Flickering Myth | Eric Dane

david j. moore chats with The Last Ship stars Eric Dane, Rhona Mitra, Adam Baldwin, Travis Van Winkle and executive prdoucer Hank Steinberg at the San Diego Comic-Con…

The new hit show The Last Ship follows a line of other television shows of late that have apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic themes. A deadly virus sweeps the world by storm and the only cure for humanity lies in Dr. Rachel Scott’s (played by Rhona Mitra from Doomsday, 2008) hands. She’s aboard the last functioning U.S. Naval Destroyer, whose Captain (played by Eric Dane from Grey’s Anatomy) must protect her and the knowledge she has at all costs as outlying dangers encroach and intend to do humanity even more harm. These interviews with actors Eric Dane, Rhona Mitra, Adam Baldwin, Travis Van Winkle, and executive producer Hank Steinberg shed some light on the show’s topical apocalyptic themes, some of the challenges of working on the big budget, high-concept program, and working alongside the U.S. Navy, which cooperated with producer Michael Bay by allowing the cast and crew to utilize and film on several functioning Naval destroyers.

david j. moore: Can you address the apocalyptic themes in the show and how many other shows and films right now are set during an apocalyptic period in humanity’s history?

Eric Dane (Commander Tom Chandler): It’s an apocalyptic environment. It’s happening now. We get to see it as it’s unfolding. It’s Apocalypse Now, right? If anybody’s used that term before, I’m unaware of it. It is in the zeitgeist a little bit. Zombies and the apocalypse are pretty popular right now. We don’t have any zombies. We have a very deadly virus, and it’s an interesting subject matter for me. It’s rich in storytelling, and the characters are great. I’m having a blast, man.

Rhona Mitra (Dr. Rachel Scott): I get to save the world again! I know. I guess it’s a big thing to be given the same task twice within a decade. Before [in Doomsday], I suppose I was trying to do it by physical means, wasn’t I? In [The Last Ship], I’m using my brain. Although, I do like fighting 8-foot men in arenas. I genuinely do. I love both. It’s a lovely thing to be able to take on the responsibility of playing somebody who’s strong enough, physically, without having to prove anything or use brawn, and handle the material in the position of being a microbiologist and a scientist. It’s quite a responsibility, to not be taken lightly, because it’s a world that hasn’t been explored too much – virology – in the film world … you had Contagion and Twelve Monkeys, I suppose, and for two years leading up to this opportunity to work with Michael Bay on this show, I had gotten very well entrenched in the world of neurotoxins, studying neurotoxins. I was living in the world, and then this project came along, and I thought, Perfect! I get to see the journey that she takes to possibly find a cure to help save the human race, whether it’s Ebola virus, or whatever it is. I get to talk to virologists every day, and be out and furthering my studies and play this awesome female.

Travis Van Winkle (Lt. Danny Green): It’s intense. Imagine this actually happened to the world, like it could happen, so immediately the stakes are higher. It makes you think about your personal life, how I try to live. I want to serve humanity the best I can. When it comes to this situation, if you’re in the Navy, that’s our duty. If this was the situation, this is the place I’d rather be. For me, it fits in the blueprint of who I am in reality. I enjoy the idea of doing my part and saving the world. The world is ending every second that we don’t find a cure.

Hank Steinberg (executive producer): We like to say that the show’s not post-apocalyptic. It’s Apocalypse Now. It’s happening in the moment, and there’s a difference between our show and any other show or movie. The show’s about hanging on to hope in the face of all odds, and I think that’s what gives the show its urgency. There’s a ticking clock. Every day they don’t come home with the vaccine is a day that a half a million people die. This show is paced like that. The actors are acting in such a way where there’s urgency behind them. They want to get home to their families, and if they find the cure in time, maybe they’ll be in time to save their families. If they can do that, maybe they can repair the world. To us, the key was distinguishing characteristics in a post-apocalyptic show that takes place 15 years after it all went to hell. This is happening right now, and it’s been happening over the last four months. It’s not too late to stop it.

david j. moore: Talk a little bit about working with real U.S. Navy and how you interacted with the crew.

Eric Dane: My father was in the Navy. I didn’t have any experience on board a Naval destroyer before the show, and it’s been pretty fucking cool. They took us out to sea for three days, and that was a pretty interesting experience. Ran some torpedo drills, and shot some 5-inch … it was pretty awesome. I wrapped Grey’s Anatomy, and three weeks later, The Last Ship presented itself, and we shot the pilot right away because we had to work with the Navy’s schedule. The ship was available. Then, we waited eight or nine months to go into production. We had to build sets, and we had to get another ship from the Navy. There was a government shutdown that set us back about a week, and it’s been a long time in the making. This project’s been … we’ve been working on it for a couple years. It’s just now starting to air. It’s been a pretty synergetic relationship. We used the actual Navy and certain enlisted for certain roles when we needed them. Who better to do their job than the guys who do their job? You’d be surprised at how many of these guys are just naturally good at doing their job in front of a camera. Sometimes, people have a tendency to freeze up when you put a camera on them, but some of these guys are naturals. It’s great to watch. When it’s time to go to work, they go to work. That’s what we love about them.

Rhona Mitra: I’d just come off a military show [Strike Back], so I’d worked with the Army. I was working with a Special Ops outfit, so being English and coming to America and seeing the American outfit, and seeing how the machines worked and watching the mechanisms … I connect with people. I was just fascinated with these boys and girls. What’s the common denominator and why are they here? People join the military for different reasons. The thing that keeps them there or why they like being there is that they have a sense of pride in being given a structure. They spend their lives doing their best. It’s not about war. It’s about having honor in your days. It’s a lovely, lovely feeling, because it sets the tone for everybody. They’re really proud to be there.

Adam Baldwin (XO Mike Slattery): It’s an honor to be aboard a Navy-guided missile destroyer. To have the Captain and the crew welcome us aboard, the Department of Defense, Michael Bay’s involvement has been humbling and a great learning experience. My father served in World War II, so for me to be able to – in my own pretend way – step into his shoes is a dream come true. I’ve said it before – Thank God they’re on our side. These are weapons platforms that are basically – they are defensive weapons, except the missiles, which are long-range. I’m a firm believer that America is not here to be an aggressor, but more of a defender and a liberator, and I’ll stand by that. I’m just honored to be a part of a project that allows us to work with this great organization, and I’m very humbled by it. I want to serve them well.

Travis Van Winkle: We’ve had Navy personnel and every different kind of personnel you can imagine who’ve been on set with us. They’ve been helping us guide the story line; they’ve been helping us get into our performances. What’s beautiful about the Navy is that we’ve gotten to work so close to them. We got to plug into the source. It just allowed us to live more of their life. I’ve learned a lot. Michael Bay’s first request was, “Hang around the Navy S.E.A.L.s. Get to know them.” So I did. I’ve become more educated than I ever thought I would about the Navy S.E.A.L.s. I thought they’d be these grizzled, war-heavy veterans, but it turns out that they’re the most soft, tender, genuine people. These guys – as much as they train and dedicate their lives – they’ve got this genuine creativity. One guy was crying and spouting out these monologues to me. I did not expect to connect with these guys on such a human level. They have such a depth of character and humility.

david j. moore: What’s been the biggest challenge for you working on the show?

Eric Dane: The geography of the shooting space … we become a little stilted when shooting in that environment. You’ve gotta learn to stay loose. Very tight quarters, and when you’ve got a camera crew and a boom operator, and everybody else is stuffed into one room, it can become a little bit congested.

Rhona Mitra: The balance of having to be a female in this very masculine environment is not fun to [my character]. It’s not a case of “Oooh, it’s so testosterone-driven!” It’s about personal stuff. When the enormity of a situation like this occurs, you have to image that a lot of that kind of stuff gets put on the backburner. The task at hand to show up with such a tidal wave behind you … the knowledge that she has that a certain amount of the population has already been struck, but she doesn’t know until about four months into it the severity of it, and that’s when the Russians come in. There is that tidal wave against her where if she lets her emotions come into the forefront that she would crack and wouldn’t be able to stand up and be who she is in front of Captain Chandler and the rest of the ship. That’s the reason she’s so self-contained and standoffish. She’s carrying the greatest Fabergé Egg that the planet or any other human being has ever come across … ever. She’s trying to make sure it doesn’t break, and preserve whatever there is to preserve. Being a woman doesn’t really factor in at this point. She’s been entrusted by the U.S. government with this overwhelmingly ridiculous task. You have to gauge a level of emotion that you can give every week. You have Michael Bay on the one hand, bringing his bombastic qualities, so with the characters it’s important to be bringing in as much realism as possible. I don’t know. Some people would go to bits and lose it, so one’s survival and gut has to be incredibly strong. We’re much stronger than we think we are. We have to get on with the task at hand.

Hank Steinberg: We shot the entire pilot on the ship, and then for the series, we built sets because when you ask the Navy to give up their ship for six months … they have to liberate the world. We shot [on the ship] once for a couple weeks, and then back again for a week. It was a challenge for us from a production standpoint. The actors would have to shoot out of order.

Adam Baldwin: Yeah, we’d be shooting two episodes at a time. Episode two, episode nine, episode seven today … I mean where are we?! We couldn’t have done that had the creators not kept everything so organized and had the backing of TNT. It was the only way we could logistically get it done. We were at the mercy of the availability of the Navy ship.

david j. moore: You were picked up for another season. What can we expect next year?

Eric Dane: I don’t know yet. We don’t know exactly where we’re going, but I’m sure it’ll be interesting, and I hope you all tune in.

Travis Van Winkle: There’re a lot of possibilities for this show. The show moves you and it seems like it covers so many different areas, and the cliffhanger is going to throw everyone on their ass. The way Season 2 will start … it can go anywhere.

Hank Steinberg: The long-term plan is to save the world, but there’s a lot of saving and repairing to do, so putting the world back together can take a lot of different forms. When I heard the idea [for this show], I thought I can see how this show can go seven years, nine years. It’s so huge, and the problem is so vast. They can come in contact with any number of new people. They’re travelling around. Lostwas an amazing show, they had the hatch, they had The Others, you know, where are they gonna go? The first season [of The Last Ship] takes place over a very condensed time period, so we would evolve from there. We have a generalized blue print, which is the way to go. We are open to discovery.

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