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An Exclusive Royal Pains Prescription with Actor Paulo Costanzo
by Troy Rogers
 After
climbing the ranks of film and television in such
projects as Road Trip, Josie and the Pussycats,
and 40 Days and 40 Nights before landing a regular
role on the Friends spin-off, Joey, actor Paulo
Constanzo went back to film to have some bloody
fun in the 2008 horror film, Splinter. Now, after
12 years of honing his acting skills and comedic
timing for the small-screen, Costanzo has landed
the role of young hot shot account, Evan Lawson,
the free-spirited party-hound brother of actor
Mark Feuerstein's Dr. Hank Lawson on the new USA
Network series, Royal Pains.
Although Royal Pains made its network debut on June 4, fans who missed the promising young series, about a recently fired hospital surgeon who reluctantly becomes a concierge doctor in the high society circles of the Hamptons, can catch up to Royal Pains when USA re-airs the series on Friday, June 5, and three times on Saturday, June 6.
The very day that Royal Pains was about to make its two-hour USA debut, which, upon its airing, surpassing both the premiere ratings of its sister shows Burn Notice and In Plain Sight, we took an exclusive call from Paulo Costanzo to talk about hanging out in the Hamptons, the world of concierge doctors, his chemistry with Royal Pains lead, Mark Feuerstein, and whether he'll ever be getting a contract doctor if he becomes a "mega-star."
Now that summer is here, Paulo also gave us his thoughts on borrowing the awkward beach fashion wear from his character, Evan, in the Royal Pains pilot.
THE DEADBOLT: It must be hard just kicking around the Hamptons all day long.
 PAULO
COSTANZO: We actually don’t shoot in the
Hamptons that much. We shoot the exteriors and
we shoot in the Hamptons every couple of weeks.
But mostly we’re shooting in places in Long
Island and Queens that are doubling for the
Hamptons, because having to move our entire
unit all the way to the Hamptons is a big ordeal.
THE DEADBOLT: Before you signed on to the project, how much did you know about concierge doctors? Or did you even know they existed?
COSTANZO: Well, I did, but it didn’t hit me until a couple of weeks ago. When I was doing this show a couple of years ago, this sitcom I was working with Drea de Matteo, and Drea was sick this one time, and she said she had this doctor, like this guy who comes to her house. I’m like, ‘What the hell?’ And then, of course, I got sick the next week, because we were working together, and I was like deathly ill; really, really sick and bedridden. I called her and said, ‘Can you give me this guy’s number?’ and she did.
I called him and he didn’t answer like a doctor or anything, he just said, ‘Hello.’ And I said, ‘Hey is this ...’ and he’s like, ‘What’s your name?’ - ‘Paulo, Drea sent me.’ - ‘Yeah, what’s your address?’ I told him and he’s like, ‘I’ll be there in 40 minutes.’ He hung up, came to my house, gave me a thorough check-up, and he had this big doctor bag kind of like a backpack. He wrote me a prescription, and I said ‘Wow, that’s cool! You can just come to my house and write me a prescription?’ And he said, ‘Yeah!’ Then he gave me the prescription and said, ‘Sign there.’ Then he took it back, rifled through his bag and came up with a bottle of pills, put a little sticker on it, and gave it to me and said, ‘Take these every three hours of so.’ Then I paid him, he went away, and I got better within a day.
THE DEADBOLT: When you get the scripts, what do you think of Evan’s dialogue, and are you allowed to change it?
 COSTANZO:
The producers and I have a wonderful working
relationship and they let me elaborate dialogue-wise.
So there’s a lot of me in this character. I
definitely add to it and improvise and they
trust me that I know the character at this point.
So, yes, I like the dialogue, but I definitely
make it my own.
THE DEADBOLT: I like the chemistry between you and Mark and how you're believable as brothers. What’s it like working opposite him?
COSTANZO: It’s fun. He’s very playful, we’re both very playful, so we both add little things here and there and we have a very good working relationship. We have, I would say, a brother relationship.
THE DEADBOLT: I spoke with Mark last week and he said he liked working with you because you’re insane and you don’t have a filter, you say whatever is in your head.
COSTANZO: [laughs] Yeah, I definitely don’t have a filter when I’m working as the Evan character. That’s funny. You never know what people really think until you meet an interviewer who has interviewed them first. It’s funny, he’s much more playful than the character of Hank. In real life he’s such a goofball, running around making people laugh. But yeah, he and I have a ball.
THE DEADBOLT: After checking out the pilot, I wasn't aware there was a good side of the Hamptons and a West or worst side. Is there anything interesting that you discovered about the place?
 COSTANZO:
Completely. The general consensus of the Hamptons
is that it’s "Richville," the Bel-Air of the
east coast, and it’s just not true. The first
week that I ever went there was the first week
we were shooting the pilot and I didn’t have
a toothbrush, I left it in Manhattan. So I went
out at 11:30 at night trying to find a toothbrush
and the whole city is shut down because it’s
the off season. I walked down this main strip
full of expensive stores, full of expensive
coffee and expensive hats, and I found this
one open bar and I went in and had a beer and
started up this conversation with a guy and
a girl who happened to be police officers.
We just talked for a couple of hours and we kind of got drunk together and they just started telling me these stories about the underbelly of the Hamptons and that there’s completely two sides to it. There’s the rich and then there’s the poor. I can’t tell you geographically where they are right now, because I don’t quite know the names of all of the different boroughs in the Hamptons, but they were telling me stories of like murder and crime and things like that. So the show definitely focuses on the rich and famous and the self-involved upper class, the hence, "Royal Pains" of the Hamptons.
But then it also focuses on the other side - the people who work for those people. There’s more staff than rich people most of the time. Those people have to live in the Hamptons, too. So portraying this from the viewpoint of this doctor who is very much middle-class guy who grew up very lower-class, it kind of allows us, the audience, to experience the Hamptons vicariously through him. Meaning, the audience who is going to be watching the show are not going to be the rich people, it’s going to be people like me, the middle class. You know, people from middle America who want to view into this world. So it’s definitely not a show about rich people. It’s a show about a doctor, his wildly crazy, I guess, filter-less brother and their exploits in this surreal fantasland.
THE DEADBOLT: Is Evan the type of dude you’d like to hang out with?
 COSTANZO:
I’ve kind of based him on a couple of my close
friends. He’s a fun guy. He’s always fun to
be around, even when he’s being slightly overbearing,
because he’s always looking on the bright side
and very optimistic and always looking for the
next fun experience. So, yeah, I think he’d
be a fun guy to hang out with.
THE DEADBOLT: He seems to be about the money and the girls and there’s nothing wrong with that.
COSTANZO: But there’s more to him than meets the eye. This is the pilot, right? The pilot is very much always, with every show, a feeling out process for everybody - the writers, director, and actors. So, as the show is progressing - we’re halfway through the first season right now and already my character has deepened a lot and there’s much more than meets the eye. There is a serious side to him and there’s much more than just the money and the women. That’s just one aspect of his personality.
THE DEADBOLT: When you eventually become a big "mega-star," are you planning on getting your own concierge doctor?
 COSTANZO:
F**k, yeah! When I’m mega, mega famous, I’m
going to have a masseuse handcuffed to me. I’m
going to have a whole entourage of people, you
know?
THE DEADBOLT: Don’t forget to pick up
a few lawyers.
COSTANZO: [laughs] Yeah, the lawyers are important. I’m going to have lawyers, police officers, bodyguards, firearms specialists, it’s going to be awesome.
THE DEADBOLT: With the summer coming up, I’ll definitely be hitting the beach. So after seeing Evan in the Hampton Inn motel room, do you think I can score with the ladies if I wear a speedo and a blazer?
COSTANZO: In one word, "sex." I would say give it a shot. Send me pictures and hopefully video tape of the reactions when you walk up to them like that. [laughs] Then I’ll give you my answer.
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