Carmine Giovinazzo

[CSI Files]

<p>Season five has brought a lot of changes for <i>CSI: New York</i>'s mercurial Danny Messer. His trademark spectacles bit the dust after the first few episodes of the season, while <A class="link" HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/episodes/newyork/season5/the_box.shtml">"The Box"</a> brought the most shocking news of all: Danny's colleague and sometimes girlfriend, Lindsay Monroe (<font color=yellow>Anna Belknap</font>), is carrying his child. <font color=yellow>Carmine Giovinazzo</font> spoke with CSI Files' <font color=yellow>Kristine Huntley</font> about what's in store for the couple and how Danny has been growing up, as well as sharing the latest news about his band, <A class="link" HREF="http://www.ceesau.com">Ceesau</a>.<p><b>CSI Files:</b> So there's a major controversy in the <i>CSI: NY</i> fandom right now: what happened to Danny's glasses?<p><b>Carmine Giovinazzo:</b> What happened to Danny's glasses--that's the big controversy, huh? <p><b>CSI Files:</b> Yeah!<p><b>Giovinazzo:</b> Some folks were really attached to those glasses, huh? I don't know if they're gone for good, but it was a choice to make a change. I'm not sure it needs to be brought up [in the show]; it may come up in conversation. It was something that I actually felt would be a good change. Not that that's going to make a [big] difference, but it was just something for me to feel different. That's why I did that.<p><b>CSI Files:</b> So it was your choice?<p><b>Giovinazzo:</b> Yeah. I'm a contact/glasses-wearing person, so that's what [Danny] is. Obviously it was a great character piece and worked for him. I think it's just going to take a beat of a transition for people to adjust to it, because it does seem like one is naked when you're used to seeing them wearing glasses all of the time, but like I said, it makes him feel a little different. <p><b>CSI Files:</b> What made you decide you suddenly wanted to get rid of them?<p><b>Giovinazzo:</b> I mean it was just one way to make him feel different to me, or make him feel fresh. I think this is a transition period for him in many ways with what's going on with Lindsay. Maybe I thought it would help the character feel different. It almost makes me feel like I'm starting again, to give me a fresh energy--a different character in a sense almost.<p><b>CSI Files:</b> After five years of playing the same character, do you feel like it's getting old?<p><b>Giovinazzo:</b> I don't feel like it's getting old, but I would like to have things happen to make him evolve and change. It's an exterior kind of change, but it was a big part of his character, so I think it helps me try to attempt to make some growth in the character.<p><b>CSI Files:</b> Obviously, there's some other major growth going on with Danny about to become a father. In our last <A class="link" HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/interviews/carmine_giovinazzo4.shtml">interview</a>, you said of Danny and Lindsay, "They're either going to have a child or just completely end it I think." Are you psychic, or had there been discussion behind the scenes of a Danny/Lindsay baby before this season?<p><b>Giovinazzo:</b> No, I don't think there was. I guess I'm psychic, yeah. Good to know! Get it out there; they'll make a thread [on <A class="link" HREF="http://talk.csifiles.com/">TalkCSI</a>] about it. I'm psychic so everybody's got to be careful about what they say!<p><b>CSI Files:</b> Was this storyline something you were expecting, or did it totally come out of Anna's real-life pregnancy?<p><b>Giovinazzo:</b> I think they've always been working and working our relationship. I think they might have always known they wanted it to come tighter and tighter together, and whether or not they had us having a baby in the picture, I'm not exactly sure. She was pregnant before, so I'm sure that might have put it in their heads if they didn't have it on their own, so I think it's probably a combination. It may have put the idea over the edge, her really being pregnant.<p><b>CSI Files:</b> How did you first hear about the storyline? Did they tell you about it, or did you read it in the script for <A class="link" HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/episodes/newyork/season5/the_box.shtml">"The Box"</a>?<p><HR ALIGN="CENTER" SIZE="1" WIDTH="45%" COLOR="#007BB5"><p>To read the full interviews, please click <A HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/interviews/carmine_giovinazzo5.shtml">here</A>.<center></center>

 

[Elsie]

:lol: Great interview, Carmine seems like such a great guy. Although, poor AJ Buckley, he needs to be careful. Flack shooting Adam would be an interesting storyline though. :lol:

I'm all for 'CHIPz'. Awesome. Carmine should pen a story and make that spin off a reality.

Yeah, great interview, obviously I have lots more I could say, but with Carmine's new psychic powers I won't need to write it down, I'll just send my thoughts in his direction. *Bring back the glasses*

 

[Faylinn]

Yay for another Carmine interview! They're always awesome (and long ) to read! Great questions, Kristine.

So the glasses are symbolic. I can see a classic media study course or something 20 years down the road where they analyze the symbolism of old TV shows and the glasses are a theme or something. :lol:

Giovinazzo: No, I don't think there was. I guess I'm psychic, yeah. Good to know! Get it out there; they'll make a thread [on TalkCSI] about it. I'm psychic so everybody's got to be careful about what they say!

:lol:

This man rambles like whoa - but I love it, I'll admit. :lol: (Even when it's hard to understand WTF he's saying. )

Giovinazzo: I wasn't surprised because it was there to happen. I'm never really surprised by what they do because I'm there for them to do these kinds of things with.

So basically, he isn't surprised because he's just waiting to see what they give him.

It would be cool if he had a bit more input into his character IMO, but then I'm not behind the scenes so I can't comment.

You gotta understand, when I watch these episodes, I'm pissed off sometimes about what I end up seeing.

Interesting.

CSI Files: Do you feel like Danny cheated on Lindsay when he slept with Rikki in "Right Next Door"?

Giovinazzo: As a young, single man, absolutely not! No. Because our relationship on screen was never solidified enough to make the [affair with Rikki] mean that, to give [Lindsay] the right to say I'm cheating on her.

Word, brother.

CSI Files: Danny said in the last episode that he thought Lindsay was aware of his relationship with Rikki; do you think that's true or was Danny way off base with that?

Giovinazzo: Anna was trying to figure that out herself. And the truth is, I don't think it matters.

That made me laugh.

Really though, I think the actors should know more than the audience about what their characters do and don't know.

CSI Files: Why do you think Danny pulled away from Lindsay last season after Ruben's death?

Giovinazzo: Did he? To be honest, I don't know where our relationship [was at] before the Ruben story. We obviously weren't yet in this place of, "We're in. We're doing it, we're going for it" so under the circumstances, Danny went where he went.

Again, word.

Giovinazzo: ...I think Flack (Eddie Cahill) and I have those great two kinds of personalities: one's more mild-mannered and thoughtful, and one is more--Danny could have good manners, but he could also snap. He can also be the kind of person that's a little bit of a loose cannon...

I love that you didn't even have to bring up Flack for him to compare the characters.

Giovinazzo: ...Maybe she's going to have a 28-month pregnancy; I don't know!

OMG NOOOO!

CSI Files: Flack and Danny have worked a lot together this season.


Giovinazzo: Yeah, the writers finally smartened up! They were like, "Oh yeah! That really works!"

Right on, man. Right on.

CSI Files: So would you be behind the idea of a Flack and Danny spin-off?


Giovinazzo: Definitely. I think we'll call it CHIPs. We'll spell it with a 'z' though, CHIPz. I'll be Poncherello! Except Flack would have to be riding a Vespa. He'd be behind me; I'd be in front of him on a Harley-Davidson. I'm just a little more fearless!

I laughed. Out loud. :lol:

CSI Files: Gary Sinise (Mac Taylor) has written an episode of the show; Melina Kanakardes (Stella Bonasera) is talking about penning one. Would that ever be something that would interest you, and if so, what would you want to explore?


Giovinazzo: ...The only reason I probably haven't done that was because of laziness or other things I'm working on. I probably will do that; I probably will present them with something at some point. I want to do that and I can do that, and I think it's just a matter of taking the time to do it.

Do iiiit! That would be something I'd like to see.

Giovinazzo: Maybe an episode where A.J. Buckley's character (Adam Ross) gets shot in the leg! ... I want to see A.J. get shot in an episode by Flack! Accidentally. And Flack gets thrown in the slammer for a minute. Maybe I gotta try to figure why he did it. But I think I would know why: it's very easy to want to shoot A.J.

:lol: :lol: :lol: Poor AJ!

 

[ruby&theheadmen]

Please, bring back the GLASSES! To me they are what makes Danny Messer's character so neat, so unique I'd say and different. He's not nerdy with those glasses on but very, very attractive and shrewd looking too.

I miss them already! So pretty please bring them BACK!

 

[Dragonfly]

Great interview, Kristine! It's early, and it was a long read, so I'm not going to comment, I'll just say that I enjoyed it.

 

[csimania19]

i am so in for the spin-off any day! :lol: next week will be a sweet episode eh? well we'll see! i wanna see some "aww.." d/l moments again! it's been a long time! so over the drama llama.

awesome interview! more of the cast hopefully!

 

[Top41]

Thanks, guys! This one was really fun to do, and I laughed a lot during it. Carmine is hilarious.

:lol: Great interview, Carmine seems like such a great guy. Although, poor AJ Buckley, he needs to be careful. Flack shooting Adam would be an interesting storyline though. :lol:

:lol: That was so funny. Poor A.J.! I have to say, Carmine is definitely creative. I'm sure Danny would make sure Flack was cleared in the end.

I'm all for 'CHIPz'. Awesome. Carmine should pen a story and make that spin off a reality.

I love the spin-off idea, so long as there are no 70s hairdos.

Yeah, great interview, obviously I have lots more I could say, but with Carmine's new psychic powers I won't need to write it down, I'll just send my thoughts in his direction. *Bring back the glasses*

I have to add my thoughts to yours here--I really miss them!

 

[audrina]

Great job on the interview. How cool was it that he actually referenced an article you wrote. Score!! Anyway, very probing questions, lots of areas covered, nice job.

 

[lookaboomerang]

Darn. Only one f-bomb. He's slippin'.

Great interview though. I'll still never know how you get that transcript to make sense. He's all over the place with his thoughts and jumps back and forth and totally expects you to be able to follow along. :lol: I am not complaining though, because he does give the best interviews ever.

 

[PerfectAnomaly]

Darn. Only one f-bomb. He's slippin'.

I know! He went from like 16 or whatever it was in the last interview to only one. Carmine interviews just aren't the same without the plethora of f-bombs.

I really liked this interview. It gave me some perspective on the whole DL thing. As much as I hate it and think it's been poorly done, I can understand why he'd think the developments are good for him as an actor.

It's just hard for me to see anything past Lindsay as a horrible character and Anna as a horrible actress and TPTB's shortcomings with handling this story line - that's actually a lot to see past now that I wrote it out - and that unfortunately brings down my rational thoughts about Danny and Carmine by association sometimes. :wtf:

I would love to see another cheesy motorcycle scene except with Flack trailing behind on a Vespa. Maybe Adam can be in a side car and they can be taking him to the hospital after Flack accidentally shoots him. :shifty:

ETA: Oh yeah. I loved that he said that there wasn't anything shown on screen to justify Lindsay thinking Danny cheated on her. I giggled out loud when I read that. I also think TPTB needs to give Anna more direction with Lindsay because she obviously isn't filling in any of the blanks they've left. Carmine still gives you a sense of who Danny fundamentally is as a character even if Carmine has no idea ahead of time what they're going to throw at him.

And I and :wtf:ed when he said that losing the glasses and having a baby unplanned were some kind of international symbols for growth and maturing. (OK, so he didn't say that exactly, but still . . . :wtf

 

[lookaboomerang]

And I and :wtf:ed when he said that losing the glasses and having a baby unplanned were some kind of international symbols for growth and maturing. (OK, so he didn't say that exactly, but still . . . :wtf

Uh yeah. Ditto to that. I got contacts at 17. By this logic, Danny Messer is way immature.

 

[Top41]

Great job on the interview. How cool was it that he actually referenced an article you wrote. Score!! Anyway, very probing questions, lots of areas covered, nice job.

Thanks! And yes, that was very cool. It's always awesome when anyone associate with the show mentions they read the site. That's just awesome.

Darn. Only one f-bomb. He's slippin'.

Great interview though. I'll still never know how you get that transcript to make sense. He's all over the place with his thoughts and jumps back and forth and totally expects you to be able to follow along. :lol: I am not complaining though, because he does give the best interviews ever.

Yeah, he's great--he really puts a lot of thought into his character and it shows whenever he talks at length about Danny and the show.

Darn. Only one f-bomb. He's slippin'.

I know! He went from like 16 or whatever it was in the last interview to only one. Carmine interviews just aren't the same without the plethora of f-bombs.

The F-bombs were in the one right after RSRD, weren't they? He was really fired up about that episode. It was a great one for Danny.

I really liked this interview. It gave me some perspective on the whole DL thing. As much as I hate it and think it's been poorly done, I can understand why he'd think the developments are good for him as an actor.

It's just hard for me to see anything past Lindsay as a horrible character and Anna as a horrible actress and TPTB's shortcomings with handling this story line - that's actually a lot to see past now that I wrote it out - and that unfortunately brings down my rational thoughts about Danny and Carmine by association sometimes. :wtf:

I think that's understandable from a viewer; at the same time, it makes sense that Carmine as an actor is really going to be excited by anything that gives him something new and fresh to work with--which this does. I like that's candid about what he doesn't like as well.

As for the glasses, I think he was saying the change is symbolic of the bigger changes going on in Danny's life. I still miss them because, hey, they were hot :devil: , but I see what he's saying.

 

[Poppet]

Great interview! He is obviously very passionate about his character and the show which great. And he can talk! (which incidently I find very attractive in a man, he just keeps getting hotter!)

 

[jolein]

Great interview,I was kinda hoping you would do one soon

I`m kinda suprised that he also talks about what he doesn`t like about the show,it seems he is one of the few who feels confidend enough to say that.(and i`m not talking about the annoying talk about how spinoffs would effect the original)

It`s interesting to see his take on the whole D/L situation and I can understand it must be something else for him to play that he becomes a father and the whole dealing with that.

 

[PerfectAnomaly]

Stupid question of the day:

I was just re-reading the inteview and this part confused me:

CSI Files: She has told Danny she loves him twice!

Giovinazzo: I think that we're almost seeing eye-to-eye finally. Somewhat!

Was he saying that Danny and Lindsay are almost on the same page with how they feel about each other? I've read it a few times and tried to put it in context with the rest of the interview and I still come up with a :wtf:.