COVERT AFFAIRS: Piper Perabo and Chris Gorham on Chemistry and Kicking Butt

USA Network’s newest show, COVERT AFFAIRS, debuts tonight (July 13) and, if you’re a fan of the channel, you should know it’s a little different from the types of series you’re used to them airing.

Piper Perabo plays Annie Walker, a CIA agent who is suddenly fast-tracked into field duty under mysterious circumstances.

And yes, there are certainly similarities to the late, great ALIAS — minus the Rambaldi stuff. But it seems as though COVERT AFFAIRS will be a bit darker than, say, WHITE COLLAR or BURN NOTICE.

GIVE ME MY REMOTE chatted with stars Perabo and Chris Gorham — who plays a blind analyst, named Auggie — to get their thoughts on the show, their chemistry and kicking some tail…

How excited are you for COVERT AFFAIRS to finally premiere? It seems like USA Network has been teasing the opener forever.
Chris Gorham: You know it’s funny, we’re shooting up in Toronto so we’re kind of missing all of the promotion. We’re hearing there’s a lot of billboards and signs and things going up and lots of ads running. And that’s really exciting.
Piper Perabo: We’re up here in our little world, blowing stuff up and chasing people through the dark.

Speaking of dark, USA Network traditionally has lighter shows that dabble in some occasional seediness. However, this show seems to lend itself to a more serious theme. Is the plan to break the mold with COVERT AFFAIRS? Or will it be more upbeat than the pilot suggests?
CG: I think we have a pretty good balance. It’s not a dark show. That being said, it’s not fluff. It’s not cotton candy.
PP: When we started working on it, one of the things I was looking at for a tone idea was DIE HARD. You know the first DIE HARD movie? It had so much action and yet Bruce Willis is able [to be] in high moments of tension and danger with a sense of humor, because a sense of humor in that kind of situation [is needed] because it’s so extreme. And I think that’s how it is on our show.
CG: I’m just going to take that as meaning I’m Bruce Willis.

You guys have an insane crop of guest stars coming in the first season. Anyone you were particularly excited to work with?
PP: I was really excited to work with Eriq La Salle. I was always a fan of ER and a fan of his in particular. He plays a spy who left the agency for ethical reasons and we need his help. So I have to go back and convince him to help me in a mission. He’s just such a great actor and he’s able to lend such credibility and weight to a character like that. It was really fun to work with him.
CG: I don’t usually get to shoot with the guest stars! But Liane Balaban was just in this last episode [I shot] and played a very important person from Auggie’s past, so that was exciting for me. But I have to say I missed Piper.
PP: Aww.

That’s sweet. And your characters have an interesting relationship. It could either veer into the brother-sister dynamic or become a will-they-won’t-they situation. From what you’ve shot so far, which way do you see it going?
PP: I think that in the pilot, the first episode is my first day at the CIA, so Chris’s character Auggie is the one who leads me through and shows me the ropes on that first day. He is very kind and generous, and I think Auggie will become a great friend of Annie’s. You can never fully dismiss the kind of chemistry that they have, but it’s sort of a constant struggle for Annie, just which category he’s going to end up in.
CG: Also, early in the show, they both have quite a bit going on in their personal lives. There’s a lot of things to get through.
PP: It’s complicated.
CG: Yeah, complicated.

And Annie has an ex who could be causing some issues for her in the future.
CG: Yeah, and Auggie has a few things in his frying pan, too. [Perabo laughs]

We’ll see some more of Auggie’s love life? He’s quite flirty in the pilot…
CG: Frankly, you’re going to see a little more of his love life than I’m comfortable with.
PP: Auggie’s love life is massive. As the series opens up, he is quite the ladies man.

Changing topics to a whole other type of action, the show has a fair amount of fight scenes. Have those been difficult for you?
PP: I started training more than six weeks earlier than we started filming. We started developing a fight style for the show that was based in Krav Maga, the street-fighting that the Israeli army does. And also because Doug Liman, who did the BOURNE trilogy, is our executive producer, he also has a lot to say about that hand-to-hand, messy fighting that you see in the BOURNE movies, so I’m trying hard to get up to the fighting abilities so I can carry on that kind of fighting in the episodes.
CG: You’re carrying on that kind of fighting in the episodes. No, it’s great. The stuff that she’s doing is amazing. The action sequences will blow your mind. She talked about Doug being involved in the show — he’s up here a lot! He flies up here to work with the directions, especially focusing on those action sequences. They look like his movies.

And Chris, you just recently completed your first big action sequence, correct?
CG: Okay, we were literally shooting all night on that train. Auggie’s first fight scene! And Doug was actually really excited about this fight scene, because you’ve never seen anything like it. You’ve never seen an ex-Special Forces blind character fight a couple guys who are bigger than he is, on a moving train, with this beautiful woman right nearby in danger. It was intense. It was a lot of work. I lost my voice. It’s going to look amazing.
PP: I saw guys go off the train. [laughs]

So Auggie wins the fight. Awesome.
CG: Auggie can take care of himself.
PP: Be careful around Auggie.
CG: In the second episode, Auggie actually trains Annie in some hand-to-hand combat. It’s kind of hot.

COVERT AFFAIRS premieres tonight at 10 ET/PT on USA Network. Will you be watching?

Follow GMMR and Marisa on Twitter, and Facebook too, for all your up-to-the-minute TV news and commentary.

Stay up to date on all of GMMR’s exclusive videos by subscribing to our new YouTube Channel – GiveMeMyRemote TV