Michael Urie's eyes got very wide ... Batman villain-wide, in fact.
"Can I shake your hand?" Urie asked above the din during a noisy ABC party in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Well, sure.
Urie just had been told that his portrayal of Marc St. James on Ugly Betty, alongside Vanessa Williams' dastardly Wilhelmina Slater, conjures complimentary images of Batman villains in the mind of yours truly.
And we're talking about the old Batman TV series from the 1960s, not the heavier film versions, the most recent of which is The Dark Knight with the late Heath Ledger as the Joker.
As it turned out, the comparison to Batman villains was more of a compliment to Urie that we ever would have suspected.
"I can die now," Urie said.
"Growing up, that show was instrumental for me. Nobody ever said anything about it (playing Marc and Wilhelmina that way). We never talked about it. But it's in my blood.
"I grew up watching that show. I grew up with cutouts of Batman and the Joker in my bedroom. So thank you for saying that. All we're missing is the camera angles."
Remember, on the old Batman TV series, the criminals' lairs were shot from a tilted perspective. Ugly Betty doesn't go that far, but Urie and Williams do bring a comedic flair to their evil endeavours, and Williams has received a much-deserved Emmy Award nomination for her efforts.
Ugly Betty, which also stars America Fererra as Betty, Eric Mabius as Daniel and Rebecca Romijn as Alexis, among others, makes its third-season debut Sept. 25 on ABC and Citytv affiliates in Canada.
The series has its serious side, most of which centres upon Betty's family. Urie, Williams and Becki Newton as Amanda provide the diabolical comic relief, but even they have their deeper moments, too.
There was a poignant scene last season when Marc was speaking with Christina, played by Ashley Jensen, who asked Marc how he can stand the moral wasteland of working for Wilhelmina. "It gets easier," Marc replies in a heartfelt moment that implies there's more to his character than sometimes meets the eye.
"Our show has these amazing lines, where we can be complete madcap, silly, zany camp, but then also tug at your heart-strings," said Urie, a 28-year-old Texan. "I don't know how we get away with it, the mysteries and the soap-opera stuff. It just works."
Still, the essence of Marc is his trademark condescension and his willingness to go to any lengths to fulfil Wilhelmina's ambitions, and therefore his own.
"There's going to be a lot more intrigue (this season)," Urie said. "Wilhelmina now is the editor-in-chief of Mode. She's going to rule with an iron fist. And Cliff, Mark's boyfriend, is coming back.
"It's so fun to play. Every day is a party. We get to go to work and be silly for six hours."
Just like a classic Batman villain.
"Thank you very much," Urie said. "That's a very high, high, high, high compliment."
bill.harris@sunmedia.ca
