It reads like a Hollywood script.
Two guys from up state Utica, who don’t know each other, move to Las Vegas separately, partner as high-profile defense attorneys and eventually star on a CBS drama.
And it really happened — sort of.
While Vegas attorneys Michael Cristalli, 40, and Marc Saggese, 37, don’t star in “The Defenders,” premiering this fall, the series is based on their colorful lives, with Jim Belushi as Nick Morelli (based on Cristalli) and Jerry O’Connell as his law partner, Pete Kaczmarek (modeled on Saggese).
“There are some dramatic liberties taken,” says Saggese. “Nick and his wife are separated in the show, and Nick is trying to woo her back with his rough-around-the-edges charm.
“In real life, Michael is happily married and has two boys — he has one kid in the show — and as far as me, Pete [O’Connell] is a ladies’ man who hooks up with a stewardess and a prosecuting attorney . . . and I’m getting married in around 20 days.”
When Saggese says he and Cristalli literally go back “over 100 hundred years,” he’s referring to the fact that Cristalli’s grandfather, and Saggese’s great-grandfather, were from the same town in Italy, which Saggese and Cristalli discovered after they moved to Vegas (Cristalli in 1995, Saggese in 1999).
They also discovered their mothers had grown up across the street from each other in Utica — and their fathers had lived down that same street in one of those “small world” coincidences.
Since becoming law partners, Cristalli and Saggese have handled some high-profile Vegas cases — including Sandy Murphy, who was first convicted, then subsequently acquitted, of murdering Vegas casino heir Ted Binion.
They were initially approached four years ago by a producer of “Taxicab Confessions” to do a reality show; when that fell through (Fox was interested, but ultimately passed), they shopped it as a series, with CBS greenlighting the project.
“They loved the concept and the really great, unique relationship we have with each other,” says Cristalli.
“Even when we’re having issues with each other, and conflicts in our personalities, internally we always know we can rely on each other, whatever our difficulties.”
Both men, who serve as consulting producers and technical advisors on “The Defenders,” have gotten to know Belushi and O’Connell very well.
“They’re super guys. Jim’s down-to-earth and really a guy’s guy,” says Cristalli. “You can hang out and shoot the breeze with him and he’s not pretentious — what you see is what you get.”
O’Connell — who’s married to Rebecca Romijn and was in law school when he was cast in “The Defenders” — stayed at Saggese’s house for three days and trailed him on his courtroom rounds.
“The prop master has copied our watches, briefcases and even our files [for Belushi and O’Connell],” says Saggese. “It couldn’t have been any more authentic. It’s kind of an honor.”