'Mentalist,' '24' star chats about hit shows

From Fox’s “24” to the new CBS hit “The Mentalist,” actor Gregory Itzin has a knack for butting heads with unique main characters.

On “24,” Itzin’s President Charles Logan tried to frame lead character Jack Bauer for the death of former President David Palmer.

His “Mentalist” character, Virgil Minelli, is engaged in a battle to get his employee California Bureau of Investigations Agent Teresa Lisbon  to control consultant Patrick Jane, who has a habit of going rogue.

Jane, played by Simon Baker, is a very observant man who assists the CBI in various cases, while also trying to find the man who killed his wife and daughter.

“I feel for his situation but I can’t bend,” Itzin said of his character’s relationship with Jane.

Itzin, who stopped by the WRAL News studios on Tuesday, said the episode airing this week was the most fun to film because he is starting to learn more about his character.

“I’m an observer then a storyteller,” he said of his style of acting.

Itzin, 60, was in town for a special sneak-peek screening of this season’s first episode of “24,” the show that earned him an Emmy nomination in 2006. A special showing is taking place at the RaleighWood Cinema Grill in Raleigh Tuesday night. The new season of “24” officially premiers on Sunday.

“I’m very lucky on many levels that I got associated with the show,” Itzin said.

Though his character isn’t featured in season 7 of the series, Itzin teased he could be back.

With the plot top secret, all Itzin could say about the new season is that Bauer is dealing with his past. The overall theme is redemption, Itzin said.

Though, Itzin’s “24” character was involved in the death of Dennis Haysbert’s President David Palmer, he credits’ Haybert’s portrayal as the first African-American president as helping President-elect Barack Obama get elected.

“I think it was at least one of the bricks in the wall in Obama becoming president,” Itzin said.

Up next for Itzin, he will head to Philadelphia next month to start work on the film “Law Abiding Citizen.” Itzin will star as a prison warden opposite Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler.