We sat down with Mike Vogel on the set of his new NBC show The Brave, where he plays Captain Adam Dalton, a member of the Special Ops force at the center of the show.
Together we talked about collaboration on the show and where he sees the story heading.
Howโd you get involved in this project?
They sent the script, and I read it [laughs]. I said to Dean [Georgaris, creator], “yeah thatโs my gig, I need to be involved with that.” Deanโs vision the whole time was to make something that was–while certainly playing on the current events of the world–not with any sort of political agenda. Hollywood wants to make these shows and movies with their agenda in mind, and speak for what they think the military must be feeling, instead of letting the folks on the ground interpret it themselves, and tell the stories themselves. Thats what I hope weโre doing.
This show seems to have the opportunity to go anywhere, where would you not want it to go? Either for your character or the show?
I mean I canโt think of a place. Hereโs the thing: unfortunately the world is being united over and around terrible events right now. This isn’t just terrorism, its arms dealers, its drug cartels, its people that seek to do wrong. Thereโs a great quote and I gonna completely butcher it, but it says, โPeople can sleep well in their beds at night because daring men and women stand poised ready to do extreme violence on their behalf.โ Its an unfortunate reality that I think if there was anywhere I said โoh I donโt want to go thereโ or โI donโt think we should go thereโ well then weโre limiting ourselves and saying weโre not willing to confront what may or may not be the issues staring us in the face. Again I don’t want this to be a political show with a political bend. Weโre about rooting out evil and bad dudes wherever they are. So I canโt think of somewhere where I wouldnโt want to go. Where you never want them to go is your own front door. I think that’s the scariest place, but that always been the thing, we go fight them there so we don’t have to fight them here. Thatโs changing as well now, now thereโs stuff all around us as well. If I think of a place where I don’t want us to go then it kind of undercuts the whole point of it.
As much as you trust the writers, when do you go to them and say โlets try this?โ
Day 1 of the pilot. This has been such an amazingly collaborative experience, to have a cast thatโs invested in the message, and invested in the roles of their characters. [We have] a creative team that’s willing to say โyeah we trust themโ because they get it. It’s like anything, it never works 100% of the time. If I thought that my idea was great 100% of the time itโd be a really crappy show! Thank god they donโt listen to me that much, but once in a while a blind squirrel finds a nut, and theres a lot of that thats come through, and thatโll continue.
I heard you got to set up a screening of the show in Germany?
Yeah a buddy of mine is an officer over there in the base at Stuttgart, where Africom and Eurocom and where all those troops base out of, so we were able to piggyback an early screening of the show over there thatโll happen of September 23rd for all the men and women over there. Iโm stoked to do it, heโs pretty excited about it, and hopefully they are as well.
Sounds great, thank you!
Thanks!
The Brave premieres Monday September 25th at 10/9 c on NBC.
