Post by Carol on Jan 26, 2008 16:35:13 GMT -10
Nice article and interview. There are some small pics on the article site here:
www.star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp?file=/2008/1/27/tvnradio/20087338&sec=tvnradio
Hip hip Horatio
By ZACK YUSOF
David Caruso defends his character Horatio Caine, who continues to generate debate with his innumerable dark glasses, designer suits and cliched one-liners.
ON a deserted airstrip in Torrance, Los Angeles, a suave red-haired gentleman in an expensive suit and flashy sunglasses is pointing a gun at another similarly well-dressed guy, also armed, under a typically beautiful, cloudless Californian sky, which could easily pass for Miami’s tropical climes. Behind them, a bulky silver Hummer is slowly being engulfed in flames, sending blankets of black smoke billowing across the tarmac.
After exchanging some terse, threatening dialogue, both men then make sudden, aggressive moves to open fire. The redhead, who has remained cool and composed throughout the whole incident, is just that little bit quicker than the other man and just about manages to get his shot off first. The other man is fatally wounded and crumbles to the ground. The redhead then walks over to the man and crouches down beside the body, removes his own sunglasses – dramatically – and utters a line of dialogue. He puts the spectacles back on quickly and walks away.
A voice yells “cut!” and the airstrip is a hive of activity once more. Large cameras are being reset in position while various crew members busy about moving lights and screens. The previously-on-fire 4WD Hummer is now being hosed down while the two actors from the scene are getting their make-up touched up in readiness for another take.
One of the actors is instantly recognisable. He is David Caruso, the redheaded star of CSI: Miami who plays the iconic Lieutenant Horatio Caine, and that is Caine’s famous vehicle. After taking a few instructions from the director, he resumes his mark, slips his shades back on, gets into the zone and prepares himself for another take and “action!”.
Like him or loathe him, one cannot deny that Caruso’s ultra-confident, Miami-based crime-busting alter ego is part of the tripartite force that helps to drive the CSI brand. His counterparts are, of course, Gil Grissom (played by William Petersen) of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Detective Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) of CSI: NY, who are based in the two other major US cities, Las Vegas and New York, respectively.
Caruso’s Horatio Caine has evolved to become one of those memorable TV characters who always provokes a strong reaction from the viewers, with his endless supply of sunglasses, dramatic looks or corny one-liners.
All you have to do to get a sample of Caine’s prominence in the world of television since the character burst on the scene back in 2002 is to go to the video-sharing site YouTube where there are several humorous (and very popular) compilations of his frequently used one-liners on CSI: Miami. Many of those include him putting on his trademark sunnies mid-sentence – uploaded for frequent viewing. Impressively, most of these videos have managed to garner almost 1.5 million hits each.
Also available on YouTube is a hilarious clip of Jim Carrey’s satirical impersonation of Horatio Caine on David Letterman’s Late Show last year.
Well, you know you have arrived when popular Hollywood stars mimic you on national television!
Poised, not arrogant
For Caruso, the love/hate response that Caine continues to elicit from audiences is down to the specific, no-nonsense nature of his character’s personality.
“He’s a guy that must be effective in a situation, so he is very clear about what he needs to do,” Caruso notes in a recent interview arranged by AXN during a break from shooting that episode of season six titled Guerrillas in the Midst. “Sometimes, that can rub people the wrong way when you have somebody who is focused and knows what to do.”
Regardless of what others think, the actor obviously admires the character that he has made famous. “I don’t see him as arrogant, I see him as poised. Criminals are dangerous people and there’s a real psychology to gaining control of them. And sometimes it’s helpful to be able to break their spirit. So, if you’re reading an attitude coming off a character, that attitude can be an important tool because you don’t want the criminal to feel too confident about what they’re doing.”
Holding court in front of a group of inquisitive journalists assembled from Latin America and Asia, Caruso turns out to be quite the opposite of the moody, know-it-all character that he plays to such great effect in CSI: Miami. Chatty, friendly and not averse to poking a little fun at himself or his character, the New York-born actor is charm personified. Armed with a ready smile, the youthful-looking 52-year-old is ever willing to field any question however obscure, ranging from who made his suits on the show (Prada and Calvin Klein) to how many pairs of sunglasses he has (150 pairs).
But look beyond the quick wit and friendly demeanour, one gets the impression that playing Horatio Caine to the best of his ability on a regular basis is an all-consuming labour of love, to the point where the actor has gotten to know the character intimately.
With regard to Caine’s forceful personality on the show, and the reason why he tends to behave as conceitedly as he often does, Caruso offers this rather profound theory: “When we originally sat down with the Las Vegas producers to create this show, it was important to me, based on the tone of the material that I got from the Las Vegas show. In this dark world of forensic science with all these extreme killings, how would it be most effective to represent good and the power of good? And it occurred to me that maybe to be effective, the character that represented good could be just as scary or maybe even the scariest guy in the room.
“With Horatio, there has to be kind of a relaxed, almost second-nature approach to the things that he does. He’s cold because he knows he can’t fail so he’s willing to utilise whatever he needs to get results.”
Having portrayed Caine for six seasons now, what’s the thing that keeps him coming back for more of the same? “The answer to that question is because we get to do so much in an episode,” reasons Caruso. “You know, I can have a scene with a four-year-old boy that is in deep trouble. I can be in the lab and then have a shoot-out on the tarmac, all in the course of a single episode, or even sometimes a single day.
“I’m really satisfied on the show and as we kind of develop as a format, there are always fresh new challenges and opportunities that are kind of inventing themselves as we go along,” he enthuses.
With CSI: Miami, the son of an editor father and librarian mother has finally achieved worldwide fame after close to three decades of acting in largely forgettable movies. His notable TV work includes stints on police dramas, the 1990s NYPD Blues and Hill Street Blues in the 1980s. He won a Golden Globe in 1994 for best actor (drama) for his role in NYPD Blues.
Seeing as Caruso is nothing like his famed character at all, one simply has to wonder as to how he channels the personality of Horatio Caine into the show.
“Because we deal with people that are deceased, the character comes out of a reverence for the dead, not to become too morbid about it. It is his job to represent the dead. That is the tone of the character.
“If some terrible circumstances were to befall any of us or a family member and so on, who would you want to come to that front door? And what would you expect their behaviour to be? Because this is now a dead serious situation, the only thing that we’re interested in is a result. So the character is not only tailored to get those results but also to capture the reverence of the situation.
“Horatio cares greatly for the people of the city and it’s very upsetting for him when things of that nature take place,” he helpfully offers. And there’s no denying that it’s a role David Caruso is devoted to and cares deeply about.
The fifth season season of ‘CSI: Miami’ currently airs on AXN (Astro Channel 701) every Wednesday at 10pm. The sixth season is slated to run on the channel in March.
www.star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp?file=/2008/1/27/tvnradio/20087338&sec=tvnradio
Hip hip Horatio
By ZACK YUSOF
David Caruso defends his character Horatio Caine, who continues to generate debate with his innumerable dark glasses, designer suits and cliched one-liners.
ON a deserted airstrip in Torrance, Los Angeles, a suave red-haired gentleman in an expensive suit and flashy sunglasses is pointing a gun at another similarly well-dressed guy, also armed, under a typically beautiful, cloudless Californian sky, which could easily pass for Miami’s tropical climes. Behind them, a bulky silver Hummer is slowly being engulfed in flames, sending blankets of black smoke billowing across the tarmac.
After exchanging some terse, threatening dialogue, both men then make sudden, aggressive moves to open fire. The redhead, who has remained cool and composed throughout the whole incident, is just that little bit quicker than the other man and just about manages to get his shot off first. The other man is fatally wounded and crumbles to the ground. The redhead then walks over to the man and crouches down beside the body, removes his own sunglasses – dramatically – and utters a line of dialogue. He puts the spectacles back on quickly and walks away.
A voice yells “cut!” and the airstrip is a hive of activity once more. Large cameras are being reset in position while various crew members busy about moving lights and screens. The previously-on-fire 4WD Hummer is now being hosed down while the two actors from the scene are getting their make-up touched up in readiness for another take.
One of the actors is instantly recognisable. He is David Caruso, the redheaded star of CSI: Miami who plays the iconic Lieutenant Horatio Caine, and that is Caine’s famous vehicle. After taking a few instructions from the director, he resumes his mark, slips his shades back on, gets into the zone and prepares himself for another take and “action!”.
Like him or loathe him, one cannot deny that Caruso’s ultra-confident, Miami-based crime-busting alter ego is part of the tripartite force that helps to drive the CSI brand. His counterparts are, of course, Gil Grissom (played by William Petersen) of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Detective Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) of CSI: NY, who are based in the two other major US cities, Las Vegas and New York, respectively.
Caruso’s Horatio Caine has evolved to become one of those memorable TV characters who always provokes a strong reaction from the viewers, with his endless supply of sunglasses, dramatic looks or corny one-liners.
All you have to do to get a sample of Caine’s prominence in the world of television since the character burst on the scene back in 2002 is to go to the video-sharing site YouTube where there are several humorous (and very popular) compilations of his frequently used one-liners on CSI: Miami. Many of those include him putting on his trademark sunnies mid-sentence – uploaded for frequent viewing. Impressively, most of these videos have managed to garner almost 1.5 million hits each.
Also available on YouTube is a hilarious clip of Jim Carrey’s satirical impersonation of Horatio Caine on David Letterman’s Late Show last year.
Well, you know you have arrived when popular Hollywood stars mimic you on national television!
Poised, not arrogant
For Caruso, the love/hate response that Caine continues to elicit from audiences is down to the specific, no-nonsense nature of his character’s personality.
“He’s a guy that must be effective in a situation, so he is very clear about what he needs to do,” Caruso notes in a recent interview arranged by AXN during a break from shooting that episode of season six titled Guerrillas in the Midst. “Sometimes, that can rub people the wrong way when you have somebody who is focused and knows what to do.”
Regardless of what others think, the actor obviously admires the character that he has made famous. “I don’t see him as arrogant, I see him as poised. Criminals are dangerous people and there’s a real psychology to gaining control of them. And sometimes it’s helpful to be able to break their spirit. So, if you’re reading an attitude coming off a character, that attitude can be an important tool because you don’t want the criminal to feel too confident about what they’re doing.”
Holding court in front of a group of inquisitive journalists assembled from Latin America and Asia, Caruso turns out to be quite the opposite of the moody, know-it-all character that he plays to such great effect in CSI: Miami. Chatty, friendly and not averse to poking a little fun at himself or his character, the New York-born actor is charm personified. Armed with a ready smile, the youthful-looking 52-year-old is ever willing to field any question however obscure, ranging from who made his suits on the show (Prada and Calvin Klein) to how many pairs of sunglasses he has (150 pairs).
But look beyond the quick wit and friendly demeanour, one gets the impression that playing Horatio Caine to the best of his ability on a regular basis is an all-consuming labour of love, to the point where the actor has gotten to know the character intimately.
With regard to Caine’s forceful personality on the show, and the reason why he tends to behave as conceitedly as he often does, Caruso offers this rather profound theory: “When we originally sat down with the Las Vegas producers to create this show, it was important to me, based on the tone of the material that I got from the Las Vegas show. In this dark world of forensic science with all these extreme killings, how would it be most effective to represent good and the power of good? And it occurred to me that maybe to be effective, the character that represented good could be just as scary or maybe even the scariest guy in the room.
“With Horatio, there has to be kind of a relaxed, almost second-nature approach to the things that he does. He’s cold because he knows he can’t fail so he’s willing to utilise whatever he needs to get results.”
Having portrayed Caine for six seasons now, what’s the thing that keeps him coming back for more of the same? “The answer to that question is because we get to do so much in an episode,” reasons Caruso. “You know, I can have a scene with a four-year-old boy that is in deep trouble. I can be in the lab and then have a shoot-out on the tarmac, all in the course of a single episode, or even sometimes a single day.
“I’m really satisfied on the show and as we kind of develop as a format, there are always fresh new challenges and opportunities that are kind of inventing themselves as we go along,” he enthuses.
With CSI: Miami, the son of an editor father and librarian mother has finally achieved worldwide fame after close to three decades of acting in largely forgettable movies. His notable TV work includes stints on police dramas, the 1990s NYPD Blues and Hill Street Blues in the 1980s. He won a Golden Globe in 1994 for best actor (drama) for his role in NYPD Blues.
Seeing as Caruso is nothing like his famed character at all, one simply has to wonder as to how he channels the personality of Horatio Caine into the show.
“Because we deal with people that are deceased, the character comes out of a reverence for the dead, not to become too morbid about it. It is his job to represent the dead. That is the tone of the character.
“If some terrible circumstances were to befall any of us or a family member and so on, who would you want to come to that front door? And what would you expect their behaviour to be? Because this is now a dead serious situation, the only thing that we’re interested in is a result. So the character is not only tailored to get those results but also to capture the reverence of the situation.
“Horatio cares greatly for the people of the city and it’s very upsetting for him when things of that nature take place,” he helpfully offers. And there’s no denying that it’s a role David Caruso is devoted to and cares deeply about.
The fifth season season of ‘CSI: Miami’ currently airs on AXN (Astro Channel 701) every Wednesday at 10pm. The sixth season is slated to run on the channel in March.
