Taylor Kitsch plays Dillon Panther player Tim Riggins.

"I think Riggins is becoming a bit more mature and coming into his own and being a more of a leader, although he’s still making 17-year-old decisions. I think he’s getting a better understanding of what his decisions are doing to other people and he’s apologizing to anyone who’ll listen."

For the rest of the interview with Kitsch, click below.

It seems as though there are a bunch of articles about the show popping up lately.

“Yeah, and I think too, the show’s getting better. The writers, just everything. Everyone has a better feel for their characters, at least I do. Inside out. You’re just not second guessing stuff. Everyone has that confidence going into scenes, and you can see it.

“I’ve been on other stuff where I feel like I’m in a box, you can’t even change a line. If I have an idea with this show, I’m going to talk to [Jeffrey] Reiner, even showing up to the set with an idea, they have no problem with. If it’s going to work, they’re going to go after it. We’re so free to adlib and go off book and react. Everyone’s still on the page where we feel like the show is so great, and no one is acting for themselves. It’s, ‘What can we do to make this scene great?’

“You’re whole life around your confidence, and when you go to set with this confidence, knowing that its’ going to be good and you’re still excited to play this role 19, 20 episode in, it’s going to be even better. The only person or thing holding your back is yourself. And they give you that freedom. And [Peter] Berg had a big role in that, from the get-go, from improv-ing in the audition room, from how he shot the pilot, ‘Try this, try that.’

“I was talking to [Kyle] Chandler, and he was saying, ‘In 20 years in this business, you will never get an opportunity to grow so much, so fast.’ We always say, he’s the spine of the show and we’re there to support him. Everyone’s in line waiting to work more with him.”

Does it ever get intimidating, to work this way?

”Yeah! [To Minka Kelly, who was sitting nearby]. Do you remember when we were getting the scripts for episodes 4, 5, 6, and how intense it all was and we were like, ‘How do they know we can even do this?’”

Kelly: “Absolutely. They trust us with this?”

Kitsch: “But it’s so rewarding too.”

It’s got to be scary.

“Especially at the beginning, the stakes were so high, ‘We’ve got to get this thing going and get people on board.’ And you’re watching these other actors, watching them bring their game up, and you’re like, ‘I don’t know if I can match these guys right now.’ I’ve caught myself just watching Kyle, just watching other actors, just being a fan. ‘Wow, you’re good today. I’ve got to go back and study some more. A lot more.’ [laughs]

[Someone walking by says ‘I’m going to watch ‘The Covenant’ tonight.’]

“You haven’t seen it? Just go in with low standards, all right? I apologize. No, I’m kidding. You know what, when I said, being in a box and all that, that movie is the epicenter of that stuff. They didn’t allow us to do anything. And they had us in these shorts, they’re like glorified G-strings. It’s just gross.”

But back to Riggins. Why do you think he’s sort of taken off?

“I’ve been saying, I think anybody, I don’t care who you are, can relate to some part of Riggins. The way he deals with problems, or doesn’t deal with them. How he’s introverted with his feelings. Everyone has those feelings inside them, his use of booze as an escape. Everyone has some kind of escape, everyone can relate to that in some sense. Lack of family, lack of compassion. Not being able to trust people.”

There was that one episode where it became obvious that he’d been abandoned very young by both parents. I mean, how does that make a kid feel when both parents have basically taken off by the time you’re 10 or 11?

“Yeah, geez. Thanks for reminding me [laughs]. I’m just going to be a crybaby now. But like, those second, third, fifth episodes, before he’d go see Street in the hospital, he’d always be fighting breaking down, but he’d by himself. People were ripping into his character, like, ‘He’s supposed to be the bad boy.’ But if you understand anyone’s psyche, when something like that happens – that was the only person he could trust, and that was taken away from him, right in front of his eyes.”

And he felt as though he was supposed to prevent it.

“Absolutely. That’s his job.”

And that ties into the family thing – like, he must feel he drove his parents away.

“Yeah, and the trust thing too. How many times can you keep putting yourself out there before you finally give up?”

That’s kind of what’s appealing about the character, that he doesn’t care, but in a sense that’s also really sad.

“Yeah, and at the same time, he’ll play that, but really, you can push his buttons quite easily, in a sense. If you bring certain things up, he’ll completely shut down. I mean, a 17 year old kid who drinks like that, and has nobody to talk to. I mean, who’s he going to talk to, Billy? ‘Hey, Billy, get up, let’s go for a walk.’ He’s too drunk to walk so I’ll just talk to him when he’s passed out [laughs].

“But I think Riggins is becoming a bit more mature and coming into his own and being a more of a leader, although he’s still making 17 year old decisions. I think he’s getting a better understanding of what his decisions are doing to other people and he’s apologizing to anyone who’ll listen.

“I’ve been asking for [more of a leadership] role for a while, I want those speeches [too]. Gaius Charles, those prayers, he’s so brilliant at that stuff. When I gave Street the ball after the game, I loved doing that. I played hockey my whole life, so it’s second nature to step up and say that kind of stuff. Even with this character.

“Pete Berg and I talked about this one night, anybody that only talks so much, and says so much by not saying anything is intriguing. He pointed at me and said, ‘Make them work. Make them want to know what’s going on.’ I’ve always tried to [do that].

“There’s the scene where I’m watching Street’s injury, that’s probably my favorite scene to date. You’re just watching him watch it again and again, and slowly break down. I love that kind of stuff. I love that power over people. It’s like a power trip I guess, when you can just bring people in.

“In that episode where the dad leaves him, Riggs won’t turn around to watch him leave. That was a choice I made. He won’t turn around and watch him leave, and the dad whispers to Riggs, ‘watch how easy this is to me.’ Then [Riggins] goes to a bar and lets a guy beat him up.

What’s coming up for Riggins?

“He starts hanging out with his next door neighbor, an older woman. He makes a couple of 17-year-old decision.”

Yeah, someone was telling me, the neighbor is not that into Riggins, she’s like, “Whatever.” That’s why he was with Tyra, I think. She wasn’t chasing him.

“Yeah, and I think they both treated each other like [crap]. But I think there is an understanding, because she comes from a similar background.

“But I definitely think you’ll see a different side of Riggins with [the neighbor’s] kid. He lets his guard down with him. You can’t go wrong with a kid, he’s a great kid. I’ve always tried to not portray him as a stereotypical [party guy]. That toast in the pilot, I don’t know how many people read for it, but they’d play it as [Riggins is] that partier. You don’t see him do that. He’s very quiet.”

He’s inward.

“Yeah, and that’s what Pete wanted. I mean, [he didn’t want], ‘OK, we’ve got the black guy who’s cocky, the QB who’s all-American, the party guy.’ You’d get so bored by watching that, within two episodes.”