Copyright ©2007 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved.
Posted:
April 20, 2007.
When you think of scientists in the Naval police corps, do you
picture someone in pitch-black retro clothes, with
goth boots, spider-web
tattoos and with a serious caffeine addiction?
If you do, chances are that notion is thanks to Pauley Perrette.
Perrette plays Abby, the overstimulated-but-quite-brilliant lab
worker on the CBS smash series NCIS. The quirky show is about a
troupe of Navy investigators who look into crimes which touch on the
military. Abby is the resident tech expert, sticking close to the lab
working out ballistics, cracking computer codes and cracking wise with her
fellow agents. Even Perrette admits she was surprised that she would be
cast in a role of a Naval scientist.
Perrette recalls, “My boss, Don Bellisario, I actually
asked him – where
did she come from? He had a really interesting answer to that. He always
likes to put characters out that are portrayed differently from [the normal
on] television. When he created Magnum PI, he wanted to make a
Vietnam veteran that was doing his thing. He’s got his job and a floral
shirt. Don told me that he wanted to portray a Vietnam vet in a
better light than he thought the media was portraying them. He thought
alternative lifestyle people, or even people who dress alternatively, were
always portrayed on TV as junkies or thieves. He wanted to put this
character out there that had cat shoes and different kind of clothes who was
not at all a junkie or a thief, but is overly capable. Overly smart.
Overly good at her job. That’s where he came up with Abby.”
Four years of playing Abby have been a treat for Perrette. “People
call me Abby everywhere I go.” Perrette laughs. “It’s such an
incredible character and I love her so much.”
The role also seems like a natural for Perrette, because ironically, she had
studied criminal justice in college. Though she does not, she insists, have
a Masters in Criminology as is reported many places.
“I
started my master’s degree,” Perrette says, “but the real story is actually
more interesting. But, you know the grand old internet… once anything is
written anywhere, it keeps coming up over and over again. The real story
is undergrad. I studied sociology, psychology and criminal science. I
started my masters degree in criminal science, but then I moved to
New York and
I was broke and bartending. When I was bartending I started working with
this director that put me in fifteen back to back… everything from
commercials, music videos to short films. Then, suddenly I was in this
business. I never got to finish [the masters]. I’d still like to.”
That led to a series of jobs in the business;
including a regular gig in the
short-lived Jennifer Love Hewitt/Jennifer Garner Party of Five
spin-off Time of Your Life (“That was one of those that actually made
it to air for like a second.”) and appearances in movies like The Ring
and Almost Famous.
Though Almost Famous was a small role, it is still one of
her favorites. “That is the greatest film ever made. I love that. I’m in
that movie for like five seconds, but I’m still just so proud to be a part
of it,” Perrette laughs. “I’m a huge Cameron Crowe fan from Say
Anything. I can quote that movie from beginning to end. I went in and
met Cameron Crowe. It was such a weird day. He’s just so amazing
and cool and wonderful and happy and a lovely man. And of course talent. And
he’s married to Nancy Wilson [singer/guitarist for rock group Heart], on top
of that.”
Perrette respects
Wilson
because she too is a singer. She’s had a series of bands, including
Lo-Ball, which had a song on the soundtrack of the movie Legally Blonde.
“I sing all the time, but I’m not in a band right now,” Perrette
says. “I mean, I sing around the house. I think that everyone should sing
every day at some point. I’ve been in and out of bands my whole life. That
was a great band. I itch to get back in the studio. I love the studio.
But right now, I’m kind of planning something, but there’s stuff going on,
you know?”
Perrette also has a lot of other artistic endeavors: writing,
poetry, photography and she is currently producing a documentary.
“My dream would be to be a reclusive, miserable writer. But I
haven’t had time,” Perrette laughs. “[I’d like] to lock myself inside and
write for the rest of my life, but there’s just too much going on. Still,
my fantasy life is ahead of me, hopefully, where I can just sit and write
the whole time.”
For now, though, she is more than happy to be part of NCIS.
“The
thing that makes this is a dream job is the cast and crew of this show is
just the greatest group of people,” Perrette gushes. “I think everybody was
pretty much hand-picked for that reason. It’s a great place to work.
Everybody is really good friends. Being such good friends with all of my
co-stars is a dream come true. I love them. They are awesome –
every single one of them. We have so much fun together. When we’re not at
work, we’re often hanging out somewhere else. And it’s a pretty long run,
you know. It’s four years and strong of being madly in love with each
other. All of us. People coming on the set – it throws them off. They’re
like what? Because everybody is so, so close. It’s very much like a
family.”
That family consists of such respected veteran actors as Mark
Harmon (St Elsewhere), David McCallum (The Man from UNCLE) and Lauren
Holly as well as newer actors like Perrette, Michael Weatherly, Cote
De Pablo and Sean Murray. NCIS
(for the record, the title stands for Naval
Criminal Investigative Service) has perfected a sure-footed mixture of drama
and comedy which has made it surprisingly popular. In fact, it is the only
show that has been able to stand tall as counter-programming to a little
phenomenon known American Idol – and not just because NCIS has
never allowed Sanjaya on their set.
“It’s just a fascinating thing what’s happened with NCIS up
against American Idol,” Perrette agrees. “They have these huge
numbers and it hasn’t really affected us at all. Last week, I think,
American Idol had like the first three slots [in the Nielsen ratings]
and we were number six. No other show that was in the top was up against
[AI]. We went dead head against them. Just even the numbers game is
fascinating. I think with NCIS, in the beginning people didn’t
really know what it was. They were like military something with an ‘N.’
Then when people check it out, they are like, wait a minute, what was that?
That’s funny. Then they have to go check it out again. What was that crazy
show I just watched? And then you’re hooked. Once people get hooked on
this show, they just don’t leave.”
Part of the charm is the quirkiness of the major characters – and
Abby is at the forefront of that. Unlike the average Navy investigator,
Abby wears punk t-shirts and has a whole bunch of tattoos.
“The one on Abby’s neck belongs to Bellisarius Productions,”
Perrette admits. “The rest are mine. The spider webs, that’s not.”
She is also just slightly hyper-active, which may be explained by
Abby’s ever-present super Big Gulps cups.
“That’s our fictional super-caffeine drink,” Perrette smiles.
“It’s actually filled with Hawaiian Punch, because that’s what Pauley
drinks.”
However,
one of the nicest touches for the series is that Mark Harmon’s character of
Gibbs – a hard-boiled military man from way back – is closer to Abby than
anyone else on the team.
“You know, the relationship is fascinating,” Perrette says. “I’ve
always suspected, and of course we don’t know… we’re always the last to
know… but it almost seems familial, you know? Like are they related? What
is it? But I love that relationship. I love that he’d be the hard, gruff
boss and then when it comes to Abby – he loves her. And he’s open
about it. It’s sweet. It’s a sweet, wonderful and a surprising
relationship.”
The show is deft at mixing moods and storylines. It seems that
there can sometimes be a certain gallows humor which comes to life in jobs
of such life-and-death pressure and NCIS shows that dichotomy.
“I’ve heard that is true,” Perrette says. “We work with them.
Everybody pretty much represented on this show – we’ve met their real life
counterpoint. All the NCIS agents. FBI. We’ve talked to cops. We’ve
talked to the medical examiners – everyone. Yeah [they
joke to get through the job], but there
is no disrespect there, I don’t think. I think it’s just more like anything
else anywhere. Life isn’t just all drama or all comedy. That’s one thing I
love about the show, that it’s both. I always say to people – the crime
show, we’re the funny one. We’re the funny show about crime.” She laughs.
“It has so much of everything. In an hour episode there’s all the drama and
I think the show is hilarious. I laugh at it more than I do sitcoms –
especially Michael Weatherly.”
Of course, it is also a bit of a balancing act doing a series about
the military right in the middle of an extremely unpopular war. As
a show
about the Navy – even when it is based in the
US
– of course some stories have to touch on Iraq. The show is able to perform
the balancing act of showing the bravery and ingenuity of the Navy without
making either side of the war debate feel that it is politically slanted.
Perrette, whose politics skew a little further left and is very active in
causes like gay rights, civil liberties and animal rescue, did have to
consider this when she was up for the role.
“I was concerned at first,” she admits. “I was concerned about
doing a military show during wartime. I was like, ughh… There’s no way to
predict what that was going to mean. It’s been fine. I was really, really
worried about that. But we’re telling stories about people. I’ve been
really impressed with the writers and the show and with the way that
[they’ve handled it]. It’s just a really tough thing to be putting on a
show about the military right now. I mean it gives me the shivers thinking
about it. But these are more story-based and character-based. So we’ve
been able to just continue to put on a show. An interesting show… It’s
cool. I’m fine.”
Perrette
feels a real responsibility to use her celebrity to help spread the word
about causes she feels passionately about.
“It’s a really interesting thing,” Perrette admits. “I don’t know
why people listen to celebrities, but they do. I’m sitting here surrounded
by all these rescue dogs. Without animal rescue... the mass breeding of
animals is very disturbing to me. I found that a lot of times, people… it
never occurred to them to go to rescue a dog that’s already here and needs a
home. For whatever reason – reading something or because they like an actor
or an actress – you know, it’s happened. It’s weird, when it’s actually
you, you think, me? Who on earth would really care what I have to say? I
feel that way all the time. But, you know what? If it helps you might as
well try it. Especially with issues like – gay rights, now – it’s just so
crazy. It’s a civil rights issue that’s right in our face. I think that
it’s getting better, but it’s really misunderstood a little bit. All these
horrible stereotypes and weird things about this one part of our community
that. It’s good for somebody to say, hey, you know what, that’s really
judgmental and wrong. And like I said, sometimes celebrities end up saying
stuff that changes things. But that’s not why it works.”
Of course, on a series that deals so much with technology and the
internet, Perrette has recently had a wake-up call as to the dangers of the
internet. She had to stop writing her regular blog when it became apparent
that a disturbed reader was posing
a threat to her. Perrette has now taken a more cautious
approach to the world wide web.
“I’ll tell you, I have suddenly just gone in a completely different
direction,” Perrette says. “Perhaps this is going to be the new wave, who
knows? But the internet, I’ve been surfing for years. Then all of the
sudden – and I think it was because it’s me – when it actually is me and I
read things on the internet all the time about myself which is completely
untrue.” She laughs. “Like, not true at all. Then I start
thinking, it happens so fast; it’s become this resource for information, but
there really is no disclaimer at the top of every page saying ‘almost none
of what you’re about to read may be true.’ When it’s actually me reading
about myself, I’m like, huh? What is this?
“I was talking to a young girl the other day. I was just saying,
be careful. Especially with all these…,” she sighs, “places where people
make their own page and all this stuff. I am not on MySpace.com. I’m not a
fan. But then there’s MySpace pages… not fan pages, those are fine. It
says at the top this is a fan page. But then there’s other ones –
‘MySpace.com/PauleyPerrette’ – posing as me. Talking to people as
me. That was terrifying. It’s like, whoaaa! And what are you going
to do, fight the whole internet? So essentially, I just gave up.
Hopefully, I think people will start understanding and talking about it more
that the internet is not a valid resource for everything. It’s a starting
place, but it’s really out of control.
“No
matter what you read or see, until you know somebody and really hang out
with them, you don’t really know. We don’t really know each other. That’s
one thing that’s bothering me about the internet is that… I’m not just
talking about celebrities; I’m talking about people that think you know from
their website. It’s good to hug your friend. Not cyber-hugs. Real ones.
It’s really becoming this world where nobody exists except online and it
makes me sad. Like, God, get off the internet and go walk with your
friend. Not your top eight friends… When was the last time you shook their
hand or kissed them on the cheek? As much as
information is out there, we don’t really know each other until we’ve held
your face and your hands or held them while they are crying or laughed with
them. It’s all rather false.”
After well over a decade in the
Hollywood
scene, though, Perrette is enjoying her dream part of Abby – not that she
doesn’t want to stretch out even more as an artist.
“I don’t have any interest in being a celebrity, but I am really
proud of being a good actor,” Perrette explains. “That’s a weird line. We
work this weird celebrity-crazy thing. I guess it’s kind of hard to
separate the two. The industry bows down to that. They’ll think of people
for parts because they crash their car while driving drunk. It’s just
strange. You have to just keep yourself out there.
Also, there are
just so many things I want to play in addition to [Abby]. I love Abby. I
want to play Abby for the rest of my life. But then on my break time… not
that there is a lot… I took a lot of things in independent film and stuff
that I’ve done here and there and even guest star on other stuff that were
nothing like Abby. I’ve got a lot more to do.”
However, for all that is going on in her life, Perrette likes the
fact that she is a pretty normal type. Life hasn’t changed for her that much
and stardom on one of the biggest shows on TV certainly hasn’t gone to her
head.
“I’m pretty simple. Pretty scruffy. Abby’s put together and all.
People often ask me how much I’m like her. Some people say, you’re so much
alike. Yeah, I’m very hyperactive when I talk. But I am always in old
scruffy jeans and an old sweatshirt and the same sneakers I’ve had for like
100 years. Very into comfort; sitting on the couch, watching television,
surrounded by a bunch of animals, drinking a beer.” Perrette laughs. “I’m
just a beer drinking guy.”
Email
us Let us know what you
think.
Features
Return to the features page.
