‘On Call’ is meant to be fast-paced and visceral, according to its stars – Metro Philadelphia

‘On Call’ brings audiences right into the world of the Long Beach police force, and it does so quite viscerally. Starring Troian Bellisario (Traci Harmon) and Brandon Larracuente (Alex Diaz), the eight-episode series uses body cam and dash cam techniques along with its typical filming fashion to help elevate the stakes—and to tell each character’s stories. To dive a little deeper into the show, both Bellisario and Larracuente sat down to chat with Metro about suiting up for service with ‘On Call.’

What drew you both in to this project?

Brandon Larracuente: For me at least, it always begins with the script. It drew me in, and I [could] just sense the rawness of it all. This script does a really good job at times of saying the hard things that we as humans might hold back.

It also leaves you with a lot of questions… I had so many questions I wanted to know more. And I think that’s great—no matter how much you dive into the story, whether you’re reading as an actor or you’re watching as an audience member, you’re going to have a question that leads you to another question that leads you to one more. That was my experience.

Troian Bellisario: I totally agree. I think what was really wonderful about this pilot script…there was nothing about the pilot that was like, we’re wrapping this up in a bow. It was more, this is the first inch of a mile. I loved that. It is obviously so fast-paced and there’s so much action, but there was really a trust that we’re going to pull the audience in so organically from the very jump. We don’t need to show our hand in every way.

We just need to establish the world, establish these characters, and get to be with them for a little bit. I so appreciated that because I guess a lot of my experience with TV was that we’ve got to wrap up that thing by that next commercial break, or we’ve got to come to a conclusion. You know what I mean? We have to solve the case and we can’t leave them hanging until next week. So, I just really appreciated that this is a fast-paced slow burn.  

Both of your characters work together, one a rookie and one a veteran. Both have different ways of dealing with situations. What can you tell me about Diaz and Harmon?

Bellisario: There’s so much that I love about both of our characters. I think we bring a duality and we bring vastly different ways of seeing the world, which is what makes them such a great duo and blossoms into a great partnership. The thing that I love the most about Harmon, even though she doesn’t lead with it to Diaz, is her empathy. I loved that it was written into every script that when she arrives on the scene, she knows she’s not going to be big enough to contain anything, but she can connect to somebody emotionally.

There were these really wonderful moments where you see Traci coming in immediately and finding the person that she believes needs to be calmed down or needs help and regulating that person before addressing, okay, let me take down the details of the report. It’s really like, let me come in and connect to a human being and then we can go from there. So I love that about her character.

Larracuente: One of the things that stands out to me off the jump, Diaz is of course optimistic. He got onto the force to do good by the community and also to do good in the eyes of his family members. Just how much he cares, how much he cares to actually get to know Harmon and also the people he interacts [with] on a daily basis.

I mean, in the first episode, you witness Diaz relating and connecting to this young man who is just one person shy from changing his life. It’s almost like his strong suit and his weakness, his optimism for wanting to help and feeling like he can be in a way, a hero to somebody. Sometimes it places benefit, but sometimes it also can become one of his qualities that gets him into a lot of trouble.

We’ve seen shows that delve into the inner workings of the police and even some where you get to see some cops go on call. But what sets this series apart in your eyes?

Bellisario: You are right, it’s not new territory and we’ve seen a lot of shows set in this world. But I think what sets this apart, there’s a lot. The community of Long Beach is not something that’s really been mined before and it’s so fascinating and diverse and there are so many different worlds within it. That’s really exciting to get to dive into. And then there’s the incredible cinematic choices of using the body cam and using the dash cam footage which really shoots our audience into this first-person perspective. So, you’re there on the call with us.

Larracuente: For me it’s the fact that we’re witnessing these characters and we’re following them throughout the entirety of their day. We’re seeing their best moments and their worst moments. [We’re] not trying to portray to an audience that this person essentially is the good person, or this is the protagonist. We leave all those things up to the audience to decide.

Bellisario: I love that we’re not casting these people as heroes, they’re really humans. They come from one great decision and then they immediately make a huge mistake. It’s the same person. It really opens it up for the audience…not to say this is what we think about cops, or this is what we think about policing. But to open up a buffet of questions to say, this is what it looks like. What do you think of it? Do you think this was a good decision? Would you have handled it differently? Did you like the way Diaz has approached it? Did you like the way Harmon approached it? We really hope that everybody kind of walks away with their own conclusions.

 All eight episodes of ‘On Call’ will premiere Jan. 9 on Prime Video