SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
John T. Woods has been told to play dead many, many times. The actor has appeared on television in "NCIS," "Criminal Minds," "24" and other series, and films including "Down And Dangerous," "Dead Bullet" and "Zombie Strippers," and onstage in "Angels In America," "Hamlet" and "True West." Says he's been, quote, "stabbed, poisoned, faded away of old age, consumed by a giant snake and shot more times than I can count." John T. Woods joins us now from Burbank, California. Thanks so much for being with us.
JOHN T WOODS: Hey. Thanks. It's so nice to be here with you.
SIMON: First off, how are you feeling?
WOODS: Like a million bucks. Thanks for asking. You made me reminisce about all of those deaths that have happened over the last 20-something years, but I still feel great for a 40-something-year-old.
SIMON: I - but how does an actor play dead? I mean, how do you stay so still?
WOODS: Yeah, these days, it's become a lot easier. And I feel like I missed out on the sort of technical aspects of it back when it was controlling your breathing and, you know, controlling the muscles in your eyes so your eyes don't shift behind the lids. Onstage, it can be even more difficult because if you start laughing during "Hamlet," there's very little chance you're going to stop when you're playing a dead body. And usually when you've been killed, you have been doing something very exciting, and so your heart is beating. Your breath is racing, and it's very hard to calm your body down. It's much easier on television and film if you get sort of blown away or, in one of the cases, eaten by a giant snake. That one's a little easy 'cause you wrestle against the snake, and then your head is no longer there. And it's kind of easy to just fall over, and that's it.
SIMON: Oh, it sounds so easy - 'cause your head is no longer there. What do you think about when you're playing dead?
WOODS: I think about death. I think about it quite a bit. It's weird. It's like - it's this, like, profoundly unifying experience that we are all going to go through at some point. And it's something that we deal with in our lives with those around us and strangers alike. And I feel sort of like acting is one of the only professions where you sort of practice for it, where you sort of, like, prepare for the role of a lifetime.
SIMON: What do you think you might have learned about death - and life, for that matter - by having to play dead so often?
WOODS: I feel like I'm not scared of it anymore. I feel like a lot of the ways that I've passed away - I would hope that the one I get is, you know, at a healthy, ripe, old age. But it sort of informs the way that I look at my life in regard to appreciating every day. I have this sort of mantra where I like to live my life content but not complacent. Because I feel like no matter what, be it a giant snake or getting hit by a throwing star, you're eventually going to, you know, leave this mortal coil.
SIMON: For most of us, it won't be quite as exotic as you describe - getting eaten by a snake.
WOODS: (Laughter).
SIMON: Forgive me. But, I mean, do people send you (laughter) sympathy cards or condolence notes all the time, or?
WOODS: Every time. Every time I go through something, I have a...
SIMON: Yeah.
WOODS: ...A friend send something hilarious to me. You know, the giant snake one was funny. I got a lot of snake condolence cards, themed things and a lot of jokes. And, man, I love it. I think it's fantastic.
SIMON: Actor John T. Woods, thank you for being with us. And may I wish you many, many years of good health ahead.
WOODS: Thank you very much, Scott. I appreciate talking to you today.
(SOUNDBITE OF PIA NOVA'S "ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE (PIANO INSTRUMENTAL)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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