Michael Irby – The Unit

Q.  What are some of the recent projects that you’ve been working on?

A.  I’m working on “The Unit,” been doing that for about a year and a half now.  We shot the pilot in 2005, toward the beginning of the year. We were a midseason replacement so we’re just getting into the second half of the second season here.  That’s pretty much what I’ve been working on.  Once you take a television job like that, that’s pretty much where you do what you do.  I just got back from vacation, I was just down in Mexico.  I actually had a couple of weeks off so I took the opportunity to go down to Mexico, to where they shoot the Corona commercials I found out.  So, that was really nice!  I did a film last year called Flightplan with Jodie Foster.  A lot of people saw it, I played the middle Eastern in there who she had thought had something to do with the disappearance of her child on the plane.  That was a very interesting role and right now I’m having fun with Charles Grey.

Q.  What changes can viewers expect to see with your character this season?

A.  Well, he’s starting to become more and more developed.  I don’t know if you caught the episode last week but that was a nice little peek into the moral background of Grey.  The things that he will actually do for the honor of the unit, for the preservation of that.  That was kind of an interesting peek into Grey’s soul.  They are writing some really interesting stuff coming up, basically we’re finding out that Grey is the electrician of the crew.  With all of the bombs and everything that I’ve been working with.  Right now I’ve got a couple of weeks off but I know that the writers and producers are always tossing around ideas.  I think they’re probably going to find out who I start dating here in this back half of the season.  Just kind of having some fun with it week to week just watching it grow.

Q.  How about with the show itself?

A.  You know I think some of the first episodes are just really strong.  They are very heavy mission oriented, there are great storylines going on with everybody.  With that kind of stuff you really have to wait and see, I’m waiting to see some of it too because I wasn’t really in some of the episodes. Sometimes when I’m not working in those episodes you don’t really get a chance to read them.  So, it’s just as much a surprise to me as it is to the fans and the public out there.  I really try and when I’m working on the show to read it three or four times, otherwise it’s kind of nice to be pleasantly surprised and see where the show is heading.  We’re into the eighth episode right now, it’s a lot of what we did last year.  We’re really getting into some of the more complex relationships between the characters.  It all comes at a price, what we do, it’s very curious as to how it’s going to work out.  But, yeah I’m pretty much on board just like you guys are.

Q.  What originally made you want to be a part of the show?

A.  Well, I was slated to do another show and this opportunity came up.  I read it and I found out who was involved with it.  The character looked like he was going to be a load of fun.  Basically I get to do everything my mother raised me telling me not to do.  I shoot guns and I’m being shot out, I’m kind of the single guy on “The Unit.”  So, he tends to have a little bit of fun.  The role itself was just something that you really couldn’t pass up.  When you find out the likes of David Mamet, Shawn Ryan and the gentlemen who wrote the book Eric Haney, which the show “The Unit” is based on.  It’s really a hard ship to not want to be a part of, you wanna go ahead and make that maiden voyage and see if we can break the idea of what people think of military men and their families.  Because, we only see a certain aspect of that and I’m glad to be a part of it.  I thought it was going to be doing something like that, I just didn’t understand to what extent.  It’s nice to know that these soldiers and their families are feeling some sense of admiration for what we’re doing.  We’re putting it in a really great light and it’s nice to be a part of that.

Q.  I can imagine you all get a lot of great feedback from military men and their families.

A.  Oh we really do, you know myself Max Martini and I (the guy who plays Mack Gerhardt on the show), we travel around to a few different bases.  We’ve gone and done some celebrity signings and taking pictures with people.  People are really overwhelmed with the show, the response has been great.  You hear people and the stories that they’re telling, their sons, daughters, husbands and wives are over there in Iraq right now.  If we can just do a little something to let them know that we appreciate it, it’s such a great experience. 

Q.  What is it about your role that continues to challenge you?

A.  Right now it’s a lot of physical stuff, really being able to go in there and work on your own within the unit.  You’re following orders and just doing things without question.  Every now and then things need to have questions, things that we kind of don’t understand as we’re doing them and carrying out some of these orders and you understand the repercussions of what they are later.  As an actor it’s nice to really be able to go in here and do stories where you know these things are going on right now.  It’s very interesting to be able to play something that is so relevant to what’s going on right now.  I think that’s very challenging to also bring the truth and reality to it.  These guys are heroes in one respect and in another respect they are just human beings.  When we’re reading the newspaper or we’re watching the news and seeing everything that’s going on all over the world, it is somewhat challenging to be a part of something that is so on the pulse.  Because you can’t really escape from it, some of our movies and television shows are escapism.  This is reality TV in the best sense, these things are really happening right now.  It’s always hard to know that you’re connected with some of these things.  But, it’s so much fun, it gives so much back in other ways.

Q.  Your role must give you some inside perspective into what people are going through who are serving in the military.

A.  For sure, a deeper insight, a higher level of appreciation.  Being an actor, a liberal and a bit of a leftist you tend to stand outside of the norm and what they want us to think through the media and through our own types of propaganda that we put out there in some way, shape or form.  We read between the lines all the time and when you’re on something that is very, not necessarily pro-American or pro-military, it’s just pro-belief system.  Once you get involved in something, it really does change your opinion.  I met a woman who was very proud to tell me that her three sons were all serving in Iraq.  The actor in me wanted to hug her and say I was sorry, but I saw how proud she was.  It really changed my perception of it all, you can never hate the player, you can only hate the game.  It’s so interesting what we’re doing, I have so much respect for our military and what we ask our men and women to do.  It’s truly admirable. 

Q.  Do you have a really memorable moment from your time filming on the show?

A.  Oh there are so many, I think what was great for me was during the office season (because we were a mid-season replacement and we weren’t in production at the time) and we were getting together as a cast every Tuesday at one person’s house.  We’d go and order food and pop champagne and sit there and watch the show.  We were developing and growing into this family and we didn’t even really know it.  There is always a chance of the show not working out and people not really getting it, just not resonating.  Once we started watching it together and becoming this family, and once we got the pickup, we just found out we could keep doing this, I think that’s the most memorable experience.  I have never gotten that opportunity in all the shows that I’ve worked on.  Everybody kind of goes their separate ways and sometimes you know something is not going to work, you just don’t want to verbalize it.  This show, I think we all believe in it and it’s great to be a part of it.  Seriously working everyday on this show is a gift, everybody is so nice from the producers all the way down to the guys pulling cable and everyone in lighting and the DPs.  We have a great crew and like eighty percent of the crew came back when they found out we got the pickup.  Just coming back to work on our second season was a great day, it felt pretty magical.  It’s kind of an elusive feat in Hollywood, that second season, I think we all conquered it and we’re feeling pretty good.

Q.  What kind of training did you have to go through for your role?

A.  Eric was from the sense that these guys are so on top of their game that there is not any type of military training. We’ve all done it as actors, we’ve all been on other shows, I was on the FBI show “Line of Fire” a couple years ago.  It required us to do some training with the FBI and shoot all the firearms.  As far as the physical aspect of it, we’re actors, we’re always in shape.  You always have to be ready, when we’re not there we like to get into the gym and eat right.  As far as this show goes, you really can’t do it any other way.  You can’t really take a day off even when you have a day off, you gotta stay in your mind, because it’s a very physically demanding show.  Sometimes it can be great to be left at home when they’re all out on a mission, they’re doing that this year.  This is different from last year, they’re leaving one member of the unit back at home base each episode to kind of tie in both stories together.  When you get to stay at home and kind of hang out, talk to the ladies and eat some pie, it’s well needed. 

Q.  What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

A.  In my spare time I like to play the guitar.  I’m the family chef I guess you could say,  I really love to cook.  It’s a big passion of mine, not just barbecues but I really like to go for it.  If I could go to cooking school I’d really love to do that as soon as I find the time.  I like to hang out with my son, I run, as far as keeping in shape.  I’m pretty much a family man, I’m a pretty regular guy.  I have a great group of friends out here in LA, we try to get together and have some drinks.  Just talk about life and we do a lot of philosophizing.

Q.  What would you like to say to fans and supporters of the show?

A.  You know without the fans, it wouldn’t be the show that we have.  Without the fans we’d be off the air, plain and simple.  I so appreciate it, they really keep the show growing, they keep the writers on their toes with what they demand.  As long as we have viewers, we’re starting to create a really nice fan base and it seems like people are enjoying what we’re doing.  We can just keep trying to give them more, I’m excited about the future.  It’s just basically at the end of the day keep watching, keep doing what you’re doing.