MONDO EXTRAS

Whitford says, "There's an interesting...and I'm so aware of the downside of the hours...but there is an interesting acting virtue in just...it's as if you're in a cult..." Sheen cracks up at this. Whitford continues, "An acting cult...it's like, 'What's the next thing?...I'm here to serve the big story...'" Sheen is killing himself laughing, stamping his feet a bit. Whitford: "But you get to an interesting place as an actor. I realized doing this show...because very quickly, you're not nervous anymore, you're not scared, you're past the preliminary jitters that have occupied such a large percentage of my acting life, and you know these people, and you're exhausted, and you're not at your best, and you're not going to be at your best, and you're going to be on national TV, and there's something sort of horribly liberating about that..." Rose inquires, "Do you therefore come to work each Monday morning with that amount of excitement to see another week..." Whitford: "No, because I'm in the cult!" Everyone laughs heartily again. Sheen says, "The only time we really see each other is at the table reading, with Aaron and Tommy and Johnny [John Wells], where all the players and all the backup players and all the crew..." Rose interrupts to ask how often these readings take place; Sheen replies, "About every two weeks. If we're lucky." Sorkin says, "A few minutes after I'm done with the script." Sheen and Spencer makes jokes about how "hot" the scripts are to the touch, and Schiff adds, "And a few minutes before we start shooting." I think Sorkin's reputation as a last-minute Larry is well and thoroughly established now. Not that I'm anyone to talk. Rose asks Sorkin why he's that way. I'm hoping Sorkin will reply, "I don't know, probably for the same reason you seem to be constitutionally incapable of letting any of us finish a sentence," but I guess he was too well brought up for that. Way to go, Ma and Pa Sorkin. Sheen jovially adds, "Yeah, Aaron, why are you that way?" Sheen and Whitford ask him, as Sorkin looks down and away slightly sheepishly, "What is your problem?" Janney and Schiff are smiling at Sorkin sympathetically. Whitford makes a joke which I think is something along the lines of Charlie Rose doing a special edition on Sorkin's legendary lateness, but it's hard to be sure over all the hilarity.