Gossip Girl

With Patrick Roberts (Simon Miller) returning to the UES on the new season of Gossip Girl, will it spell trouble for Dan (Penn Badgley) and Serena (Blake Lively)? Well, we caught up with Simon Miller to find out. In our exclusive Wetpaint Entertainment interview, Simon dishes about some problems heading Serena’s way, tells us Patrick’s sober (for now!), and reminisces about the time Blake found a great way to “use” him physically.

Wetpaint Entertainment: How will Dan (Penn Badgley) feel about Patrick's return?
Simon Miller: Dan has nothing to be jealous about this time. It’s strictly professional between me and Serena now.

Will his return cause any problems for any other characters?
[Laughing] Just Serena. I mean, as usual, it’s Serena’s own naiveté that gets her in trouble.

What's changed about Patrick since the last time we saw him?
Yeah, you’re going to see that Patrick is not the alcoholic mess that he was last time. This is a more reformed Patrick. This is like Patrick after rehab. But there’s always the temptation of addiction still lurking, so that’s the challenge for this new Patrick. You know, can he beat the addiction? Can he stay clean?

What was it like coming back to the set?
Oh, it was just great. It was such a cool experience. I got to work with Mark Piznarski again, who was the director I worked with on one of the earlier episodes. And Blake and I had a great rapport, we got along great. I was really lucky. I got to work with her on the first show of the new season, so everyone was in the greatest mood. No one was tired yet, no one’s been working long hours yet.

Had you been following the show while you've been gone?
Yes, a bit off and on. You know, all of my friends say  — and for me, too— the show is one of my guilty pleasures.

What plot developments have you found particularly interesting?
I just love watching Blake play that character. I just love everything she does about it. The first time we met, we hit it off so well because we were in these costumes and she was wearing gloves. And of course you can’t text on an iPhone with gloves on, so she was like, “Can you just push this for me?” and she would just grab my hand and use my finger to text. I was like, “You know what? You can use my body anytime.”

How many episodes have you shot so far?
Three.

Why do you think GG has such a strong fan following?
I think it’s the tale, you know? The whole idea of gossip, it’s this never-ending saga, you always have to know more. That’s why the storylines move along so quickly, because it’s all about events, what happens next. It gets really addicting because of that.

Do you have any other projects you're working on right now?
Yes. I’m actually working on a mini-series and I’m not even allowed to tell you the name of it. [Laughing] I know, I know… I can’t let any cats out of the bag. It’s still in its fragile stages.

Who's was your celebrity crush when you were a teenager?
Jennifer Connelly. And I was really captivated by Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. I was a pretty young kid at the time and her performance, that was like the most intense thing I had ever seen and it’s marked me forever. And then of course everything Jennifer Connelly does, she’s just so beautiful. Oh, and I have to say Kate Winslet was number one crush. She’s just amazing. I asked her once — I got to meet her while she was doing The Reader. At the time I ran an ad agency out of New York, and the production company wanted to rent my office, which was a loft in Chelsea. They had to make her look like she was 75 years-old and they needed a place to test the makeup. I asked her, “How do you learn the lines?” So she takes this drag off her cigarette, and she turns to me with her great English accent, and says: “Photographic memory.”

What are some of your favorite TV shows right now?
Friday Night Lights, which is now off. I really, really liked that show. I like Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl… God, you know I really like Hot in Cleveland. I never thought I would, but Betty White has such great timing. I totally get it, why she’s having such a big comeback. She’s so funny. Oh, oh God — The Comeback! Oh God, that was great!

What's the best/worst advice you've ever gotten about girls/relationships?
I’ll tell you the best advice, which is the advice that I give. It’s about going on a date. Way too many people go to dinner on a first date — and I think that’s the stupidest thing you could do because it turns into an audition that way. What you’ve got to do, if you really want to get to know somebody, you need to do something with them that neither of you has ever done before. So for me it would be, like, paddle boarding. I would love to go on a date where we go paddle boarding. I’ve never done that before. That way you get to do something that’s not all about just sitting there at a table and judging each other, which is so unnatural. That way you get to see the person in their natural self, when they’re experiencing something for the first time. That’s when people are the most beautiful.