Weeds’ Justin Kirk is center stage in off-Broadway production

Justin Kirk took his character, Andy Botwin, to new heights last season on Weeds – the General Lee! The Mountain Man beard! The wooing of Nancy’s ob/gyn! — and we’ve missed him on Showtime ever since Season 5 wrapped.

Kirk’s now turning heads off-Broadway in the play The Understudy. He plays the title character, a struggling  actor named Harry who subs for a pretty but talentless star played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar.

“It’s been a while since I did a play,” he said in a recent interview with Backstage. “It’s a different muscle. You have to give yourself permission to have your process be slower. On TV your brain memorizes material differently. At the end of the day you can let it go, and the next day it will be there.”

Being back in New York, where the 40-year-old actor first started his career, has been a mixed blessing, Kirk added, since he now finds himself very comfortable in Los Angeles.

“I love all the things about L.A. that you’re supposed to hate,” he said. ” I love the fact that it’s a company town and that everybody has got a script and trying to become an actor and that people come from everywhere to do that. Also, separate from showbiz, L.A. is a unique American city.”

As for next season’s Weeds, Kirk said he doesn’t have a stake in how Andy will evolve.

“I’d rather experience it like a fan and see what happens next,” he said.

Image: Zuma Press