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00:00Music
00:29In a lot of ways, it's the first of its kind in that this show's messy.
00:33It's not clean, black hats and white hats.
00:38It investigates a very morally ambiguous world of bad cops and good cops
00:43and how bad cops can be good and how good cops can be bad.
00:46It's in your face. I mean, it's like, come get it. Come make your own choice.
00:50What would you do in this situation? Given these circumstances, how would you react?
00:54Cutting edge, rock'em, sock'em, cowboy cops.
00:59It looks at the real heroes of police work
01:01and all the flaws that's required to be that kind of a hero.
01:06It's like following a cop from the beginning of his day to the end of his day
01:10and then you actually see what he's confronted with
01:12and then you see the choices that he makes under those circumstances.
01:16And the situations are, I mean, they're beyond stressful.
01:19You know, it's not a documentary. We're making drama here,
01:22but we're basing it on the real work that they do in law enforcement here in LA.
01:28So much of what you see on television is very good versus evil
01:32and it's very clear where things come down.
01:35The writers and the actors tell the audience what to think about a given character
01:39and in this, I think that what we're doing is we're playing real people in difficult situations
01:46and letting the audience make up their mind about what's right, what's good, what's bad,
01:51what's evil, if you want to call it that, or good, if you want to call it that.
01:55There are some bad cops, I guess, is the easiest way to determine it in this show
02:00and yet we're portraying them in a way that makes you oftentimes understand what they're doing
02:06and occasionally even agree with what they're doing.
02:09I know when I hear someone say a television show, oh, we're going to push the boundaries,
02:12it's like, oh, we're going to show more tits and ass than anyone else has shown it.
02:15It's like, well, so what? You know, I could just go watch cable.
02:17Well, this is cable, but I mean, I mean, like a bad show on cable.
02:22We're trying to carve a little bit of a niche between what they can do on the four networks
02:29and what they can do on, say, HBO or Showtime.
02:33Certainly there are things that the strike team does that many people would find abhorrent, including myself.
02:39But at the same time, they wouldn't be allowed to do the things they do if they weren't being effective.
02:45What's going on here?
02:49That must have been a hell of a party.
02:59The idea came from the demented mind of Sean Ryan.
03:05Part of the inspiration of why I chose to write this story was what are we as a society willing to put up with
03:10in terms of civil rights in order to increase our own personal safety.
03:14It's loosely based on a division like Rampart, where you've got a couple of bad cops and then a bunch of good cops.
03:23My goal with the show was not to rip the scab off a really painful period in the history of the LAPD,
03:30but to kind of show how these things could happen, how we as a society could allow them to happen,
03:36and to illustrate why sometimes we want these things to happen.
03:40I was very excited to, you know, get this gig and read the script.
03:43I mean, the script is a great read, and this is one of the few scripts that, you know,
03:47you start on page one and you read till the end and you don't stop.
03:50Well, naturally, the pilot is what drew me to the shield as a project.
03:56I had never read a pilot that was so brilliantly written, and the characters were so beautifully defined.
04:03And yet, Sean really didn't overwrite the script.
04:06It didn't have what we refer to in the business as pilot-itis.
04:09I read the script and I was like, whew, I had to read it again to make sure I read it right.
04:14I was like, okay.
04:16And I hadn't read a script like that in I don't know how long.
04:18These shows aren't Agatha Christie mysteries, where some big socialite is going to end up being killed
04:23at the beginning of each episode, and it's about getting the socialite's wealthy daughter to confess at the end.
04:30These stories really are about things that really happen on the streets,
04:34the kinds of things that police officers do to solve these problems,
04:37and how we as a society oftentimes want to turn a blind eye to what's going on
04:42in order to preserve the safety in our lives.
04:52The show looks different.
04:54It feels different.
04:55And I think that L.A., and particularly the area that we're shooting in Boyle Heights
04:59and Rampart in downtown L.A., really play a character.
05:11The style of the show is something that Clark Johnson, our director on the pilot, really brought to us.
05:16It's an aggressive style of filmmaking that's a lot more associated with features
05:20and with independent film than it is with television.
05:23We really run and shoot this thing.
05:26It's, in many ways, the style of the show is you as a viewer are really along on a police ride-along.
05:33What's it like to be in the backseat of one of these cars as they're going through a tough part of town?
05:39Billy, who does the camera work, is, like, amazing.
05:41I mean, you can have a great show and great actors and, you know, without great camera work.
05:46This guy's got the steadicam.
05:48He's got these amazing, you know, moving shots that always keep you going as an audience member
05:53as opposed to, again, the, you know, master, two shot, one shot.
05:57He just moves and makes the show look just phenomenal that way.
06:01The camera's like another character that's there.
06:03It's almost docudrama.
06:05It really feels like you're in it.
06:07As a matter of fact, this is a true story.
06:08When I saw the finished cut of the pilot for the first time, this was just a knee-jerk reaction.
06:14I got up and I went and I took a shower.
06:23The name for The Shield is something that came late in the process and we were struggling for a name.
06:27This show originally was called The Barn, referring to the building that our cops worked in.
06:32We knew we wanted a different name and The Shield was something I came up with that kind of expressed a duality.
06:38It expressed the badges that our cops wore, but also the shield between the civilians and the criminals.
06:45And did the criminals need a shield from the cops in our show?
06:48So once we came up with that duality and that name, that's what we stuck with.
06:52Those of us who venture out past our desks sometimes get shot at.
06:55You could have brought more firepower without tipping him off.
06:58Well, who should I have had watching our backs?
06:59You?
07:01I'd hate to have to change your diaper afterwards.
07:03I think many cop shows really are based on the premises of the cops versus the bad guys.
07:08In this case, a lot of the drama of this show really springs from the squad house itself.
07:13It's really the cops versus each other.
07:15They have different takes on how best to do the job.
07:20Vic Mackey's a pit bull.
07:22That's sort of my take on him.
07:23I mean, he's just a pit bull.
07:24He's tough and aggressive and fierce, and he was probably a really cute puppy, but now he's just a mean old pit bull.
07:30Vic is somebody who gets the job done.
07:34You wanted to be your brother.
07:36Yeah.
07:37Kiss your brother.
07:38Stop that.
07:39Where did he get the mess?
07:39Please, no.
07:40From the onset of this show, what we've tried to do is have Vic walk the very precarious line between hero and villain.
07:49Vic's character is good intention, but greedy.
07:53He's got all the flaws rolled into one.
07:56He's someone who, I think, wants the innocence of the world to be protected and wants the bad guys of the world to be punished.
08:04He's not someone who lives by the rules set down by the courts of this country to determine how he does that.
08:11In this building, I'm in charge.
08:13Well, maybe in your own mind, amigo, but in the real world, I don't answer to you.
08:18Not today, not tomorrow, not even on Cinco de Mayo.
08:21He produces numbers that the public wants to see.
08:25The crime rate is down because of a man like that on their force, and so you can't argue with that.
08:31He's at once the protagonist and antagonist of this piece, and that's thrilling as an actor.
08:37You know, you don't get an opportunity to do that ever.
08:46And who are you?
08:49When I go into that interrogation room and I lock that door, you know, people, it evokes that reaction of, oh, here he goes, and good.
09:02I'm sorry, I wish I could...
09:04You know it's wrong.
09:12You know he shouldn't be doing this.
09:14Obviously, in this country, we don't beat up suspects.
09:18That's, you know, beyond the pale.
09:19But if he's going to beat somebody up, you want him to beat that guy up.
09:25You know, he's someone who I think most of the time we're going to be with, and occasionally he does things which we will say, no, that really crossed us the line.
09:34That really is going too far.
09:36To me, it was always important to end the first episode like this, to show that this wasn't your usual cop.
09:53This is an act that really can never really be forgiven.
09:57And yet we find ourselves at times rooting for Vic Mackey during the 13 episodes.
10:02And it's, it was always important to me to show how there can be goodness in people, even though those people do evil things.
10:10I just talked with Francis.
10:12You've got to look it into the strike team again?
10:15Yes.
10:16I got a problem in this squad, David.
10:18My captain and my best cop aren't getting along.
10:21We stand for different things.
10:23Benio Martinez is a really talented actor that had the unenviable task of being the cop trying to take down Vic Mackey in season one.
10:29But he's someone who brought to it a real intelligence, a political agenda, and he's someone that we could always rely on to do serious scenes, comedic scenes, and really stand toe-to-toe with Michael Chiklis, which, believe me, is not the easiest thing to do.
10:43What did you do to him?
10:44To who?
10:45Officer Lowe.
10:46Nothing.
10:48Is he okay?
10:48He changed his statement.
10:52If anything happens to him.
10:54Can't see why it would.
10:56David has a very different take than Vic.
10:58David is a very politically ambitious person who grew up as a Latino in this country and I think knows what it's like to suffer at the hands of a police force that goes too far.
11:10And there's a conflict.
11:11There's a clash between these two.
11:14You and I don't like each other.
11:15That's not a new headline.
11:16No, it's not.
11:17But one thing you know, if I come after you, it'll be straight on.
11:20We end up needing each other, and I need him to do things that I myself don't think I'm willing to compromise to do, but I know I can do it with him, and he needs me to do what he can't do.
11:32What people want these days is to make it to their cars without getting mugged.
11:37Come home from work, see their stereo's still there.
11:40Hear about some murder in the barrio, find out the next day the police caught the guy.
11:45If having all those things means some cop roughs up some nigger, some spick in the ghetto, well, as far as most people are concerned, it's don't ask, don't tell.
11:53The character of Claudette, when I originally wrote the pilot, was actually called Charles, and was supposed to be a man.
11:58And we were reading a lot of actors for the role, and C.C.H. Pounder's agent called us up and said, why does this character have to be a man?
12:06Why can't C.C. play this role?
12:08And we all looked around at each other and said to ourselves, hmm, why can't she play this role?
12:15When I got the role, I asked them if they would keep the masculine dialogue alive, and then it'd just be transported into this body.
12:24So, right away, you sort of knew that Claudette was direct, brutally honest, and didn't hold anything back.
12:32You're not going to believe what just went down between Acevedo and Mackie.
12:36I don't want to know.
12:37Yeah, no, but this is unbelievable.
12:39If anyone gets between those two, he's just going to end up with a hose full of piss running down his leg.
12:43She's someone who has a very good understanding of both sides of the argument.
12:48She's neither completely on David's side nor on Vic's side.
12:52She can understand how each situation calls for different kinds of actions.
12:56And in many ways, the central struggle of this series, David versus Vic, is really going to be a fight for Claudette's soul.
13:03I warned you about this guy.
13:05Yes, you did.
13:06It's happened on our turf.
13:08You give me the resources, I'll get this guy.
13:09The predator was standing right here less than two hours ago.
13:17How committed are we to catching him?
13:19When I first started developing Dutch Wagenbach as a character, he really became my outlet for a lot of things I was a big fan of.
13:27I read a lot of books about FBI profilers and about true life crimes and about the detectives who solved these crimes.
13:35And what I wanted to do was to set Dutch up as being very different than Vic.
13:40Vic is the guy who's on the streets really dealing with problems at their core.
13:44And Dutch is someone who has an understanding of the psychology of criminals and why they do the things they do.
13:49And the fact that they both have some interest in the same woman, Danny, one of our other cops, just makes an even more interesting triangle.
13:58I'm fortunate because the character that I play is, I don't want to use the phrase good cop, but he's a cop that believes that the rules are there for a reason and that you have to follow them.
14:09Dutch, in certain ways, he's a bit of a boy scout.
14:13If you talk to him about duty and honor and country and flag and those kind of things, those mean something to him.
14:21Which means I've got an interrogation that's probably going to go on all night, which means I need my ding-dongs and you took them, didn't you?
14:28Right.
14:29It's a hard role to take on where, you know, certainly in the whole first part of the series, this is a guy that Vic Mackey tools on and has his way with and is constantly badgering.
14:40And at times looks quite pathetic.
14:43I think one of my all-time favorite moments in The Shield is when he busts the serial killer.
14:50I killed 22 people.
14:53Well, 23 if you want to count the hunting accident back in Rockford.
14:57Oh, I'm special, all right.
15:00If you're so special, how come a lowly civil servant like me just caught you?
15:06It was such a win for him, and in spite of the fact that he's kind of this dorky character, you want for him.
15:13He has an innate likability, and Jay brings that to this character and so much nuance.
15:18I've got to go run an errand, but I was thinking you and I should hook up for a drink later on tonight.
15:22Oh, you got your wife coming?
15:24Damn, she can't make it.
15:25Damn, neither can I.
15:26Catherine Dent is our tough girl chick who's an officer on the street, and she's someone who, she's a little bit of a southern belle in real life.
15:35And she kind of puts that in her pocket while she's filming these tough crime scenes.
15:40And she's someone who I think has the beauty to be appealing on screen, but also has the believability of a cop.
15:47It was interesting putting on the blues because as an actor, I've done a lot of different things.
16:00I do a lot of my own stunts.
16:02I've always thought I was so tough.
16:03And I put on this uniform, and it really kind of froze me up.
16:07I thought, oh my God, what do I do now?
16:09So I've been taking shooting lessons, going to the range, and learning how to pull a baton and stuff like that.
16:13The character of Dani is an interesting one in that she's someone who's, I think, hasn't had the opportunity yet to face the moral dilemmas that someone like Vic or David has.
16:25She's someone who has a hard time bringing her femininity to the job, and someone who has a hard time leaving her police work at home.
16:34I think she's someone who started out thinking she could be both, and realizes that you can't separate the two completely.
16:41You a brother?
16:42Or did you give that up to become one of them?
16:44Huh?
16:45Look at what you're doing to one of your brothers.
16:46He's not my brother.
16:47He did that.
16:48You ain't nothing but an Uncle Tom.
16:51Uncle Tom.
16:52That's right.
16:52Get the order of a rapper fence.
16:54Wear it, brother.
16:55Shut up.
16:56One of the things that I discovered in my reading and my studying is how oftentimes black cops get it worse in these communities than other people because they're considered sellouts.
17:09This guy has so many different things that, you know, I love all the things that he's going for.
17:15Right.
17:16And so it's interesting for me the times that he falls short.
17:19I'm not gay.
17:21Julia, come on.
17:23I'm not.
17:23It's this thing inside of me.
17:29I push it down.
17:30It goes away.
17:32But then it comes back stronger.
17:33Michael Jace to me is a really brave actor who's taken on a really difficult role of a closeted homosexual cop who's a rookie in the force and because of that has a couple strikes against him.
17:44And he's really grabbed this role and really shown all the complexities of the character through the first season.
17:50And I think you'll see that if you watch the episodes one through 13, you're going to see what incredible emotional journey he goes through.
17:57And he's really the vessel that takes us on that journey.
18:00And I admire the hell out of him.
18:01Game's over.
18:03Color me going.
18:04Hey, color, you stay in, nigger.
18:09Badge will look real nice on my mantelpiece right next to my rookie of the year trophy.
18:14Hey, hey, hey, hey.
18:15Yo, yo, yo.
18:15Oh, shit.
18:16Uh, Walton Goggins is just a southern redneck wild card that we, uh, love to throw into the mix on our show.
18:23He's, uh, as you may or may not know, won an Oscar for a short film that he, uh, produced and co-started in called The Accountant.
18:29And he's someone that is a real method actor.
18:31And, uh, anytime you go down to the set and see him getting prepared for a scene, you pretty much want to stay out of his way.
18:36And then as soon as he's done filming the scene, he's, uh, he's a guy that you want to have a beer with.
18:40I asked you to babysit him for a couple hours my last.
18:41Well, somebody needs to teach him a lesson.
18:43By doing what? Executing him?
18:44Well, why not?
18:47I mean, isn't that what we do now?
18:49He's an extraordinary actor.
18:51One of the few that I've ever worked with who gives you this overwhelming sense of danger in his work.
18:58You just don't know what Walton's going to do.
19:01Um, and that keeps you on your toes.
19:06Hey, yo, you Hector?
19:08What do you want, sir?
19:10You got this, Vato?
19:11Yeah, put the...
19:12Fuck you!
19:12Lemonhead is another guy on the strike team.
19:16I like to consider him our-our surfer with a badge.
19:19He's played by Kenny Johnson, who just has a great look and a-and a great sense of humor.
19:23And he's just someone who's a little bit of the muscle of the team.
19:27And, uh, is the guy that, uh, will bang the heads, uh, when they need to be banged.
19:32Oh, you think I'm scared of you, you pussy?
19:33You're a liar!
19:34Lock down!
19:35Fuck off!
19:36He's, uh, just gung-ho.
19:39I mean, he's an adrenaline junkie.
19:41You know, he's a likeable guy.
19:42He's fun.
19:43He's a little out there, wild, crazy, you know.
19:46But when it comes to their job, it's just, like, he loves to be the first one in there.
19:50You know, dive through any window.
19:51Like, it's got to be no-fair adrenaline.
19:57We have a show that really focuses on lots of conflict between people.
20:01And yet, behind the scenes, uh, we tend to be people who get along and really respect each other.
20:06It's, uh, it's actually the opposite of a lot of shows that, uh, show how human beings get along.
20:10And then you find out there's a real cesspool behind the scenes.
20:13Uh, we tend to be the opposite.
20:14I've always said that, um, when you go to the theater and watch a film,
20:17it's nothing short of a miracle when a movie is actually great.
20:22Or even good, for that matter.
20:24Because when you think of the process of making a film and how many hands it passes through,
20:28so many things can go wrong so that it really is nothing short of a miracle
20:31when it ends up being great on the screen.
20:33And I think the same is true, uh, with a television series.
20:36I mean, there's so many elements that come together to make this show an incredibly special event
20:41that it's, um, actually humbling to be a part of it.
20:44I think the important thing to note at the end of all this
20:46is that this show never would have come about
20:48if FX didn't have the bravery and the fortitude
20:51to decide to put it on the air and keep it on the air
20:53in the face of, uh, a lot of criticism and, uh, advertiser boycotts.
20:58And it's the kind of show that the networks would never put on the air
21:02and that used to be the sole domain of HBO.
21:04And, uh, now I think consumers have another choice.
21:07FX really, you have to give them credit for standing behind the show.
21:10And, uh, to everyone at FX, I say thank you.
21:16Uh, yeah!
21:18Yeah!
21:21T-h-h-h-h-h-h...
21:23.
21:26.
21:28.
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