Bottles fly, chairs are smashed and men get kicked in places that send them to their knees in the upcoming Christmas episode of "NCIS." It won't air until December, but ET has a sneak peek at how the brawl was shot with series stars Michael Weatherly, who plays Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, and Cote de Pablo as Ziva David.
"This man puts his hand on [Ziva's] shoulder. She doesn't like it when people touch her. She goes off. I thought it was mostly her fight, but what goes on involves DiNozzo and trying to survive," Cote tells ET.
Even though Ziva knows how to defend herself -- as a former Mossad agent, she knows a form of martial arts known as Krav Maga -- DiNozzo jumps into the fight.
"Here on 'NCIS' we do things a little differently. We do it with a smile," Michael jokes. "So in this fight scene, I am employing fight tactics not used to my knowledge on any other CBS procedural. I am using Cesar Millan's 'Dog Whisperer'-technique in the fight sequence. So I am doing a lot of alpha, calm, assertive behavior. I do get flipped upside down. There is a difference … people are not dogs."
Even though what "NCIS" fans will see on the small screen is edited down to approximately a minute-and-a-half, they shoot more than four hours of footage.
Cote says, "It needs to be treated delicately. You really need to work out the fight sequence, especially when you are kicking body parts so no one gets hurt. You don't want to really get those body parts."
Then on tonight's episode, Kelly Hu reprises her role as assassin Lee Wuan Kai, who after her last run-in with Director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll) targets his family, putting their lives in jeopardy.
"I think that storyline is going to be quite cool, because it is another cool chick storyline," Cote says. "Very powerful. This woman [Lee Wuan Kai] is quite a pro."
"NCIS" airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS.