'CSI' Can Cause Weird Nightmares, Says George Eads

George Eads (Nick Stokes) admitted to CBS that after nearly 6 years on CSI nightmares have become a common occurrence.

"They're just kinda flashes," the actor explained. "When you're around, even though it's prosthetics, when you're around a mutilated body all day and you go home, it's not like you're thinking about it and it's bothering you, but I think your subconscious plugs it in. There will be times where I'll wake up in the morning even still and I get something bloody or something bawdy, but it's not making me miserable or anything."

Going back to the season 5 finale, "Grave Danger," Eads discussed what it was like spending three days inside the box his character was buried in, contemplating his own death, covered in insects, and how he was able to take some of those real-life feelings and use them for the role.

"The box wasn't necessarily comfortable and I wasn't really that comfortable with having insects all over me," the actor revealed. "But those are things that I just thought, if I didn't think about, if I didn't complain or talk about, being uncomfortable helped for my performance. Between takes I would insist that I stay in the box just to make my back ache a little bit more, to make my head hurt a little bit more, just to try to add some realism."

This season, viewers have seen Nick Stokes trying to deal with the events of "Grave Danger," sometimes not too gracefully. But Eads admitted that's what makes the show great. "The whole cast is pretty imperfect and that's what, I think, makes a character watchable and fun," he said. "As long as we stay away from making it just too slick and too cool and too kinda, you know, 'get the girl,' as long as we play against type and continue to do that I'll be happy."

Visit the CSI section of the CBS video website to download and view this video interview.

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