LaRoyce Hawkins Reveals A Hilarious On-Set Incident From Chicago P.D. - Exclusive
Aside from a few lighthearted moments here and there, "Chicago P.D." is a pretty serious show. Each week on the hit NBC series, which airs Wednesday nights, a team of law enforcement agents from the Intelligence Unit of the fictional 21st District of Chicago crack one sobering case after another.
Starring Jason Beghe, Patrick John Flueger, Jesse Lee Soffer, Marina Squerciati, and Tracy Spiridakos, "Chicago P.D." doesn't pull any punches, often taking on child abduction, sexual assault, and drug trafficking. It also doesn't shy away from race relations and the long arm of the law, particularly through the eyes of Officer Kevin Atwater, who's played by LaRoyce Hawkins.
Just because the show is serious on the surface doesn't mean there aren't belly laughs on the "Chicago P.D." set while filming. In fact, during an exclusive interview with Looper, Hawkins dropped a hysterical nugget about a inadvertently comical moment that happened while shooting one day.
Patrick John Flueger 'wiped out' during an intense scene
If you think watching "Chicago P.D." is intense, imagine filming it. According to Hawkins, the actors on set often feel pressured to one-up themselves week after week.
"We get these cases sometimes where they revolve around our characters, and every time we see stage directions, the stakes raise for us," says Hawkins. "We are always put in these positions where we're more intense than we ever have been before. We have to run faster than we've ever run before. We have to be better cops every time, every episode."
Sometimes, that seriousness leads to unexpected laughs. Hawkins recalls a scene with Flueger, who plays Officer Adam Ruzek, that was "so funny because it was so serious," he says. During the scene Ruzek and Detective Jay Halstead (Soffer) were running into a river because they thought Officer Kim Burgess (Squerciati) was in the trunk of a car that was sinking.
"You have to understand how much coffee Patty [Flueger] probably drank that day [and] how intense his training was the night before to make sure that he was ready for this big moment," says Hawkins. "The big moment came and they rolled sound — lights, camera, action — and he and Jesse jetted toward the car. Because Patty is so passionate, he's running faster than Jesse, when in real life, he can't. He gets to the car first, but not without slipping and falling headfirst right into the water, and the whole crew busts up laughing."
It was such a memorable moment that, even though Hawkins wasn't actually on set, he knew about it right away. "They called me on FaceTime to tell me how funny it was," he says. "They had to pause production for at least 15 minutes from everybody's laughter because he was so intense, and the way that he fell and wiped out, it was hilarious ... Things like that happen and it really lightens things up because we go through some dark material."
Season 9 of "Chicago P.D." airs Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. ET on NBC.