Taye Diggs and
Kathleen Robertson are playing San Fransisco homicide detectives in TNT’s riveting new 10-episode murder mystery drama
Murder in the First that airs Mondays at 10p; and recently at a press event they told us how they prepared for their roles.
When asked what training, if any, they had to have to play cops on the show, Diggs said he watched a lot of Law & Order. Then he admitted he was joking about that.
So how did they get ready for the role? The actors went to police camp, where they learned how to shoot guns, take down a perp and put on handcuffs. Along with going to police camp, Robertson did ride alongs and those really helped her to prepare. Not only because she got see places like crack dens, but because she got to see how the police officers she was with interacted with the “bad guys”. She admitted she is used to rough and tough cops we see on TV, but that is not how they are in real life. She says, the cops would point someone out to her, explain that person’s crime and then before she knew it they were having a conversation with that “bad guy”. It was very casual and not what she was used to in her line of work. It is that type of interaction that will help with an upcoming storyline on the show, but I have said too much.
Emotion was important to Robertson and the biggest lesson that stuck with her about that came from her brother-in-law who has been working as a police officer for 26 years in Toronto. A moment that stood out to her when she was researching for the role, came when they were walking around a gorgeous lake in Northern Ontario. She then had to pause for an emotional break before she told us what lesson he shared with her that sticks with her every day she comes to work. He said to her as they walked the lake, “For example right now, the first thing I think of when I look here, is I am looking for a body.” She says he then added, “I walk down here and I walk across this beautiful lake and these rocks and I’m scanning, making sure there’s no body here so you guys don’t have to see it.” She then asked him to explain what he meant and he responded by saying, “Cause I’ve seen too much of that and it’s just in me. It will be in me for my entire life.” She then realized what a dark life they have and that is what stuck with her most about researching for the role.
Something that you can see when you watch her play Inspector Hildy Mulligan every Monday at 10p on Murder in the First.
