Q 13

PLAYBOY: What's the latest book you've read all the way through? What reading material is on your night stand?

Philip Michael Thomas: The last book was 2150 A.D., by Thea Alexander. I also read the Bible a lot and books on computer programming, since I do that for my music. And I study books on philosophy, religion, higher learning, law and spaceships.

Don Johnson: Mine would be either Interview with the Vampire or The Hamlet, by Faulkner. On my night stand is Decisions, which is appropriate for my current situation, don't you think? And I keep a copy of Shakespeare by my bed at all times, because it's the best sleeping pill I know. When I started getting sober, I read everything Jack London wrote, even his letters about his letters. Then I got really crazy and started reading the books of some of the films I'd made, such as From Here to Eternity. It was like cleaning up unfinished business. And I'm a major Mark Twain fan. And Faulkner. And Tennessee Williams, God rest his wicked soul.

Q 14

PLAYBOY: Imagine for us, if you will, Lieutenant Castillo's private life.

Don Johnson: [Big laugh] We've discussed this at great length and make jokes about it all the time. We say he's into little boys or that he hangs out on school grounds and picks up teenaged girls. My favorite thing is to do a Castillo. [Does this] You walk up to a wall, face two inches away, put your hands in your pockets, don't blink, don't smile and say, very directly, "Find them." Eddie Olmos has the character down so well that he doesn't even have to talk anymore. All he has to do is look.

Philip Michael Thomas: People are amazed that he's so friendly off screen. At home, Castillo probably sits in the Zen position, puts on a kamikaze headband, lights candles and chants. I've never met a cop remotely like him.

Q 15

PLAYBOY: You're television's newest clotheshorses, and viewers are very familiar with your choices in outerwear. Do you have any input on your wardrobe? Do you get to keep it?

Philip Michael Thomas: I get no input on the wardrobe, but I'm extremely happy with it. I get to keep it only if I buy it. [Laughs] You don't get anything from Miami Vice that you don't earn.

Don Johnson: I can keep all of the wardrobe I want. But although the audience sees it for only five or ten minutes at a time, I sometimes have to wear it for days or weeks. So by the time the show is over, the outfit is dead to me, even though the actual fashion hasn't hit the streets. In fact, I wore a variation of my Miami Vice clothing long before I did the show. I figured a T-shirt, jeans and a sports coat were right for anything short of meeting the queen.

Q 16

PLAYBOY: The groundwork for Miami Vice's success was probably laid, to some extent, by the popularity of Brian De Palma's film Scarface. What's your favorite scene from that movie?

Philip Michael Thomas: I liked the one where Angel got his arm and leg cut off by Hector, the guy with the chain saw. That was one of the most violent scenes in memory. Also, at the end, when my man Pacino had that pile of cocaine on the desk and he was frozen from head to toe, and then he got shot. In real life, you do not die like that. After the first couple of hits, life is gone.

Don Johnson: My favorite moment is also the rip-off scene in the tiny South Beach hotel on Ocean Avenue, with the chain saw. Hector was Al Israel, who has been on our show. With my checkered past, I could relate to the rip-off--very well. So I thought it was done nicely. In fact, a good friend of mine, Steve Bauer, was in the scene as Manolo. We met when we were both in the TV series From Here to Eternity, which was his first gig in Hollywood. I kind of took him under my wing and said, "Hey, pal." How was I to know that he would end up marrying my ex-wife? [Laughs] I think I trained him too well.

Q 17

PLAYBOY: Who is your best friend?

Don Johnson: Probably Patti [D'Arbanville]. I trust her implicitly. She unconditionally cares about me and I about her. We have the obvious problems that come from any kind of relationship, only ours are a little more public. But one reason we're able to maintain our relationship is that we're not married. A lot of times, in a marriage, you end up living someone else's idea of what it's supposed to be like, some storybook thing. As I said about partying, I've partied. I've also been married.

Philip Michael Thomas: God. I spend a lot of time in meditation on the Creator.

Q 18

PLAYBOY: What do you do in your spare time?

Philip Michael Thomas: I'm a workaholic. I write and produce music all the time, even on the set between shots. I've spent more than $100,000 of my own money on my album, which came out last June. I took that chance because I believe in myself and because you can expect the unexpected from me.

Don Johnson: I take Ken dolls and the like, and after making cutouts of various items, I sculpt miniatures of memorable Miami Vice busts! [Laughs--then shows us he's not kidding]

Q 19

PLAYBOY: Do you feel that the on-screen relationship between Crockett and Tubbs is a model for adult male bonding in the Eighties?

Don Johnson: It's something I didn't plan on having happen. I also didn't plan on everyone's picking up on it, but people did. I have gotten very bored with traditional male relationships--no touching, no holding, no genuine closeness, none of that stuff that might be misconstrued, you know. And that's the way most actors have portrayed them--out of fear. I have no fear of that, so I can allow myself to be as close, open, vulnerable, weak or gentle as possible toward my partner or friends. And I'm gratified that people have begun to pick up that it's OK for men to be close without thinking they're light in their loafers.

Philip Michael Thomas: It could be true. People come up to me and say "You're guys, not cops." People have named their goldfish after us, and dogs. It's a good image.

Q 20

PLAYBOY: What's the toughest job in the United States?

Philip Michael Thomas: Being poor.

Don Johnson: Nancy Reagan's. [Laughs] I'll probably get in trouble, but I think it must be very tiring to keep saying, "Dutch, wake up. Wake up. The Joint Chiefs are waiting for an answer."