CHICAGO FIRE Cast: Sizzling Set Snippets

We’re just a few days out from the epic ONE CHICAGO crossover, which kicks off with Chicago Fire at the special time of 9/8c this Tuesday, January 5 on NBC. When we were at #NBCChicagoDay late last year, the shows were in the process of filming these crossovers and while we didn’t grab goss about the crossover itself at that time (don’t worry, we will have some goss on its way before the big event airs!), we did snag some set secrets and interesting behind the scenes facts from the Chicago Fire cast. Read on to find out what was revealed…

The cast did not predict the show turning into a franchise when they first signed on. “I don’t think from the beginning there was any notion that it would expand, grow tentacles and create offspring. I don’t think that was being discussed, it was all about let’s get this baby airborne, see where we can take it, but right away it just felt like a bizarre blessing to have this many like minded people with agreeable senses of view, which is just an incredible component to the cast relationship,” says Christian Stolte, who plays Randall ‘Mouch’ McHolland.

They’re looking forward to working with the Chicago Med cast. “Oliver Platt definitely, all of the cast basically. I mean some of the cast, Nick Gehlfuss, we’ve just met and worked with, but all the rest of them we haven’t worked with that much,” says Jesse Spencer, who plays Matthew Casey. “Epatha and Marlyne, I just want to grip, I don’t know why. So I can’t wait til I officially go over so I can meet all them,” says Eamonn Walker, who plays Chief Wallace Boden.

They have the seal of approval from real life firefighters. “They’ve actually walked up to us and gone out of the way to say ‘we really appreciate what you guys are doing’, because there are elements of the actual incidents that we can’t portray – because a real fire you can’t see your hand in front of your face. You can’t make a television show that way week after week. But the brotherhood, sisterhood, the human element of people putting their lives on the line for each other, I think we’ve gotten a piece of that and people really, the first responders appreciate that,” says David Eigenberg, who plays Christopher Herrman.

Even though they spend anywhere from 12 to 18 hour days on set together, the cast are so close-knit that they even vacation together! “Every vacation period that’s been available to us, some combination of us are together,” says Stolte. “Eigenberg – Herrmann – has smaller children. I have daughters, one’s 21, one’s 12, our family spends more time at his house than at my house.”

The show may be a drama, but the cast could give comedy actors a run for their money. “They are the funniest group of people I’ve ever worked with.” says Stolte. “And by funniest, he means dirtiest,” chimes in Yuri Sardarov, who plays Brian Otis. As for details on who is the funniest – “David Eigenberg is an absolute clown…Randy Flager is an eternal seven-year-old Dennis the Menace troublemaker, Eamonn Walker has zero confidence in his comedic abilities,” reveals Stolte. “He’s one of the funniest people that you might ever meet. Everyone’s confident in the group to let their freak flag fly. But yeah we’ve all just gotten so comfortable with one another that we do whatever,” adds Sardarov.

The cast is also filled with musical talents, and it’s not just Kara Killmer, who got to show off her vocals earlier this season.  “It was fun to get the opportunity because it’s interesting everybody on our cast either sing really well or play an instrument or do both. Like Monica has an incredible voice and she plays the ukulele and she’s a concert pianist by the way. And Jesse can play the fiddle, everybody is so talented. She [Dora Madison] can sing. I was like ‘Really? Me? Okay’,” says Killmer, who plays paramedic Sylvie Brett.

Cruz’s secret zumba life was inspired by a conversation actor Joe Minoso had with executive producer Dick Wolf. “It was the beginning of season three and both [Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D.] casts and all the producers were at a dinner together. Somehow I ended up sitting next to Dick Wolf and we were talking about stuff and zumba came up. I was like ‘actually I’m an instructor’. I became an instructor before I got the show, I was unemployed and was like ‘I’ll do this until I find a gig’ and then it never actually came into fruition. So I was telling him we’ve never seen what Cruz does as a side job, I think it would be kind of funny if he was a zumba instructor and he REALLY latched onto that. He was like ‘that is funny’ and then the next thing we knew, four episodes later it was happening,” reveals Joe Minoso, who plays the zumba instructing fireman.

Things may be dark for Cruz right now, but once the time comes for his character to get back into the romance ring, Minoso has a suggestion… “As of right now there is nothing in the future in terms of a love interest but I’d be totally happy with hooking up with one of the nurses on Med. I think it would be a lot of fun,” he says.

Speaking about romance, let’s talk about that Jimmy and Chilli shower scene before the hiatus… “You know as a new cadet, I’m finding my place in this firehouse and romance is part of it,” teases Steven R. McQueen, who plays Firehouse 51’s new candidate. “As a firefighter you’re there 24 hours at a time, there are very few nooks and crannies where you can find to take a moment away with your special someone. It just so happens that the showers is one of the best places,” points out Minoso.

Wedding bells for Dawson and Casey? “I keep getting asked this question but I feel like they’ve got to deal with the baby, they’ve got to deal with themselves first. We can wait on that for a bit. We’ve been through so much, we’re together, it feels like we’re already married. I think they’re just going to hang out for a second, you know,” says Monica Raymund, who plays Gabriela Dawson.

Don’t call Brett and Chilli “Dawson and Shay 2.0”. “People are so used to the Dawson and Shay dynamic and it was incredible. But I think there’s something about us coming in and you know it doesn’t really make sense to think how can we fill those shoes, you just can’t fill their shoes, we have to bring our own pair and kind of make it our own. I think we’ve kind of done a good job with 61, our ambulance, and turned it into our own thing. I mean we’re completely different personalities, completely different characters. So I think for us this season it’s just going to be about creating even more chemistry and bigger friendship, there are just more things that we need to learn about each other, which is same in real life,” says Killmer. “I think Dawson and Shay kept it real, we’re keeping it real weird,” adds Dora Madison, who plays Jessica ‘Chilli’ Chilton.

The harsh Chicago winters have resulted in the cast having a rotating top five most uncomfortable scenes to film. “There’s a couple from season one that remain in the top five,” says Stolte. ” Any time where it’s winter and we’re by the lake, basically that makes it immediately,” says Sardarov.

We also discovered their secret to expressing their lines while out in the cold. “They give you a heating pad, you know, the hand warmers?” reveals Eigenberg. “To warm up your mouth. ‘Okay, say your lines now’,” adds Walker.

The characters could have turned out a lot differently if different cast members played them. If you read our set secrets with the Chicago P.D. cast, you’ll know that LaRoyce Hawkins originally auditioned for Otis, but he’s not the only one who auditioned for a different role to the one that he currently plays. “The day before that test [in LA], I hadn’t realised this before but they had wanted me to audition for the Mills character, and I was so convinced that I was going to be Otis or that I had auditioned for Otis, that I completely disregarded the email where they had said we’d like for you to test for Mills…I’m in the same room as Charlie Barnett who holds a very special place in my heart. He tested and as soon as I walked into that room, the confidence that I saw in their eyes that Charlie Barnett was going to be Mills, I was just praying that they were going to test for Otis. And they did, so I got very lucky,” spills Sardarov. Meanwhile Stolte was originally called in for the role of Herrmann. “He was a man in a bad situation, his house was foreclosed on, he was trying to hold the family together. I didn’t see a lot of humour in that, I didn’t play it with a lot of humour. So then they let me read for Mouch who was at least 60 years old and grossly overweight and I was 49 years old and moderately overweight, but I think they realised that ‘well we can do a little more with the guy’ and he was sort of a comic relief character from the very beginning.”

Favorite storylines? Even though it’s super sad, I really do like that I had an etopic pregnancy. That was just something that brought Casey and Dawson together and it makes our characters a lot richer, a bit more complex, as well as our dynamic and relationship so I actually really loved that storyline, even though it’s very sad,” says Raymund.

Girl power! We know why we admire the leading ladies of the show, but we were curious about what their alter egos thought and asked the actors on their thoughts. “I admire her strength and her ambition,” says Raymund. “What I love about Sylvie is that she has a big heart. She’s still holding on to her humanity and her compassion in the job and I think sometimes it’s her greatest strength but it’s also maybe her greatest weakness is that she has such a big heart. But I don’t want her to lose it,” says Killmer.

Life advice for characters? We asked some of the actors what one piece of advice they would give to their characters. “Learn when to speak and when to listen,” says Raymund. “Take a deep breath. Just take a deep breath, relax. Everything will be just fine,” says Sardarov. “Hold out for the real thing. It’s hard to watch what she goes through romantically because she’s already been down the path of being engaged to someone who wasn’t that great but it was her high school sweetheart, and then she’s kind of in and out of relationships trying to figure out how to work the job and meet somebody. I just want her to be patient, not rush into anything,” says Killmer.

Chicago Fire returns with the #OneChicago crossover on Tuesday January 5 at 9/8c on NBC.

Here are some photos of the Chicago Fire cast during #NBCChicagoDay. (Photography by Sarah Gillett and Angela Lee):