Not going to quit their day jobs

Lodi police captains David Main, seated, and Gary Benincasa pose on the set of "Life," which premieres Wednesday on NBC. The Lodi officers make a brief appearance as extras, playing Los Angeles police sergeants. (Courtesy photo)

Not going to quit their day jobs

Lodi police captains find fame with new television show, 'Life'

By Layla Bohm
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Friday, September 21, 2007 6:21 AM PDT

Comments (32 comment(s))

Lodi's two police captains will make their network television debut Wednesday, playing Los Angeles Police sergeants on a new NBC show.

But don't expect them to quit their day jobs. As Capt. David Main put it, if you blink, you might just miss seeing him and Capt. Gary Benincasa on "Life," which is produced by Main's brother-in-law, Far Shariat. Neither has a speaking role, either.

"I think my brother in law had enough sense not to let me talk," Main said with a laugh.

Starring Damian Lewis of "Band of Brothers" fame, "Life" is the tale of a police officer who is freed from prison after more than a decade for a murder he did not commit. He files a lawsuit and settles for $50 million and gets his old job back; he wants to find the real murderer.

The show is the brainchild of Shariat, who produced "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," and Rand Ravich, who also produced that movie and most recently wrote the script for "The Astronaut's Wife."

In May 2005, they had sold the initial idea to NBC when Main and Benincasa happened to be in Los Angeles for a police graduation, Shariat said by telephone. They all went to lunch and Shariat told them about the idea of a cop going back to work after prison.

"They started giving me feedback about what a police department would do," Shariat said. "What they really helped solidify for us was that there are so many different camps in a police department, especially in a big department like LAPD. Some would support this guy and some would not."

When lunch was over, Benincasa said, he told Shariat: "OK, if this thing works out, I want a piece of the action."

Fast-forward nearly a year later and the opportunity came: NBC had bought the script and ordered a dozen episodes. Shariat invited the Lodi captains to Los Angeles to see the action unfold.

So late last February, Main and Benincasa took a couple vacation days from work and headed south. Main thought they were just going to watch the filming but Shariat had other ideas. The captains soon found themselves as extras.

They signed in with other extras and were directed to wardrobe, consisting of truckloads of clothing. After dressing in sergeants' uniforms, they moved on to props to get things like gun holsters, and then on to make-up where Main found himself getting a few hairs trimmed in the back.

It was all new to Main and Benincasa, but a few things were not new. When they were given bright blue pens for props, Benincasa told them there was no way a sergeant would put a fluorescent pen in his front pocket. They also made adjustments to the holster, which apparently drew some notice.

"Right away a bunch of people noticed them," Shariat said. "They were working as police officers in our show but one by one people were saying, 'Wait a minute. These guys are real police officers.' It was the way they were walking around, the way they were wearing their holsters."

'Life' at a glance

"Life" premieres Wednesday at 10 p.m. on NBC. To see the episode early, rent it at Blockbuster. For more information on the show, go online to http://www.nbc.com/life or http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0874936/.

Main and Benincasa soon noticed that they were being noticed. At one point, they were allowed to change in Shariat's trailer and someone on the set said, "Why are extras in the producer's dressing room?" Benincasa recalled. That quickly changed to, "Oh, you're the guys," and there was no further complaint.

The Lodi captains were among 25 to 30 extras and soon found themselves sitting around and waiting. A five-minute scene was shot 15 to 20 times, with Main and Benincasa pretending to talk the whole time.

They were supposed to be in two scenes but, as so often happens in show biz, one scene wound up on the cutting room floor.

On Wednesday's hour-long premiere at 10 p.m., Main and Benincasa make their appearance roughly 10 to 15 minutes into the show. In the scene, Lewis and co-star Sarah Shahi, who plays his police partner, are interviewing a young boy who is a witness in a homicide case and Lewis hugs her. In the background, Main and Benincasa react as police sergeants would.

It's not quite a break-out role, but that's OK for the two captains. Both were impressed with the thoughtfulness of everyone on the set and had nothing but great things to say of Shariat.

Despite working in Hollywood, Main said his brother-in-law isn't swept up in the celebrity atmosphere. When he comes to visit his family in Lodi, he takes the train, then walks from the Downtown Lodi station to the police station, Main said. Main has taken him riding on patrol, and Shariat seems to remember everyone.

Shariat is thrilled that "Life" was picked up by NBC, though he's naturally holding his breath to see if the show is a hit. Anyone can write a script, and a few of them do get picked up. But even fewer are actually made into shows, and then it's up to the viewers to determine whether it even lasts a full season.

But for now, Shariat is hard at work shooting the middle of the seventh episode. He's also making final edits on the fourth and fifth episodes while tinkering with the scripts for later episodes — something a bit different than movie work.

"It's been a great learning adventure but I really miss sleeping," Shariat said with a laugh.

Main and Benincasa certainly learned about the working world of Hollywood and both said they're quite happy to keep their jobs in Lodi rather than jump into an entertainment career, even if they do get to play LAPD sergeants.

"We were demoted (in rank) — and we got minimum wage," Benincasa said.

Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

GovAgent to to continued wrote on Sep 28, 2007 7:38 PM:

" I do not know Alamo or even what he looks like. I do know for a fact he knew the guy. I do know for a fact that Alamo knows the business and the risks to responding to calls. I also know he knew what he was getting into. He had a beef with this guy, and Alamo knew that if he shot someone, he could say he though the perp had a knife, even the cops tell you that. Alamo and his reckless behavior is not good for Lodi, and the school district, he is a risk! period. "

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