Head for Details
By Tim Clodfelter

JOURNAL REPORTER

When he was first offered the role of an obsessive-compulsive detective in Monk (9 p.m. Fridays on the USA Network starting this week), Tony Shalhoub wasn't sure if he should accept.

"Initially, my concern was, 'How does one successfully bridge the comedy and the drama, and make them work together seamlessly?'," he said. "I didn't flat-out turn it down, but it was just difficult in the beginning to understand exactly what I was going to bring to it, and why they were coming to me in the first place."

Although Shalhoub didn't think he was right for the part, his manager insisted that he take a second look at the script.

"I think she saw me in this part even before I did," he said.

Eventually, he agreed, and once he started shooting the premiere episode he understood why she had thought he would be good in the role. "I think, in a way, we never quite perceive ourselves the way the rest of the world does."

Shalhoub plays Adrian Monk, a San Francisco police detective who is on psychiatric leave, having developed a psychological disorder after his wife was murdered. He is now acting as a consultant, helping the police investigate baffling crimes while he tries to prove that he is fit to return to active duty. Monk has to fight a wide variety of phobias, including crippling fears of germs and heights, as he does his work.

"The character was so interesting," Shalhoub said. "I try to make my decisions based more on the character than whether it's film or television or whatever. I found this character challenging."

Monk's obsessive-compulsive behavior often works in his favor. Being so fixated on tiny details, he notices things other detectives have missed - that a chair has been adjusted to a new height, that a keyboard has been wiped a little too clean of fingerprints, and so on. Captain Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine), Monk's old boss, is a highly decorated officer who is both envious of Monk's abilities and flustered by his unpredictable behavior.

Monk's long-suffering assistant Sharona (Bitty Schram) joins him on his cases, acting as his secretary, sidekick and surrogate mother.

"She just brings the perfect combination of sweet but tough streetwise (to the role)," Shalhoub said. "She has that kind of Jersey thing going. She's funny, she's got brilliant timing."

In addition to the character and his costars, one of the factors about Monk that appealed to Shalhoub was that, as a cable series, it would only involve 13 episodes a season.

"It leaves more time to pursue film projects or stage work," he said. "An hourlong series, with 22 or 24 episodes a year, eats up 10 months, but this can be done in 5 months."

Shalhoub continues to appear in both major and independent films. In Men in Black II, which is now in theaters, he reprises his role as sniveling alien arms dealer Jeebs. His other recent films include The Man Who Wasn't There, Spy Kids and Thirteen Ghosts. In some movies, he plays a leading role; in others, he plays small roles or even cameos.

"I get a lot of satisfaction out of both," he said, "moving from one thing to the other. A steady diet of doing main characters would take its toll after awhile."

He recently made his directorial debut in the movie Made-Up, in which he co-stars with his wife, Brooke Adams. It is now playing the film festival circuit.

If Monk gets renewed for a second season he may even try his hand at directing an episode, but he has no such plans for the current season.

"It's just a little overwhelming right now," he said. "We're just finding our footing, and it would be a little too much."

Still, he did enjoy his experience directing his first film.

"I would love to do another project when my time opens up a little more," he said. "Like Monk, I'm sort of a control freak. Directing just legitimizes any tendency you have at being a control freak."