The Shield memories with Frank Grillo

When I wrote Life of Action II, as an obsessive fan of game-changing TV drama, The Shield, I was self-indulgent enough to ask a couple of action names about their history within the series. For anyone living under a rock, The Shield, created by Shawn Ryan, was FX’s landmark, game-changing Emmy winning series which aired from 2002-2008 and ran for a stunning seven seasons. What’s more, from the jaw-dropping pilot to the gut-punch finale, most critics and fans agree it was consistently great, and perhaps got even better as time went on! It remains my undisputed number one series of all time.

Since it's the show’s 20th anniversary this week, I thought I'd share a snippet from the book in which I indulged my Shield fandom. Here's action actor and WarParty Films co-founder Frank Grillo (Boss Level, Captain America: The Winter Soldier) reflecting on his supporting role over a few episodes playing Officer Paul Jackson.

He told me, "It's funny how it all happened. I was actually going to test for the lead role of Vic Mackey, played by Michael Chiklis. This is when they weren’t really thinking about Michael in that type of role because he’d done The Commish, which was totally different and he looked very different in that earlier show. There were a couple of us who were going to test but, evidently, he went in there and crushed it and totally became the guy. He was the only guy as far as I’m concerned!

So, I got to play a small role in a few episodes which was great. That was when TV didn’t even know what The Shield was, it was so advanced and ahead of its time in terms of content, language and the way it was shot. It was exciting to be a part of that, even playing a small role."

Frank Grillo filming his documentary series, Fightworld

I send heartfelt happy birthday wishes to the entire Shield family, where many talented cast and crew have gone on to continue great careers elsewhere. For many, it all started here.

My book Life of Action II is still available in hardback, softcover and on Kindle, for those who want to read Frank Grillo’s career-spanning interview in full.

For anyone who hasn’t experienced The Shield, there’s an impressive definitive collector’s edition boxset from Mill Creek Entertainment featuring full 4k HD restorations of each episode, plus dozens of hours of brand new and archive special features, deleted scenes, commentaries from the cast and crew, featurettes and much more. It’s a must-have!