Q: Will we find out more about John’s backstory?
Michael Cudlitz: Absolutely. Yeah, all this stuff is going to unfold as we go. The wonderful thing about the show is these things are going to be revealed in a very slow and methodical manner, the way you would learn stuff about anyone that you would just meet for the first time. We’re not trying to put everything out there so you’d have this preconceived idea of what’s going on. It’s going to be revealed slowly and you’re going to be let to assess what you think is going on in a relationship and then things will happen, you will realize you’re either right or wrong.
Q: So that’s not necessarily just for the first season.
Michael Cudlitz: Oh, it’s ongoing. I think it’s ongoing. One of the wonderful things about Ann Biderman’s writing is the fact that it’s not all handed to you. You are actually able to sort of assess what’s going on as it unfolds. There’s not some soundtrack running underneath everything that’s telling you how to feel or how to think about this character or that character. You actually get to watch the scenes and decide for yourself what you think is going on. Then over time you’ll see if you’re right or not.
Q: What’s your take on his ability to look the other way, the reality of police work, like letting the girls with the dog go?
Michael Cudlitz: Well, there’s choices you make as an officer as what’s important. The fact that as far as we’re concerned, there is no crime being committed because in that episode specifically, he won’t file a police report. He won’t tell us that the car is stolen and they’re telling us it’s his car and he gave it to them, so until he chooses to involve the police, the police are there to do the job of enforcing the laws. If there’s no law broken, it’s not his place to do it. People expect the police to fix all their problems and that’s not their job, and nobody would want that. Would you want, just because an officer felt that you were not doing what they would do in life, that all of a sudden you’re subject to arrest or detainment? It doesn’t even concern him at that point.
Q: Do you feel these guys are a band of brothers?
Michael Cudlitz: Absolutely. I think all the guys in the service and women in the service, there is that sense of who’s got your back. The people you know have your back are the ones that are going through exactly what you’re going through. You have a lot of things, you look at all these cities and all these departments that have issues where the police force comes under scrutiny. The people that are standing behind them are the fellow officers initially. The people who are trying to protect themselves and make sure they don’t get screwed are the city, yet these are the people who are working for and protecting them. So there’s a really interesting balance that goes on where some of the most aggressive police work, some of the best police work is actually exposing them to litigation in the future depending upon how situations go down. A perfect example is what went down in the last few weeks with these officers who were shot. We had I think five officers shot in the course of two weeks. One of those calls that these officers went to was a barking dog call. They got sent over because there was a noise disturbance because there was barking dogs. Had these guys shown up with guns drawn, everybody would’ve went, “What are you, ridiculous? It was a barking dog call. That’s complete use of force, completely disrespectful of the neighborhood and how dare you?” So they show up to this barking dog call, it’s an ambush. Three cops get killed from a barking dog call. So where do you internally draw that line? How do you respond to these calls? I think that’s what they deal with on a daily basis is how to perceive a threat and fall back on their training, but when all else fails, you’re really counting on the men and women who are next to you.
Q: How hard is it to drive for real and keep your lines memorized?
Michael Cudlitz: That’s fantastic. That’s one of my favorite parts about the job. I think it adds a realism to it. I’ve watched shows where the driver was driving during the scene and he was looking at the passenger the entire time, hands on the wheel and the background’s whizzing by behind him. You’re just thinking, “How are you driving? People don’t talk like that. You don’t drive like that.” If you watch our show, it’s not only that we’re doing our own driving and the dialogue is going on, but while the dialogue’s going on, these guys are still being cops.” We’re checking out, we’re looking, there’s other calls coming over the radio, we’ve still got that call for the missing whatever or that car that we’re looking at. There’s that group of people who are always on the street that we always see and we need to make sure what’s going on over there. There’s all these levels of things that are going on and I think that all that is added when you’re set in the street, you’re going to do your scene, you’re going to run your scene, you go through your scene. We have precision drivers that protect us immediately around us, but we’re dealing with actual traffic signs and pedestrian crosswalks and people running out in the streets and red lights, everything that is going on in the city and our windows are down. People, because of the way we’re shooting, actually think we’re cops.
Q: How is shooting in L.A.? You here in New York, with Law and Order, they don’t care.
Michael Cudlitz: Well, the interesting thing about shooting in L.A., especially where we shoot in Hollywood, is you have the tourist element. We shoot down on Hollywood Blvd., we have tourists who stop by who want to see, which is fantastic four us because we’ll do a stop on something and you’ll have all these people who come to watch. Well, that’s what happens when people pull people over. If there’s a big incident and you have a bunch of guys spread out on the sidewalk, you’re going to have a crowd that’s gathering to watch. They’re from out of town, we’re shooting a movie so for them it’s very exciting.
Q: Could this be the show that makes you so famous you can’t walk the streets anymore?
Michael Cudlitz: I don’t really live my life like that so I don’t expect that’ll happen. Once again, that’s a thing that’s completely out of my control. I guess to a degree, that would be a sort of watermark for the show or the litmus test, saying how the show is doing and how I’m doing, but it’s not necessarily something I’m concerned about either way.
Q: Is this show like Adam-12 on speed?
Michael Cudlitz: I don't know if I’d say speed but I would definitely compare us to Adam-12. We compared it to Adam-12 meets Cops, that feeling of being in the car, riding to that call, not knowing what’s going to happen, having that excitement of not being guided by a soundtrack as to what to feel. There’s a sound design in the show but there’s no soundtrack. Sometimes the montage but all the music is source music that’s being played at the restaurant or the club you’re at. When you’re in the car with us, the only music you hear is the chatter of the radio and what’s going on. You play the awkward silences when there is nothing to be said. I think that it’s been said in the press that there’s really nothing new here. I’m really curious what show those people are watching, and I really mean that. It’s not a negative. There’s going to be people who don’t like the show and that’s fine, but if you don’t feel that there’s something new being told and a new perspective being told with our show, I really don’t know what you’re watching.
Q: What are your thoughts on the legacy of cop shows on TV?
Michael Cudlitz: Well, there have been great cop shows at different times and I think they all serve what’s going on socially at the time. Our show, people have issues with the language at times and I just think that’s where we’re headed. Everything is not as cleansed as it used to be. It’s gone from more of an idea of what we wish and hope our cops would be like to more of what cops are actually like. Now obviously, it’s a one hour drama. It’s not an episode of Cops so the stories are structured in such a way that we can tell the story that we want to tell. But I think the format of a cop show really lends itself well to telling stories on television because of the amount of stories of people that you come in contact with, it’s something that’s a very brief moment in time and the stakes are usually very, very high when an officer is called to a call. It’s very much like an airport. An airport is a place for high emotional drama because people are leaving, people are coming back. There’s this moment in time that is very, very important, very, very emotional and very specific to the individuals and doesn’t really affect the rest of the world. So it lends itself as a great way to tell stories and I think cop shows are going to be around forever, as well as hospital dramas. The same thing, because you always have people coming and going every week.
