‘Right now I’m secure. I know I have this. It’s a quality show’

One of action oriented broadcaster AXN’s most successful franchises is Crime Scene investigation (CSI). The show, which sees forensic experts solving crimes, has enabled the the broadcaster to attract women to it.

Now the channel is air the second spinoff CSI NY on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10 pm. It stars among others Oscar nominee Gary Sinise (of Forrest Gump fame) as Detective Mack ‘Mac’ Taylor, an ex-Marine who lost his wife in the 9/11 disaster. In this tete-a-tete with, Sinise offers his perspective on the role as well as working in television.

You have made so many movies through the years. What’s the big difference between doing movies and doing a television show like CSI: NY?
Movies have an ending. Series like the movies are continuous. And, you know, the speed of it is a bit different. Usually the movies I’ve worked on I’ve had proper rehearsal time and had more time to shoot certain things.

But the nature of television is something very quick. So it challenges you to work on different skills. That is something that can be useful.

Gary, can you talk a bit about the characterisation of Mac Taylor? By reading the biography, a lot to do with 9/11, and being a former soldier, your history, your personal interest in the character happened around charity work. Does it contribute to your input into the characterisation of Mac Taylor?
Not all. Certainly I can suggest things for the character. I play him all the time, so they want to know what I have to think about it. But he is different from me. He’s more military than I am. I have high respect for people in the military and I know a lot of people in the military.

And I know people like Mac Taylor who were in the military who then became policemen. So we kind of decided to sort of base it on that.

How long a time you think you are going to do CSI: NY?
I have signed on for six years. Six years. Six seasons. We do 23 episodes a year, and if it goes that long, you know.

You are a big star. Aren’t you afraid to turn down so many movies, because of this CSI series? Does that happen a lot?
It is a trade-off.

How do you mean?
Because right now I’m secure. I know I have this. It’s a quality show. It’s got room to grow. I’m making a good living. I work at home. I don’t have to think about that part of my life like what I’m going to do next and that, and I decided to trade off the unknowing for the knowing.

Did you meet any crime scene investigators before you went to the show just to get ready for the role?
Yeah. Yeah. We have technical advisor on the set with us at all times.

To get ready for the show, did you visit actual crime scenes?
Oh. Did I go on crime scenes? You know, years ago when I was doing a character in Ransom that Ron Howard directed with Mel Gibson, I spent some time with some crime scene investigators then.

So I didn’t feel like I had to go out and do it again. I had seen enough when I was with him.

How did that impact you? Did you see dead people?
Yeah. You know, it’s not fun. It’s not the kind of work that I would want to do. I have a respect for people that can kind of do that, and they’re very scientific. They’re scientists, and they have to shut down kind of an emotional part of their brain and look at things from purely a scientific kind of perspective.

Has it changed you the way you perceive things after knowing how these people work? Especially when you are faced with a gruesome situation.
I haven’t thought about it. I’ve always been the kind who would never want to go to hospitals. I remember when my grandmother was dying in the hospital and we were very close, I just — I was scared to go.

I just didn’t want to go see her dying, you know. And coming to think of it now, maybe, through this show, I see death in a little bit different way than I did before.

So having a secure job right now, does it make it easier for you to spend more time with your family?
Yeah. That’s a big factor. You know, initially I never thought about doing a television series because of its repetition and then just settling into one character. I’ve enjoyed the freedom of doing different things.

I decided to exchange that freedom for a steady kind of quality life. I came into a series that had a good chance of being successful right off the bat. CBS was going to put a lot of attention, a lot of energy into making it a success. It got a lot of success with the other two CSI shows.

I just want to know if you want to do something nice for your wife or if you want to spoil her, are you kind of romantic type? You take her out for a nice dinner? What are the kinds of things do you to appreciate your wife?
We don’t just wait for special occasions to do something nice. We try to keep every day a little nice if we can, and then, birthdays and special days like that, are a little less important to us because we try to focus on every day doing, making it special if we can.

But we are married for a long time now. So it’s, it’s an ongoing challenge, but we’ve lasted now since 1976, so we’re doing pretty well and got three beautiful kids.

Does your wife act?
She hasn’t for a while. She was talking about it a few days ago that she misses acting a little bit.