It’s 101 degrees in the produce section – of downtown Los Angeles, that is.

Tucked amid food warehouses and wholesale distributors is DC Studios, home to a variety of standing sets, many of them modeled after buildings in the nation’s capital.

It’s also temporary home to many different TV series, including CBS’ military/crime procedural “NCIS: Los Angeles,” the freshman spinoff to the very successful “NCIS,” which precedes it on Tuesdays.

On this searing October day, Hetty Lange (Linda Hunt), the operations manager for the Los Angeles office of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, has come to Washington, D.C., to answer questions before Congress. There to greet her is NCIS Director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll).

He’s reassuring, but she’s wary. Over several takes, the two actors – who both have stage experience – hone the lines to perfectly reflect what’s being said and unsaid.

Then, during a break, Hunt, an Academy Award winner for 1982’s “The Year of Living Dangerously,” is asked to record a line of dialogue that will be looped in later. It’s only a few words, but each time she says it, Hunt varies the timing and emphasis to alter the meaning and tone just a bit.

“Yes,” says Hunt in an interview on her day off the following week. “I have learned that over years of doing a lot of voice-over work. It’s fascinating. Before, when I started to do voice-over work, probably 25 years ago, I was very bad at it.

“As an actor, I’m not really very conscious of my voice. What I learned in the process of getting to be good at voice-over work was how to use the voice as an instrument.

“It’s fascinating to see how tiny an adjustment you can make and make a huge difference in the meaning or the impact of what you’re saying.”

Hunt’s skills have not gone unnoticed among her fellow cast members.

“She’s so specific, and she brings so much joy to her performances and so many interesting beats in them,” says LL Cool J, who plays NCIS officer Sam Hanna. “She can say one thing, and suddenly that one sentence can just have so much subtext and meaning and fire and energy. That’s what I’ve learned, just trying to understand that.

“I haven’t been able to dig into her brain and get what she’s doing, but seeing the effect has been really cool.”

Although they come from very different backgrounds and generations, the diminutive actress and her bodybuilding co-star have formed a tight bond on the set.

“Oh, yes,” Hunt says, “I’m crazy about him. He’s got the best spirit.”