Michael Weatherly is back on the screen and back in Canada! Known to millions as the quick-witted, cinephile Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, Weatherly has reunited with co-star Cote de Pablo for the new series NCIS: Tony & Ziva, streaming on Paramount+.
While he has fond memories of filming Dark Angel in Vancouver, his latest visit brings him to Toronto, where he shares with The TV Watercooler, a hilarious story about being almost ejected from a hotel for an impromptu musical performance. Weatherly dives into the heart of the new show, discussing the “unreliable narrator” style, the hidden “Thom E. Gemcity” Easter eggs, and the dream come true of filming in Europe.
Welcome back to Canada! Your long-time fans know that you filmed Dark Angel in Vancouver. What’s it like being in Toronto?
Well, I love Toronto. I’ve been here a few times. I was here with a show called Bull; we ran around [here] a little bit. In fact, the hotel that I’m staying in, when I walked in and realized that Eric McCormack and I had taken over the piano one night! Sorry, Eric!
He sang and I played piano. What did you sing and play? Elton John… and Joe Jackson… I can’t quite remember. It was a long time ago! But we were stopped by hotel security, but we kept going! It was like Will & Grace on acid! I was Grace!
You’ve played Tony DiNozzo for so long now. How much of Michael is in Tony?
You know, I like to bring myself – my sense of wonder and awe – into it. I liked TV as a kid, so I can’t believe I get to do it for a job. What I loved most was watching shows like Magnum P.I., so I want to give the audience a place to go or someone that they can identify with and think like, “Oh, why are you being such a dumb dumb?” but bring a redeeming quality to the character that brings them back around. That’s my job!
There’s also a lot of movie references that your character makes as a cinephile.
That grew out of doing scenes where I would recognize inside the script that they had borrowed from some action movie like Die Hard 2 and I would turn and be like, “Does anybody else think this is Die Hard 2?”
So, I would do it inside the scenes and it would stay in the cut. Then it would air, and they’d find that the movie references were funny. I would do Sean Connery references and Michael Cain as well. All kinds of crazy stuff.
They were so generous to allow me to do that and I benefited greatly from them.
Some of the OG characters were referenced this season. I think that if McGee came in, he would have solved the cyber threat immediately.
Is that why you guys didn’t bring him on? What are the hopes to bring him on for season two? You’re very right! There are very few people who have seen through that plot hole. There was a “Thom E. Gemcity” reference that was part of Tony and Ziva’s secret way of connecting through a back channel.
Thom E. Gemcity – if you recognize the name, it’s Timothy McGee, and that is the kind of love we have for our friend Sean Murray.
You mentioned at New York Comic Con that you want Gibbs (Mark Harmon) back just so he can smack you on the head…
Yeah, just a drive-by smack! Thank you, boss!
What was it like filming in Europe?
It was a dream! Any time that we shot in Europe before, it was on a backlot in Santa Clarita, Hollywood, or wherever, you know, you’d be in Disney Ranch and in some part of California, pretending you were in Italy and now we were actually in Europe. That you can’t fake.
I think this is a show that was really made for the audience. It’s for the fans. But it wasn’t made in a cynical or cash-grabby kind of way. It was made in a way where first and foremost, here they are, we’re going to show you them getting married, but they’re not really getting married!
So we show you that we’re an unreliable narrator and then all of a sudden, the fans are like “Can we trust the show?” But as you watch all ten episodes, you come to an understanding that the show is bigger than just fan-appreciation or fanfic, it’s built to be viewed again and again. Five years from now, and ten years from now. This is a show that can sit on the shelf and deliver again and again.
Speaking of that fan connection, some of them have been with you for over 30 years – since the Loving and The City days. How do you feel about that?
Oh, I mean, I am flabbergasted at the reference, and I loved my start in television. Morgan Fairchild and all the great people that I got to share the screen with back then. They taught me everything. Celeste Holm, Wesley Addy, Laura Wright, Paul Anthony Stewart, and everyone on that show showed me how to be better and hopefully I haven’t let them down.
NCIS: Tony & Ziva streams on Paramount+.
