Ray Wise interviewed at the A.V. Club.

Ray Wise*!  Raaay Wiiise!!  Love him.

From the interview:

The A.V. Club: How does it feel to hear that you're the right guy to play the personification of evil?

RW: When you first hear that, it's sort of overwhelming. "I'm playing the iconic baddie of all time!" But then you approach it like any other character. They pretty much laid out this character out for me in the writing, how they wanted him to have a sense of humor, that kind of twinkle in his eye, and a little bit of charm. I wasn't the standard scary devil, and that really appealed to me. I'm a big fan of all the great movie devils, from Walter Huston to Ray Walston to Al Pacino to Jack Nicholson. I admired a lot of their devils, and I wanted mine to be somewhat different. It's kind of a combination between a used-car salesman and a game-show host.

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*Also known as the guy who played Leland Palmer: