We're kind of in our own cocoon making it. Every once in a while you stick your head up for a second, and you just can't believe how successful the show has become.

Yes, I do believe that there is a cause and effect and a ripple effect upon everything everybody does, and they have positive consequences and negative consequences. If you start to focus on the kind of minutia of that, it's really quite extraordinary.

I've had some amazing people in my life. Look at my father - he came from a small fishing village of five hundred people and at six foot four with giant ears and a kind of very odd expression, thought he could be a movie star. So go figure, you know?

Carlos [ Bernard , Tony] is your guy. He had two police officers arrest Mia Kirshner [then playing Mandy] for allegedly smoking marijuana outside her dressing room. And as they went to take her away, Carlos got into a fight with the officers about [how they really should be] protecting the city.

The graphics are the really freaky thing. I have two stepsons who are really good at the games, and they saw the likenesses. They had a gleam in their eyes, and I could see that the reason they liked it was because they could play to a point and then just stop, and I would get wasted. I think there's a certain amount of joy in, like, 'Let's watch him get shot again! Do it again!' You can make him really get riddled.

For me to have an opportunity to work with someone like that, it's a fantastic learning experience.