It wasn't easy to land two leaders for the New York crime lab.
Gary Sinise (Mac Taylor) had not considered getting into television when hew was offered the lead role on CSI: New York, and CSI creator Anthony Zuiker had to do some convincing to get the actor on board. "I had a wonderful dinner with Anthony who told me he had the very first episode of CSI New York in his head," Sinise explained to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. "He described the episode to me. We had more conversations after that before I decided that it was something that I wanted to do. Soon, it became clear that it would be a positive step and I was very glad I did it."
Sinise's costar Melina Kanakaredes (Stella Bonasera) also had reservations about joining the show. "When I was first offered CSI New York, I wasn't sure," she said. "I moved back to New York and performed on Broadway. I said, I have to meet Gary Sinise. I love him, I think he's fabulous but I wanna make sure he's a great person, knowing how many hours you'd spend with the people you work with on a series. I wanted it to be fun and enjoyable. I met him and he's just an amazing human being. And so I said, 'Okay, I'm on board. Thanks for the offer and I'll play with this guy for a couple of years.' And here we are."
Kanakaredes couldn't imagine portraying a different character. "I actually don't watch the other CSIs and I don't think I ever want to play anybody but Stella," she said. "I'm a bit protective of my character. I love her. When you jump into somebody's skin, I really enjoy her, I enjoy who she is, her strength, her intelligence, her compassion and her failures." The actress brought a certain trait to Stella's character. "I'm very proud of my history," Kanakaredes explained. "When the writers found out about my speaking Greek fluently, they thought it was a really cool thing so they said, 'Let's make Stella half Greek and half Italian.' Then all of a sudden she became the multi-lingual character. She speaks French, Italian, Greek and Russian. I love being the sort of international voice in the show."
When Sinise first joined CSI: NY, he was worried that playing the same character would get monotonous. "But there's a security in playing the same character and a freedom in the fact that it's a successful series," he said. "There's always another episode. There's always something to try." In addition to the creative benefits, Sinise enjoys having a steady job. "It gives me a stability as an actor that some of my friends don't have when they're out there looking for the next job all the time," he said. "I like the security of it."
"I'm a much sillier person than Mac," Sinise said, explaining the difference between his personality and his character's. "Mac is serious and very straightforward and no nonsense. I'm a bit goofier in my personal life than he is." The actor compared Mac to the leading men from the other CSI shows, Gil Grissom (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation's William Petersen) and Horatio Caine (David Caruso from CSI: Miami). "Anthony Zuiker and I talk about my character being an ex-Marine with a military background. One thing that Anthony did mention to me is that Billy's character is very science-minded, Caruso's character is very cop and my character is somewhere in between. I'm sort of a blend between science and a Marine drill sergeant."
Kanakaredes said it's not likely that Mac and Stella will take their friendship into romantic territory on New York. "I think people want it but once they get it it's not exciting anymore," the actress explained. "I'll never say never but I don't think that's a primary goal. They have a bizarre family-brother-sister-but-not relationship. I don't think they'd want to put them together for good."
Both actors have a good time working together and with the rest of the CSI: NY team. "I really enjoy all these folks," Sinise explained. "We have a great time on the set. I may play the lead on the show and Melina's the co-lead on the show but we don't ever look at it that way. Everybody's important. First and foremost, the writers, if they don't write the scripts, we can't do anything. So I'm always supportive and impressed with our writers. We have a very pleasant environment on our set."
The original interviews with Gary Sinise and Melina Kanakaredes are from Inquirer.Net.
