Sons of Anarchy's bad boy is good at heart
HIS turn as scarred and tattooed pimp Nero on brutally brilliant bikie series Sons of Anarchy has turned audience perception of Jimmy Smits on its head.
His turn as scarred and tattooed pimp Nero on brutally brilliant bikie series Sons of Anarchy has turned audience perception of Jimmy Smits on its head.
But at heart the actor remains a dutiful son, who even at age 57 wouldn’t get a tattoo because it might upset his mum.
Smits, who rose to fame playing cops and lawyers on the right side of the law as attorney Victor Sifuentes on the 1980s legal drama LA Law, detective Bobby Simone in NYPD Blue and then President Matt Santos on The West Wing has channeled bad boy in season five of Sons, which roars towards its brutal climax on Foxtel this week.
Not that Smits had much choice. Even if he hadn’t been a fan of the show, there was no way after a chance meeting with Sons creator Kurt Sutter led to the offer of a role that Smits’ wife, Wanda De Jesus, would have let him pass.
“I love it the show, but Wanda is just a Sons freak,” he says.
“She loves the fact that this show about bikies has all these strong women in it. (Sutter’s wife, Katey Sagal‘s role as bikie matriarch Gemma this year netted her a Golden Globe for best actress in a television series drama).
“When Kurt invited me in to rap, Wanda was like: ‘You have to do this’.”
In early 2011, Smits and Sutter crossed paths at a function celebrating the work of director Paris Barclay. They got chatting about the show, and three weeks later, Sutter outlined a plan for Smits joining the cast.
Smits needed little convincing.
“Our common thread was Paris – I’d done, I think, some of my best work with my NYPD Blue character with and now he’s on Sons, and I already loved Kurt’s stuff. After three meetings with Kurt there was a trust level there,” Smits says.
“Kurt wanted me to come in and be a badass and turn perceived images of me on their head. “He asked was I willing to play with that.”
Smits was.
The result is Nero, who in season five has become a mentor to head of the Sons biker group, Jax (Charlie Hunnam) and love interest for Sagal’s Gemma.
While Nero has given a pretty good impression of being a man who wants to go legitimate after a life on the wrong side of the tracks, stints in prison and gang involvement, and seems to have Gemma’s back, Smits enigmatically warns “I don’t know … I don’t think you can trust any of Kurt’s characters”.
“That’s how Mr Sutter operates, nothing is what it seems.”
One of the first things Smits did upon joining the show was get his motorbike licence – despite the fact that Sutter warned him he wouldn’t be riding a Harley Davidson.
It was the repeat of a scenario Smits had encountered with another role – when he joined George Lucas’ Star Wars franchise as Bail Organa.
“The conversation with Kurt was pretty similar to the one I had with George,” he laughs.
“George’s was along the lines of : ‘I love what you’re doing, I’d love you to come and join us, but in order for us to continue this conversation you have to understand that a light sabre will not be involved’.
“That was pretty much the same thing with Kurt. He said: ‘Don’t think you’re going to be riding motorcycles – we got that pretty much worked out’.”
Smits got his bike licence regardless.
“I felt the need top be prepared – I might get to jump on the back or something. Maybe they’ll get me on a Vespa at some point,” he laughs.
The bulk of the Sons cast bears an impressive collection of tattoos and scars for their roles – Smits observes it’s the only show he’s worked on in which the blokes spend longer than the girls in the make-up trailer - but when shooting’s over, he returns to his clean-skin self.
“I have no tattoos at all – it was a huge undertaking for me in the 80s to let my parents know I was piercing my ear when I did LA Law,” he laughs.
“Even at this late stage in life I don’t think a tattoo would fly too well with my Mum.”
With just two episodes to play out on Sons’ most successful series yet, Smits is staying mum on whether his character joins the massive body count which has stacked up as the club implodes.
He does confess that because the Sons cast is so tight – ‘a lot of them ride the motorbikes to work’ – it can be hard to leave intense and brutal scenes at the door when the cameras stop rolling.
“There’s has been stuff this season that has turned the whole series on its head – and often it’s not the brutality of the deaths, it’s the after effects,” he says.
“We have just shot something for the final episodes which was … just intense. I can’t talk about now. I couldn’t even if I was allowed to. That’s how Kurt writes.”
With the season wrapped, and no hints on whether he’ll be back next year, Smits may continue his Sons ride at home.
“I haven’t bought a bike yet – right now that’s a big debate question at home,” he says
“The thing about getting a bike isn’t a problem – it’s the caveats about driving on the freeway, driving late at night, those are the things in discussion.”
Sons of Anarchy
Tonight (Sunday Dec 2 - episode 12), 8.30pm Showcase
Wednesday (fast-tracked season finale) 5.30pm, Showcase
December 9 (finale in primetime) 8.30pm, Showcase
Perthnow
