Interview - TV Choice Magazine - 2011

As CSI: Miami returns, Emily Procter, who plays Detective Calleigh Duquesne, tells TV Choice how she’s juggling her time between being a mother and an actress. She also reflects on the ninth series, which begins with one of the forensic team dying from a lethal gas attack, and Lt Horatio Crane (David Caruso) trying to track down a serial killer…

How are you coping with being a mother and an actress? Do you take your seven-month-old daughter Pippa on set with you?
Yes, I went right back to work and she came with me and that was very difficult because she was so new, and I think I was really insane. I was like [puts on a manic voice] ‘I feel fine!’ But it’s going to be interesting to take her now because we’re getting ready for season 10, and she’s bigger and can sort of toddle around and engage with people, so I’m excited to see how she likes it.

Memmo Fierro, who murdered Horatio’s wife, appears in episode four of this series. Is that one of the standout stories?
One of the things that I think is really fun about our show is that it has this comic book undertone. We’re able to have these villains that last for seasons. So Memmo is sort of a presence throughout season nine and even into season 10. He’s a bad guy.

Do you have a favourite villain?
We had a bad guy for many years, who was Clavo Cruz and he eventually died, but we all loved Clavo so much. It was also very painful when Sergeant Rick Stetler left, but we do get quite attached to our bad guys.

The stories are pretty intense, so do they ever upset you?
They used to really upset me. I had a very difficult time when I first started and I thought, ‘I’m not going to make it because the subject matter is so gruesome.’ But over time, we’ve developed such a jokey rapport with one another, we just end up laughing and the people who come on to play the dead bodies are great sports. So we just end up having an atmosphere that’s fun, and that helps — you don’t really think of the truth of it.

Do you do your own stunts?
I do. In fact, I love to do my own stunts. I have a stunt girl I work with called Nancy and sometimes when I make them nervous they call Nancy in.

What’s been your most difficult stunt?
Definitely the episode Going Under, when I was swimming around in a Hummer. The crew said, ‘Let’s take 10 minutes and teach Emily how to scuba dive.’ So in 10 minutes they taught me how to scuba dive and it’s something that I’m so thankful to learn, because I love it. I can understand why people want to be stunt artists.

Do you have real life police officers saying you’re an inspiration?
Oh God, no — that would be highly doubtful. We do have a lot of officers on set, and I love hearing their stories. It’s such a sacrifice that kind of work, for the loss of innocence alone. It’s a sacrifice, and they’re just interesting — very admirable I think. I think they do care about people’s safety, and that’s amazing.

You’re a fan of Eighties music, and your boyfriend and Pippa’s father, Paul Bryan, is a musician and producer. Do you have similar tastes?
I’m looking at our record collection now, and we segment it off. The one band we both tend to enjoy is Rush, but my side is Van Halen and Rush, and his side is Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington. We met through the singer songwriter Aimee Mann — she’s great. Paul plays with her and produced her last couple of albums and she and I knew each other, so she introduced us.

19 Juillet 2011 par David Collins - TV Choice Magazine.co.uk