Criminal Minds is back on RTÉ Two for a seventh season. John Byrne travelled to the show’s Los Angeles set and met two of its stars, Thomas Gibson and Joe Mantegna.
They’re two tough cookies, Hotch and Rossi. It’s a case of having to be, of course. Can you imagine what it’s like to be a real BAU Profiler, and having to get up every morning and track down stone mad serial killers?
Thankfully, Agents Aaron Hotchner and David Rossi are characters played by the vastly experienced actors Thomas Gibson and Joe Mantegna, so this isn’t going to be an interview with a couple of hard-boiled cops who have seen things most people couldn’t even imagine, but a pair of polished actors.
In between scenes at the Criminal Minds’ set at Quixote Studios, a relatively compact lot compared to, say, the monstrous Disney and Universal lots in other parts of the sprawling Los Angeles metropolis, they take a break by entertaining the foreign press. No wonder they look as though they can’t wait to get back to filming...
Being actors of long-standing who both take their craft very seriously, and seeing how reality TV is congesting the schedules on both sides of the Atlantic, I wonder what their attitude is towards the genre.
First off the blocks, Thomas Gibson admits: “I watch Top Chef. So, you know, that's reality TV. I mean, I think some of it is a little - you know, some of it has a niche, and some of it's really ridiculous, but people watch ridiculous things.
"Nobody's gotten poor underestimating the ridiculousness of some television. So, you know, fortunately, there's apparently enough channels for lots of crazy stuff to go on.”
“Right,” says Mantegna, before Gibson continues.
“I think that there's enough good scripted television that's being done that the whole thing about reality television being cheaper to produce and all that - I think all the studios and networks would love it if that were true and that viewers could subsist on a diet of nothing but reality television, but I don't know if that will ever happen.”
Joe Mantegna has spent a lifetime performing on stage and in front of camera. Now aged 64, his first paying job was in seminal 1960s’ musical Hair. There was no reality TV back then, and work was still a problem for the average thespian.
“It was never easy to make a living as a working actor, and it's probably made it that much harder,” he feels. “You know, there's a whole legion of very talented dramatic actors and actresses out there that the playing field gets a little smaller.”
For Mantegna, it must be quite satisfying to find himself at this stage in life in regular employment on a hit TV show. Although he’s extremely versatile and has a CV that ranges from The Godather III to The Simpsons (his is the voice of mob boss Fat Tony D'Amico), this is the first time he’s been in a show that’s lasted more than two seasons, having replaced the departing Mandy Patinkin after season two.
“I equate a lot of things to sports, you know, because I find that it has a lot of parallels,” he says, reflecting on his current success. “For me, I was looking to do a - I had done some series, not much prior to that, but enough to realise that, when it's good, it can be a very enjoyable lifestyle and fun to work with the same people.
“I had come from a background of working for a theatre company. We worked with the same group of actors, and I enjoyed that. So when this opening came to me, what was great about it is like, in terms of sports, it's, like, ‘Oh, they lost the third baseman for the Yankees and they're interested in you’.
"So it wasn't like I was joining the Chicago Cubs, which is my favourite team - but unfortunately, they lose all the time. I was asked to join the team that already seemed to be playing very well and it was very strong. So I always felt what I needed to do was just come in and do my job well.”
“And made stronger by his addition,” notes Thomas Gibson, whose previous includes the comedy Dharma & Gregg and medical drama Chicago Hope. In stark contrast to his career, his character Hotchner has really gone through the mill since Criminal Minds debuted back in 2007.
So far he’s been caught in a bomb explosion, stabbed and assaulted, and his ex-wife was murdered. Hotch took the ultimate revenge by beating the killer, known as the Reaper. No wonder he rarely smiles.
Thomas Gibson acknowledges that his character’s had it tough, especially losing his ex-wife to a serial killer. “Absolutely,” he says. “Obviously, that's something I don't think anybody ever gets over, but I think it's something that he could hopefully overcome to some extent.”
