Gilmore Girls

In an interview with TV Guide, Wayne Wilcox talks about his return to Gilmore Girls.

TVGuide.com: I know a lot of Gilmore fans, including myself, that have been waiting for Marty’s return! Did you know you’d be back eventually, or was it a surprise to you?
Wilcox: Thank you to all of you. It was totally a surprise to me. I actually had dinner with Lauren [Graham] [Sunday] night. She was in town to the see the play [Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer] — she’s a friend of Carla Gugino’s — and we know each other in passing, we worked together once the first year I was on the show. So she came backstage and gave me a big, big hug, and she said, “There was one woman, a writer on the show, who’s responsible for bringing you back, and she was so excited because she thought you were such a cool character.”

TVGuide.com: Last week, Marty pretended he didn’t even know Rory, which was so uncomfortable. Do they have a friendship or possibly something more in upcoming episodes?
Wilcox: Well, I can’t say for sure — and just so you know, they run a tight ship over there, they’re pretty secretive about their episodes, even with us. I can honestly say that I don’t know — but what I’ve done so far… that awkwardness between them? It continues, it gets a little heated, which hopefully makes for good drama.

TVGuide.com: Do Rory’s friends find out about her past friendship with Marty and the fact that he liked her?
Wilcox: Well, I don’t know about that, but some things go down, I’ll put it that way. There are a couple of heated discussions.

TVGuide.com: Does Logan come into the mix?
Wilcox: Yeah, absolutely, because he’s her boyfriend.

TVGuide.com: So you can’t tell me more than that, huh?
Wilcox: No, I can’t! I wish I could, but they’d kill me.

TVGuide.com: Will anything surprise us about Marty’s return?
Wilcox: Marty’s kind of grown up. The thing I like about playing the character — especially what I’ve done with this season — is that he’s a little cooler, a little hipper, he’s got a girlfriend, he’s relaxed. And he’s not afraid to admit that he likes Rory, I guess.

TVGuide.com: So the feelings still linger after all these years?
Wilcox: I think so, yeah. [Laughs]

TVGuide.com: Marty reminds me of Dean a little bit. He’s the nice guy. And Logan, as sweet as he can be, can be disconnected at times. I think fans who liked Dean also latched onto the idea of Rory and Marty getting together one day.
Wilcox: It’s interesting how I actually got the part…. I read some scenes that were Dean and Rory scenes. I was waiting tables at the Mercer Kitchen in Soho and [then Gilmore Girls producers/writers] Amy [Sherman-Palladino] and Dan [Palladino] were staying at the Mercer Hotel. I served them breakfast, and they asked me if I was an actor. I gave them my agent’s information and they ended up calling and put me on tape just to see what I could do, and they said, “We’re writing this part for you, Marty.” And I was like, “Wow, that’s weird and great and fast and something completely unexpected.” But the scenes that I read were Dean scenes, so they were thinking along that vein as well.

TVGuide.com: That’s a great story!
Wilcox: I know, right? I’m so lucky!

TVGuide.com: Do you know for how long you’re going to be back on the show?
Wilcox: No idea. I like it like that, to be honest, because it’s surprising and it’s more of a challenge.

TVGuide.com: And how is it balancing Suddenly Last Summer and getting called in for Gilmore Girls?
Wilcox: They’ll give me a week’s notice. But everybody’s been super-supportive of me doing both. When I found out I got cast in a play, I knew right away that I had to do it, because it’s Tennessee Williams and because there are incredible people working together — incredible cast [Becky Ann Baker, Blythe Danner], the director [Mark Brokaw]. And then Gilmore Girls called and said, “We want you to come back,” and between my agents and both the Roundabout [Theatre] and the CW, everybody was super-supportive, totally wanted to work around schedules, so I go on my day off.

TVGuide.com: So the play is going well. Do you prefer the stage over TV, or do you like the combination of both?
Wilcox: I love the combination of both. Besides making me feel like a rock star, it makes me feel like a good actor. They’re completely different mediums, they call for different skills.

TVGuide.com: You’re live one minute and doing retakes the next.
Wilcox: Exactly. The shots — especially the way they shoot a television show like Gilmore Girls — they go so fast and each different shot requires a different level of energy. When they’re doing your close-up, you have to be really, really small, but then when they’re doing a master shot, which is really wide and the camera’s far away, it’s almost like you’re on stage anyway. But then to go back to New York and do it on an intimate stage, I get really aware of how different being on camera is.

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Wayne Wilcox, Gilmore Girls, Lauren Graham, Amy Sherman-Palladino