Английские скрипты, найденные несравненной angel_of_darkness
скрипт интервью, сделанный замечательной xoxonessie
читать дальшеLast Sunday in LA took place the Emmy Awards, the prestigious ceremony that rewards the best TV programs.
[Scenes from the Emmys]
But stupefaction! The #1 TV show in the US, that gathers more than 19 million viewers every week, wasn’t nominated in any of the categories.
David McCallum: The rest of the show business really ignores NCIS completely.
But NCIS, launched discretely in September 2003, hasn’t left the audience indifferent. The ratings have improved season after season. Since 2009, NCIS is the most watched TV show in the US. An unusual and exceptional fate for a crime show.
Mark Harmon: It feels nice to be in a show that’s the number one show but also to have a job you like doing.
Abroad as well, the success is huge. Almost 200 channels broadcast the show around the world. In France, with a record of 8 million viewers, NCIS is THE show of all the records on M6 [the French channel that broadcast the show]
Mark Harmon: It does well quicker internationally than in the US, especially in France.
So why is the show ignored by official award ceremonies? How does it still manage to stay the #1 show? We went to investigate on the set, with one mission: get answers.
Michael Weatherly: These questions are too much. You don’t even have a badge. [She shows her badge] Tsssk you’re though. I want my lawyer.
And the least that we can say is that the actors really played along.
Tuesday, September 13th 2011, we’re going to the set of NCIS located in Santa Clarita, 1 hour away from LA. For confidentiality reasons, we can’t tell you the exact address of the studios. These large buildings are where most of the sets of the show are.
It’s 8 AM and the set is already buzzing with life, everybody is ready to shoot, and with a smile on their faces.
Cote de Pablo: Bonjour!
David McCallum (in French): I need my clothes…
That day, the team is shooting in the main set, the squad room. At least 5 scenes will have to be completed during the day, the amount of work is huge but the team is perfectly ready.
[Shooting footage of a scene from the episode]
About 30 crew members are present on set, each with a precise role, about ten extras are in the background to give the illusion of a real office and the main 6 actors are endlessly exchanging lines.
[Shooting footage of a scene from the episode]
A single camera shoots all the scenes, the takes multiply as every actor has his own close up, not to mention the larger shots.
When all the cast is reunited in the same scene, each person’s position is essential.
[Shooting of a scene: MW: I don’t understand. Am I supposed to be behind her?
Director: actually Michael, you’re in between marks. The dialogue is between Mark and Pauley so we’re supposed to see you between Mark and Cote.
MW: Yeah I know. That’s why I…. (???)]
For the director, you can’t lose any time, there are only 8 days to shoot a 40 minute episode. Unfortunately for him, the whole cast starts cracking up and that delays the shooting.
[MW starts laughing. Cote bursts out laughing.
MW: Ok I got it I got it. Don’t say the line, just don’t say the line. Ready?]
Pauley Perrette: We’re all here together so much and we’ve been for 9 years. Our biggest problem is that sometimes we start cracking up and we can’t stop. Especially Michael Weatherly. MW & Cote laughing: Alright ready? I’ll dub it.
That’s one of the secrets of the show’s success, the cast really gets along very well, as well as with the crew, they still have so much fun working together and it’s been been the case for 9 years.
David McCallum: We’ve been together for 9 years, we really are a family.
Mark Harmon: People don’t hold secrets, we talk about it, we’ve always done so. This is an unusual place and I can say because I’ve worked on a lot of other shows.
Other secret of fabrication, the writer of the current episode is also present on the set to answer the actors’ questions.
[MW: My line is “damn communists”.
Cote: Do what you want. Use the words you prefer.
MW: My wife is from former Yugoslavia.
Cote: Do it.
MW: I‘m very conflicted about this line.”]
When a line is a problem, just like this one, the writer can always rewrite the dialogue and if the stories surprise the audience, they also surprise the actors themselves.
Cote: Is it true that they (?) the last page and keep it from us? The answer is yes. Especially when it’s the last episode of the season , we can never know, they give us the page at the last moment and it’s not funny. Because want to know what’s going on, and talk about it but we can’t.
So, the actors’ interest is endlessly stimulated. They’re all very involved in the show and work very hard.
Mark Harmon: I’m here usually very early and leave late at night. We’re here 14 hours a day. My wife often tells me that I must be the only actor in Hollywood who likes to work 14 hours a day but compared to where we come from, that’s some progress.
Mark Harmon is talking about the time when Donald Bellisario, the creator of the show, was still in command. In 2007, the crew, exhausted by the shooting schedule, had asked to change of manager, which led to Bellisario’s departure.
Mark Harmon: At the beginning, we were literally living here, we worked 20 hours a day and we didn’t even get the scripts so it was a whole different kind of thing. We’re much more organized now.
All the members of the cast are also very involved physically and emotionally in their characters.
Cote de Pablo: I do my own stunts which is why I have so many body issues.
David McCallum: I’ve studied pathology for 9 years now so I’ve learnt a few things. I’ve even been told that I was overdoing it a little sometimes.
All the characters have become quite close to their characters or have even inspired them.
For example, MW is just as goofy as Agent DiNozzo.
MW: Hello my name is MW and I play very special agent Anthony DiNozzo on NCIS. And I’m not dead. Come with me, I’ve got important things to show you. I’m gonna take you on a secret journey through the world of NCIS. None of it’s real. It’s all fake. This is the wall. All bad guys. [pointing to the picture of Osama Bin Ladin]Gotcha.
In front of such generosity from the actors and such a success, why is the critic ignoring NCIS?Why hasn’t the show ever gotten any official award?
David McCallum: It’s very interesting because the rest of the show business really ignores NCIS completely. We’re never mentioned anywhere.
David McCallum, aka Ducky, tries to analyze this indifference from the critics:
The show represents certains values of what life is all about. I think nowadays, some people … some of these values are being rejected whereas NCIS has old fashioned values such as virtue and respect and tradition.
In NCIS, no trashy scenes, no sex, no vulgarity, just a good amount of humour.
[Scene from 3x20 “Untouchable”]
That’s why the show attracts families and bores critics. A success so discreet that even the celebrity press has little interest in the private lives of the cast members.
Cote de Pablo: I guess that happens when you’re a boring person.[laughs] You know what I mean, there is not much to talk about, you know, I like to be home, I like to stay home, spend time with my family. I don’t really talk about my personal life that much and I like it that way.
And as you can see, the actors are really okay with this situation.
Mark Harmon: It’s never been our main preoccupation. We’re just trying to make good work. It doesn’t bother anybody here not to be the center of attention or not to be nominated for Emmys.
If the actors don’t care about awards, that’s because they already have the best kind of recognition, the audience’s. This year, Mark Harmon and Pauley Perrette have been elected most popular celebrities on American TV.
Pauley Perrette: It’s pretty interesting to be chosen as the most popular.
Mark Harmon:[laughs] That’s nice. It’s a great tribute to the show and to the work we do here.
And much to their fans’ joy, the actors are well determinated to continue the show a little longer.
MW: We’re gonna do 18 seasons of NCIS, like the number of boroughs that there are in Paris. That would be the right way to do it.
Interviewer: But there are 20 of them
MW: OK. We’re gonna do 20 seasons like the 20 boroughs. You win.