Brian Baumgartner in ‘Into Temptation’

Q: Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine Arts and Entertainment Editor Tad Simons wrote, “This film is one of the most interesting explorations of faith and the nature of faith that I have seen in a long time.” Is that why you were attracted to the script?

Brian: I thought the script was fantastic. The best script I had read in a long while. Rarely do I read a script front to back, and then want to read it again.

I was lucky that by the time I read it, I was already offered the part. I did not have to fight for it. So it was an easy decision for me to say “yes.”

Q: In the production notes for the film, you said “One morning I was rushing down a street in Soho when, in a moment of fate, parallel to the encounters in the movie, I ran into Jeremy Sisto. An unexpected, unplanned and random encounter. Which turned out — as Jeremy and I celebrated the script on that New York sidewalk — to be the beginning of MY journey on this film.” That was a sign you *had* to work on this project, wasn’t it?

Brian: Well, I would say it was more “cool” than anything else.

I had already said yes the day before. I had gone to Atlanta to meet my nephew for the first time, and then was traveling from there to New York for the upfronts. I got the offer while I was in Atlanta. Read it in my sister’s house. Said YES I want to do it. Then flew to NYC.

The next day, was walking down the street and bumped into Sisto. We had met before (around NBC events), but did not know each other at all. To run into him on the streets of New York was just bizarre. We talked for a while. Talked about the script. Then we were together a few weeks later in yet another city (Minneapolis) to shoot the movie.

Then an added bizarre twist. We became friends. Decided we wanted to continue our relationship in LA. And discovered we live in the same neighborhood in LA. So we have walked to each other’s houses now a few times for dinners and such.

Q: When I watched the “Into Temptation” trailer, I could just hear Kevin Malone sitting in the back of theater, tittering during the prostitute scenes. How would Father Ralph and Kevin Malone get along?

Brian: Well being that Kevin is Catholic (I mean, MALONE, he has to be right?), and Father Ralph is a Catholic priest … well, let me put it this way: if Kevin went to church, he would be searching for a priest like Father Ralph. Ralph has a sense of humor. Not too uptight (a la Angela). But I don’t see them being too tight.

Q: Were you in Minneapolis on Thursday for the world premiere?

Brian: Unfortunately, I was not in Minneapolis Thursday night for the “world premiere.” I still don’t understand how the whole “premiere” system works. I thought the “world premiere” had already happened. But maybe that was the “festival world premiere.” Someone invented a system that allows a people to say “Premiere” and “World Premiere” a lot of times …

Anyway, I saw the film at the Newport Film Festival. Jeremy and I were able to be there this summer when we weren’t working.

We are shooting a busy busy schedule right now on THE OFFICE and I was not able to be in Minneapolis last night. But I truly wanted to be. That would have been fun. I missed seeing a lot of Minneapolis actors who were in the film because they shot on different days than me. Would have been nice to be there to support the movie and see all those guys.

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Thank you, Brian, for the Q&A!

Now, Tallyheads, if you can help us out, we can’t figure out which cities ‘Into Temptation’ will play before it’s released on DVD in October. If you see this information listed anywhere, please post a comment.

If it’s playing in San Francisco, I am definitely getting on a train. :)