NCIS creator threatened to cancel the program for a casting decision

The casting for a television series is considerably different from the cast for a movie or a play in which it is more than just finding the right set for good now; Creators should consider the ability of each actor to mature and/or evolve in their role, as well as their ability to work and play well with others. It is possible that it can escape with a little malcontent in a film (although most directors with whom I have spoken severely discourage From all to all in the long term, and that is not worth it.

Obviously, the creators and casting directors try as hell doing it well the first time (which does not always happen, as the intellectual author of “Gilligan’s Island” Sherwood Schwartz) would have said, but a commitment is always necessary. Sometimes, your first option is not available, sometimes they want too much money and, sometimes, the network or study does not like and orders you to throw someone else (it is not television, but Jonathan Bennett was briefly bounced of “bad girls” “due to the interference of the study).

And sometimes you say: “Commitment screw, I want this person, and if you don’t let me have them, I will not let you have the show.” That is a Baller movement, one that requires a serious influence, but that is precisely what Donald P. Bellisario had in 2003 when he was putting together “NCIS.”

When “NCIS” (initially titled “Navy: NCIS”) was preparing to turn the “Jag” of Bellisario, he had some very particular casting demands. One that should not have been terribly controversial was his desire to choose David McCallum, a veteran actor and former fashion interpreter of Illya Kurykin in the original iteration of “The man of the uncle”, as the forensic doctor Dr. Donald “Ducky “Mallard.

Unfortunately, network costumes tend to ignore the history of their environment and frankly ageist, so they backed hard against the broadcast of the 70 -year -old actor in such a prominent role. As James Whitmore Jr., who directed many “NCIS” episodes, recalled during A 2023 retrospect in the Hollywood reporter:

“When they launched David McCallum as Ducky, the study said: ‘In any way, we are not throwing this old actor in the paper.’ And Don (Bellisario) said:” If you do not, we are not doing the show “. I was so serious about it.

What did CBS against McCallum? According to the casting chief of the Network, he was his British. “The feeling was: ‘Can you do that?” He recalled. “This was such an American show.”

According to CBS Studios, David Stapf:

“I felt that the program was probably not going to do so well worldwide because it was an American army unit. So why would other countries hug him? But I do believe (go) to the universality of good versus evil. and worry about people. “

The studio gave up, racing the way for McCallum’s duckling to become one of the most beloved characters in the series until his death at the age of 90 in 2023. The lesson? Cygrow with your weapons, especially when you have already turned the network made into a billion dollars through other successful series (in the case of Bellisario, this would be the original Tom Selck race of “Magnum Pi” and “Jag”).