To bring the most powerful people in the world to their knees… threaten what they hold most dear.
Welcome to ‘Crises’ NBC’s new prime-time thriller starring Dermot Mulroney, who throughout his career has starred in more than 65 films, working with the industry’s top filmmakers and talent.
Mulroney plays an ex-CIA agent, ‘Francis Gibson’, who is taken hostage when the school bus he is chaperoning, full of Washington D.C.’s elite (including the President’s son), is high jacked.
There are twists.
One of Mulroney’s co-stars include The X Files’ Gillian Anderson as Meg Fitch, the CEO of an international IT company whose daughter is kidnapped.
Dermot spoke to the media.
When we first see you it looks as if you are among the taken. But then it turns out that you may not be who you first appear to be, can you talk about the hidden elements of your character?
“There are most hidden elements of the character of Gibson than the current viewer has any idea about. There is an incredible plot twist. This keeps happening week after week. That’s what makes this show so fun; as it evolved in its story I just kept being so pleased by the twists and turns of the plot.”
While your character is a part of the scheme and the kidnapping of the students; he also has his own daughter involved. Can you talk about how her also being a hostage and being afraid is going to affect him in his plan and behavior, if it all?
“Yes, this story gets really crazy but what stays the same is how much he loves his daughter and how important it is for him to repair his relationship with her and put his family back together. Now his intentions are good, you will see that his methods are questionable at times but then you’ll learn how effective it is. And so the story makes you really question motives versus results. It’s very smart in that way. Another thing I love about it is there is a lot of story coming at you really fast but I’m more surprised to how clear it is. The show is complex but it’s not confusing. You’ll see what I mean, it’s really great the way they were able to do that.
I love the world that Far and Rand created for Crises, it has just about one DNA strand off of reality, so come with us and you won’t hardly notice. That’s what I say about whether it’s believable is it is in the world that we’ve created. Now I can’t personally imagine where I would draw the line if I were coerced or forced to do something to protect my child, so I can’t imagine what I wouldn’t do.”
What do you admire most about Gibson?
“There are two things- his heart and his mind. I very much admire the reasons that he goes to the lengths that he does and makes the decisions he does, which is an intense and profound love for his daughter and his family. But the thing that most impresses me about Gibson is how truly genius he is. It’s fun to play a character that is vastly more intelligent than I am to be frank. It made me feel really smart.”
What was your experience shooting 1988’s western action film ‘Young Guns‘, and do you see any of the guys from the film? (film starred Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen)
‘Even when I was shooting Young Guns I think I was 23 or 24 – even when I was shooting it I knew it was going to be one of the best experiences of my life. And all these years later somewhat – I can’t even think, is it past 20 years later – 25 years later, I was right it’s still one of the most amazing things I went through. And the movie’s still – really stood the test of time, it stands on its own still. It doesn’t feel dated or anything. It’s a great movie – thanks for asking about that, I’m really proud of it.
Oh and I have one more thing to say about – oh whether I see any of the guys – yes we stayed friends for some years and the way things go, yes we’re all still friendly. I saw Charlie not too long ago and it was like, you know, like seeing someone you went to college with. Really fantastic – those are all really good guys who I still admire for what they’ve done since, you know.
Mulroney currently co-staring in “August: Osage County,” opposite Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, recently starred in “Jobs,” with Ashton Kutcher.
“Crisis” airs Sundays at 10pm EST on NBC. @CrisisNBC