer Peter Tolan attend the premiere of "Rescue Me" season 5 at Radio City Music Hall on April 2, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Michael Lombardi;Jim Serpico;Lenny Clarke;Callie Thorne;Adam Ferrara;Denis Leary;John Scurti;Peter Tolan

Getty Images

NEW YORK - APRIL 02: Actress Callie Thorne attends the premiere of "Rescue Me" with a special performance by Denis Leary at Radio City Music Hall on April 2, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Callie Thorne

Getty Images

NEW YORK - APRIL 02: Actress Callie Thorne attends the premiere of "Rescue Me" with a special performance by Denis Leary at Radio City Music Hall on April 2, 2009 in New York City, New York. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Callie Thorne

Getty Images

Actress Callie Thorne poses at Sex and the City by HBO Shop and Cosabella during the Fifth Annual LUCKY CLUB on May 13, 2008 in New York City.

Jamie McCarthy/WireImage.com

Actress Callie Thorne poses at Keds during the Fifth Annual LUCKY CLUB on May 13, 2008 in New York City.

Jamie McCarthy/WireImage.com

Actress Callie Thorne poses at Prescriptives during the Fifth Annual LUCKY CLUB on May 13, 2008 in New York City.

Jamie McCarthy/WireImage.com

Actresses Nadia Dajani and Callie Thorne pose at Dr. Rey

Jamie McCarthy/WireImage.com

1. What for you is the craziest thing that Sheila's done?
Oh my god, there are so many. I think on top of that list, no. 1 would be when Sheila slipped Tommy a roofie and a Viagra [laughs]. She couldn't stop at just one; she really had to cover all her bases. And that was something that when I read it I was kind of like stunned at the idea that we were going to shoot that, and then when we came to the day of shooting it, it was an enormous amount of fun. We really, sort of, stretched the limits in that scene, but it was hard to do because as an actor you want to make sure that every moment is -- and I don't mean to sound like a Hallmark card -- but you want to make sure that it's like organic and honest. You want to make sure that each moment is leading you to another honest moment and I was very, very nervous that I was not going to be able to do that, and that I was going to get fired [laughs]. I worried for days and days. And sometimes I get really nervous, like also there was the whole thing last year where Sheila decided that [Janet and Tommy's] baby was going to be her baby.

2. This season Sheila's seeing, her "psycho-dramaturge" -- where do you see that going?
Yeah, the "psycho-dramaturge." Honestly, I don't even know if that's a real word, and no one would tell me. And I tried to tell them what I thought the real word was and they were like "No, no just do the scene, just say the word." But that stuff David Pittu, who plays the psycho-dramaturge, I've known him for a while and when they cast him as my shrink, I was so excited because I just knew that we had good chemistry and have a lot of fun in the scenes. [In a recent episode], he gets Sheila to just listen instead of just yapping and says, basically, "you've got to purge Tommy from your life." And that's a really big line from his monologue that "you've got to stop blaming Tommy for the fact that he made it out of 9/11 and your husband didn't" and ... that opens up the path she takes ... opens the next chapter for her, how she's going to tackle getting Tommy out of her life and whether she actually does.

3. Are there any pranks going on? Any fun things?
They don't really pull pranks on me, because I think they're scared to because I'm not a prankish person, I usually fall into a rage if someone pulls a joke on me. So they know better. But last year, I think, Steve Pasquale and Denis, they played a trick on Michael Lombardi, where they decided that Steve's character [Sean Garrity] and Mike's character [Mike Silletti] were going to fall in love and, so, they held this meeting where Denis was telling them what was going to happen with their characters and Mike got really quiet and Steve was in on it, so Steve went into full psycho mode and was like "Hell no! I'm not kissing him! I will not. I'm not going to play this fool! I will quit!" and Mikey was just really quiet because it was all just too much and they let it go for a couple days and poor Mikey was walking around thinking that A) Steve was going to quit and B) that he was going to have a love story with him. And I was running around saying "please tell him the truth, please, please, please. Can I be the person that tells him the truth?" Finally they did it, and the good thing is that MIkey was such a good sport.

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4. Is the cast friends off the set?
We are. It's hard, Andrea [Roth, who plays Janet Gavin] lives in L.A., so she's not around as much, but, for instance, me and Evan Reilly, one of the writers, Daniel Sunjata [who plays Franco Rivera] and John Scurti [who plays Kenny Shea], we went to see Steve Pasquale, who's doing a play called 'Reasons to Be Pretty.' It's Neil LaBute's new play, and I got to tell you it's f***ing fantastic. And Steve is like -- it's such a different role than what he plays on 'Rescue Me,' so he's amazing anyway, but it's definitely my favorite Neil LaBute. So, we all gathered together and went to see the play and hung out afterward and caused a bunch of trouble at the restaurant we were at, but you know, we try to do that. We actually truly enjoy each other off the set and that I think is another thing that shows up on camera.

5. Did you know any firemen before you worked on this show?
No I didn't, and that's one of the beautiful things about having been on the show a lot is that I get to meet a lot of firefighters, and they are all gorgeous and they are all hunky. You want to be like stuck in a burning building so they can come and save you, because it's part of the reason they're so sexy. And I think the boys, Denis and all the boys, do a great job of portraying them on the show [laughs].