Of all the cop/spy superhero duos to charge off the screen and into America's living rooms, Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas (a.k.a. Detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs) have certainly done it with the most style. Their Eighties version of fraternity under fire has helped boost Miami Vice's fortunes as much as the show's heralded visual and musical panache. They are post-macho guys' guys. Our guy, Contributing Editor David Rensin, nabbed Thomas and Johnson for their first off-the-cuff interrogation. Said Rensin, "I wore vintage faded jeans, an unironed mauve cotton shirt, a thin black-satin tie, Air Jordans and a sharkskin sports coat I had picked up for five dollars at a Beverly Hills garage sale. Don and Phil looked OK, I guess."

Q 1

PLAYBOY: How would you explain the success of Miami Vice to an NBC affiliates' meeting ten years from now?

Philip Michael Thomas: Our sense of style. We had the technology, the talent and the timing. Our show dealt with the Eighties. Our music was on time. Even our stories, though they had been done for years, came in a new package: Versace suits and pastel colors. Our characters didn't fit the norm, either. For instance, in one episode, I stood on my head doing yoga during a stake-out. You don't usually see that.

Don Johnson: It's like an idea I came up with eight years ago: a rock-'n'-roll I Spy. Then, I wanted to put a rock star on the road as an undercover agent who was against drugs. He would travel the world and do concerts that would be simulcast, in reality, on FM stations the night the show aired. People thought I was crazy. I don't want to break my arm patting myself on the back, but I think it was just too grand for most to see. As a matter of fact, I told our executive producer, Michael Mann, about it, and he liked my idea of FM simulcasts. He talked to NBC and they didn't object. We were even going to air the pilot in stereo via FM stations, but it became too much of a hassle for the bureaucracy to handle.

Q 2

PLAYBOY: What do you remember most about your first meeting?

Don Johnson: I will always remember watching this very, very handsome black man with the most incredible skin and green eyes and enormous energy and thinking, God, someone slip this guy a mickey! [Laughs]

Philip Michael Thomas: I was already going down in the elevator when I was asked to read with Don. They asked if we wanted time to study our lines, but we decided to go cold. We looked at each other and it was like an explosive, compulsive new affection. It just hit. Kajung! Afterward, there was no question in my mind that we were the ones who would be chosen. We tore up the motherfucker. He is a Sagittarian and I'm a Gemini. Exact opposites--fire and air. We had instant chemistry.

Q 3

PLAYBOY: What changes has Miami Vice made in your life that will last forever?

Philip Michael Thomas: I've just climbed Mount Olympus. Steven Spielberg calls and wants to talk to me about being in his next movie. I get calls from Nancy Reagan. The queen of England wants me to go over. I've become greened, like money. I respect the position. I'm enthusiastic, as opposed to excited. Enthusiasm comes from the Greek entheos, which means "God-inspired." I don't think I'm a big shit, though, because the higher I climb on the ladder of success, the humbler I get. I know you're only as good as your last two minutes and 45 seconds. I don't run from people who want autographs. I stay and sign and take that energy back with me and am creative. I'm smart enough to know the power of all this. They say that as long as people have something to believe in, the gods will exist. And as a major star, you become a little G-0-D. I recommend fame, but with fortune. Otherwise, it's a bitch.

Don Johnson: Philip is better at this than I am. If you don't like your marriage, you can get divorced, but there's no antidote for what's happened to us. However, I do recommend fame highly. It's the best drug I've ever had--and with no hangover. But I'm trying to get used to the fact that I will now go through life with those charming little cheap Japanese instant cameras stuck in my face all the time. There are times when I want to take all the money I make and buy all those cameras and throw them into the East River. This thing has obviously grown faster than I have, and it seems like I'm playing catch-up much of the time. And I think I'm handling it pretty well. But I've already gone through the crazy stuff that happens to people who become successful early. I've already partied, thank you. Major partied.

Q 4

PLAYBOY: Tell us about your fan mail.

Don Johnson: Once, I got a letter from an English teacher in Kentucky. I was very moved, because she had picked up every nuance of my Sonny Crockett character, and she described what his life must have been like. It was really eloquent. I wrote back and ended the letter "Please don't grade this paper." And then there are those letters from women who include phone numbers and pictures and say that they've saved their money and are taking a vacation in Miami and would it be possible to spend a couple of hours with me, doing whatever I'd like.

Philip Michael Thomas: I get thousands of letters. They come from all over--London, Australia. Most are very intelligent. I also get beaver shots and requests from chicks in the Army for posters of me with my chest showing. Fat girls write, "I've lost 30 pounds and I'm preparing for you. You're the handsomest man I've seen on earth. During your love scenes, I'm having sex with my husband but thinking of you." I take it all with a grain of salt, because even if I were the most sexual man in the world, there's no way I could fuck all the women who want to be fucked by me. The wildest stuff, though, is pubic hairs. Actual hairs. It's phenomenal.

Q 5

PLAYBOY: Miami Vice may be the only cop show that a guy can watch with his girlfriend. Do you two consciously play to women?

Don Johnson: On the set or off? On the set, yes. I'm aware that a large part of our audience is sex-starved females--and to hear females tell it, they're all sex-starved, anyway; glance at the cover of any female-oriented magazine. I, for one, am trying to solve the problem.

Philip Michael Thomas: Do I play to the chicks? All the time. I flirt a lot. And I know that by touching those nerves and doing certain things, I make chicks respond.