Raphael Sbarge – Murder In The First

Q) What are the recent projects you have been busy working on?

A) The most obvious and immediate one is “Murder In The First” where I play Detective David Molk. It premieres June 9th after “Major Crimes.” It’s wonderful they put us there. It’s a Steven Bochco show, which for all intents and purposes is the man who put so many other shows on the air and inspired so many other people from “LA Law” to “NYPD Blue.” It’s a great cast: Taye Diggs, Kathleen Robertson, Richard Schiff, James Cromwell, Steven Webber, etc. It’s a crime drama and it’s one case over the season. It’s similar to “The Killing” or “True Detective” where you have a story you follow. This will be TNT’s foray into that. It’s very exciting!

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

A) It’s about as far away from Storybrooke and crickets as you can get, but what is funny is that I’m packing heat as a detective, which is fun! It’s such a privilege to be working with Steven Bochco and with a long list of folks that are top notch players.

Q) Was there instant cast chemistry when everyone began working together or did it take some time to bond?

A) Chemistry is one of those things where you can’t buy it. You hope that you have it and you can be wonderful actors, but it is one of those things where chemistry can be a funny thing. You sort of have to light a candle and hope for it. I have to say that in this case the detectives (Taye, Kathleen Robertson, Ian Anthony Dale and Lombardo Boyer) – we sort of fell in like we’ve doing this for a long time. We all sort of remarked about it like, “Wow, this is weird. The glove fits.” That was pretty neat. The actual set was really relaxed and easy. I think because someone like Steven (who has been doing this for such a long time) sets such a wonderful tone that they’re like, “We hired you because you’re pros. We respect you. So, let’s go and do this.” It was just a real sense of I want to say focused but yet relaxed and engaged experience of being on the show.

Q) What did you do to prepare for this role?

A) We did some sort of cop school where we got to spend a bit of time with detectives, do ride-alongs, fire ranges and learning how to taser and handcuff people. Obviously, the running joke is, “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV.” There is nothing about doing that which can actually prepare one for being a detective, but there were really good scripts and a lot of people doing their jobs gives you an experience of what it is like in a really good way. It makes me laugh when people say, “Yeah, I did a ride-along and now I’m a detective.” I have far too much respect for peoples’ jobs and what they do to think I’m an expert, but hopefully I make it look realistic. We also had a retired San Francisco detective on the set all the time. He was there to keep us honest and make sure we were doing it the right way.

Q) Was there anything you added to the character that wasn’t originally scripted for you?

A) I think we discussed our characters and what some of our backstories were. I had an idea that this character was divorced. As it turns out, there is an enormous divorce rate with both detectives, police officers and fireman. It’s just really tough to balance ones balance at home. We discussed that early on and Eric Lodal really liked that. At the end of the day, I have to say, while I suggested it to him he may have already had that idea, but he seemed to respond when I said it. So, I don’t want to take full credit, but he seemed to have liked the idea. It seemed like we were simpatico. The character is a single dad and he takes care of his son. We get some information about that as we go. The really fun thing about doing one case over one season is that it is basically a ten hour movie, as opposed to having to wrap it up and kind of get to the solution at the very end. In this case, you get to really find your way through in a way get into a bit more trouble. You get to spend more time in the weeds before it all gets worked out. I think not only the way people are watching now (by binge watching) or based upon more shows having been episodic and less procedural, storylines go out over quite a few episodes. This seems to have fit into that quite well. Again, it allows us to do long form storytelling as opposed to a quick get-it-out.

Q) What was your most memorable moment from filming “Murder In The First?”

A) Shooting in San Francisco has been amazing. It is sort of another character in the show. We shoot the interiors of the show in Los Angeles and then shoot the spectacular skylines of San Francisco. Everywhere that we went when we were there was breathtaking. It’s such a stunning city. There was one day that we were shooting in Chinatown and we were on the streets chasing a suspect. People started coming out and watching. TV crews came out. It was definitely one of those moments where I thought, “Oh my gosh! I’m on TV with a gun chasing a guy down the street in Chinatown while everyone is watching!” It was pretty fun. James Cromwell is an old friend of mine so getting to hang out with him a bit was wonderful. I love him so much. He’s such a wonderful actor. We did a production of Hamlet together thirty years ago in New York City. We remained friends and so it was wonderful to work with him again. Then, just the comradery of hanging out was a blast. You kind of fall into your characters and a nice vibe. It was a really warm comradery that got created on the set.

Q) How hands-on was Steven Bochco with the production of the show?

A) My understanding was that he is pretty hands-on, but at the office. He didn’t come to the set much. His son Jesse Bochco was really his right arm. He was the supervising director and directed a couple of episodes. I believe while he wasn’t there every day, we really had the sense of him being there via his son or with so many of the crew and actors having worked with him before. I was on “NYPD Blue,” “LA Law” and “Civil Wars” and a lot of other folks had been in a bunch of other shows with him. He loves his actors and you really sense that. He has a really high regard for them. He doesn’t just seem them as furniture. You really have the sense that he respects what they do and how they do it. That is sort of very obvious all the way through the experience. While he wasn’t there every day, he cast a sort of warm glow over everything we did. I’m sure he was very involved with the scripts, birthing them to get to us and I know he is very involved with the post production as well

Q) Since you are a part of social networking sites, are you looking forward to the instant feedback you will receive when the show premieres?

A) Yeah! I’m really looking forward to that. I’m coming back from Ireland that night and I’m going to race to the TV. I’ll be a little blitzed, but I’d love to live tweet on the first night.

Q) I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask about you appearing next season on “Once Upon A Time.” Any chance you will be on again?

A) I would say there is a good chance. I like to sort of say that the storylines for the show and the nuclear launch codes are kept in the same location. I don’t know for sure, but I would sort of at this point say that there are a few of us that despite who ever has come into the storyline who really locate Storybrooke for everyone. I get stopped all the time by people who say they really love Storybrooke and really love the characters. They say they love Dr. Hopper and Jiminy. There are a bunch of us that locate Storybrooke for the story and I believe that is their home-base. So, I would imagine we’ll be seeing more of us. We go back to work July 8th on that. I imagine we’ll be hearing something about that within the next few weeks.