Chicago Fire's Eamonn Walker Says Constant Laughter On Set Keeps The Show From Feeling Heavy
To say the heroic "Chicago Fire" first responders endure some heavy stuff on the show is a serious understatement. They brave burning buildings, collapsing buildings, and buildings on the verge of exploding. And don't forget the buildings full of badly scorched people and other injured or ailing victims who have to be hauled down ladders or up into hovering helicopters. You get the idea. Plenty of heavy stuff to go around.
However, the truth is that for some cast members, the heaviest scenes on this "One Chicago" franchise hit are actually their definition of fun. For instance, Taylor Kinney, who plays Kelly Severide, cites an uber-risky stunt on the Season 6 episode "Law of the Jungle" as an all-time favorite experience on the series. The moment finds him with Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer) on top of a building, where they're forced to flee an impending explosion by leaping into the Chicago River. As Kinney explained on NBC Insider, "They both jump off [and] a big fireball explodes. It's one of the best memories I've had in the last 10 years."
So, while an adrenaline rush seems to release the on-the-job pressure for Severide, other actors have different ways of lightening the mood. For example, Eamonn Walker says when it comes to facing the challenges of heavy content, laughter is the best medicine.
Eamonn Walker and his Chicago Fire castmates enjoy their levity on the set
The actors on "Chicago Fire" face a succession of traumatic events on the show. And while the crises are fictional, the intensity of enacting the scenes can be very real. Speaking with NBC 10 Philadelphia (via YouTube), "Chicago Fire" star Eamonn Walker said that between shooting the more intense sequences on the show, the cast is able to relax by sharing a good laugh. "When we cut, we laugh a lot," Walker said, adding for emphasis, "We laugh more than most."
Walker also said that when dealing with scenes involving some of the horrific special effects make-up inflicted on the show's numerous victims, the earlier levity helps to defuse the emotions. "[When the makeup artist has been] working for the last 14 hours ... sticking bits of flesh on [the victim] and then he's painted him and ... you've got a broken femur here or an eye socket that's dropped down here and you're like, 'oh I got to pretend that's not upsetting my spirit.'"
Clearly, even though the subject matter of the series is heavy, the actors keep it light and breezy on set.