Yahoo Lifestyle NCIS: Origins’ Kyle Schmid Talks Launch of Franks’ ‘Heart-Wrenching’ Backstory, Monday-Night Watch Parties With Wife Caity Lotz
The following contains spoilers from the Jan. 27 episode of CBS’ NCIS: Origins.
NCIS: Origins with its winter premiere this Monday began to unspool the story of Michael, as in future NIS Special Agent Mike Franks (played by Kyle Schmid).
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While Franks circa 1991 (just barely) dealt with a busted heel on his favorite pair of crocodile leather boots, flashbacks showed us a 21-year-old Michael (played by Berlin Station‘s Brandon Spink) being gifted with the fine footwear by his mom (Gigi Bermingham) and older brother (Matthew Erick White).
A wowed Michael vowed to wear the boots every day, but wasn’t quite braced for the breaking-in period. So, one day when big brother Mason saw Michael rubbing his aching dogs, he simply offered up his own, well-worn boots as a temporary trade. Once the new boots were broken in, the brothers swapped again. But then came news that Michael had been drafted for the Vietnam War. Mason urged his kid brother to make tracks for Mexico, but Michael didn’t fancy himself any draft dodger. As a result, Mason met his brother halfway, and volunteered to go to war with Michael, as their broken-hearted mother waved goodbye.
Will we see the Franks boys actually do battle? And what “heart-wrenching” tale is ahead for Mike? Here’s what Kyle Schmid shared with TVLine….
TVLINE | How much did the showrunners tell you about Franks’ backstory when you first signed on, or even before you did?
They didn’t. I mean, I always figured I’d come onto this and I would be playing a tool to explore the evolution of Gibbs — and yes, I am doing that in so many ways, but the fact that they recognize the opportunity to really explore Franks means so much to me as an actor, to have the opportunity to have a character grow in the eyes of the writers and the studio. When I go to work, I keep my head down and just try and do good work every day, so to experience a little bit of that recognition and have the opportunity to expand and tell that story, it’s an honor, actually. It’s a lot more than I ever expected or could hope for.
TVLINE | When I spoke to [co-showrunner] David J. North after the mid-season finale, he didn’t say it in so many words, but he indicated we’d be getting flashbacks with Franks. I had to double-check what he said with publicity, because I was not expecting that.
Dude, I wasn’t, either. I mean, when David mentioned it to me — “Yeah, we’re getting your backstory” — I was like, “Oh, OK.” I didn’t think much of it. And then we get the script for [Episode] 11, and I immediately called [co-showrunner] Gina [Lucita Monreal] and David and just said, “Guys, thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for writing just something that, to me, seems so meaningful.”
I’ve been doing this for 30 years. Now I’m on this network show, and you don’t know what you’re signing on for, and every single episode is phenomenal, and the writing is incredible, and the characters are so well thought-out, and they add so much…. They’re being very generous with me and the character of Mike Franks.
TVLINE | Have you met “the younger you,” that actor [Brandon Spink]?
I have, yeah. What a great kid.
TVLINE | What do you see in his physicality that matches you? Because I couldn’t quite latch onto anything in particular.
His physicality had less to do with it than who he was as a person and what he brought to it psychologically as an actor. He’s also a very dedicated young actor, which reminded me a bit of myself growing up and seeing the opportunity to make a meal out of a particularly good opportunity or scene. [Brandon] was hungry, and honest, and the way plays the younger Franks is, to me, so important because Franks has this armor — he’s this gruff man — but below that is this childlike sense of love for people and things, like [NIS K-9] Gary Callahan and the bird with Gibbs. And that was not lost on me when I watched Brandon read this material for the first time. There was a genuine authenticity of caring deeply about the world and what is right.
One scene I think he played so well was when his brother’s trying to get him to run away to Mexico, and he’s like, I can’t do that. There’s a moral compass inside me that is guiding me to do the right thing, even if it is dangerous and even if it means possibly never seeing my family again. But on the off chance that I can survive this, I want to come home to my loved ones. The way that he played that scene so genuinely, it is kind of like looking in a mirror where it’s [the older] Franks.
Franks lives so deeply in the cases and in his relationships with Gibbs, Lala, Randy, Mary Jo, Tish — all the people that he holds dear — that he just wants to get through it so he can come home to be able to see them, hold them, guide them, and love them. So for me, the physicality wasn’t as important as the intention of the character and the actor. Not to mention, we’re talking about an 18-year-old [actor], right? I’m 40, and I don’t look anything like I did when I was that age. There are liberties that we have to take when you find the right person, and he was the right person for the role.
TVLINE | Without spoiling anything, was there anything the showrunners told you about where this story is going that really piqued your interest?
It’s hard to say. Let me think for a second….
TVLINE | Because I heard that you have a big episode coming up beyond this one.
When David told you that they were going to be dipping a toe into the Mike Franks story, he wasn’t kidding. We get to see a lot of very deep and very exciting stuff that allows you to see the man that we’ve become familiar with on camera and why he is who he is.
TVLINE | We’ve got to talk about Tish (La Brea‘s Tonantzin Carmelo). The last thing David told me was, “Tish asked Mike to leave it alone when it comes to the guy who assaulted her, but the reality is that not pursuing the person who hurt his person is a difficult thing for Franks to do.”
It would be a difficult thing for Kyle to do, too.
TVLINE | So, that’s a story that we’re going to be revisiting?
Absolutely. There’s an episode coming up, Episode 13, that I’m very proud of. Not to preach David and Gina too much, but it’s hard not to when you signed onto a show and you’re kind of putting your career and your life in these people’s hands, and you’re just, like, crossing your fingers, going, “I really hope this f–king works.” You know what I mean? They wrote [Episode] 13, and it really is a Mike-and-Tish episode. If it doesn’t leave you with a whole bunch of conflict and emotion, you can’t have a heart, because … in learning the origin story of the assault, we as an audience and as human beings will understand why it is so difficult for Mike to let it go.
I like to joke around that he’s a bit of a dinosaur, mentally. Like, if there was somebody that needed therapy at NIS, it would be Mike Franks. We dig into their past and Tonantzin is phenomenal in the episode. She’s a pleasure to work with. We get to dig into a different time period in Mike’s life, post-war, and explore the transition of who he was as a lost soul and what makes him who he is today.
I’m trying to pick and choose my words carefully because…
TVLINE | No, I get it.
… they’re tight on this stuff. But Mike’s story is heart-wrenching, and I think that the relationship between Gibbs and Mike is so strong because of the things that they share in common and what their innate emotional reactions to tragedy are, the way that their fight-or-flight reaction is triggered and what triggers it. Franks gives Gibbs an opportunity and a second shot at life and is there for him in a way that involves a bit of tough love, and is able to pull him out through his actions and his words, and I think we get to see the inverse of that relationship moving forward.
I just got Episode 16 last night — we’ve got a read-through on [Jan. 27] and start shooting this week — and my mind’s going, “Holy s–t, that’s where we’re going?” I like to operate in a world where I don’t know what I’m doing tomorrow, besides working. And I shouldn’t know where my character’s going in a month. I don’t want to know. I don’t want to think about it. I don’t go to Gina and David, and I don’t beg for answers, because to use a metaphor, we can’t talk to God and say, “Am I going to be OK in two years?” We just have to live every day to its fullest with the integrity and the heart that we have, and that’s the way I feel about Mike.
So, I’m as surprised as you guys are half the time. They don’t let us see episodes until they air, so I sit on the couch with my wife [Legends of Tomorrow‘s Caity Lotz] on Monday night, we pop a bowl of popcorn, I cross my fingers, and I turn on the episode. She always gives me a kiss afterwards, and goes, “Holy s–t, babe, you’re making a great show,” and I can’t thank her enough for that because I love my wife. She’s been in the industry for a long time, and she’s a force, she’s a talent, and to be able to share the experience with her means everything to me.
TVLINE | Are we actually going to Vietnam at all with Michael and Mason?
I think you’ll get a glimpse of it. You’ll get a glimpse of it, but it’s also not a necessary tool at this point in the story. A glimpse into what we all know, historically, to be one of the most violent wars in American history is all we need. We don’t need to tell the story that so many movies have already told.
TVLINE | I was a bit curious if we’d get some Forrest Gump-y battlefield moment that “forever changes things.”
[Laughs] Well, dude, look, we don’t tell this story in order, and I think that’s what keeps everybody on their toes. So, just because we’re kind of moving through some of this stuff as we move through this season, that certainly does not mean that we’re not going to go back and experience other moments in Franks’ life. This is not a linear story. Our memories are not linear memories, right? And I think I’ll just leave it at that.
Want scoop on NCIS: Origins, or for any other TV show ? Shoot an email to InsideLine@tvline.com, and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
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