On Set With Dan Bucatinsky in ’24: Legacy’: An Insider’s View of the Counter Terrorism Unit
“Our production teams created actual video footage of the inside of airports in America, train stations and bus stations,” Bucatinsky says. “They also created this facial-recognition stuff and the fake digital footage for every scan, every phone call that is being tapped.”
“This is where I sit,” says Bucatinsky of Andy’s high-tech work station. He compares his first day on the set (which is based on the model used for the original pilot) to entering Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. “I was like, ‘Pinch me! This is bizarre,’” he recalls. “It just felt iconic.”
One wall of the set features a tribute to the agents who lost their lives while serving. Eagle-eyed fans of the original series will recognize characters such as Edgar Stiles, Bill Buchanan, George Mason and Michelle Dessler.
Though what goes down in CTU is often no laughing matter, “Andy brings humor to a show that’s not known for its comedy,” says Bucatinsky, whose background is more comedic. “I love the departure that allows me to tap into stuff that is familiar.”
The pea-soup-green color of the wall behind the white board—copied from the first 24 pilot set—isn’t a favorite of the cast and crew. “[Director] Jon Cassar hates the color,” Bucatinsky says with a laugh. “As soon as we can get out of this room, the better.”
“What’s amazing about this giant screen-wall is that [what looks like one big screen] is actually made up of lots of smaller screens,” Bucatinsky says. “When we go behind it, each one is on a grid—and it’s very current technology which allows the graphics guys to create individual boxes of ongoing counterterrorist surveillance.”
During the original run of Fox’s 24, the Los Angeles Counter Terrorism Unit headquarters was the site of heroics and heartbreak (including a deadly nerve gas attack in Season 5). Now, on the rebooted 24: Legacy, the action has moved to CTU’s national headquarters in Washington, D.C. So far, the offices have been home to a covert mission led by outgoing CTU head Rebecca (Miranda Otto); served as the setting where the agents witnessed, via satellite, terrorists destroy the George Washington Bridge in New York; and were put under lockdown as the danger moved close to home. Bucatinsky takes us on a tour of the drama’s Atlanta set.
24: Legacy, Mondays, 8/7c, Fox
