TRANSCRIPT OF MARG’S INTERVIEW ON LE GRAND JOURNAL, HOSTED BY MICHEL DENISOT
May 5, 2011
Every week 70 million viewers all around the world watch CSI Las Vegas. The star of the series, which is celebrating this year its 10th season, is with us tonight. Here’s Marg Helgenberger!
Host: You’ve been playing Catherine, Catherine Willows, for 10 years.
Marg: Ten years… eleven years!
Host: The 11th season is currently filming. What does it represent in the life of an actress to be playing a great character like that? Sometimes you’d like to stop, but sometimes it’s such a big success that there’s no reason to do so.
Marg: Well, the success has…, yes, it means a lot to me, and the success around the world. It’s true that I love the character, I love the series, I love the actors that I work with, the crew. It’s true that I do something that’s a lot of fun.
Host: We always confuse CSI NY, CSI Miami *don’t understand* Yes, I do confuse them. Do all the actors know each other? Do all the actors from CSI Las Vegas, Miami and New York know each other? Is there a CSI family? (Some of this was hard to make out, but this is the gist of what she was asked.)
Marg: I know some of the cast members. I’ve worked with some of them. There has been crossovers, episodes where there has been the three series, but no, there’s not a lot of contact between us all.
Host: But you have the best; you have the best team,
Marg: Thank you.
Host: You’ve filmed with Justin Bieber, with Tarantino, and you have (inaudible) and then you have Las Vegas, Miami and New York.
Marg: Yes, it is the best. You’re right. I like to think that, yes, the original is the best. We have the best writers and everything else that comes with it.
Host: Are you still having fun after ten years (hard to understand)… The protection glasses, the analyzing, the bodies…lots of bodies.
Marg: I still enjoy it. It’s a job that’s unique. I work every day, and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t laugh. The members of the team are very funny, the other actors too. It’s a series where everyone does the best they can for all those 11 years. The level is always as good, ten, eleven years.
Host: It’s a story of success like no other. In the US, the series creator, Anthony Zuiker, was a tram conductor in Las Vegas?
Marg: Yeah, that’s the story. You know the anecdote. It’s true that he was a tramway conductor and now he is one of the most successful producers on television. It’s true that he’s a guy with a lot of imagination. He came up with this great idea and he stuck with it through the end.
Host: How would you like to see your character evolve in the 11th or 12th season? (The 10th one in France presently.)
Marg: I am now the supervisor. It’s a lot of fun because now I understand what kind of boss I’d like to have and I try to be someone that creates a team spirit and that is behind everyone, that tries to include the cast ensemble. it’s true that I love to work like that, as part of a team.
Host: In this season, season 10, you finally have a boyfriend. It had been a while since that had happened.
It hadn’t happened since season 3
Marg: Finally. It was time, right?
Host: Finally. It feels good, right? It’s been a while. You asked for one?
Marg: I’ve been asking for a boyfriend since season three and I finally got one in season 10. And he’s a great guy. He’s a great actor, very sexy, easy to work with. He’s a really good actor.
Host (to another guest): Do you watch? Because CSI, it’s an incredible success in France, do you watch the series?
Guest: Not really, no.
Host: It’s not very nice of you.
Guest: No, no I don’t, but a lot of my family watches it. It’s very popular, a lot of people watch it, but I don’t…It’s not because I don’t like it…
Marg: You don’t have to apologize. It’s all right.
Host: That’s American class, elegance.
Host: A word on the theme songs. As I was saying earlier, it’s true that we mix up CSI and CSI NY, but all the theme songs are by The Who. They’re songs from The Who. Do you know the different theme songs?
Marg: Of course. Ours is ‘Who Are You?’, and CSI Miami is ‘Won’t get Fooled Again’…Is that the name of the song? And the third one is ‘Teenage Wasteland’, that’s CSI: NY, Manhattan…
We’ll be back in a while with Marg Helgenberger.
(Marg sits through the rest of the program, but doesn’t really say anything. They have her participate in some kind of game, but there isn’t really anything to add content wise.)