Procter Hits The Jackpot

Joining an established franchise can be scary.

Emily Procter (Calleigh Duquesne) said working on CSI: Miami was "terrifying" in the beginning because it was a spinoff of the already-popular CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. "I think we felt a lot of pressure trying to live up to a show, that really is the way it is because of chemistry. You can't recreate that. All of us were sort of frozen," Procter explained to SheKnows. "It's a different style of acting than any of us had done before. How do we put our own personality into it?"

"The first year was really hard," she continued. "Before the first show aired, we were all, 'it's nice working with you.' Then we got some ratings. The whole first year at any moment we expected to not be at work the next day. The second year we settled down. In hindsight, I like the way that it's played out because I don't think we really hit our stride until the end of season four."

"I didn't think this show would get picked up, first of all," she told the Star Telegram. "And when it did, I thought, 'Oh, it will be done in four years or so. That's all we've got.' I would not trust my judgment on such matters. My instincts aren't the most reliable. It just honestly feels like I've hit the jackpot."

"I'll spend a couple of months just rolling along, making shows, and everything feels normal," she explained. "Then I'll snap out of it and think to myself, 'I cannot believe that I have been on a TV show for seven years.' It's been great, better than anything I imagined." However, Procter joked, "If we're still going six, seven years from now, we're all going to need knee replacements because we're always bending down to pick things up and stuff."

People often comment on the exaggerated acting style of Miami's star, David Caruso (Horatio Caine). Procter had a different way of looking at it. "You know what? He's a great guy to work with," she explained. "Very sweet, very gentle. And I think what he's doing is great. Our show is the middle child of a big franchise. It would be very easy for the show to disappear and be forgotten. But David adds a heroic, comic-book feel that makes us stand out. I mean, we're not just crime-solvers; we're crime-fighters! Sign me up for that job!"

The original interviews are from SheKnows and the Star Telegram.

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