Denis Leary blew his fans’ minds when he revealed the American hero he channeled for his latest role

Denis Leary is known for portraying wild and over-the-top characters in movies and TV shows.

But most of his fans didn’t know how much of a history buff the actor truly is.

And Denis Leary blew his fans’ minds when he revealed the American hero he channeled for his latest role.

“Going Dutch”

Actor Denis Leary’s lifelong study of a very famous military figure paid off when it came to his latest role.

“I’m a huge history buff and my favorite military figure of all time is George Patton, and the character was sort of developed with Patton as a touchstone,” Leary told Fox News when asked about his role in the new show, Going Dutch.

In the new comedy, which will run on FOX, Leary stars as U.S. Army Colonel Patrick Quinn, who is reassigned to a base in The Netherlands. 

He goes from a hardened combat command to a base staffed with misfits who he is tasked with bringing up to snuff.

He is aided in this new command by his estranged daughter, played by Taylor Misiak, and his right-hand man, Executive Officer Major Abraham Shah, played by “Community” star Danny Pudi.

Leary said he remembered telling the series creator Joel Church-Cooper that he had the perfect role model to base his character on.

“I said, ‘Listen, If I’m thinking about playing this guy, I’m going to lean on George Patton and his characteristics because they match the colonel, and I know a lot about him.’ So being able to play the comedy version of that guy, that sort of vanity and that ego and that sort of self-importance was basically what I used as my reference point,” Leary told Church-Cooper.

He continued, “I’ve read every book on George Patton, seen every documentary you could see on him. I guess I had pretty much been preparing my whole life to play this guy.” 

A longtime supporter of the U.S. military

Leary has been a longtime supporter of the military, in addition to his well-known work with firefighters. 

His charity, the Leary Firefighters Foundation, was founded in 2000, after the deaths of his cousin and childhood friend and four other firefighters.

He then turned his advocacy for firefighters into the critically acclaimed drama Rescue Me on FX.

In that show he played a New York firefighter dealing with the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

“It’s the same sacrificial approach to their job, which is they’re putting their lives in place to protect others or to save others,” Leary said of the similarity between playing a firefighter and a member of the military onscreen. “So that kind of – that aspect of it matches up completely. There’s also sort of the same camaraderie in terms of the crew that matches up a lot.”

Of course, playing a fictional soldier is in no way the same thing as actually serving in the military, something Leary and his co-stars witnessed firsthand while filming on a military base in Ireland.

“The Irish army let us use one of their bases. They were really great. They let us shoot pretty much everything we wanted and they lent us some of their equipment,” Leary said. “But, you know, they’re training on the base as we’re, like, over here shooting a scene, they’re a short distance away, actually going through drills.”

Misiak said it was “so surreal” to watch the soldiers at work.

“We’re getting touched up with makeup, and they’re like, throwing smoke bombs, and they have shields, and they’re fighting each other, and we’re like, ‘Sorry, excuse me!’” she said with a laugh. 

Pudi added, “Just the scale of the equipment too. I mean, we have full tanks, we have like…these tow trucks that are designed to tow these tanks. Just the scale and it just feels so real and so lived in. And then also working with real soldiers and, I mean, what a gift. And it’s so interesting doing these bits where we’re walking on the base doing this show about these regular people, on this base, having these disputes, these family disputes, and meanwhile, the real soldiers are walking by. And I have one soldier come by and be like, ‘Hey, I’m a big fan.’ And I’m like, this is so weird! You guys are doing real work here!”

Going Dutch marks Leary’s first sitcom in five years, after starring in The Moodys in 2019. 

It’s also part of his overall larger return to TV, which includes the limited series No Good Deed on Netflix.

However, the 67-year-old actor says he does not consider it a comeback.

“I don’t think of it that way. I think of it like trying to do justice to the scripts,” he said. “Whenever you do a series, it’s, at least for me anyways, it’s like a game to me, like a hockey game or, you know, any sporting event that you’re involved with, you get a little, you get butterflies, like you want to do a good job.” 

Whether it’s a comeback or not, Leary fans are anticipating another hit.