Simon Baker coy about rumored end of ‘Mentalist’

WITH costar Robin Tunney (left) on the set of the long-running TV show.

LOS ANGELES—Is it really the last season of “The Mentalist”? “Am I actually allowed to say what I think?” Simon Baker asked aloud in reply to the question du jour in a recent chat in West Hollywood. “It hasn’t been announced. I’m still shooting. I was shooting last night until 11 o’clock.”

At 45, Simon has retained his boyish good looks. The glasses and tousled hair complement the Australian actor’s easygoing charm, especially when he smiles. And he grins a lot.

Simon was dressed casually in a dark blue shirt, with sleeves rolled up, and jeans. There are reports that the seventh season will be his last as Patrick Jane, the California Bureau of Investigation independent consultant who solves crimes with his uncanny observational powers. The show has won Simon a legion of rabid followers.

Also in the cast of the beloved series that airs on CBS in the United States are Robin Tunney (who plays Teresa Lisbon), Tim Kang (who hinted in a series of tweets that the coming season is the last one), Owain Yeoman and Amanda Righetti. The show earned a dedicated fan base which followed Simon’s Patrick as he searched, for several years, the serial killer Red John, who murdered his (Patrick’s) wife and daughter.

“My opinion?” he asked aloud again. He turned to the Warner Bros. Television publicists in the room. Simon teased the publicists with his killer smile as he mulled his answer: “Look at those guys shaking their heads, getting worried and their faces are all red.”

Interesting season

The Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee began his answer: “The experience that we had last year, in the last season—it was really interesting because you have the arc of what a story is and what the story should be. Then you have the idea of the business outside of that, of whether it will continue or whether the story is finished.

“If you ask me, the original story that we started off with and laid out in the pilot episode many years ago—that story finished probably around the end of the second season. When was Bradley Whitford (in the show as a man who convinced Patrick he was Red John but was not)? Like third season? I don’t know. They all blend into one.

“Then we picked up another thread of the story. It became less about seeking revenge and more about the dynamics of a relationship (between Patrick and Teresa). That thread closed itself—pretty perfectly, I thought—at the end of last season. Now, what we’re really doing is trying to find a way that you can work with that story to continue it along.

“If you looked at an episode of the show now, compared to the very beginning, it’s a very different show. It’s hard to keep that same thing alive.

HE ACCEPTED the TV gig because his three kids “needed the stability.” photo: Ruben V. Nepales

“We’re probably into what, you would argue, is maybe the third [part] of the story arc. It’s no longer about Red John. It’s no longer about this unrequited love. It’s now the next step. Whether that’s the end of it, I don’t know. You could probably come up with a concept. At a certain point with shows like ‘The Mentalist,’ you develop a relationship with those characters. It really becomes more about the audience wanting to watch the characters relate to each other, as opposed to the growth of the show, in a weird way. Like the show outgrows itself.”

Then he laughed and admitted, “I’m not answering the question very well… I’m really just a servant.”

Nomadic character

Asked if he was ready to say goodbye to Patrick Jane, Simon replied, “Look, I’ve gone through periods where I’ve been ready to say goodbye to Patrick Jane. Then I reestablished pleasure in playing the character. I’m enjoying playing the character now but, creatively, I’m a nomadic character and person. When I started acting, I moved, shifted and took on new challenges. This is the longest I’ve ever been in one place and the longest I’ve ever played a character. I will always feel honored to have been able to do that—to entertain an audience playing that character.”

He continued, “A creative part in me wants to go and explore new terrain and do different things. Whether that means playing other characters or pursuing different areas of the business, creatively, I’m not really sure. I don’t know if I’m happy to say goodbye to the character. I don’t think I have a choice whether I can say goodbye to the character or not. Even long after the show is finished, I’m still going to walk down the street and people are going to say, ‘Hey, it’s the Mentalist.’ I’m not going to be able to avoid that.”

Again breaking into a chuckle, Simon quipped, “Two terrible answers. Sorry.”

He claimed, “It won’t be my decision. That’s the business side of it.”

While the show’s creator, Bruno Heller, gave a happy ending for “Jisbon” (fanbase-coined term for Jane and Lisbon) in season 6, Simon hinted that, if he had his way, the series would end on a somber note for Patrick.

“Personally, I think he’s a tragic figure,” Simon explained. “To me, when we were putting the character together in the very early days, he was a tragic character. Like all the great love stories—‘Romeo and Juliet’—there’s tragedy. I always felt that. But I get shouted down.”

On what fans may expect from this supposedly last season, Simon obliged with, “In my mind, the way we ended last season seemed a perfect way to end the show. But as things would have it, we’re back again. Before we started shooting, we sat down and went, okay, is it going to be like ‘The Thin Man’ sort of story (for Jisbon)? You know, like the ‘Hart to Hart’ couple that solves crimes?

“How are we going to approach the relationship? Obviously, we need to uphold the procedural nature of the show. But how do we do it with a dynamic that isn’t necessarily smooth-sailing? There’s obviously going to be hiccups between them, when they’ve worked together and spent so much together and then try to carry on a relationship.

Professional jealousy

“There’s professional jealousy and all of those things. Who’s the alpha in the relationship? Who’s the boss at work? And at home? We’re trying to play around with that as much as possible.”

On what he intends to do when the show, which debuted in 2008, does end, Simon said, “It’s one of those things that is such an abstract concept because I’ve been working on the show for so long that it’s not really frightening at all, actually. But I don’t know how I’m going to feel when it is over.

“When you work so closely with a group of people for such a long period of time, you develop relationships whether you want to or not. This dynamic starts to develop. When that breaks apart, there’s going to be a void. I’m conscious and aware of that. So I’m trying to think of things to do to keep me busy so it doesn’t have any emotional impact on me.”

Asked which item from the show he’d like to keep if he was offered, Simon had more than one in mind. “One item? That’s a hard one. I would like the couch. I love the Citroen. I really do like the Airstream. I’ve been coveting that Airstream. Actually, the Airstream was my idea. So was the Citroen. And the couch. They were all my ideas so I’m very [proprietary] about them. But I’ll probably get none of them, mate. They are the property of Warner Bros.”

Looking back, Simon candidly recounted what made him decide to accept “The Mentalist” after his two TV series, “The Guardian” and the short-lived “Smith.” “My family was really

TO UNWIND, Baker surfs—and he keeps surfboards in different countries “so I don’t have to travel with them.” photo:ruben v. nepales

what was behind the decision to do the show,” he admitted. He has three kids with actress Rebecca Rigg, whom he married in 1998. “I really wasn’t that interested in doing another TV show after ‘The Guardian.’ And that short stint on ‘Smith.’ A lot of it had to do with the ages that my kids were. They needed the stability. So that was a big thing.”

The kids are used to the limelight, claimed the father. “They are accustomed to the experience of being around me and the ‘fallout’ from being on a successful TV show. They’re my kids so they take it with a grain of salt.”

Smiling, he added, “They take the piss out of me whenever they can. Kids are there to deflate their parents—they build them up, put a pin on them and pop them every now and then. That’s what the relationship is. No, they’re great. They have a very good sense of humor about it. I’m generally the butt of jokes. I’m okay with that.”

To relax from playing an agent who resorts to psychological manipulation and sharp observation skills to solve crimes, Simon surfs (he is often photographed hitting the waves). “That’s my little indulgence,” he replied when asked how many surfboards he owns. “Some people buy big silly cars. I just have a couple of surfboards. But I’ve got them in different countries so that I don’t have to travel with them all the time.”

Moving forward

“I’m always looking to find a new challenge,” Simon said of his post-“The Mentalist” plans. “And move forward in that way,” said the man who likes to have more opportunities to direct (he helmed several episodes of “The Mentalist”).

Toward the end of our chat, Simon turned serious and expressed moving words of thanks for the support. Then he said, “I know I have to go. It might look easy but it isn’t. The success of any TV show—it doesn’t matter what critics like about it, how cool and fashionable the stars are on that show—it really depends on the audience. I’m very grateful.”

(E-mail the columnist at [email protected]. Follow him at https://twitter.com/nepalesruben.)