Fox’s 9-1-1 is known for its outlandish disasters as much as for its starry cast and dearest characters.
In any case, when Peter Krause, Oliver Stark, Ryan Guzman and Kenneth Choi — who are all featured in Individuals’ 2022 Hottest Man Alive issue, out this week — were asked to name the craziest call to film, they all picked the same one: The opening episodes of season 3 wherein a tsunami struck the Santa Monica Wharf.
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“It’s one thing to take out your typewriter and compose, ‘A tidal wave hits Santa Monica,’ and then it’s another to go make that,” says Krause, 57, who plays Capt. Bobby Nash.
“The Ferris wheel would be halfway underwater! I had no idea how they were going to do that,” says Choi, 51, a.k.a. Howard “Fireplace” Han, of his most memorable reaction to those contents.
In the episode, Evan “Buck” Buckley (Stark) was at the wharf with Eddie Diaz’s (Guzman) son Christopher (Gavin McHugh).
The two were separated as the wave tore through the area, leaving the setting’s famously tall ride lowered in water.
Because the show attempts to film practically — instead of using special impacts — as much as conceivable, the cast headed to Rosarito, Mexico, for the episodes so they could use the same massive water tanks James Cameron used to film Titanic. And while filming that way may add additional layers of complications behind the scenes, it certainly helps the actors in those big minutes.
“More often than not, we think, ‘How in the world are they going to do that?’” admits Stark. “Such a large amount the show is done practically that it kind of takes away a component of acting for us because we really are at this crazy angle, we really are in the water, whatever it is. They really bring it to life for us.”
“Oliver being dragged through the water was really Oliver being dragged through the water down in Mexico,” adds Krause.
Similarly, Guzman, 35, recalls filming a terrifying earthquake scene with Stark in season 2, in which a moving, shifted floor was based on the show’s soundstages.
“Me and Oliver actually got to have this big building on a gimbal that actually moved,” he says. “It was really insane.”
‘9-1-1’ will have a panel at Fox’s TCA presentations tomorrow morning.
Tim Minear, Alexis Martin Woodall,
Angela Bassett, Peter Krause, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Oliver Stark, Aisha Hinds, Kenneth Choi, Rockmond Dunbar, and Ryan Guzman will all be in attendance. #911onFOX pic.twitter.com/qiJJ390qlP— 9-1-1 News (@911NewsUpdates) August 2, 2018
The floor was at such an outrageous angle that the actors were sliding around. “Assuming you let go, no doubt about it,” Stark explains.
At times those encounters are “every single youngster’s dream,” Guzman says. “There was [one episode where] a skydiver stalled out in a plane so they couldn’t land the plane,” recalls Stark. “So myself and Ryan, we got to stand on top of the fire engine and drive it down this runway of this airport and we’re on top. I recollect as soon as we cut, we were both like, ‘I feel like Tom Cruise!’”
All things considered, with regards to the cast’s favorite scenes to film, they favor the ones where they’re keeping the two feet on strong ground.
“The better time, entertaining ones that make us laugh are kind of the special ones,” says Choi.
Krause makes it a point to an episode that stands out for him: “Full Moon (Dreadful AF)” from season 1.
“Bobby and Buck got to go to a yoga studio where numerous ladies were giving birth at the same time and then we had to deal with someone who was having a tapeworm crisis,” he recalls.
“I also appreciated when both of you folks [Stark and Guzman’s Buck and Eddie] were dosed [with LSD] in the episode ‘Dosed’ and you … were at the small children’s beauty pageant,” Krause adds, laughing. Says Stark, “I like when the characters learn something about themselves through the crises.
So one that strikes a chord is called ‘Stuck’ [from season 2] and all the casualties on the episode were trapped in whatever circumstances, yet the characters, the heroes themselves, were also caught in their own lives. And so to see that reflected in the crises and help them through it, I always think it’s pleasant when we get to investigate that.” 9-1-1 airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Fox.
