In a podcast he hosts with Cote de Pablo about “NCIS,” Michael Weatherly recalled how he managed to save his character with his ideas…
Many people tend to forget that the NCIS franchise was born in the series JAG. Indeed, it was in two episodes of season 8 that Gibbs and his team were introduced to American viewers in 2003, before getting their own show.
Michael Weatherly saved DiNozzo
Among these new characters introduced to the public was obviously Tony DiNozzo, played by actor Michael Weatherly. More than 20 years later, the latter hosts with Cote de Pablo (aka Ziva) a podcast called Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch in which the duo watches old episodes, while sharing anecdotes with fans.
In an episode of this show, the one who later found success with Bull recently revealed how he saved Tony after the arrival of the NCIS team in JAG! The comedian recalled: “It's a funny story (…) We were shooting the episodes of JAG, which allowed us to introduce our spin-off series and in which Mark Harmon, David McCallum (who had a strong character, editor's note), Pauley Perette and I were the main characters at the beginning.“
“I don't want Tony to be ordinary”
“After these two episodes aired, I was in London when I received an email from Don Bellisario (the co-creator, editor's note) where he was like, 'I'm trying to write the first script of the season and I can't hear your voice.' You know, writers hear the voices of the characters and because I don't think I had impressed him much before, he couldn't find Tony's place in the scenes,” explains Michael Weatherly.
“He said, 'I don't want it to be ordinary. Do you have any ideas?' Well, don't get me started on my ideas because I wrote a ten-page email that read like a dissertation of the highest order!“Clearly very inspired, the main person concerned therefore managed to give ideas to Don Bellisario to develop Tony.
A totally successful operation since Michael Weatherly will soon be the star of his own series derived from the saga entitled NCIS: Tony & Ziva, where he will play opposite Cote de Pablo again.