Father-son duo Jack and Denis Leary knew from the very beginning how they wanted the set of the Fox military sitcom “Going Dutch” to feel.
“One of the things that we were all adamant about was we wanted, especially the core group [of actors], to be able to do the pages but be able to improvise,” Denis told TheWrap during a new installment of How I Did It, presented by Fox. “So live on set we would be doing what was written and then immediately starting to play with [it].”
Denis Leary stars in “Going Dutch” as Colonel Patrick Quinn, a decorated U.S. military officer who is reassigned to the least important Army base in the world, after going on an offensive rant. Appalled by the leisurely ways of the base, he begins to reshape it to his liking, only to run into resistance from his estranged daughter Maggie (Taylor Misiak), the base’s former commanding officer.
Maggie and Patrick’s relationship is at the heart of “Going Dutch.” As executive producers on the series, both Denis and Jack knew that meant it was of paramount importance that they cast the right actor as Captain Maggie Quinn. “It was a long process of casting [with] the biggest focus, obviously, on casting Taylor’s role,” Jack explained. “We spent a long time going through multiple rounds [of auditions], but Taylor was always at the front [of the line].”
Once Misiak and Leary were on set together, it was quickly made clear to the latter that they had found the right performer to play his on-screen daughter. “I said to our director, ‘Get a medium and a close-up, just because, if we’re going to improvise here, let’s make sure we have it,’” Denis recalled. “And, again, I love when this happens. We started the scene and about four seconds in, I was like, ‘Oh my God, can I keep up with this girl?’ She was already throwing stuff at me.”
“Every take, it was like that, ” Leary said. “It was so electric.”
Jack collaborated professionally with his father for the first time when he worked as a production assistant on the set of the FX dramedy “Rescue Me.” Over the years, the two have found ways to make sure that their personal, familial relationship never gets in the way of their on-set work, and that was the case again when they made Season 1 of “Going Dutch.”
“To his credit, without me having to tell him, ‘You have to treat me like everybody else,’ sometimes he would come in and go, ‘That was really good guys. Denis, that sucked. Do something else,’” the actor recalled with a laugh.
“I think sometimes it is on me to be the one to tell Denis the thing that everybody else is afraid to tell him, if it’s a bit of direction or this or that,” Jack revealed. “Sometimes, that becomes my expertise, which is fine.” Or, as his father put it, “He’s the Denis whisperer.”
“Going Dutch” Season 1 is now streaming on Hulu.
The post How the ‘Going Dutch’ Team Created an Atmosphere of ‘Electric’ Spontaneity On Set | How I Did It appeared first on TheWrap.