By M. Sharpe
Photo credit: MajorCrimesTV.net
From his role as Ray Luca on Crime Story to Lt. Andy Flynn on Major Crimes, Tony Denison’s career has come full circle. In fact, as David Burke, executive producer of the 1986 drama points out. “He was being pursued years ago by the Major Crimes unit in Crime Story… and now you are in the Major Crimes unit in Major Crimes, right?”
Denison hadn’t made that connection before – “Holy Toledo, you’re right!” – but Burke just laughs: “Course I’m right, I had to write that show! Lt. Torello (Dennis Farina) was in charge of Major Crimes (on Crime Story), and all he wanted to do was to catch Ray Luca. So you were being chased by Major Crimes, and now you are Major Crimes.”
Still friends from their Crime Story days (where his portrayal of Ray Luca earned him Time Magazine’s Best Villain of the 1980′s), the two men met up in Palm Springs during Modernism Week this past February to check out the Pan Am exhibit put together by Phillip P. Keene, Denison’s co-star on Major Crimes. After enjoying the exhibit, Denison took time to talk to MajorCrimesTV.net to answer a few questions for us about the transition between The Closer and Major Crimes, and what we can look forward to next season on the show.
Denison with co-star Mary McDonnell.
Photo credit: TNT
In terms of the transition to Major Crimes, Denison says it was as seamless behind the scenes as it appeared on the screen. “It was great. I mean, we were sorry to see Kyra (Sedgwick) go, but she did her seven years and she felt it was time for her to move on. We were all kind of ‘well, ok, now what’ and James Duff called me up and said ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got a lot more stories I want to tell.’ And he had already brought Mary McDonnell on to the show for a year and a half, so he just elevated Mary to head of the squad and we carried on. And not only did we carry on, we carried on with even stronger numbers than before, and had the highest rated basic cable premiere!”
Of his new leading lady, Denison has only praise. “Mary is phenomenal. She’s a wonderful actress. She’s been nominated for two Oscars. She comes to the set, she’s the epitome of professionalism, and she’s great.”
The fact that the strong ensemble cast has had more to do since the transition to Major Crimes has been a change that Denison has enjoyed. He notes that the episode voted as fan-favorite of The Closer (“To Protect and Serve”) was in fact an episode where the entire ensemble was part of the action of the story. “Now on Major Crimes, that’s the main thing, everyone plays a significant part in solving the crime, and being involved in the main story. It’s a positive change and it feels great to be able to do even more. I think that of all the people on The Closer, GW (Bailey) and I had a lot more to do, because they would write those episodes where Flynn and Provenza would get involved in some shenanigans, and those episodes turned out to be the fan favorites. But now, everybody gets to do more.”
Denison with co-star Graham Patrick Martin.
Photo credit: TNT
As Denison reminds us, the cast received SAG Award nominations for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series five of the seven years during The Closer’s run, which is further testament to the combined talents of the ensemble. Beyond this record of success, however, he also praises the newcomers to the Major Crimes cast for keeping the team strong. “Kearran Giovanni, she’s just fantastic, and Graham (Patrick) Martin- this kid’s amazing. My nickname for his is Graham Slam, because every time he does a scene, he just smacks the ball out of the park. He and Mary together have such an interesting dynamic. It’s beautiful.” Rather than giving us the standard episodic resolution for a teen-in-trouble that we often see in crime dramas, the first season of Major Crimes brought this storyline that centers on an abandoned teen to the forefront, allowing the emotional drama to play out across the ensemble throughout the season. The reason this twist to the crime genre, with a storyline centering on an abandoned teen, works as well as it does, Denison says, is simple: “It’s because James Duff is a genius.”
Denison with co-star G.W. Bailey.
Photo credit: TNT
When asked about the dynamics between the characters on the show, Denison acknowledges that some things changed in the first season of Major Crimes. For example, the Flynn and Provenza dynamic seemed to shift slightly, allowing Provenza and Giovanni’s Amy Sykes to find themselves in an odd comedic duo, as well as giving the other ensemble members such as Michael Paul Chan and Raymond Cruz an expanded role to explore their characters. “It’s going to shift back and forth, I think, but the audiences love the shenanigans of Flynn and Provenza, and the characters are still incredibly close friends, so it stands to reason that we will get into more misadventures as the season progresses.”
Denison sees a lot of similarities in how his character approaches the situation with Captain Raydor, with Flynn overcoming his initial dislike of her to become first one of her earliest supporters, then her right-hand man. “Well, initially he doesn’t like her at all, but then he realizes… it was the same thing with Kyra’s character. The thing I like so much about my character is that, if you do the job, and he knows that you’ve got his back, he’s supportive no matter what sex you are, what color you are. It doesn’t matter. That’s the way he operates, and he sees life pretty simply.”
As to what might be ahead for his character or the rest of the squad in season two of Major Crimes, Denison is happy to leave the possibilities up to the James Duff and the rest of the writers. “I used to think that, ‘well I hope they do this,’ or I’d talk to James, and say ‘hey, do you think there’s a possibility that this could happen’, but I’ve found that it’s so much better to be surprised, instead of anticipating. Because it never turns out the way you think it should. But if it turns out the way he thinks the show should, and he hasn’t told you, then it’s always so much more fun. So that’s sort of the way things run. And it’s great.”
By M. Sharpe