The Wire: The downfall of Clay Davis
-
- February
- 17
Given that in tonight’s episode, “Took,” state Sen. Clay Davis is in court, I thought I’d share an interview Isiah Whitlock Jr. did with HoboTrashcan not long ago.
Whitlock plays Davis as a politician on the take with aplomb, but this season Davis may finally be getting his comeuppance. He’s taken plenty of money from the city’s drug dealers and lined his and his staff’s pockets nicely.
Thing is, he’s not really doing anything any differently than any other politician in The Wire’s version of Baltimore. OK, maybe he’s doing it a wee teensy-tiny bit more, but pretty much everyone is on the take in some way shape or form.
Plus, no one says a four-letter word that means “poop” quite like Whitlock.
Last week (was it the week before already?), Davis has an appearance before the grand jury and realizes he’s really in for it. Things are much worse than he realized.
HBO’s official description for tonight’s episode ends with this line, and it had me rubbing my hands together:
Assisted by the top-drawer lawyer Billy Murphy, “cash and carry” Davis makes his day in court a memorable one.
After the break, check out some interview excerpts.
First, here’s Whitlock’s thoughts on whether Davis actually is a bad guy:
I just see him as a man of the people. A lot of people say that he’s a bad character and he’s this villain, but when you play a character like that, you really have to believe that everything you’re doing is good. I sometimes look at it as, “Gee, I might be doing something that is not on the up and up,” but I kind of look at it as it’s all part of the game. And if the game is being played, I’m just a player in the game. So you kind of think, “I’m not really doing anything wrong, I’m just out here playing the game.” That’s the way I justify it for myself to help me get through it.But, that being said, it has a tendency to kind of irk people a lot and piss them off because you’re so concentrated on playing the game and then he comes off as a bit of a shady character. But you’ve got guys on there who are killing people, so Clay Davis is not that bad. I haven’t hurt anyone; you know other than a few dollars here and there.
Then, there’s the basis for Davis:
They told me that he’s not like a particular person. Now, that being said, if you want to take maybe four or five people that they based the character on, some not even politicians. But just that certain things would happen to certain people that you can put with Clay Davis to round out his character. And then you take all of the people that I’ve studied and I take a little bit here and a little bit there and then you end up with a character like that.
And, finally, here’s a tidbit few people know about Whitlock:
(Laughs.) I’m a Notre Dame fan. I know that will piss a lot of people off.
Want more? Read the whole interview, linked to above.
And stop back here tomorrow for a recap and discussion of “Took.”
This entry was posted
on Sunday, February 17th, 2008 at 10:00 am by Amy Vernon.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Print
| 
Email
