SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED
No stranger to espionage on NCIS, Michael Weatherly has a Casino Royale moment at the Hôtel de Crillon’s Winter Garden.


WAIT AND BE SEEN
Weatherly sports a casual summer look in the stairwell of the Crillon.

DRESSED TO KILL
Weatherly gives his Façonnable tuxedo a once-over in the bathroom of the Crillon’s Leonard Bernstein suite.

Michael Weatherly never knew just how big NCIS is around the world until he went to Paris and drew attention away from the Eiffel Tower. There, on an outdoor plaza over- looking the world’s most iconic monument, he triggered a near stampede of fans during a during a trip to Paris for Watch! magazine.

The crowd, which at one point measured four people deep, endured frigid temperatures as fans stood in line for autographs and photos with the actor. Though it was only his first day of sightseeing, the occasion turned out to be the prevailing theme of Weatherly’s visit to Paris, thanks to global syndication, which has made NCIS one of the world’s most popular shows. Wherever he went, the actor was immediately recognized and in some cases slapped on the head—a nod to Tony DiNozzo, his TV counterpart, who could only wish for such attention. The actor took a break to share with Watch! highlights of his visit.


LA VIE EN GRIS
Weatherly scopes out the city from high above the Parisian rooftops.

Watch!: It must have been a bit surreal being recognized at the Eiffel Tower.
Michael Weatherly: It was like being in a parallel dimension. We were going around and taking pictures, and then all of a sudden, a group of tourists recognized me. I found myself constantly reminded by the French how much they love the show, which is ironic because the French aren’t really known for their love of American culture, particularly American military themes.

W: You were in Paris for nearly an entire week. How did you enjoy it?
MW: It was the best kind of trip … A friend of mine looked at the itinerary and said, “My God, I’m exhausted just reading what you’re going to have to go and actually do. I can’t even imagine doing all those things, being in all those places.” We had a weeklong itinerary with two full days of sightseeing, a full-day photo shoot at the Hôtel de Crillon, and I did a full day of press— 14 interviews—for NCIS with the French media. It was quite eventful, and I had just wrapped five months of filming NCIS literally two hours before leaving for the airport. It was nonstop.

W: What was the best part of the trip?
MW: For starters, arriving at the Hôtel de Crillon, and then being placed in an incredibly large suite with a fl at screen in the living room. I was definitely treated to the kind of hotel experience that is not normal to my travels. It wasn’t a youth hostel! … Also, seeing all the monuments, having dinner at Jules Verne in the Eiffel Tower, eating lunch at Grand Colbert, walking down the Champs-Elysées, sampling wine at the Caves Bernard Magrez, going to the Hermès shop and getting amazing service because all the employees were really big fans of NCIS.

W: Are you surprised when you get recognized?
MW: Yeah, it’s a total shock. I guess, living in Los Angeles, you become so inured to the whole concept of fame because you’re at the traffic light and there’s Simon Cowell or you drive past Paris Hilton getting a traffic ticket. It’s commonplace when you’re in this town, so I have become slightly numb to it. In Los Angeles, nobody really cares if you’re on a show that they like or they’ve seen. But when people are really into a show as they are into NCIS around the planet, it makes traveling kind of fun. I was walking up the Champs-Elysées the first day and people were pointing and laughing at me, and I thought for a second my fly was down or maybe I had toilet paper on my shoe, but they recognized the character, and that can be a lot of fun.

W: And how was the food?
MW: It’s always a dangerous prospect to arrive in Paris, because I think I ate more in those five days than I normally eat in a month. When I got back to work my suits were a little tight. It doesn’t happen right away—all that red wine and caviar! We went to one wine shop, Legrand Filles et Fils, and in the middle of this bustling retail store, where you could buy everything from figs and condiments to candies and all kinds of delicacies, there was this old wooden table where we stopped to have lunch, and indulged on wine, cheese, pâté de foie gras. I’m amazed that I didn’t get gout.

W: You also had a James Bond moment at the legendary Hemingway Bar in the Ritz hotel. MW: Yes, when I ordered the Vesper Lynd martini, in honor of Casino Royale. Going to the Hemingway Bar was one of the best parts of the trip because there’s this bartender named Colin Field who has a bottomless pit of knowledge, call it an encyclopedic knowledge of Paris and Hemingway—and also of the evolution of the cocktail. He brought us through the drinking history of Paris, but then his expertise extended into the cocktails themselves, and that’s when he began mixing. For every sloe gin fizz he’d serve us, I’d forget the name of the previous drink I’d had.

The Bar Hemingway’s Colin Field, whose encyclopedic knowledge of Paris and the history of the cocktail knocked Weatherly’s socks off during a trip to the city.

W: Did you buy a lot of stuff to bring back?
MW: I did … but unfortunately we live in the postliquid bomb age, so I wanted to bring all this wine back, which I realized I couldn’t, so I had to drink it all before I got on a plane. You are allowed to carry liquid if you’ve imbibed it. You’re allowed to carry a full bladder onto a plane, I’ve learned.

W: How were the people?
MW: I would say they’re a lot nicer to you when they realize you’re on a TV show that they like [laughs]. The people in Paris are a fashionable bunch of folks, with very individual styles— not just the clothing, not just the style or a look, but a kind of a persona, a bearing, and so you walk around the street, everyone has their story and they carry an air of—I wouldn’t call it self-importance or anything— it’s different.