BLUE BLOODS regular Steve Schirripa is proud that real-life NYPD officers approve of how he played Detective Anthony Abetemarco.
“How to handcuff someone, how to flash your badge, all that stuff, there’s a technical advisor, James Nuciforo, who taught me all of that,” the 67-year-old actor told PEOPLE. He also had to “learn a whole lot of cop terms and lingo.”
Schirripa said that since taking on the role in Season 6, cops have stopped him in the streets to compliment his work, saying he is “1,000%” believable in the role and that they “worked with guys just like you.”
“That made me happy,” he said. “That it was authentic, that [there] are cops and old-school blue-collar cops like Anthony [Abetemarco]. He was a good character, you know?”
Schirripa also reflected on his time on BLUE BLOODS, which aired its final episode last month.
“It was a very close-knit group, really, a nice group of people,” he said of his co-stars. “I didn’t know anyone. So it’s strange when you’re stepping in and everyone knows each other, and you’re like the new guy. But they treated me like one of them from day one.”
Star Donnie Wahlberg also reflected on how emotional the cast and crew were when filming wrapped.
“We were all walking this real delicate tightrope during the finale, knowing that it was the last episode and feeling very emotional each day,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “We definitely went to work every day knowing it was the last episode and tried to hold back the tears and the emotion, and the audience will probably do the same.”
Wahlberg continued, “I think when we finished filming is what I’ll remember most. We all just kind of sat there for a long time, and I think everyone was hesitating to say something to say goodbye because A, nobody wanted to, and B, everyone knew once somebody starts talking, it’s a wrap.”
