Published January 2011 by Independent Online South Africa, but interview is from June 2010 Monte Carlo.

 

Given his choice of attire on the day – suit, complete with waistcoat and battered brown shoes, which leave him looking like he’s just stepped straight off the set of The Mentalist - the obvious question to ask is what’s with the get-up?

 

"One of the reference points for the development of the character for me was Charlie Chaplin’s The Tramp,” offers Baker in an Australian twang that momentarily throws you off kilter. "Suits are meant to be smart, but Jane wears them in a rumpled way with worn shoes. I did this intentionally, because I wanted to contrast a lot of American television, where everyone is always perfect and polished. Also, the clothes are representative of real life, where everything isn’t always clean and simple all the time.”

 

Ah. So the waistcoat would then serve as an allusion to Patrick’s past in psychic showbiz?

 

"Spot on.”

 

Given the commonality between Jane and the repressed, secretly self-loathing lawyer, Nick Fallin, in The Guardian, one has to wonder if the roles Baker selects are in some way reflective of his real-life persona.

 

"I’m not very good at one-dimensional characters. I’ve always been drawn to playing characters who have an inner life as well as an external life and sometimes, the inner and external contradict each other,” he says. "But yeah, I guess there are elements of myself in every character I play, but none of them is nearly as complex as me. I don’t believe any character has the capacity to fully embody any person, because humans are more complicated than that and there will always be parts of a person that are indefinable.”

 

Hmm. Seems Baker missed his calling as a philosopher. As for his views on psychics and their purported abilities to predict future events, the lad from Down Under remains equally ambiguous – though he has been known to consult a tarot reader or two while on location.

 

"I’ve always felt the whole idea of psychics and tarot readers is quite narcissistic. Yeah, I’ve dabbled, but it was years ago and was one of those circumstances where I was bored, or my wife was shopping while we were at a market and I had nothing better to do. For me, if you’re comfortable and confident in who and what you are, you don’t really feel the need to seek out those kind of people.”

 

And for the record, Baker has absolutely no interest in serial killers. Still, if he ever found himself blessed with the ability to catch a glimpse of what was to come, surely there would be at least one item on his wish list?

 

"Ah, yeah – without a doubt, to know my kids will always be happy and healthy.”