CSI Gary Dourdain Interview - page 2

11-05-2007 09:09

Did you think there’d be a lot of techno stuff in there?

The first couple of ones it was fascinating to me too, introducing the character so it had some science stuff in there but not as much as we later developed it and found what our show was about, what the people liked, and then we started putting a lot of that stuff in. They don’t get put in til post, so we’re acting but then we see the show and we see all that cool science shit the science guys put in and I didn’t know it was going to be about that!

How are you with the understanding of science?

I’m learning something new everyday man, I don’t know half this shit! I read the script and I’m like, what is that, but you need to learn. There’s a really short learning curve. Lucky that we’ve got all these cops around, ex cops and current cops, real CSIs who are there for the terminology, explain in layman’s terms what it is, I’ve got a guy’s 10 year history of being on the force with me half the time, at least a practical knowledge of it. The street stuff is something different, and having the stomach to do something different, having cause and effect, that’s something that we learn everyday so it’s fascinating. That’s something I really enjoy coming into work and learning. Some of the cops we have are really cool, they just talk to you, tell you about a case they dealt with where something went down, what’s the weirdest case they dealt with. Some great stories you know, and I enjoyed talking to them and learning about something that I’d figured I’d pursue. Like I told you, it’s a hard job and there’s one guy who calls it easy money, one of the cops. “How’re you doing today Larry?” “Aw, it’s easy money man.” (Kick them when you’re above the ground, talk about being here! Makes no sense at all)

Taking an interest in the investigation of your brother because of CSI?

No, that’s just something fabricated by the press. It didn’t really happen like that. It’s just something they put together because my brother had a mysterious death so they figured they’d put a twist on it.

Thin Lizzy?

The problem was that I just found out last weekend I heard that Phil Lyons(?), his wife owns the rights to his music and doesn’t want the film being made because she doesn’t want any bad stories about her to come out. It’s all about the girl! It’s held up. I went to the island about two and a half years ago and she’s great, she’s fantastic. (The voice) It’s kinda deep, like someone’s punched his nose a couple of times y’know? When I was there it was easy because you’re talking to everyone all day, then you come back and it’s “Where the fuck you been, England?” It’s like over here, you start speaking with a little Western twang.

Cinematic TV style

I was lucky in our show, just two weeks ago I finally got HD on my TV and I found an HD-looking film, at least a show that I saw that they’re shooting now which is a pain in the ass but he’s a great filmmaker. It looks like a film, highly stylised and I appreciate it because they’re shooting in smallscreen, but like I said – with HBO, Showtime, all these TV stations are making short films and you’ve got to compete. A lot of movie actors are doing TV and not feeling secure about it, whereas five, ten years ago they felt really insecure about doing TV. It’s quality. And they need the money, and they’re broke because the movie industry went belly up for a minute, and they looking at me going, “Dude, you don’t know how fucking lucky you are to have a hit show, to be sitting there on a steady job, going in to work everyday.” These are actors who are fucking A-list saying that to me, and I’m going, “Is it THAT bad? Everyone knows you! You can’t get a job? Damn!”

CSI shake-up Louise, Eric etc?

It’s good. It’s nice to have (drama to play?), just like the wife thing. At first I was like, that came out of nowhere, but it’s good to have. You don’t want the same, you don’t want to (Walk past the clock?) everyday, you want something different, something to throw you off, (something to get you??) off your trolley as you would say. Louise is hot shit! We look at dead bodies all day, you think she’s a problem?

Two teams reintegrated?

Feeling better because it was getting a little bit weird, we were riding around all the time just being apart and it was starting to become an issue.

In the early days George and I used to hang out a bunch, but then he got a girlfriend. You know what happens. We were really lucky because there’s usually one or two divas on the set and we didn’t really have them, or at least it was kept to a minimum, you know, like the divadum (????) two minimums so it’s not really abrasive. Everyone gets on really well and we have good chemistry.

QT?

That was a lot of fun cos Quentin is a crazy motherfucker! (laughs) He’s great, it was awesome to work with him, and he’s always infectious, his enthusiasm, he’s always above the roof, out of the roof, so excited, he’s always telling these stories, He’s listening to great records old movies, he know the characters from the old movies, knows the names of the actors, he’s an encyclopaedic walker! He’s a bad man, he’s a bad motherfucker (laugh). It was a lot of fun, but it was hard. It was a hard episode, it was our last episode and we were all tired and in he comes all “…squeaks”. So one show turns into two shows. “I’m (can’t hear) and we still haven’t gotten those five scenes? Oh no!” So then we did not envy Uma Thurman anymore. She got it hardcore. But it was a great honour to have him on, and for him to be so appreciative and to be such a fan. He came up to all of us and told us about our characters “you can’t do this” We’re all sitting there going “He won’t say that! (???)” Yeah man, he’s a big fan and he watches a lot of TV and stuff.

Marlon Brando requested to be a body? What? Why did nobody tell me?! That would have been cool man. We had Faye Dunaway but everyone said she was (madida??)