Shared chemistry:
Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J come from vastly different backgrounds but yet have a lot in common and share a special onscreen chemistry in NCIS: Los Angeles. Melenie Parkes reports.
NCIS: LA
stars have much in common.
In the world of NCIS: Los Angeles, Covid-19 has already been and gone. When the series returns for season 12, you won’t see agents G. Callen (Chris O’Donnell) and Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) running through the streets of Los Angeles masked up and squirting hand sanitiser at their foes.
“We are playing it in a world where the pandemic did happen and we’re conscious of that. It’s just not a big part of the show,” says Chris O’Donnell.
But the pandemic was a big motivator in getting the long-running series back on air, even though it meant working under rigorous Covid-19 protocols in which the cast was split up into smaller groups and tested daily.
Both stars say they wanted to give fans of the show a respite from quarantine.
“I think in a lot of ways our show can be comfort food for people,” says LL Cool J.
The pair have worked together on the series since it began and their on-screen chemistry has endeared them to fans.
As members of the Naval Criminal Investigation Service’s Office Of Special Projects, their characters work on undercover investigations and just like the men who play them, Callen and Hanna come from very different backgrounds yet share much in common.
“It’s hard to pinpoint how and why people have chemistry,” ponders O’Donnell.
“We have, I think, a mutual fascination with each other and where we come from, and the fact that although we come from different
lives – and we lead pretty different lives – the most important things in life, the values that we have, are very similar.” For both actors, family is key. They have each been married for more than 20 years – a milestone that is almost an anomaly in Hollywood. O’Donnell (Vertical Limit, Batman & Robin) says the biggest benefit of being part of a successful franchise is the stability it has afforded his family and the five children, aged 14 to 21, he shares with his wife Caroline. “They’ve been able to be in one place and go to the same school and not have to be forced to move around, which happens a lot if you’re an actor.” LL Cool J, who shares four children, aged 20 to 31, with wife Simone, describes his 12 years on the series as “a beautiful chapter in my life” and a chance to live out his boyhood dreams. “I used to be jumping off on to refrigerator boxes with my towel on the back of my shirt, my T-shirt tucked into my underwear, trying to be a hero, right? So I get to be a hero. That’s a wonderful thing, that’s just fulfilling a childhood fantasy.” Although the series is primarily a procedural drama, it also combines elements of comedy and even romance. But for LL Cool J (Any Given Sunday, Last Holiday) it’s all about the action.
“I like the action,” he says. “Action is for me. It’s fun discovering new things, doing new things, learning new skills.
“One minute I’m snorkelling, the next minute I’m scuba diving, the next minute I’m jumping off the back of the plane, I’m skydiving. It’s just so many things.”
The actor, who began his career in music and still records and performs, says he has always had an appreciation and understanding for those in the line of duty.
“My grandfather was an auxiliary police officer. My uncle was a detective. My grandfather was also in the army. My father was in the navy. So I’ve been around people who think and have these kind of mindsets. And I do respect that, on a cultural level. I get it.”
Chris O’Donnell also pulls plenty of stunts on the show but the kind that sometimes trip him up are of the linguistic variety.
Callen speaks several languages fluently, which means Chris O’Donnell must too.
“For some reason, I had to speak about five different languages in one scene and they had coaches for each one standing there and I could see them all listening on their little devices.
“And when their language came up, if I did it, I could see them be excited and then if there was one I stumbled on, you could see the frustration. And I could see it out of the corner of my eye. It was incredibly distracting.”
“We are playing it in a world where the pandemic did happen and we’re conscious of that. It’s just not a big part of the show.”
– Chris O’Donnell