Scott Wolf has been a well-liked fixture on our TV and movie screens for three decades – some of us are even old enough to remember Double Dragon – but with numerous hit television series to his credit, he’s never directed an episode of TV before… until now. Wolf, who plays Nancy’s [sort-of] father Carson Drew on The CW’s Nancy Drew, went behind the camera for tonight’s midseason finale “The Voices in the Frost” – and fans will certainly agree he did a fantastic job.
To promote the December 10 episode, KSiteTV’s Craig Byrne was able to talk to Scott Wolf about the momentous installment.
KSITETV’s CRAIG BYRNE: How did it come about for you to direct an episode of Nancy Drew?
SCOTT WOLF: A couple of years ago, about halfway through our first season, I raised my hand, and let the producers of the show know that I wanted to direct, and that was something that I had never done before.
There were a lot of reasons why I think I didn’t raise my hand before, but I think I found myself [on] this show, feeling so excited about what it was creatively and so excited to be a part of it. There was just something about the level of artistry and creative ambition that just kicked that door open for me, so I went from a person who, for years, people have been like, “why haven’t you directed ever?” and I was always that person on set who had a very kind of macro sensibility about production. I was paying attention and I was curious about everything, but I just had never thought I wanted to do that.
Suddenly, I really did. That was two years ago, and that began a process that led to ultimately them giving me my first chance.
Did you have any influences or mentors in directing?
Tons! I’ve been very lucky to over the years. I’ve been part of making hundreds of episodes of television, and so, I’ve gotten to work with tons of different directors.
As a younger actor, to be honest, when I started out with the first shows I was doing, I think generally television as a medium was less ambitious, so there were a bunch of times where [directing] didn’t necessarily look like the most fun and artful job in the world. It just seemed like it’s someone else’s story. This cast has been playing these characters, so they know that part, and this crew’s here week in and week out, so the production part of it is theirs, and, you just kind of come in and move cameras around for for seven days and then head out.
It didn’t feel like you could really make a mark and express a vision. Over the years, I think that’s changed a ton. Obviously, television as a medium has grown more ambitious, and the shows that I’ve been a part of has been far more ambitious and creative and artful, so now it’s become more and more incumbent upon directors to come in and really have a vision, and be a filmmaker, and have a pretty incredible template in terms of what production elements are available to you, so the job just looks more and more fun over the years.
[Some of] the biggest influences have been my recent ones on this show. Larry Teng, who is our Producing Director around here… he directed the pilot and has directed a bunch of our episodes… he’s a friend, and a mentor. He has everything to do with how this show looks, how it’s shot, what the visual ground rules are, and what the templates are, and so not only did I count on him for advice and counsel and guidance and mentorship, but I probably watched his shows more than anything else in preparation, just in terms of understanding what this show is aiming for.
Then there’s Ruben Garcia, who has directed a handful of our episodes, who I shadowed last year. He’s just the greatest guy, an incredible director, was incredibly gracious, and let me shadow him during his entire block, so I was able to be around all the time and see every part of the production process through his eyes. That was invaluable, because he’s, he just checks all the boxes. He’s great mentor. He’s great with the cast. He’s great with the crew. He’s great with story.
And then I think back to Party of Five [where] I was lucky to work with a guy named Dan Attias, and another guy named Steve Robman. Steve and Dan were two people who, even back when television wasn’t aspiring to what it aspires to now creatively, were just incredible artists, and they checked all those boxes. They elevated the media when they were around, and they cared about performance; they cared about the visuals. They were just good, kind people who carried a crew along well. So all those people – Dan Attias, Steve Robman, Ruben Garcia, and Larry Teng – they were all front of mind for me when I was in preparation of doing this for the first time. They were all pretty good role models and people to aspire to.
Was this an opportunity to work with some of the Nancy Drew cast members that you hadn’t been able to work with as much before?
Yeah, actually. Because now three years into the show, I’ve worked with all of the cast, but way more with some cast members and less with others. And so, definitely Madison and Leah and Tunji… those were three of our cast who I had been in scenes with and worked with a bit, but not extensively. Working with them in the role of Director is much more immersive, enhanced, and connected so that was an incredible opportunity.
I have an unbelievable amount of respect and admiration and affection for this cast. They’re all just great people, and great professionals, and work really hard and are super talented and have great instincts. They make life easy on the people that direct this show, and directing this show is not easy, because we’re basically making 42 minute movie every week, and every day feels like you have roughly half the time you need, so it’s intense. Knowing that when that cameras rolling, you’ve got actors who are going to deliver, and who are ready, and who are going to be able to take a note and run with it and take an idea and make it great is a huge weight off your shoulders and a huge wind in your sails, to know that of all the sort of things you’re kind of pushing up a hill, that everyone is just kind of running alongside you… it was equally valuable and cool.
Working in this role with Kennedy [McMann] for example, who I work with a ton as an actor, just shifting the perspective and jumping into this work in these different ways together… it was kind of a unique experience with each cast member for different reasons, but they were all incredibly gracious and really went to bat for me, like they do for every director that comes through, but I could really feel that it mattered to them that that this went well. And even though there was probably a moment, the very first time I was on set with each of them, there was just that little weirdness of like, “oh, wait a second, you’re, you’re that guy now”… the second we were doing the work, that just melted away.
Can you talk about the recent episode where Carson and Ryan were regressed to teenager behavior?
What I can say about Episode 7? That was some of the most fun I’ve ever had working.
When we came back to start this season, the writers and producers had already broken the story for that episode, so they were already laughing amongst themselves about it, and just telling us there was this episode coming up, and it’s going to be super fun, but it’s hard to get your head around exactly what something’s going to be. Then they told us the idea, and it was like, “oh, that DOES sound fun!”
Riley [Smith] and I, we’ve got a great friendship, and we love each other as people, and love working together. I think we just both just just grabbed the thing and ran, and had so much fun doing it. I think we both were surprised. We knew it would be fun, but I think we were both really surprised with how fun it was, and how much we needed that chance to just kind of let it rip and be this different version of these people.
The writers are really incredibly smart and canny, and they know what they’re doing, and so what’s beautiful about it is that yes, it’s this kind of spell that comes over these guys, but now, forever, for the fans of the show and the people that embrace these characters, that part of Carson and Ryan will just live with them. Now we get to feel like we we lived with them as teenagers for for a minute, and it just broadens out your connection to them and your appreciation of them. I’s really kind of awesome. It was really fun to do in the moment, but I think moving forward, it’s pretty invaluable, too, to have a context for who these people are that beyond what you’re just seeing them do right now.
Nancy Drew fans have strong opinions about who Nancy should end up with. Does Carson have an opinion, or do you have an opinion, of who she should end up with?
I feel Scott feels very aligned with Carson, and I have a really close relationship with Kennedy as a person, and I think Carson and and Nancy’s relationship has been has been really remarkable. It’s been all things… really painful and broken at times, and everything in between.
I think Carson probably approaches it the same way Scott does: I think he really just wants her to be happy. I think Carson doesn’t get in the weeds of Nancy’s relationships. I think he kind of just watches to see when things bubble over or might need parenting or conversation or help or support, so I don’t think he would be well equipped to say who she should end up with. But the thing that I think is beautiful about the show and the trajectory that things have taken – and that very much plays out in this episode that I’ve directed – is that it’s complicated. Any great love story is complicated, and I think any great love triangle is complicated, and the best thing that complicates a love triangle is that there is no easy answer.
Because John Harlan Kim is such an amazing guy and amazing actor, and they’ve created this really interesting character, suddenly, you’ve got these two lanes that are both right, for very different reasons. This idea of “who would be better for her?” is a hard question to answer. That’s the long version. I think for people who are “Nace Nation” or “Nark Nation,” it’s going to be a tricky night for those folks, because things are coming to a head with it all. You’ve got Nancy, having really two viable, incredible options in front of her that both feel very right, for very different reasons. I think one choice feels more obvious and more inevitable, from a fate standpoint, but then it also feels like it’s wrought with stuff that might not be healthy. And then the other one feels superduper healthy and kind of great on paper, but it would be giving something up. And so, neither Carson nor Scott have a choice. We just hope whatever she decides she’s happy.
Why should people be tuning in on Friday night, aside from the fact that it’s a great episode?
We are at a point in our season and we’re point in our series, where so many things that we’ve been building over time with the relationships between these characters, is really at these points of no return. And so, for a bunch of our key relationships, all of them have been complicated, all of them have people rooting for different outcomes. Friday night, I think, lurches us forward in every way, and it’ll create clarity for people, it’ll create more conflict for some people. But all of the things that everyone is pining for, all of those things come to breaking points, and points where people have to start making choices, and people aren’t going to want to miss those choices being made, even if even if they’re not the choices that they they’re hoping for.
Our writers and our producers have built these season0long mysteries about the Frozen Hearts Killer, and there’s a lot of work that that Nancy does to to move closer to solving that. But I would say that everything is at stake for the people we care about most, and some major things change for the people we care about most.
You can see a trailer for “The Voices in the Frost” below. Our thanks to Scott Wolf for taking the time to do this interview.
