Enrico Colatoni is glad to be home. After spending many years building a name for himself in U.S. television productions like Just Shoot Me and cult favourite Veronica Mars, the 45-year-old actor has returned to his native Toronto to film his new series, Flashpoint, premiering July 11 on CTV.
The show has the distinction of being the first Canadian-produced prime-time series since Due South to be picked by an American network; CBS ordered 13 episodes during the WGA strike last winter, giving Colantoni the benefit of filming the series at home while still getting exposure in the States.
"I love being back in Toronto. My children, who are growing up, really have no sense of where their dad comes from, beyond a weekend or a week's visit, so now they get to stay for the summer," he says. "And I love playing a cop. My brother was a cop for 30 years and I get to tell him, in my small way, how much I appreciated what he did and what a hero he was to me."
Flashpoint follows Sgt. Gregory Parker (Colantoni), the head of Strategic Response Unit, an elite hostage negotiation squad based on Toronto's own Emergency Task Force. In his own way, Colantoni has been preparing for the role his whole life.
"From the first time I saw my brother get dressed up in his uniform and going to work. From the time I told him that I wanted to be a cop, too, and he said, 'You're too sensitive to be a cop,'" he laughs.
Colantoni also had the chance to train with real members of the ETS, which taught him how careful and precise the police officers have to be. The experience also showed him just how different real-life drama is from television.
"Reality and entertainment, there's often a thick, thick line between the two. What they do and what they're committed to is just so sublime to watch about how dedicated and intricate and... slow-paced they are," he says. "It doesn't make for good TV drama but it is efficient in the real law-enforcement world. We have to break down the door while they knock. We crash through windows and they use the front door. I'm like, 'Why don't you just storm in? Take him from all sides! Do a lot of screaming!'"
As the show's emotional centre, Sgt. Parker has to concern himself not only with the well-being of hostages, but with the well-being of his team, both on and off the job. But, like any good television character, he has his own demons to worry about – although the true nature of Parker's problems are not immediately revealed.
"Right now, in the moment, he's good at what he does; he's committed to the people he works with. Everything he does is coloured by the fact that he messed up in his life," says Colantoni enigmatically. "So that justifies why he's so patient, why he's so smart and [why] he's all about saving lives. I'm still discovering who he is. I want to find out about his family life and what he possibly could have done."
It's a demanding role for Colantoni, both physically and mentally (he admits that he and co-star Hugh Dillon occasionally have to "talk each other down" after particularly grueling scenes), but he's dedicated to the show's intensity because he believes in what Flashpoint has to say.
"What [show creators Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern] talk about is creating a show about the cost of heroism. In the pilot, I thought it was beautiful how, in the aftermath of this intense situation, we see a police officer who is treated as a suspect – he's not treated as he deserves after he does exactly what he was trained to do. It's so relevant today, I think," Colantoni says. "How do we treat the veterans? How do we treat all the heroes? They do what they need to do and what we expect them to do, but then how do we treat them once they've done it? That's what I’m holding on to."
Flashpoint premieres Friday, July 11 at 10 p.m. ET on CTV.
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