THE BRIDGE: Ex-street cop relishes new role in TV land

Ex-street cop relishes new role in TV land
By: Dan Robson
Date: August 25, 2009
Source: Toronto Star

 

Toronto’s most notorious cop is suddenly all Hollywood – Starbucks cup in one hand, Dominican cigar in the other.

On the set of The Bridge, a joint CTV-CBS project loosely based on his tumultuous career running the Toronto police union, Craig Bromell puffs a cigar as the tape rolls.

“Quiet! Quiet on the set! – and – Action!”

Dramatically, a pretty blonde actress standing beside a silver Mercedes coupe delivers the line of her character, a lawyer: “You know Frank will do anything to help a cop in trouble.”

To which an equally pretty blonde actress playing a cop replies: “Even if it means – crossing the line to do it.” They glare at each other coldly.

“Cut!”

For Bromell, The Bridge is fiction with a touch of reality because he, of course, would also do anything to help a cop in trouble. For six years at the head of the Toronto’s 7,500-member police union, he did just that – and those years were controversial to say the least.

He first hit the headlines as one of nine officers from 51 Division accused of beating up a homeless man in 1996.

The case languished in court for years, until they were acquitted, but eventually an out-of-court cash settlement was reached in 2003.

“Street cop becomes union boss – that’s where it ends,” Bromell says of the line between him and Frank Leo, the show’s main character.

“Everything is fictional. All the characters are fictional. The stories are all fictional.”

During his term as union boss, critics accused Bromell of ushering in a police state.

Some politicians feared he had officers bugging their offices and following them.

He championed the “True Blue” campaign to offer windshield stickers that indicated the amount of money drivers had donated to the union.

“Obviously he’s an inspiration,” says the show’s acclaimed writer, Alan Di Fiore. “But we worked very hard to find stories and situations that were universal.”

Back on the set – sockless in brown leather loafers, beige shorts and a wide Hawaiian shirt – Bromell takes another puff. During the shoots, he provides a touch of authenticity for the actors.

His goal, he says, is to someday produce a Hollywood movie. He has more than 300 stories banked from his policing days, he says, and there are already whispers of another show.

“This is what I do,” he smiles, as the two beautiful actresses are powdered to reshoot a scene. “It’s f—ing unbelievable.”

Aaron Douglas, a.k.a. Chief Galen Tyrol from Battlestar Galactica, plays Frank Leo on The Bridge. Despite the apparent similarities between Bromell and Leo, the actor says the former cop turned executive producer really only contributed “the cop walk, the cop talk, the stance, that sort of thing.”

Douglas says the show deals with the part of reality of policing the “public never sees, never hears about.” Sometimes, he says, officers have to make sure “justice is served” through less than judicial means.

“You have to bend the law to enforce the law – and sometimes you have to break the law to enforce the law,” he says.

Sound familiar?

The Star’s own headlines splash across Bromell’s controversial legacy: “Bromell huffs, puffs, and blows his credibility” – “Bromell takes heat for comments” – “Bromell defies summit” – “Police Union bullying” – “Man sues, alleging beating by nine officers.”

But he seems to have loosened up today.

He takes another puff.

“I wanted to be a stunt driver – they wouldn’t let me,” he says with a laugh. “I wanted to beat someone up – they wouldn’t let me.”

Still, as an executive producer, Bromell does manage to get his way:

“They said they wanted less blood,” he says. “I said, I want more blood.'”

Bromell seems oddly at home here, in TV land, where controversy and violence are just part of the script.

“People aren’t going to expect this,” he said about the show, which is set to air late this year, or early in 2010.

“These aren’t hero cop stories – cops can be heroes and cops can be villains.”