{"id":1092,"date":"2024-12-18T15:50:24","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T15:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/?p=1092"},"modified":"2024-12-18T15:50:24","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T15:50:24","slug":"mark-harmons-iconic-slap-to-michael-weatherly-was-an-unscripted-ncis-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/?p=1092","title":{"rendered":"Mark Harmon\u2019s Iconic Slap to Michael Weatherly Was an Unscripted NCIS Moment!!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly\u2019s off-script moment in\u00a0NCIS<\/em>\u00a0Season 1 became a defining feature of the show\u2019s dynamic. During Episode 5, titled\u00a0The Curse<\/em>, Harmon, who plays Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, delivered an unscripted slap to the back of Michael Weatherly\u2019s character, Special Agent Anthony \u201cTony\u201d DiNozzo. This improvised gesture, later dubbed the \u201cGibbs slap,\u201d resonated so strongly with fans that it evolved into a hallmark of Gibbs\u2019 interactions with Tony throughout the series.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the French publication\u00a0Premiere<\/em>\u00a0(as reported by\u00a0Showbiz CheatSheet<\/em>), Harmon recalled how the moment originated. \u201cWe were doing a scene, and [Michael Weatherly] was on a Navy ship talking to a female petty officer. This was early in Season 1. He was doing what he does\u2014sometimes sticking to the script, sometimes not. I just reached over and smacked him. It was instinctive. I didn\u2019t think about it, I just did it,\u201d Harmon explained.<\/p>\n

Harmon continued, \u201cTo his credit, he stayed in the scene and didn\u2019t break. Neither did I. The actress playing the petty officer was shocked but stayed in character. We kept going, and people liked it. After that, I was smacking him in almost every episode\u2014maybe too much. We still do it occasionally, but sparingly. That\u2019s how it started.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harmon and Weatherly worked together for 13 seasons, from 2003 to 2016, until Weatherly departed the series. Despite their on-screen chemistry, their off-screen relationship got off to a rocky start, with rumors of tension between the two. In a 2007 interview with\u00a0Futon Critic<\/em>, Weatherly described their early dynamic.<\/p>\n

\u201cMark Harmon and I were on different poles,\u201d Weatherly said. \u201cI was Antarctica; he was the North Pole. We were just looking at each other like, \u2018What\u2019s up with your polarity?\u2019 The water goes down the drain differently for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He elaborated with an anecdote: \u201cWhen we were doing the upfronts for the pilot,\u00a0CNN Showbiz Today<\/em>\u00a0asked me what the best part of filming was. I said, \u2018I got a rubber gun and a fake badge.\u2019 Harmon looked at me like, \u2018That\u2019s your answer for CNN?\u2019 He was confused by my presence from the start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Years later, Weatherly reflected on their time together and the pressures of leading a show. In an interview with\u00a0USA Today<\/em>\u00a0(via\u00a0Looper<\/em>), he acknowledged gaining a deeper appreciation for Harmon after leading CBS\u2019\u00a0Bull<\/em>\u00a0for six seasons from 2016 to 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been very illuminating and has given me a great deal of insight and regard for what Mark Harmon was doing all those years,\u201d Weatherly said. \u201cBack then, I\u2019d wonder, \u2018Why doesn\u2019t he have as much fun as the rest of us?\u2019 Now I understand.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly\u2019s off-script moment in\u00a0NCIS\u00a0Season 1 became a defining feature of the show\u2019s dynamic. During Episode 5, titled\u00a0The Curse, Harmon, who plays Special Agent… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1092"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1094,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092\/revisions\/1094"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}