By Jorge Solis (j.solis@mstarsnews.com) | Mar 04, 2015 02:00 PM EST
Known for their popular dramas, such as White Collar and Suits, USA Network takes audiences on an exciting new thriller created by Tim Kring (Heroes) and Gideon Raff (Homeland). In an exclusive interview with MStars News, actor David Costabile discusses uncovering a conspiracy with co-starLauren Ambrose that threatens to expose history’s darkest secrets .
Costabile earned audience’s attention when he stepped into the fifth season of the critically acclaimed crime drama, The Wire. When Breaking Bad came along, viewers wanted to know if Gale (Costabile) was loyal to Gustavo Fring or Walter White. We recently saw the return of Daniel Hardman (Costabile) in the flashback episode of this current fourth season of Suits, as he played mind games between Harvey Spector and Louis Litt.
As we previously mentioned, DIG follows FBI agent Peter Connelly (Jason Isaacs), as he sets out to solve the murder of a young American.The investigation leads to an international mystery that delves into the Holy Land’s darkest secrets. Could Tad Billingham (Costabile) be a suspect or a red herring in the globe-trotting investigation?
Before the show premieres on USA Network on Thursday, March 5, at 10 pm, MStars spoke with theDIG actor about his role, working with the ensemble cast, and whether audiences should trust his character or not.
MStars News: What was it about the project from Tim Kring and Gideon Raff that drew you in?
David Costabile: They’re both really fascinating and imaginative. The writing that they create is so rich and as someone who’s interested in television. We’ve all become sophisticated enough to sort of see how it breaks down. When you have really good writing, you’re compelled by the actors who are in it, and you may think it’s the actors, or the design, or the filmmaking of it, but then, you’re like, ‘Well, the base is a really rich story that these guys have created.’
And I think they’re good enough to be great storytellers, and they’re compassionate enough to write about characters that have a great amount of integrity, and that to me, is all there is. It’s what you want.
MS: Tell our readers about your character.
DC: I play this guy named Pastor Tad Billingham. Who wouldn’t want to be named Tad? It’s fantastic, isn’t it? Tad, leads a congregation, or cult…let’s call it a cult…in New Mexico and he is part of an effort to bring about Armageddon.
In terms of the whole show, eventually you will see the collision of all these storylines come together and that’s one of the things that’s fun about Dig. Like the namesake, it is about really digging to reveal the truth of what the hell is going on.
There’s this murder, essentially this murder mystery, and the thrill behind that, but then there are all these seemingly very desperate worlds that eventually collide and digging through all of the muck, in order to figure out how they are connected is one of the many interesting aspects of the show.
And then further, if you go and you’ll see because of what Tim [Kring] and Gideon [Raff] created. They made this thing, which happens to be not only a great thrill ride.
Check out the trailer here:
MS: Tell me about Billingham’s cult.
DC: It’s based on what’s actually happening in the world now, if you yourself are interested you can dig around and see why these people who want to bring about the end of the world, presently now, in America.
You haven’t read about these people yet. So after you watch the show you may do that and be like my mind is blown. Why do those people want to bring about Armageddon?
Check out The Making of DIG here:
MS: What interested you about playing the character?
DC: I think one of the things is because he is leading people to something that is somewhat counterintuitive, Armageddon. It was a fun challenge to try to figure out how you create something, a charismatic enough person, who is going to lead them to something that they shouldn’t really want, or that is again, counterintuitive.
And that was fun to me. It’s also really fun to play somebody who is so clear about what he wants, is very singular in his purpose in the world. And that’s a great challenge, and ultimately really fun thing to do.
Go behind-the-scenes with David Costabile here:
MS: Tell me about working with the ensemble cast.
DC: The ensemble is really great. We had a bunch of fun and I was friends with Lauren Ambrose (Debbie Morgan) from before, so it was fun. She and I are sort of; eventually we become each other’s nemesis. So that was very fun to be able to work with a friend.
And then, meeting everyone when we were on different locations and different places, we all got to hang out and see the world together. It was also a really neat experience because the storylines are separate, often you’re not working with. Jason [Isaacs] and I and Anne [Heche] never really got to work together, because they were not in my cult in New Mexico; they were in Jerusalem. So we didn’t have a lot of overlap.
DIG premieres on USA Network on Thursday, March 5, at 10 pm.
