NEW YORK - You’d be forgiven for thinking of crime drama The Blacklist as essentially a one-man show. While it may boast a strong supporting cast, the show is written around its larger-than-life central character: Ex-government agent turned one of the FBI’s Most Wanted, Raymond “Red” Reddington. A suave and erudite anti-hero, Red leads the authorities to some very bad criminals, but clearly has his own agenda.

Of course, one’s focus could also be influenced by the fact that he is played by one of Hollywood’s most venerated actors: James Spader. Known for giving an intense edge to unconventional and unsettling characters in films such as Sex, Lies, and Videotape; Crash and Secretary, Spader has been in the business since the ’80s, when he made his mark in Endless Love and Pretty In Pink. In his much-hyped coming big-screen appearance, he plays the titular villain in Avengers: Age Of Ultron.

So, there’s no doubt Spader is the leading man on the set of The Blacklist, which we visited in New York City as filming for the second season was in progress — further evidenced by the fact that crew members came into the room to conduct a “temperature check” to make sure it was at a very brisk, Spader-optimal 20°C before he made his entrance.

His co-star Megan Boone, who plays Elizabeth “Liz” Keen, the rookie FBI agent Red chooses to deal exclusively with, more or less confirmed that impression, saying: “The show is about one real person and one character. The character has become extraordinarily iconic and it’s played by a living legend in television. And the real person is played by me!”

Laughing, she added: “Red is the character you love to see come on screen. He’s like the friend that you keep around because he’s always got the one-liners, but you’d better be careful because he might steal your pants. Liz is like Tom Cruise in Rain Man and Red is like Dustin Hoffman. You need both but, years from now, people aren’t going to talk about any of Tom Cruise’s lines in that movie. They’re going to talk about counting toothpicks on the floor. You know what I’m saying?”

TALENT IN SPADES

Spader, who is verbose and thoughtful in person, took a self-deprecating tack about the suggestion that it is, well, his show, saying: “I think that’s a function of the character, really. I mean, listen, any actor who has been around long enough has baggage and a reputation that they’re bringing with them.”

And as one of those serious practitioners who is an actor before he is a celebrity, he added: “I’ve been doing this for decades and still have no idea how to operate in the business. I just read scripts and decide what I’m interested in doing.”

He considers himself “very lucky” in the past five years to be able to have acted in film, television and on the stage. After winning three Emmy Awards for his work in Boston Legal, he starred in David Mamet’s Broadway play Race in 2010 and in 2012’s Lincoln.

Following his passion keeps things interesting. “The wonderful thing about the fact that the lines (between film, television and theatre) have become very blurry or non-existent to a great degree is that the processes are so different,” he said. “So different, in fact, that I finished the first season of The Blacklist and was exhausted. On the plane ride to London (to film for Avengers: Age Of Ultron), I thought, ‘What am I going to do to sort of regenerate?’ And I got there and it was just such a different experience. I was doing a character from a comic-book world and one that was, through a great degree, being created through CGI, wearing a motion-performance-capture suit.”

Returning to New York to work on The Blacklist’s second season, in which “there are some interesting revelations right off the top”, Spader is anything but bored, simply because a television series affords him the opportunity to play with his mysterious, magnetic, manipulative character — hand-tease his audience, if you will — over a period of time. One gets the sense that it’s not just his audience that enjoys being teased, but Spader himself who also enjoys doing the teasing.

“You know, it’s a very delicate balance when you have a character that’s very enigmatic. It not only piques your curiosity, but also holds your interest,” he said. “Over the course of a television series, you must reveal things. But, inherently, in any sort of long-form storytelling, there’s going to be a certain amount of familiarity. And that enigmatic quality is going to be dissipated or diminished, even in small ways.

“But the balance is to still hold on to it, so that even if you’re revealing something, or if an audience is starting to become familiar and at certain points even sort of comfortable with him, (you can) pull that out from under them. We’re always trying to do that, so even if you feel like, ‘Oh, I know him’, you don’t.”

SOMETHING ABOUT JAMES

That’s a quality that could well apply to Spader himself. “He’s still as much of an enigma as he was when we started the job,” said co-star Diego Klattenhoff (Homeland, Pacific Rim). “Very kind and generous, but still… you never really know somebody.”

And, as a result, perhaps, “there’s something about James Spader”, said co-star Harry Lennix (ER, Law And Order: Los Angeles, The Matrix: Reloaded). “The fact that he’s playing the character makes him kind of delicious. I also think he fits into the mould of the classic American anti-hero.”

Spader relishes the corresponding ambiguity of his anti-hero, adding that even though he has never been able to figure out what people might like, he posited that people respond to the dichotomy in any anti-hero. “I think everybody would be enormously disappointed — or, I know I would — if all of a sudden, you discover Reddington is really, you know, a righteous guy. He’s really doing the right thing and it’s all about redemption. That would be so disappointing. I think the thing that is compelling is that you’re not sure whether he’s a very bad guy who does good things or whether he’s a good guy who does very bad things.”

So how far has the actor delved into the criminal psyche? “Do I hang out with criminals for the sake of making the show? I’ve known a lot of criminals in my life, (but) I’ve never known anyone like Reddington or… anyone who’s in his business. Or at least, I didn’t know they were. They might have been, now, looking back,” he said with a laugh.

We did learn that Spader is an eminently practical person. When asked what she had learnt from him, Boone declared: “‘Save your money’.” She laughed. “He actually said, ‘You know, Megan, I know that older actors are supposed to impart wisdom unto younger actors. They would think I’d tell you a million different things. But really, the only thing I’d tell you is to save your money’.

“But here’s the thing,” she continued, “I don’t have to have James outwardly tell me things in order to learn from him. He’s a master and all I have to do is be in his presence, watch him and be open to it and humbled by it, and I am all of those things. I think I’ll leave this job on the road to hopefully being a little closer to where he’s reached in his life.”

Catch the second season of The Blacklist within 12 hours of its US telecast starting Sep 23, Tuesdays at 10pm on AXN (StarHub TV Ch 511).

The Blacklist’s cast tattle on James Spader

Megan Boone (Returns this season darker and less innocent): I could tell you a million things about James that probably wouldn’t surprise you, about his charisma and his intelligence, but the thing that I think people wouldn’t necessarily guess about watching Raymond Reddington is that he’s extraordinarily sweet at the core. Just adorable.

Amir Arison (Now a series regular; plays the resident tech whiz): He is very focused, specific, aware, talented. He raises the bar. When I did my first scene with him last year… He went, ‘That paper was over there.’ Like what the script supervisor or continuity supervisor does. And I do that, too. So I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m just like James Spader.’ And I always try to hide my OCD because I don’t want to get into anyone’s way. So when I saw him I was like, ‘Ah! I can be proud of my specific OCD!’

Hisham Tawfiq (Plays Red’s strong, silent right-hand henchman): I kind of just suck up everything I see him do. He’s very specific with his choices; very intelligent with his choices. Each day is like a master acting class. He had a long conversation with me on day one about (my character) and from that day I built on his advice and his words.

Mozhan Marno (Season Two’s new character, a spy who takes Red on): He did this thing my first day working with him. There was a scene in which his character was parting from me. We were just saying goodbye. Four different things flashed over his eyeballs: Delight, surprise, ‘I’ll see you later’, and ‘Who are you?’. Four different things happened on his face with minimal movement, but there was so much thought and depth behind what he’s doing.