INTERVIEW: The Bridge cop show is real deal

The Bridge cop show is real deal
By: Glen Schaefer
Date: February 27, 2010
Interviewees: Aaron Douglas, Ona Grauer and Frank Cassini 
Source: The Province

 

Series about police officer’s life on the mean streets of Toronto set to air 

A scene in the first episode of the new Toronto-set TV drama The Bridge (9 p.m. Friday, CTV) has a group of police officers emptying their guns into a fleeing pickup truck, after which one of them jokes blackly with investigators probing the shooting. 

“Americans love that,” says Vancouver actor Aaron Douglas, who stars in the show as that scene’s joker, a uniformed cop and police union leader named Frank Leo. “I’ve shown the pilot to friends, a couple of cops, and they think that’s just the best scene in the show.” 

The Bridge is inspired by the life of ex-policeman and former Toronto police union leader Craig Bromell, who is one of the show’s producers. Douglas, who was previously one of the regulars on the Vancouver-shot series Battlestar Galactica, spent time with Bromell before filming to soak up a street-level policeman’s point of view. 

“Bad guys are bad guys — if you’re going to act like a dirt bag, expect to be treated like a dirt bag,” says Douglas. “In life, I have no problem with that.” 

Another scene in the two-hour series premiere deals with amateur video footage of a fatal police beating on a suburban street. 

The premiere was filmed in the summer of 2008, clearly evoking memories of the real-life 2007 video footage of Robert Dziekanski’s death at Vancouver’s airport. 

“Absolutely,” says Douglas. “I think that’s what art is supposed to do, evoke emotion and get a dialogue happening. We certainly did that on Battlestar and I think we’re doing it on this show. A few people can see both sides of the fence, but the show is very polarizing, a lot of it. It’s going to be interesting to see the reactions, because these are events that happen every day to police officers around the world,” he adds. 

Douglas’ fictional union leader isn’t played as a straight-up good guy, nor are his police colleagues, with a busy story that includes a rogue cop robbing drug dealers and another disturbed officer who shoots his wife. 

“It makes it so much more interesting when people are on both sides of the line,” says Douglas. “That’s exactly what this guy is . . . It’s a really interesting character, he is a womanizer and sometimes he drinks too much, a bit of a hard-ass but his humanity shows through.” 

The show, which filmed the rest of its 13 episodes over four months last year, features two other Vancouver faces in lead roles. Ona Grauer, who plays a union lawyer romantically involved with Douglas’ character, was part of the ensemble on the much-missed Vancouver-shot crime drama Intelligence. Frank Cassini, playing a well-connected police sergeant in the new show, has been a familiar face in Vancouver-shot TV and film going back to the The X-Files. 

Also on the producing-writing team is Toronto’s Alan Di Fiore, who was a writer-producer on Da Vinci’s Inquest in Vancouver. 

The Bridge is also set to air in July on the U.S. CBS network. 

Grauer says the cast and crew on The Bridge’s Toronto sets talked about the pioneering 1980s U.S. drama Hill Street Blues, in terms of stories, conspiracies and characters in the moral grey area. 

“That was one of the shows that was mentioned on set a few times,” Grauer says. “Some of the scripts I couldn’t turn the page — ‘Oh my God, what’s waiting for me?’ It’s what goes on behind it at the job.” 

The show’s title refers to a Toronto bridge that links a well-to-do neighbourhood with a poor district. Cassini, who grew up in Toronto before making his career in Vancouver, says the many exterior scenes brought back childhood memories for him. 

“It was a special summer shooting that pilot, and the rest of the series going back to areas where I grew up, in little Italy and the Annex,” says Cassini, who left Toronto nearly 30 years ago. 

His character, nicknamed the Rabbi, does a bit of the Hill Street Blues thing of briefing the troops, but as well is a facilitator, bringing competing parties together in the story’s various subplots. 

“He’s the go-to guy, maybe a little bit of an advice guy,” says Cassini, who has been based in Vancouver since the 1990s after leaving Toronto in the early 1980s to work in New York and L.A. 

CTV has been giving the new show a heavy promotional push during the Olympics. Cast and crew will know in a few weeks whether they’re heading back to Toronto this summer for a second season.

INTERVIEW: Aaron Douglas ready to wear some ‘earth clothes’ on ‘The Bridge’

Aaron Douglas ready to wear some ‘earth clothes’ on ‘The Bridge’
By: Tyrone Warner
Date: February 24, 2010
Source: CTV

 

After four years of appearing in the sci-fi hit “Battlestar Galactica,” this Canadian actor says he’s ready to play a character with his feet planted firmly on the ground.

“I loved Battlestar Galactica and I’m proud of it, but it’s nice to put on ‘earth clothes,’ drive in a car, go to an office, answer a phone, and eat a hamburger.. doing real-life, real world stuff,” Aaron Douglas tells CTV.ca.

Douglas played the space-craft bound Chief Galen Tyrol on “BSG” until the series wrapped on its fourth season last year. Now Douglas is moving on to a starring role in the new CTV original series, “The Bridge,” which premieres Friday, March 5 at 9pm ET.

“The Bridge” is a police drama that focuses on beat cop Frank Leo (Aaron Douglas) and the understaffed Bridge Division, where good cops are being blamed for drug rip-offs. Framed by corrupt police brass, Frank’s mentor commits suicide. But when the brass won’t give him a police funeral, Frank puts his career on the line and leads a walk-out strike.

With the series resting entirely on his shoulders, Douglas admits that taking on his first major starring role has proven to be harder than any other experience he’s had before.

“The challenge with this role — literally — is for me being in 90% of the scenes and having 10 pages of dialog a day. And when I’m not working I’m in interviews, getting pulled in this direction, that direction — even in my downtime on set, in my trailer, the door never stops knocking. Being #1 on the call sheet is a new thing for me… but I’m quickly adapting,” says Douglas.

The actor has also had to get a feel for shooting “The Bridge” with an all-new crew in Toronto, unlike “BSG” which was filmed on the other side of the country in his native Vancouver.

“I had the same crew there for six years, and had the same routine. Suddenly to come out here, the little things that are different make you go, ‘Oh… I have much different way to do that.’ Not that my way is better — it’s just a different way that I’m used to. But our crew here is amazing, and our guys are great.”

Douglas, born in the Vancouver suburb of New Westminster, BC, who after graduating from the William B. Davis Center for Actors, began steady work in various roles on TV and in movies. He’s appeared in films including “X-Men 2,” “The Chronicles of Riddick” and “I, Robot.”

For Torontonians, themes and storylines from “The Bridge” will ring familiar, with the series being inspired by the notorious ex-police union head Craig Bromell, and written by Alan Di Fiore.

Douglas credits Bromell’s hands-on advice on the set of “The Bridge” with adding a heightened level of realism to the series, adding little details and suggestions for every police procedure.

“He’s always there, he’ll answer any question. He’ll always talk about what to do, how to stand, how to walk. He’s a remarkable man, and I’m proud to call him a friend,” says Douglas.

“I’m glad to have that resource, because I wasn’t a cop, and he has a lot of information that informs me what to do.”

 

“The Bridge” premieres with a special two-hour premiere on CTV, and returns to it’s regular timeslot at 10p.m. ET.

INTERVIEW: Playback – 10 to Watch

10 to Watch
By: Mark Dillon
Date: August 17, 2009
Source: Playback

 

 

 

 

 

Aaron Douglas – Actor

Age: 37
Residence: Vancouver
Agency: Pacific Artists Management
Buzz: Graduates from supporting role on cult fave Battlestar Galactica to lead on upcoming CTV/CBS police drama The Bridge

Aaron Douglas is not your typical leading man. But then The Bridge is not your typical cop show.

Douglas is one of the boys as Frank Leo, a city cop and head of the police union in the drama series that will launch on CTV mid-season as well as on CBS.

Snagging the lead role is just the latest example of the confident Douglas proving he’s not to be underestimated. He is best known for his portrayal of Galen Tyrol, aka The Chief, on the now-defunct sci-fi drama Battlestar Galactica, and as series producer Ronald D. Moore has said, Tyrol was initially written as a more minor character, but he was so impressed with Douglas that the role was quickly expanded.

And he nearly missed out entirely on The Bridge. He was not on the original list of actors being considered, but a champion at CTV floated his name and John Fawcett, director of the pilot – which will air as two one-hours – supported the idea. Douglas, too busy on Battlestar for a proper audition, then taped a couple of scene-readings for the producers, and a week later was offered the gig. Joining Douglas in the cast are Paul Popowich, Inga Cadranel, Frank Cassini, Theresa Joy, Ona Grauer, Michael Murphy and Stuart Margolin.

In the opening episode, Leo is put in a spot when he learns that some members of his union have stepped outside the law. The show is grittier than the more common police procedurals, with morality painted in shades of gray, making it like a cable series on network television.

“We’re a little more real-life in that sometimes bad things happen, and sometimes retribution and justice just don’t come around,” Douglas says. “We’re going to be a little bit more difficult to watch, but in a good way.”

E1 Entertainment, which is producing and handling international distribution, hopes viewers all over the world will be watching. The series was originated by 990 Multi Media Entertainment’s Adam Shully and Craig Bromell, whose experiences as head of the Toronto police union provide the series’ inspiration. The show was developed with Barna-Alper Productions before that prodco was acquired by E1.

Laszlo Barna, now E1’s president of TV production, credits Douglas’ maturity. “To play Frank Leo we needed someone who had subtlety, charisma, had to be understated but powerful when necessary, and someone with the technical skills to put all that together, and our inevitable choice was Aaron, because he’s got all those qualities,” says Barna, who exec produces with head writer Alan Di Fiore, Robert Wertheimer, Shully and Bromell.

Although the Leo character is based on Bromell, Douglas says he’s not aiming for impersonation.

“I’m just trying to make Frank right for me and right for the direction I think Alan Di Fiore is taking him in,” the thesp says. “My conversations with Craig are mostly based around how do you wear your belt and how do you stand and what do you do in this situation and do you wear gloves and how do you drive and who gets out of the car first – that sort of real cop stuff. I want real-life police officers to watch this show and go ‘That’s exactly how we do it and they get it right.’ That’s the best compliment you can get.”

 

[click thumbnails to enlarge images]

INTERVIEW (VIDEO): eTalk – Extended Interviews (on the set of ‘The Bridge’) (May 7, 2009)

Below are video interviews with Aaron Douglas, Paul Popowich, Frank Cassini and guest star Aaron Ashmore, that aired on the CTV player on May 7th, 2009.

etalk visits the set of the new hit show ‘The Bridge’ to get the inside scoop on this hot new cop drama!

etalk : extended – The Bridge : Aaron Douglas
We find out what its like to be part of a Canada-U.S. production from “The Bridges” Aaron Douglas.

Source: http://watch.ctv.ca/etalk/tv/extended—the-bridge/#clip169797


 

Below are some video interviews with Aaron’s co-stars on THE BRIDGE. In the interview with Aaron Ashmore, ‘our Aaron’ walks past him (time stamp 01:24) and says something. I won’t spoil it. You’ll have to watch it :)


etalk : extended – The Bridge : Paul Popowich
Paul Popowich tells etalk what makes a good TV cop.

Source: http://watch.ctv.ca/etalk/tv/extended—the-bridge/#clip169796


etalk : extended – The Bridge : Frank Cassini
“The Bridge” star Frank Cassini tells etalk what it was like to work with real cops on the show.

Source: http://watch.ctv.ca/etalk/tv/extended—the-bridge/#clip169791


etalk : extended – The Bridge : Aaron Ashmore
Aaron Ashmore guest-stars on “The Bridge” and we find out what its like to play such a mature role.

Source: http://watch.ctv.ca/etalk/tv/extended—the-bridge/#clip169796

INTERVIEW (VIDEO): eTalk – Aaron Douglas Interview (on the set of ‘The Bridge’) (August 6, 2008)

eTalk (on the set of ‘The Bridge’)
Date: August 6, 2008
Source: eTalk

 

eTalk : Wednesday August 6, 2008 : Aaron Douglas
Battlestar Galactica’s Aaron Douglas plays a cop in the new CTV movie of the week “The Bridge” and he tells us how his new role takes him out of his comfort zone.