CSI Files
Captain
<font color=yellow>A.J. Buckley</font> has the best of both worlds: as the newest regular on CSI: New York, he's enjoying fleshing out his character Adam Ross, but he still has just enough time to sneak away now and then to do the occasional guest role or to shoot a movie. Just days away from returning to work, Buckley told CSI Files' <font color=yellow>Kristine Huntley</font> about what he did over the strike-induced hiatus, what he thinks of Adam's new potential love interest Kendall Novack and who he'd really like to see Adam make a move on, as well as his dream storyline for NY's resident lab tech!
CSI Files: What have you been up to during the time off due to the writers strike?
A.J. Buckley: Traveling. My girlfriend was living in Australia at the time, so at the beginning of the season in between episodes or if I was shot early in the episode and had like five or six days off, I'd be on a plane and be in Australia. The ADs were awesome with working out the schedule so I could go out [there]. And my schedule is pretty light anyways compared to <font color=yellow>Carmine [Giovinazzo</font>, Danny Messer] and <font color=yellow>Eddie [Cahill</font>, Don Flack] and <font color=yellow>Gary [Sinise</font>, Mac Taylor] the rest of the crew. I work a few days during the week; it's pretty phenomenal. I'm really lucky. I was basically flying to Australia to see my girl and so I was in Australia every two to three weeks. And while I was in Australia the strike happened and I wasn't in the last two episodes, so I ended up staying there for like a month and a half. Then I came back to LA and I was in LA for like two days, and then I went up to Canada [to see] my family and then I ended up in Mexico for three weeks.
And then my girlfriend flew over from Australia and met my family for the first time, and then my girlfriend and I flew to Thailand, which was unbelievable. Thailand is the most beautiful place in the world. It's really spiritual. You can't put into words how beautiful parts of Thailand are. It's just unbelievable; you're just in constant awe of what's around you. One night we camped overnight on Maya Bay where The Beach was filmed and we were only eight people on the island. We slept on the beach and it was a full moon, so it was my girlfriend and I under a full moon on this beach. A guy went out and caught our dinner for us--it was just such a beautiful experience. And then I came back here and the week after I got back the strike ended.
CSI Files: You really took advantage of the time off!
Buckley: Yeah. It sucked--I mean, don't get me wrong, I was pretty scared like, "God, I hope it comes back." And I was constantly e-mailing back and forth with [Executive Producer] <font color=yellow>Peter Lenkov</font>, just touching base. And I finally got the word that the strike was over, which was such a relief. I go back to work on the fifth [of March] and I do the first two episodes, then I'm off [for] an episode and I go up to Canada to shoot Supernatural. They're bringing the Hellhounds back, so I go up on the 17th to Vancouver to shoot that for ten days and then I come back. CSI: NY has just been so great the producers have just been so amazing with allowing me to go and do [other things]. Right now I'm not in every episode. CBS has just been so cool to allow me to go to these other shows and films, which is great because it builds the profile of one of their cast [members] on the show. It works out for everybody.
CSI Files: You mentioned going back to work on the 5th. Have you seen a script yet?
Buckley: Not yet. I think we get them this week.
CSI Files: Have you talked to the writers yet about anything that might be coming up for Adam in the rest of the season?
Buckley: Not yet. I think we're just slowly over the season getting to know him more as far as his backstory, the whole abuse thing. There hasn't been any sort of concrete direction of what they're going to do, but I kind of like not knowing. I kind of like opening up the script and being surprised and going, "Oh wow, this is really cool!" It makes it more exciting if I don't know what's coming up. I've always played really dark characters, so I love to get into scenes and stuff where you really go deep within yourself and go on a journey. In the [third] season finale ["Snow Day"], when I read that I was so excited because I really got to act in it. It was great to do intense scenes with Carmine; I think he's such a great actor so to get to work with him on a script like that was really fun. And I actually had a lot of fun doing that. We both just said let's go for it.
So I'm hoping that Adam gets to go deeper emotionally into his past. Not that I don't feel challenged--the character's definitely challenging with the words and the science--but I definitely get excited when I see stuff where I get to be part of a moment. I would love to really have an intense moment with Gary. Gary's someone that prior to being on the show I looked up to so much, and I'm getting to know him now. He's just such an outstanding [actor]. Gary Sinise is Gary Sinise--he's just such a well-respected man. He's a family guy--family is so important [to him]--and yet he's so successful and always on point and always has a smile on his face. For the longest time I was so intimidated just being around him. He's such an intense guy when he's working because that's the character, and I was like, "Oh god, he hates me!" There's stuff he's done on stage in Chicago and stuff he's done as a director--I started renting all of his movies and just watching all of his stuff. They're just such great films.
I really want to start directing--that's a passion of mine, writing and directing---that's a bonus of getting to be on the set so much, observing and getting to see all the process and how the writers work and their approach. The writers are so cool. Reading the scripts now--they're writing how I talk! How I paraphrase stuff or how I go, "What up?" They'll put that in there. A friend of mine, <font color=yellow>Jonathan Siegel</font> always goes, "What up?" and I just thought one day, I was doing a scene and I [said it]. And in a script a while ago, I think [it was] <font color=yellow>Trey [Callaway</font>] who wrote it [in].
CSI Files: Getting back to "Snow Day"--that was such an intense ordeal for Adam. Knowing his background, do you think there will emotional repercussions somewhere down the line for Adam?
<HR ALIGN="CENTER" SIZE="1" WIDTH="45%" COLOR="#007BB5">
To read the full interviews, please click here.<center></center>
