All the Pieces Matter: The Inside Story of The Wire

by Jonathan Abrams

I got deeper into understanding not about the addiction, but about the person. I started looking at myself like, What do I do? One day, I was in New York and I was going somewhere and I saw these people standing outside smoking cigarettes. I think it was one of those zero-degree days. I was like, “What the fuck would make somebody come outside and smoke a cigarette outside in the cold?” I started going, Wait, you know what? They do whatever it takes to get that fucking nicotine. That’s the same thing as Bubbles getting his heroin fix. What do I do every day? I found out. I started studying myself. When I come in the house, no matter what back then, I would turn on the TV. That’s the first thing I would do. I would drop my keys, turn on the TV, then go about my business. I was like, Why? Why do I turn on the TV? Then I made a list of things I do every day. I always drink Coca-Cola. I was a Coca-Cola fiend. I didn’t like water. I was horny. I was trying to make love to my wife, or my lady at the time, every day. For about thirty days, I didn’t do any of that. When you go in your house like day seven and you don’t turn on that TV, you start fiending. You’re like, Damn, I just want to see a commercial. I just want to see who won the game, the Knicks or something. I couldn’t turn on the TV. I’d be pacing around the living room trying to think about, What if I turned on the TV just once and turn it off real quick? I started building this need and writing down how I act when I’m ...

Inside the acting mind - fascinating