Michael Weatherly Explained How Gary Oldman Inspired His ‘Bull’ Character
Actor Michael Weatherly made the transition from NCIS agent to psychologist in the hit series Bull. And although his character was based on a real person, Weatherly looked towards Gary Oldman for inspiration.
How a Gary Oldman movie helped Michael Weatherly’s ‘Bull’ performance
Weatherly’s Jason Bull couldn’t have been more different than his NCIS character. He played Jason Bull in the titular CBS series, a character loosely based on celebrity doctor Dr. Phil McGraw. Weatherly spoke to the Dr. Phil host personally, who he thought might’ve been underappreciated by certain audiences.
“People sometimes are very dismissive of Phil McGraw, and I think that’s a sort of narrow take on someone who has a talk show that you’ve watched and think you understand,” Weatherly said in a 2020 interview on Backstage. “I think Phil McGraw is a person worth having a conversation with. He’s had some interesting experiences and certainly was very interesting for me.”
However, Weatherly reminded fans that he wouldn’t be Dr. Phil on his show.
“But I’m not playing him and I didn’t want to try and spend time with him in a way where I’m figuring him out,” he said.
This allowed Weatherly to search for other inspirations for Bull, like Oscar-winner Gary Oldman. Oldman played a character inspired by an animal in one of his movies. Being a fan of the film, Weatherly couldn’t help pick Oldman’s brain about the role.
“I got to talk to him about Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and he said he had an animal [in mind],” Weatherly said. “He talked about the owl a little bit, and I just love Gary Oldman so much. I was so excited that I got a chance to ask him questions.”
Oldman’s comments inspired Jason Bull’s appearance. The character was often seen wearing large glasses, which Weatherly came up with after his chat with Oldman.
Why Michael Weatherly was interested in ‘Bull’
Weatherly was hesitant in doing another network show after his departure from NCIS. But Bull managed to pull him back in due to its script and unique narrative.
“What happened was Paul Attanasio and Dr. Phil, Phil McGraw, crafted for CBS a very unusual genre hour that was sort of law adjacent,” Weatherly once told CBS News. “For me what it was really about was a guy named Jason Bull who is sort of a flim-flam, just short of con artist operator who has figured out a new business. In this entrepreneurial way, he’s taken something that no one has decided to charge $10,000/hour for ever before. He sees this opportunity and we meet him when he’s in the middle of this exploding world of high priced attorneys and huge tabloid stuff going on.”
An exciting pilot episode further endeared Weatherly to the show. But as thrilling as the script was, Weatherly wanted to learn more about the titular role.
“The show is called Bull, I wanted to know what is Bull about,” he continued. “I started to see that he was a little like Fellini’s main character in the movie 8 1/2. He was this director who didn’t have a movie but everyone was expecting him to make a movie. I felt that Bull had to pull out of thin air a narrative, a way to win the case and he was kind of a magician at it. I thought, ‘that’s a fascinating guy, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him on television and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.’ That’s what really got me was the character and the world of trying to figure out a jury.”
Why Michael Weatherly left ‘Bull’
Bull was a fairly successful series during its time on air, lasting for six seasons. It seemed it was Weatherly’s decision to retire the character and the show. According to International Business Times, Weatherly was simply interested in pursuing new opportunities.
“Hello all! It’s been my privilege to play Dr Jason Bull but after 6 Seasons of incredible storylines, I’ve decided it’s time to pursue new creative challenges and bring his story to a close,” he posted on social media.
This didn’t mean Weatherly was done with television, however. Recently, it’s been reported that he’ll be returning for a new NCIS spin-off.
