MICHAEL CHIKLIS: THE TOUGHEST GUY ON TV
Debra Craine

The Times
February 14, 2009

Actors are in the business of transforming themselves, but Michael
Chiklis is extraordinary even by Hollywood standards. Seven years ago
he was best known as the roly-poly police commissioner Tony Scali in
five seasons of The Commish, an American TV comedy-drama that played
up his nice guy image. And 20 years ago he got a taste of fame playing
the laugh-a-minute comic John Belushi on the big screen in Wired. But
nowadays, if you’ve been watching The Shield for the past six years,
you wouldn’t want to sit next to him on a bus.

That’s because Chiklis plays Vic Mackey, The Shield’s ferocious bad-ass
cop, to perfection. This was a role he wanted more than any other.

He shaved his head, shed a load of pounds and turned himself into
a pumped-up rottweiler. And you can see why. The Shield is arguably
the best cop show ever, and Mackey the most fascinating and morally
complex law enforcement officer American TV has produced. He may
be out to clean up the mean streets of Los Angeles, but he’s also
out for what he can get. And as we have already seen, he will stop
at nothing – including murder – to protect his life, his family,
his friends and his job.

"For any actor, Vic Mackey is a cherry of a role; he’s so
multidimensional," Chiklis say s. "When do you get to play that
type of antihero? He is so many different things. He makes you want
to cheer for him and then just makes you disgusted at yourself for
feeling that way."

Now the seventh and final season (13 episodes in all) is coming to
British TV and even if you haven’t been following the finer points of
Shawn Ryan’s epic drama it’s not too late to join the Chiklis fan club.

So what can we expect? "Hang on for dear life," he says.

"It’s a ride. It’s going to be tough. The last seven shows are really
stunning. I don’t mean to sound self-congratulatory because I’m not
talking about myself. [Creator] Shawn Ryan knocks it out of the park
for this final season. The writing, the performances by Walt Goggins,
CCH Pounder and Jay Karnes, the way the whole thing is put together –
in my estimation it rivals anything on television."

In America The Shield is already over and the hardest thing about
talking to Chiklis was resisting the temptation to ask him how
it ends. For those who don’t know, the series started with Mackey
killing a fellow cop and it’s been downhill ever since. He’s stolen
money from the Armenian mob, aided corrupt politicians, started gang
wars and lied at every turn.

Surely some kind of retribution is called for?

"You can’t change the spots on a20leopard," Chiklis says.

"Although Vic is not a stupid man, he has definitely learnt from his
mistakes. But he is so inexorably caught up in his own web of deceit
that it’s impossible for him to escape the consequences."

The Emmy Award-winning actor is still recovering from seven years
of playing a character who is "so intense it hurts". He did have a
few breaks along the way, including starring as Ben Grimm, aka "The
Thing", in the Fantastic Four films, and playing the US Secretary
of Defence in last year’s disappointing thriller Eagle Eye. But the
question everyone still wants answered is what Chiklis really thinks
of the monstrous character he created.

"I’ve always said I won’t comment on my personal feelings about Vic,"
he replies. "The cornerstone of The Shield’s success has been its
ambiguous nature. It doesn’t preach right or wrong. I’ll let you
wrestle with your own feelings about Vic. Just trust me, I’m not Vic
Mackey in real life; I’m so not angry."

Chiklis, now 45, is about to undergo yet another radical
transformation, determined to leave the maniacal Mackey imprint
behind. He’s just finished filming John Stalberg’s new "stoner"
comedy High School: "I play the idiot dean of this school. It’s a
bit like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It’s20a blast, it’s so much fun
just to be so ridiculous."

He’s also involved in a more serious project, executive producing
(but not starring in) a new TV series inspired by Wall Street’s Bernard
Madoff scandal. Chiklis is drawing on his own experience for the show,
called House of Cards: last year he and his wife Michelle became
victims of a Ponzi scheme. "It’s the crime that no one talks about,"
he says, "and it’s time somebody did."

What are your favourite . . . Screen cops?

Popeye Doyle (played by Gene Hackman in the two French Connection
films, 1971 and 1975) He was very influential on Vic Mackey.

Dirty Harry (played by Clint Eastwood in the 1971 film) Talk about
shooting from the hip.

Andy Sipowicz (star of NYPD Blue, played by Dennis Franz)

Favourite musicians

Queen and Freddie Mercury Peter Gabriel and Genesis Sting and the
Police Pink Floyd I saw The Wall tour. It was beautiful, fantastic.

Elvis Costello He’s another great British musician.

Angriest white guys

Travis Bickle, from Taxi Driver (played by Robert De Niro in the
1976 film) Well, he’s the first one that comes to mind immediately,
isn’t he?"

Bruce Willis, Officer John McClane in the four Die Hard movies Harvey
Keitel in Bad Lieutenant, the 1992 film about a corrupt New York City
cop, who bears more than a passing mo ral resemblance to Vic Mackey

Favourite reads

Again I’m an Anglophile, I love all things British. Do you know Edward
Rutherford’s phenomenal historical novels Sarum, London and The Forest?

They are really brilliant, three of my favourite books."