Updates     Guestbook     Terms     Contact   *** Information Biography Filmography Trivia Interviews News *** Media Photo Gallery Wallpapers Clips Avatars & Icons Banners TV Guide *** Interactive Links Fan Mail Vote Donate *** Entrance CODE COUTURE Jezebel Magazine September 2004 By Beth Weitzman They are successful, hard-working, sexy and single. On the brink of season two of their hit show Navy NCIS, the pressure is on. I had a chance to chat with Sasha Alexander and Michael Weatherly, two of the most down-to-earth celebs I have ever met. They shared some insight into what it takes to be successful in the biz, and it ain't easy. We also spoke about the fun stuff...dating, fashion, shopping, camaraderie among the cast and some very entertaining stories. Read on. JEZ: With the second season of Navy NCIS premiering in just a few weeks, you guys must be super busy filming. Tell me about a "typical day." Ladies first... Sasha Alexander: Well, yesterday was Monday and I started my day at 4:30 in the morning. I had to be at work at 5 :30 a.m., and I got home at midnight. But that's not typical. That was a brutal day. Today I started at 10 a.m., and I'll be here 'til about midnight. Michael Weatherly: Generally, it's a 14-hour work day, and you have a half-hour break for lunch in the middle, where we all eat in a little cafeteria next to the stage. Typically, I'll get home at around 9 p.m. JEZ: That's a long day by anyone's standards. Do you find it hard to rally the next day? SA: So hard. I have to be honest, Beth, keeping your enthusiasm and your energy is really hard. And when I took the job last year, I had never really experienced anything quite so difficult. (Laughs) I just didn't really know what I got myself into. You know, I think the first few months you have a lot of-energy, and then your motor starts running out. Then it becomes about healthy eating, getting as much sleep as possible and being really, really organized about your time. Unfortunately, that means learning to say no sometimes to dinner with your friends or everything else because you just don't have it in you. The upside is that I do what I love to do. MW: Sure, we get tired and a little run-down, but I wake up every day and I'm excited. I started acting when I was 21, and I have a lot of friends who didn't find their calling 'til a lot later. You know, working with Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny on The Last Days of Disco.. .I've had an absolute blast. And working with James Cameron.. .how did that happen? I don't know. But somehow, through all that, I seem to have not selfdestructed. And I have my son and I feel like a really, really lucky guy. I guess I have to just keep reminding myself of that. And I also feel like I'm just starting. I feel like I'mjust beginning to see what I can do. And how fantastic, in a career, to feel like I'm just getting into the interesting part. JEZ: Sure doesn't leave much time for a personal life... SA: Yeah. I mean, gosh, personal life, please. Mark [Harmon] is married, but Michael and I just laugh. There are points where we were like, 'Oh my God, we have no life.' But then you learn to adjust around that and you learn to make it work, and hopefully we'll meet somebody who's supportive enough and gets it. MW: Most nights, what I do is come home, and as I mentioned, I have a son, who's 8 years old named August, and he lives out here in California so I see him on the weekends. But I'll try and, if! can, say good night to him each night. And then I will work for usually an hour or two on the next day's work and any other projects I'm trying to motivate myself to get done. (Laughs) JEZ: The cast is definitely comprised of an interesting group of talented actors. MW: Oh, it's totally crazy, and a lot of younger people have no idea that David McCallum was a sex symbol, a huge international star. Boys and girls had posters of McCallum in their bedrooms growing up. He was a big, giant, TV icon. Back then he played a spy, and so now David sort of has this little twinkle in his eye because, you know, he's obviously lived the life. (Laughs) And he's the most prepared actor I've ever seen in my life. Everyone has these specifically well-drawn characters and we all are a contrast to each other, so it doesn't get boring. And that's what Don Bellisario does really well. With Magnum, P.I., you had Higgins and the dogs and then you had Tom Selleck trying to get the Ferrari from Higgins... I was a huge Magnum, P.I. fan because of the interaction of the characters and their differences. I think there's a similar tone on NCIS, where you know, Ducky is down in the medical examiner's office going on all these tangents, and Abby is down in the lab being the goth chic with all the science and the punk rock attitude. So I think there's a little something for everyone. I'm endlessly fascinated by it. Mark Harmon, at the end oflast year said, 'You've had far too good of a time doing this, haven't you?' And I said, 'Yep.' And he said, 'Is this the best job you've ever had?' And I said, '100 percent, by far, the best job. I could never even have dreamed that the job would be this much fun. JEZ: Are either of you like your Secret Agent characters in real life? MW: Um, I don't know... (Laughs) I think I probably have some elements of Anthony in me.When I was 13, for instance, which I remem.ber very well, I wanted to be a spy. I mean, what would be more fun Ithan to go and be James Bond? So, what I am doing now is sort of a twist, because my guy thinks he's James Bond, but everyone else looks at him and thinks he's a moron. SA: For me, not at all, so that aspect of it is really fun to me. The only lart that I think is like Kate is some of the banter that I do with Mark and Michael. I think I have a sense of humor, but I can tend to have a dry sensibility, and I'll come back with quick things, so a lot of that banter that happens between us, I don't think that fast, but that kind of sense of humor is the only thing I share with her. Other than that, I don't know. I like her wardrobe. (Laughs) JEZ: It must be neat to portray completely different characters, depending on the project you're working on. MW: Right, like on Dark Angel I was a very earnest, underground freedom fighter, never smiled, just a very dry sense of humor, a very unironic stance as a character. But at NCIS, which is an absolute blast to do every day, my guy is like a 13 year old boy with a gun and a badge. And it's like James Bond and girls, girls, girls. He just can't believe how much he loves his job, and every day he gets to go in and try and find the bad guy and, you know, if he can possibly get a pretty girl's phone number, then that's a bonus. SA: I think we find a little bit of ourselves in every role we do. Kate's different than any other role I've played because she's in law enforcement. I mean, she's an ex-Secret Service agent who's chosen basically to live a life of solving crime, walking around with a gun, protecting people. That is something I would never choose to do in my life. It's not an area that I would feel confident in. And so it gives you a certain confidence, it gives you a certain way of being that is so much more comfortable, like not fearful of anything, and that's something that I'm not used to. JEZ: How many takes is typical to complete one scene? MW: What will end up being two minutes of screen time can take up to five hours to shoot. The reason isn't because we're sitting in our trailer eating bonbons and drinking champagne and talking to JEZEBEL magazine.. . JEZ: Of course. MW: That's just today. (Laughs) It's more repetitive, because we shoot from so many different angles, we do the scene maybe 25 or 30 times. And you know, each take has its own special flavor. (Laughs) JEZ: I know you have both spent some time doing feature films as well. Are you thinking about doing any additional films? SA: Absolutely. This year we had a very short break and I was supposed to go do this little movie and truthfully, I backed out and was like, 'You know what, I want to go travel.' You know, when I'm not working I really love to travel. I love to leave Los Angeles, and I just need to travel. As far as future films, if things come my way and my schedule permits, I'll definitely do it. If not, it will wait until my hiatus. With movies it's really about picking the right roles, and I certainly don't want to work just to work. I want to find something special. I have a film right now that I'm hoping to produce and star in next April on my break, so we'll see. MW: I did a movie over the summer, my hiatus, in Sacramento with Estella Warren called Her Minor Thing. Her minor thing is that Estella's a virgin, and I'm her boyfriend. So that was my summer vacation. JEZ: OK, so I know you're both currently single, yes? MW: Yes, I am currently a single human being. (Smiling) JEZ: So tell me, what's your type? MW: I really don't know, I mean I've dated and I was married briefly and, you know, I was engaged for several years to Jessica Alba, my costar from Dark Angel, so I've had different experiences with people from all different countries and walks of life. I find people fascinating, and I find women more fascinating than men... I'll tell you that much. Urn, it's a very difficult question to answer. You know, obviously, there has to be some kind of click.And, you know, that's a rare thing. SA: Well, now that I've grown up (laughs) let's just say, I'm really looking for a man who's smart and has a great sense of humor and a great outlook on life. And, I think more importantly, somebody who's really supportive and understanding because I think in this day and age, when women work, and they work as much as maybe I'm working, it's really tough to find a guy who really gets it. So I really need someone who loves what they do as much as I do and is totally supportive of my success and isn't intimidated or competitive or any of that crap, because I don't really have time for that. JEZ: What's your thought on dating someone in the industry compared to not in the industry? SA: The advantages are that they understand your business and what you go through and certainly understand your schedule and the demands of it. The disadvantage is that, like anything, it's hard to be in the same thing. In the end it really doesn't matter, it just matters on the person. I mean there's advantages and disadvantages to both. So just being with somebody who has something else to bring to the table is really important to me. If he happens to be in the same business but is not the kind of person that is obsessed with it, then that's great. MW: Well, I've dated sporadically over the last year of being single, but I really haven't dated anybody in that year who's been in the industry. Everyone's been outside of it, and right now at least, it's easier (laughs) because the conversation kind of gets to a dead-end pretty quickly when, you know, you're talking to somebody who knows all the same things you know. But somebody who's a chemist or a lawyer or some other walk of life, it's always, to me, more interesting. JEZ: Sasha, we know that Michael has dated, and was even engaged to a formerco-star. Could you ever imagine dating a co-star? SA: That is so impossible! (Laughs) Um, sure, you know what, if you're off on some tropical island shooting a movie and you're gonna be done with that forever, maybe. But when you're on a television series you could potentially be on for years, it's the absolute worst idea. I mean, I think my co-stars are hot... but you know that would be the most ridiculous thing ever. It's just a really bad idea. We tease Michael about his past endeavors, too. Because it's just a bad idea. JEZ: Michael, do you find it difficult to decipher the people who might be interested in dating you because of who you are? MW: No, (laughs) I find it's just the opposite. I think most smart women are very skeptical of someone like me. JEZ: Especially when they see the show... MW: They could either see the show or they could just kind of make their own assessment based on the generalities of somebody who's an actor, who's divorced, who has a kid.. .and obviously, to anyone who's got their radar up, you know, there's a few flags on the play. So I don't come in clean, so to speak; I'm a pretty messy thing to contend with. That skepticism is healthy and well-warranted, I would say. (Laughs) And the other thing is that frankly, having this job at this particular time, I'm much happier just dating and no looking too seriously at things... Having said that, that usually means I'm just moments away from falling deeply in love with someone completely wrong for me! JEZ: Isn't that the truth? That's always the case. MW: I wonder who she is... (Laughs) JEZ: Keep us posted. Well, I'll let you guys off that topic. Let's talk fashion... what's your fancy? MW: Right now, I really enjoy looks from the mid-' 60s era. That sort of pre-hippie but post-' 50s. You know, there's just a little edge to it, you know, the [Frank] Sinatra in the mid-'60s, and [Sean] Connery and all those guys, the kind of mod.. .but anyway, I'm drawn to that with some of the wardrobe that I doon the show. I try to do a skinny tie with the lapels and try to do the thin pant legs and kind of get it working a little bit, which, again is David McCallum's era. I'm also a sucker for Prada and actually a lot of the Ralph Lauren stuff. SA: I like classic stuff, but with an edge. I am big into purses and shoes. I love Prada's shoes, and I'm a big Manolo Blahnik shoe fanatic. But as far as clothing goes, I'd have to say I'm more of a Gucci girl. I really love Rebecca Taylor's stuff for fall. I love to combine a really cool Dolce & Gabbana sweater (they always have these really great chunky turtlenecks) with jeans or a mini. I'm definitely more classic, but I like funking things up. I love these new jeans, True Religion; they are low cut with cute pockets and are stretchy. I also like the feminine trend I am seeing a lot. I try to stay away from real trendy items, I am more into a particular fabric than a designer. JEZ: Where do you like to shop? MW: I've got to say Fred Segal's pretty fantastic, so is Ron Herman, James Perceis fantastic and John Varvatos has crazy-good stuff. I enjoy looks in terms of time periods. That's always kind of the leader with me. When I was in college, I got way into the 1940s, and I was dressing up in these' 40s suits and stuff and listening to a lot of Louis Armstrong and Glenn Miller and bands of that era. It was always something. SA: I either go to Neiman Marcus or Barneys, I seem to do two department stores, or there's three boutiques in L.A. that I go to all the time and they're great. One is called the Tryst. Vogue just wrote it up. It's in Studio City, which is like a booming little area for great boutiques. I feel like in L.A. everyone has the same stuff. I'm kind of over it. And also Lisa Rinna has a store called Belle Gray, also in Studio City and actually, you know what, there's another, even better, I'll tell you-Dari. And then there's this store called Planet Blue, they have one in Santa Monica and in Malibu, and there's a store called Madison. These are some of my favorites. If I had to narrow it down I would say Madison, Tryst and Dari are my favorites. JEZ: That's some good scoop, thanks for sharing! Sasha, you grew up in L.A. right, and have you lived here your entire life? SA: I never lived anywhere else, no. I've stayed long periods of time in New York and in London, but that's about it. I didn't grow up in the L.A. that I live in now, in Hollywood. I grew up on the beach and so it was a very different, very beachy kind of mellow. Now I live in the city. JEZ: Michael, where did you grow up? MW: In Connecticut. I was there until I was 15. From there I went to boarding school. ..1 went to a place called Brooks School in North Andover, Mass. JEZ: How did you like boarding school? MW: Well, it's not your normal experience. Campus was hundreds of rniles from my family. Every morning, six days a week, I would dress in a coat and tie and read the New York Times and went to class at age 15. It's not like a normal American high school existence where it's keggers on the weekends and stuff. So you spend a lot of time by yourself and you build some adult skills, I guess. As a result, I'm fascinated by movies like She's All That and any high-school teen movie, even in the '80s like The Breakfast Club... JEZ: Those are classics. MW: Yeah, I was living more of a School Ties/Dead Poets Society kind of life. I didn't own a pair of blue jeans until I was 18 years old. It made me really curious about the rest of the world. Not just American high school, but about the world at large and how people experience things. Because my experience was so specific and so, kind of cloistered and removed. JEZ: Have you ever been to Atlanta? MW: I have. Years ago I tried to get a car and go on some sort of long, wild journey to find Julia Roberts and REM, and I think I ended up just getting a speeding ticket. I spent sometime in Buckhead, and I had a fantastic time roaming around bar to bar. But I haven't been there in a long time. I'm due for a trip. SA: One of my really good friends from high school lives in Atlanta. JEZ: Well, I think it's time for a trip you two. We'll take you out JEZ style. SA: That would be fun. MW: It's a deal. My dad lives in Jamaica in the winter, and I always fly through Atlanta on my way to Jamaica. JEZ: I hope to see you both again soon. -BW  back www.sasha-alexander.net