Tonight is a very special night in the NCISverse. First, the 1,000th episode of the franchise is airing as part of NCIS, then the 1001 episode will air, and it will be the 51st episode of NCIS: Hawaii—and it was directed by NCIS: Los Angeles star Daniela Ruah, who played Kensi Blye for all 14 years of that series.
“It was a wonderful, wonderful thing to be asked to do,” she says of appearing in the 1,000th episode. “It was a complete honor. Being on NCIS: L.A. since the pilot and now being able to just give a little touch on the 1,000th episode, it’s crazy that our show participated in about a third of that. It’s insane.”
Daniela’s appearance on “The Thousand Yards” episode of NCIS is brief, but she had an expanded role on NCIS: Hawaii as the director of “The Next Thousand” episode, which is a great title, setting up the continuation of the franchise, but actually has a totally different meaning, which we won’t spoil.
The story begins when a Marine is found murdered while training on the Big Island, and the NCIS team tracks the suspect deep in the woods and discovers a disturbing secret, but, of course, there’s more to it.
“The episode will dive into a type of crime that we have not seen on this show before,” Daniela tells Parade. “I think our characters confront some serious feelings about it. Also, we do what I think this franchise of shows does best, which is dive into characters’ personal lives and personal journeys and kind of plant those seeds for further episodes to watch those stories flourish.
It’s also an episode where Jane Tenant (Vanessa Lachey) has an experience that reveals more about her character’s past and, at the same time, is a reflection of Vanessa’s real-life, her abandonment by her mother, so it was a very personal episode for the actress to play.
“That’s really when the relationship that is created between the actor and the director really comes into the most important play,” Daniela explains. “Vanessa and I have a great relationship, we’ve had a good relationship since the crossover, which is when I met her in person for the first time. We just kind of clicked. I think she and I have a lot in common as humans.”
So, Vanessa was open about the similarity and was willing to dig into her own experiences and bring that to the table for what she was being asked to portray in the script.
“I said, ‘Hey, when we’re working on this, can I get personal about this? Can I get personal with you while we’re working these scenes?’ She was like, ‘Absolutely, yes, whatever you need.’ There were many moments where I was actually crying off camera with her. I do, I get into it.”And that connection that Daniela makes with her actors is part of why she’s become passionate about directing.
“I absolutely love working with actors,” she says. “I think slowly but surely that’s becoming my favorite part of directing, is just navigating different actors’ experiences, needs. Some people are like, ‘Tell me what you want.’ Other people are like, ‘Let me just do it and then if you need to adjust something adjust it then.’ Just having human interactions with actors, I love that.”
During our Zoom chat, Daniela spoke more about her first time directing NCIS: Hawaii and being reunited with LL COOL J and tells a funny story about her invite to reprising her Kensi role on the 1,000th episode.
This was your first time directing Hawaii.? How is it different from directing L.A.? What new elements come into play for you as a director?
I think the most obvious one would be that this is, of course, an entirely new crew and a new cast. So, you always have to earn everybody’s trust, which to me as a director is the most important thing. I think once I earn people’s trust then everybody’s on the same playing field and we can start moving in the same direction to fulfill a vision
That was the biggest thing for me. Honestly, I felt like it happened really fast. I knew some of the cast already because we’d done our crossovers and over the years we bump into people, so I was very happy to see this cast. And then in terms of the crew, they were incredible. Obviously, I come from a procedural like this one, so I’m very used to the pacing and what’s important to prioritize. I don’t know, I fell in love with everybody. I called my husband after day one and I was like, “We should move here. This is amazing.”
I truly fell in love with every person on that crew that I interacted with. Our cinematographer, Jonesy, is phenomenal, his entire crew is wonderful. Hawaii is an island, everybody’s family. You had people’s kids and brothers and sisters, and it was just wonderful. I just felt like I was part of a big ohana.
There’s this one shot where they’re chasing down the guy and he’s hiding in the bushes and you just see his eyes. He’s behind Tennant. That was such a cool shot. How did you come up with that idea?
Well, actually that was written into the script. That was the showrunners’ idea. The three showrunners wrote the script, Matt [Bosack], Jan [Nash] and Chris [Silber]. One of them wrote that scene and they specifically said his eyes open from right behind her, camouflaged in the bushes. Then it was just coming up with an efficient way to make that happen with our greens department and hair and makeup and all that stuff. And, of course, camera positioning. It was definitely a team effort, but I have to say that was not my idea, that was the writers. And I’m glad they did it because it’s quite spectacular.
During a conversation with Vanessa, she credited Kensi being on L.A. with her being able to be the first woman to head an NCIS field office. Do you think that Kensi was such a standard bearer?
I cannot opine on that because that will be Vanessa’s experience and I cannot accept or deny. All I can say is I got goosebumps when you said it and I’m incredibly flattered if that’s the case. But listen, every woman that comes before us is going to take a step up that ladder. If I’m one of the people she gets to stand on to now play this part, heck, I’m beyond thrilled that that’s the case. We’re all here for each other. I can’t imagine a better person to play Jane Tennant, the first female head of NCIS. I love watching her, I love her as a person, and I think she deserves everything good that comes her way. She’s an incredible mom and wife. Like I said, she and I really, really bonded over this process. We still communicate and text each other now that the job’s over. She is my buddy.
LL COOL J
Photo: Karen Neal/CBS
There was a little piece of home, though, with this because LL COOL J (Sam Hanna) is on this show now. What was that like to work with him in a different environment?
It’s like no time has passed and nothing has changed. Listen, 14 years is 14 years. He was arguably an adult when we started our show, but I was a kid. I was 24 and now 40. I literally grew up with him. Some of my most formative years were side-by-side with him. In his words, we’re homies. It’s just comfortable. He’s always been a guy who has reinvented himself throughout his many decades of careers. Whether it’s obviously music, producing, acting, he’s got satellite radio, he’s got his tours, his performances, his philanthropic work. He’s just constantly reinventing himself without losing the core of who he really is.
He really appreciates and respects people who pursue their dreams and go after stuff aggressively. I think he appreciates that I’ve gone after the directing aspect of it and he’s very respectful of me as a director. He’s always like, “Tell me what you need and what you want. Was that take okay?” We can also pull on past experiences we’ve had together, like remember that scene we did in that episode where this thing happened and that thing happened and we had this reaction, let’s look for that in this particular scene we’re shooting now. We have history. We have history to refer to together to make things work even more smoothly. Yeah, I adore the man, I have so much love for him.
Hawaii had a scene in an episode a week or two ago where Sam’s telling this story about how he almost drowned in a submarine. That was an actual episode of L.A. that they pulled from. Isn’t it interesting how all the shows can interconnect like that?
Definitely, yeah. I think it’s a really wonderful thing for the audience to be able to have that. Because, also, even though our show is over and in the world of NCIS we still live and solve cases, the audiences are just not seeing us anymore, this is a perfect way to continue to keep them in the loop of what’s going on with these characters and this world. All the stuff that you’ve watched for the past 14 years, it hasn’t gone to waste. It’s still being referred to in these new shows that you’re watching.
You and Vanessa pop in for the NCIS 100th episode. What was it like to represent L.A. in this very special moment in the NCIS franchise?
Oh my gosh, it was an honor. When I got the call and it’s like, ‘Would you like to do this?’ I was like, “Oh, my gosh.” Funnily enough, I got a call from the NCIS showrunner, David North. He’s like, “When you get a chance, call me.” I had just given him my episode of NCIS, I had just turned it in after editing. When he wrote that message to me, “Call me when you get a chance,” I was like, “Oh no, I bet there’s something wrong with the episode.” So, I was really worried as I was in the prep meetings for NCIS: Hawaii. I’m like, “Oh, my gosh. Is there something wrong.”
Then I call him back and he’s like, “Do you want to be in the 1,000th episode?” And I was like, “Oh, my gosh, yes, this is so much better than what I thought this call was going to be.” He’s like, “No, no, no, I loved your episode. I just want to know if you want to be in the next one.” I was like, “Yes, yes, I do.”
We all have that mentality like we’re going to be sent to the principal’s office.
Right? You never think they’re going to tell you, “You got good grades.”
