Deadline Hollywood - Emmy Preview - Drama - 06/15/16

PRESENTS

JUNE 15, 2016 EMMY PREVIEW/DRAMA

’90s HEAT

TV looks forward by looking back to the early 1990s, as The People v. O.J. Simpson reignites debate, David Duchovny & Gillian Anderson reopen The X-Files, and Kerry Washington reexamines the Anita Hill case.

Plus: Jennifer Lopez, Miranda Otto, Krysten Ritter, Olivia Wilde

DEADLINE.COM/AWARDSLINE

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F O R YO U R E M M Y C O N S I D E R AT I O N ®

A NETFLIX ORIGINAL FILM

RICKY GERVAIS ERIC BANA

OUTSTANDING TELEVISION MOVIE OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A LIMITED SERIES, MOVIE OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL — RICKY GERVAIS OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE — RICKY GERVAIS OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A LIMITED SERIES, MOVIE OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL — RICKY GERVAIS

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CONTENTS

JUNE 15, 2016

P U B L I S H ER

Stacey Farish EDI TOR

Joe Utichi C R EAT I V E DIR ECTO R

Craig Edwards

AS S I STA N T E D ITO R

Matt Grobar

DEA DL I NE CO - E D ITO R- IN- CHIE FS

Nellie Andreeva Mike Fleming Jr.

AWA R DS ED ITO R & CO LUM NIST

Pete Hammond

DEA DL I NE CO NTR IBUTO RS

Peter Bart Anita Busch Anthony D’Alessandro Lisa de Moraes Jeremy Gerard Patrick Hipes Ali Jaafar David Lieberman Ross Lincoln Dominic Patten Erik Pedersen Denise Petski David Robb Nancy Tartaglione

C HA I R MA N & CEO

Jay Penske

V I C E C HA I RM A N

Gerry Byrne

C HI EF OP ERATING O FFICE R

George Grobar

S EN I OR V I C E PR ES ID E NT, B U S I NES S D EV E LO PM E NT

Craig Perreault

G EN ERA L CO UNS E L & S .V. P. , HU MA N R ES O URCES

Todd Greene

V I C E P R ES ID E NT, CR EATIV E

Nelson Anderson

V I C E P R ES ID E NT, FINA NCE

Ken DelAlcazar

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FIRST TAKE On Set: Bates Motel welcomes a new writer Christian Slater becomes Mr. Robot Peaky Blinders demands your respect Liev Schreiber tackles Ray Donovan Donald Trump runs for an Emmy in TV manipulation

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COVER STORY The People v. O.J. Simpson sheds new light on the ’90s most infamous criminal trial

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THE DIALOGUE Jennifer Lopez Ray Liotta Olivia Wilde David Duchovny Gillian Anderson Kerry Washington Krysten Ritter Melissa Rosenberg Miranda Otto

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FLASH MOB Deadline’s Emmy Party and a plethora of AwardsLine panels

V I C E P R ES ID E NT, T V ENT ERTA INM E NT SA LES

Laura Lubrano

DI R ECTOR , FILM & TV

Carra Fenton

ACCOU N T EXECUTIV ES , FILM & TV

Brianna Hamburger Tiffany Windju

A D SA L ES CO O R D INATO RS

​Kristina Mazzeo Malik Simmons

P RODU CT I ON D IR ECTO R

Natalie Longman

A DV ERT I S I N G INQ UIR IES

Stacey Farish 310-484-2553 sfarish@pmc.com

ON THE COVER: SARAH PAULSON, CUBA GOODING JR., AND COURTNEY B. VANCE PHOTOGRAPHED BY JOSH TELLES THIS PAGE: KERRY WASHINGTON PHOTOGRAPHED BY ERIC SCHWABEL

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CHRISTIAN SLATER’S ROBOT p.8 | PEAKY BLINDERS RALLIES p. 10 | SCHREIBER VS. DONOVAN p. 12 | TRUMP DESERVES AN EMMYp. 14

BATES AND SWITCH Freddie Highmore makes his writing debut as we go behind the scenes at Bates Motel. by m at t g roba r FORTY MINUTES OUT FROM DOWNTOWN VANCOUVER, on

pairings there ever was.

At the location of the show’s

showrunners Carlton Cuse and

From their initial meeting, the

Kerry Ehrin created their set from

collaboration between co-creators

an otherwise ordinary road, there’s

exterior sets in Aldergrove, a man

original plans for Psycho—the motel

Cuse and Ehrin felt, to Cuse, like the

an old motel that may look quite

appropriately titled “the innkeeper”

and the creaky haunted house on

perfect combination—“like choco-

familiar, if only you know where

watches over the hotel as part of a

the hill. The pair agreed to depart

late and peanut butter.” Though both

to look. This is the Bates Motel, a

24/7 security effort. Walking through

from the original film by setting their

showrunners are based in L.A., Cuse

gorgeous re-creation of the original

the hollowed-out husk of the Bates

contemporary update in fictional

contributes mostly through notes on

set from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho,

house one cloudy day in March, he

White Pine Bay, Oregon, in order to

story pitches, outlines and scripts,

the cinema classic that ran shivers

points out a few interesting items to

capture “the misty, woodsy quality

crediting Ehrin with “putting pen to

down the spines of people across

be found around the set, including a

of the northwest” that is so suited to

paper in the most beautiful way” and

the nation in 1960. It was built for

cardboard cutout of Hitchcock, who

Norman’s gloomy world. Before the

handling the day-to-day challenges

the A&E series Bates Motel, starring

stands peering out the second floor

sets were built, “I think [the location]

of production. Concurrent with

Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga

window.

was an old sanitation dump,” Ehrin

Bates, Cuse runs the set of another

laughs. “And it just kind of grew out

NBC series, Colony, in Los Ange-

of the ground.”

les, yet he humbly underplays the

as Norman and Norma Bates, one of the most dysfunctional mother-son

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With the help of production designer Mark Freeborn,

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FREDDIE VS. NORMAN On the Bates Motel set, Max Thierot, Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga go for a take around the dinner table (main image).

From top, Highmore talks through his script, the cast chairs, and the minutiae of the intricate sets.

challenges involved. “I think a lot of

script supervisor Corey Jones makes

this weird ability to see through the

in the past, Farmiga acknowledges

successful people are busy people,

it clear that continuity in scenes

nuances that define every single

that even she would be terrified to

and I look around the landscape and

involving food is a particular chal-

character.” The same can certainly

enter into the domain of the writer.

I’m doing about half as many epi-

lenge. “It’s the worst, actually.” This

be said of the actor, who Ehrin

“To actually take on the entire psy-

sodes a season as Shonda Rhimes,”

is a fairly standard day of production

credits with bringing his significant

chology, character by character… for

Cuse says.

on Bates with the exception of one

understanding of character into the

a 24-year-old man to jump into the

fact: Highmore wrote the screenplay

writers’ room.

skin and the psyche of a 42-year-old

Today at the Vancouver Film Studios, a climactic dinner scene

for this episode, episode 8 of Season

is being shot involving Norman,

4, which aired May 2.

Norma, and Sheriff Romero (Nestor

Describing the evolution of a

Highmore’s co-star, Vera Farmiga,

woman, and the position she’s been

was very impressed with the way

in, takes a heck of a lot of balls and

he functioned as an actor’s writer,

imagination and risk and empathy.

Carbonell), Norma’s most recent

character he has played over the

incorporating moments of humor

It blows me away that he could do

love interest who finds himself the

course of four seasons and as many

and generally sculpting scenes in

that,” she admits. “I’m not going to

target of Norman’s aggression. Din-

years, Highmore notes, “Norman is

a way that was rewarding to play.

say that I wasn’t surprised. I was

ner scenes are tricky, requiring an

very insightful in this fourth season.

Admittedly, she was nervous for

actually sweating it for him. He’s

enormous amount of coverage, and

Perhaps better than anyone, he has

Highmore—though she has directed

a kid. He’s a baby. And he did an

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at which point he was involved with pitching nuanced beats for his episode. Highmore stresses that the writers’ room on Bates, like the set overall, was a non-competitive environment— “a true sort of collaboration.”

Even with the support of a welcoming cast and crew around him, executing this episode was no easy feat. Though the series is a contemporary prequel, which trades in the ‘60s era for a world of texting and DNA evidence, the heavy, difficult issues, including domestic and sexual abuse, trauma, and violence against women, remain the same. The show’s leads, Norma and Norman, have lives that leave room for one another and no one else, which is why Ehrin feels that Bates is the most challenging series she has ever had to write for.

“It’s about a dysfunctional family, and the dance of a dysfunctional family is, they never change. They want to, but it never sticks.”

Moving forward into the final seaTHE PORCH TRIALS On a stage at Vancouver Film Studios, the famous stoop from the Bates House gets a touch-up.

son of Bates Motel, Cuse and Ehrin are leaving a little to the imagination.

outstanding job.”

Like Farmiga, the Bates showrun-

to me about leaving the show behind in between seasons, after putting

ners remain ever surprised by High-

so much into it on set for four, five

more, having never experienced an

months.”

actor offering to write for the show. “I

Walking through the interior sets

“I DON’T THINK THE WRITERS NECESSARILY SEE THE SHOW ENDING WITH MARION CRANE PULLING UP TO THE HOUSE AND IT BEING LIKE, ‘NORMAN’S ARRIVED,’ YOU KNOW?”

“We have guideposts and we know the destination. How exactly we’re going to get there… that’s kind of the fun of writing it, and that’s what we’ll be doing when we get back in the writer’s room,” Ehrin says. What

also never had an experience where

at Vancouver Film Studios—through

the lead actor of a television series

the lamp-lit wooden halls, and into

spent the summer between seasons

Norman’s bedroom, full of Norman’s

of the show working at a law firm

childhood artifacts—Highmore’s

in Madrid, translating documents

affection for this set and the series

from Spanish to English,” Cuse quips.

are clear. Here, he says, “Everything

Highmore is clearly a special case; an

seems to have a real weight of actual

actor that Cuse places in the great

history,” and it only makes sense that

have any chance of escaping what

tradition of multi-threat performers

as Norman’s character evolves in his

we presume is their inevitable fate?”

including Warren Beatty and, more

understanding of the world, High-

For Highmore, the answer is yes. “I

recently, Ben Affleck. “Freddie’s a

more evolves along with him.

don’t think the writers necessarily

renaissance man, and I like to joke

Though Bates isn’t Highmore’s

Ehrin can confirm is that several central characters, including Norma’s brother Caleb, will return to the fold, as Norma struggles to find happiness and peace in her life.

For Cuse, the question going forward is, “Do these two characters

see the show ending with Marion

with him that I think he’s secretly

first entrée into writing—he’s also

Crane pulling up to the house and

in MI6, because he speaks fluent

sold a pilot to Sky, a British broad-

it being like, ‘Norman’s arrived,’ you

Spanish and fluent Arabic, and went

caster, and has written yet another

know? There’s certainly this open-

to Cambridge. He probably really is a

pilot with Ehrin. “I think a lot people

ness as we get towards next season

spy, but he’s so savvy that there’s no

who start writing literally have a fear

of moving past events in Psycho,

way to actually confirm that.”

of the process because it’s fear of

or there’s that fluidity with the

the unknown,” Ehrin says. “So when

storytelling.”

Highmore fears that referencing his study of language and literature

you are shepherding someone who’s

“sounds really wanky,” but his desire

starting, a lot of what you’re doing is

pany, this is where the excitement

to write wasn’t based purely in aca-

just dispelling fear.” Highmore was

is—what makes Bates Motel such an

demia. “I think it was born naturally

brought into the writers’ room “later

innovative and unique piece of story-

out of working on a television show,

on in the game, once the overall sea-

telling. Says Cuse, “I think history will

because there was something odd

son arc had been broken” on cards,

be very kind to Bates Motel.” ★

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For Highmore, Cuse and com-

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Complex, rich and moving” — ESQUIRE

/ OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES

AND ALL OTHER CATEGORIES

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CHARTED TERRITORY

Gold Derby’s Emmy Odds At press time, here is how Gold Derby’s experts ranked the Emmy chances in the Drama Series Actor and Actress races. Get up-to-date rankings and make your own Emmy predictions at GoldDerby.com

LEAD ACTOR DRAMA SERIES

ODDS

1

Kevin Spacey House of Cards

1/10

2

Bob Odenkirk Better Call Saul

5/1

3

Bobby Cannavale Vinyl

5/1

4

Clive Owen The Knick

5/1

5

Damian Lewis Billions

5/1

LEAD ACTRESS DRAMA SERIES

WHEN SAM AND RAMI MET CHRISTIAN

Why Christian Slater was perfect for Mr. Robot. BY ANTHONY D’ALESSANDRO FROM EARLY ON IN HIS ACTING CAREER,

thought of a weird, anarchistic guy. And with Elliot,

Christian Slater has been known as the prophet;

they’re the odd couple, but subconsciously, he

the soap box soothsayer who tells us what’s wrong

must have been there.” Slater was easily won over

with society and how to fix it just as the credits are

by the script and Esmail’s vision after meeting the

about to roll.

AFI grad and director of indie romance Comet.

In his breakthrough role as high school loner J.D. in 1988’s Heathers, Slater’s bomb-toting

“when getting my first fitting done. The Mr. Robot

character proclaims that heaven is best because

costume was out for the first time, and I’m like

“it’s the only place different social types can

‘They got a guy.’”

generally get along”. Slater followed this up with

The duo’s first scene together was in an

another teen demagogue in 1990’s Pump Up the

amusement park ferris wheel, where Mr. Robot

Volume, as an enigmatic high school pirate radio

lays out his plans. Slater received his lines two

DJ who inspires students to revolt against The

days prior and had to memorize them. “To get

Man. And like a great whiskey that’s been left in

thrown in a cage on Coney Island and to do that

the barrel to prove, with Mr. Robot, Sam Esmail

scene for the first time, it was the inaugural one

has uncorked Slater’s spirit once again as a

and a fantastic way to start,” remembers Slater.

cyber-architect who rattles the head of a young

“It was Rami, myself and the camera, and it gave

protégé (Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson) to rock

us opportunity to play off each other and get a

the Illuminati rulers off their perches.

sense. Niels [Arden Oplev], the director, said if I

“I did not think of casting Christian when I created this character,” confesses Esmail. “I just

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Malek says he learned about Slater being cast,

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messed up my dialogue, we’d have to start the ferris wheel again.”

ODDS

1

Viola Davis How to Get Away with Murder

1/10

2

Claire Danes Homeland

5/1

3

Eva Green Penny Dreadful

5/1

4

Julianna Margulies The Good Wife

5/1

5

Kerry Washington Scandal

5/1

SUPPORTING ACTOR DRAMA SERIES

ODDS

1

Peter Dinklage Game of Thrones

1/10

2

Alan Cumming The Good Wife

5/1

3

Beau Bridges Masters of Sex

5/1

4

Christian Slater Mr. Robot

5/1

5

Jim Carter Downton Abbey

5/1

SUPPORTING ACTRESS DRAMA SERIES

ODDS

1

Uzo Aduba Orange is the New Black

1/10

2

Christine Baranski The Good Wife

5/1

3

Emilia Clarke Game of Thrones

5/1

4

Joanne Froggatt Downton Abbey

5/1

5

Kate Mulgrew Orange is the New Black

5/1

C H R I S T I A N S L AT E R P H O T O G RA P H E D BY

Mark Mann

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/ OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES

AND ALL OTHER CATEGORIES

FYC

Cinematic quality and breathless action” — THE WASHINGTON POST

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BOSCH TOWN Titus Welliver on the second season of Amazon’s detective hit. BY DOMINIC PATTEN “THE ONE THING NOW that speaks vol-

of the box even stronger the second season,

umes about the books is that I can read them

and the third season is moving in that same

on airplanes or on the beach, but I can’t read

direction. It’s even more complex storytelling

those books the way I read other books in

than in the previous two seasons.”

bed at night before I go to sleep, because I

That complexity, and Bosch’s powerful

can’t stop reading them until they are done,”

personification by Welliver, also finds strength

says Titus Welliver of Michael Connelly’s best

and solace in the City of Angels itself, which is

selling Harry Bosch novels.

virtually a character in the show. “I think Los

Welliver’s appreciation for the books on

Angeles is really well depicted in the show,”

which Amazon’s Bosch series—starring the

the SAG Award nominee asserts. “I’m not an

Good Wife alum as the jazz-loving, idiosyn-

Angeleno, I’m a New Yorker, although I’ve lived

cratic and intense LAPD detective—is mani-

in L.A. on and off. But for me, I find that in the

fest. Having now notched two 10-episode

discovery of these places we show on the

seasons of the Eric Overmyer-developed

show, we demonstrate a rich history of this

series on his belt, and brought the sharp-

town and its underbelly.

elbowed cop to life for the streaming screen,

“So often the temptation is to take a

character actor Welliver is strapped in for a

show where you are going to have the tax

third season, which is being written as we

incentives and save a couple of bucks, but

speak based on Connelly’s 1992 The Black

thank god, Connelly said filming in L.A. was a

Echo and 2001’s A Darkness More Than Night.

“I think that the scope of Season 2 was

make or break deal,” the actor recalls of the author and EP. “He said, ‘You’ve got to shoot

bigger and broader than the first season,” he

it here because the city is totally intrinsic to

notes. “Obviously, the writing is at the fore-

the storytelling.’”

front of that, but I think we really came out

Yes it is, Harry Bosch. Yes it is.

Emmy Outlier: Why Peaky Blinders deserves

the attention of the Television Academy this season.

PEAKY BLINDERS SNUCK INTO the Emmy eligibility period by a razor's edge on May 31 when Netflix made all six episodes of Season 3 available.

Academy members would do themselves a favor to check out this critical darling, which has a fervent fan base in over 160 countries, yet remains an awards outlier in the U.S. Created by the prolific and versatile Oscar-nominated writer, Steven Knight, the atmospheric gangster saga is a passion project for the Birmingham native who was inspired by stories of his own great uncle’s past as a member of the real Peaky Blinders crew. It mixes

10

swagger, grit and gravitas in a period setting juxtaposed with a contemporary soundtrack.

Think Nick Cave, Radiohead and even the late David Bowie, who was such a big fan that he lent one of his final songs, Lazarus, to the Peaky team this season.

The story is steered by Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby, the conflicted leader of a family whose rise to wealth and power comes with worldshattering consequences. A theme for Knight has been whether people can ever really escape their origins. Season 3 is arguably its best to date, and leaves Tommy at what Knight calls “his most nihilistic”.

It’s testament to Murphy’s abilities that his tumultuous arc is seamless throughout. He says, “It’s like some mad mathematical equation that you’re trying to solve. But you just rely on a great production team, a great director and a great crew, and you just kind of hang on for dear life.”

Helen McCrory, Paul Anderson, Tom Hardy, Paddy Considine and Annabelle Wallis are also stand-outs in an overall robust and nuanced cast. Producer Caryn Mandabach says that along with their pure talent, all of the actors have a “collective intellectual brilliance. Ours is an underdog story. Of course I’m going to say, and mean, that

PEAK PRACTICE Cillian Murphy & Helen McCrory.

I think they are among the finest actors working.”

Of Knight, she says, “Steve continually surprises and delights us in every single choice he makes.” Murphy adds, “We’re lucky to have encountered Steve Knight in his

purple patch. He’s in this period of creativity which is seemingly limitless.” The series was recently renewed by the BBC for Seasons 4 and 5. So really, by order of the Peaky Blinders, fookin’ catch up already.

—Nancy Tartaglione

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“BRILLIANT WORK OF ART” “A MODERN CLASSIC” “REVOLUTIONARY” “SENSATIONAL” “DAMN NEAR PERFECT”

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

O UTSTAND ING D RAM A SERI E S A N D A L L O T H E R C AT E G O R I E S

FYC.USANETWORK.COM

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HAVE MERCY

With a Downton-sized gap in their schedule, PBS has big plans for Mercy Street.

PREMIERING JANUARY 17 on PBS, following the sixth and final season of another acclaimed period piece—twelve-time Emmy winner Downton Abbey—medical drama Mercy Street went behind the battle lines of the American Civil War, following the lives and harrowing personal dramas of medical professionals engaged with one of the most fraught, bloody and fascinating periods in American history.

Executive produced by Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker (pulling double duty on Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle), David Zabel (ER) and Lisa Wolfinger, the six-hour first season was produced in and around Richmond, Virginia, a pivotal region in the Union-Confederate conflict which, incidentally, is also a mere hop and a skip from PBS’s Arlington headquarters.

Centering around Mary Elizabeth Winstead

RAY

and Hannah James in their portrayal of volunteer nurses on opposite sides of the war, whose lives intersect in the Virginian border town of Alexandria, the series also stars Josh Radnor,

OF LIGHT

Cameron Monaghan, Gary Cole, and Norbert Leo Butz, whose antagonistic turn on the series as surgeon Byron Hale echoes his disturbing

Liev Schreiber on the complicated psychology of Ray Donovan.

arc in the recently released second season of Netflix drama Bloodline.

BY DOMINIC PATTEN

For purposes of historical accuracy, the series’ producers enlisted a team of historical advisors, headed up by famed historian James McPherson. Zucker points to a certain universality of theme amidst the show’s very specific focus. “What is so enticing and compelling about this material is that you recognize the challenges these characters are facing,” he says.

“IN SOME WAYS, Ray Donavan is about how

the messes of his own family; especially those of

“These are people who were trying to survive

difficult it is for a man—a grown man—in our

his criminally inclined father Mickey, played by Jon

and find love—find purpose and meaning in

society,” suggests Liev Schreiber of the acclaimed

Voight.

this turbulent time— and Mercy Street brings

Showtime series about the elite Hollywood

audiences very much into the very heart of

fixer. “Of course, this character was created by

aspect of his pain is certainly articulated in that,

that world, and into the grit and the reality and

a woman, and the idea of what we as a society

but I think the other part is that survivor psychol-

sweat of these lives.”

see as a real man is a completely prehistoric idea.

ogy,” Schreiber offers about the season past, as

And an arcane construct, if that really exists,” he

Season 4 of Ray Donovan gets ready to launch on

successor to Downton in all regards, Mercy

adds, with a shout-out to Donovan creator Ann

June 26. “In many ways, Spotlight was about the

Street was picked up for a second season in

Biderman.

same thing.”

March. –Matt Grobar

With Katie Holmes and Ian McShane join-

12

“Ray’s going through a midlife crisis and one

Ray Donovan relies on its sunny and welcom-

ing the cast, Season 3 of the Emmy-nominated

ing SoCal setting. “L.A. is one of these wonder-

series saw Schreiber’s Donovan laid low by loss,

ful places where you can hide in plain sight,”

revelations of past clerical abuse, betrayal and

Schreiber notes, “and I think that suited Ray for

revenge. As always, the Tony-winning actor cap-

a while. But I think he’s starting to rot from the

tures the sprawling contradictions and conflicts

inside out.”

in the character. An onscreen situation never

Whatever has been or will be for Ray Donovan,

made easy by the Tinseltown messes, South

Liev Schreiber has him in the ring swinging for the

Boston-born Donavan finds himself cleaning up

stars—and that’s a TKO right there.

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Embraced by critics, and a seemingly viable

LIEV SCHREIBER PHOTOGRAPHED BY

Chris Chapman

6/10/16 4:16 PM

“MALEK IS RIVETING”

“PERFECTION”

“GAME-CHANGER”

“TRANSFIXING”

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

RAMI MALEK OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

FYC.USANETWORK.COM

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CO LUMN that Trump had “mastered the cable

were outlawed, then had to walk it

news cycle unlike anyone in his-

back in a statement.

tory”. He did so by turning it into the reality TV cycle. That same month,

ist Keith Olbermann has been able

just when pundits thought the race

to remain in the public eye with an

could not get any more reality-TV, six

entertaining series of pieces about

former candidates from Trump’s The

being unable to stomach living in

Apprentice threw a news conference

Trump’s namesake tower since the

to denounce the candidate. It was

developer became a candidate.

covered—seriously—by some TV

AND THE EMMY FOR OUTSTANDING MANIPULATION OF TV GOES TO...

With a campaign that’s at turns outrageous, hilarious and horrifying, Donald Trump surely deserves a gong.

BY L I SA D E M O R A E S

IF THE MARK OF A BRILLIANT PERFORMER is the ability to captivate large numbers of viewers while profoundly changing the TV landscape, then reality-TV star turned GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump surely deserves an Emmy Award.

Norman Lear has called the former Apprentice tyrant a real-life Archie Bunker (though some have suggested he more closely resembles Born Yesterday heavy Harry Brock, or A Face in the Crowd’s Larry Rhodes). On Showtime’s The Circus, GOP strategist Ed Rogers—who worked with Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush—called Trump “not articulate, not poised, not informed.”

And yet, Trump is the patron saint

Trump has also been a boon for

news operations, as Kwame Jackson

late-night TV. Recently Jimmy Kimmel

urged, “Let us chose Kennedy over

scored a place in the news cycle when

Kardashianism each and every time.”

he asked Trump a question sent in to

Along the way, Trump made TV

JIMMY AND THE TRUMP Donald Trump has been a boon for late-night TV.

Meanwhile, between-gigs journal-

him by next night’s guest Bernie Sand-

stars. It started with that August

ers, challenging Trump to a debate.

debate, when Fox News Channel’s

(Trump initially agreed, but backed out

Megyn Kelly noted Trump had, over

a couple days later.)

the years, called women he did not

Kimmel turned journalist on

like “fat pigs,” “dogs,” “slobs” and

Trump that night, asking him about

“disgusting animals,” and had once

that 1991 recording of someone

told a female contestant on Celeb-

claiming to be Trump’s publicist,

rity Apprentice it “would be a pretty

but sounding just like him, talking

picture to see her on her knees”.

to People magazine about Trump’s

“Does that sound to you like the

first divorce. “It didn’t sound like me,”

temperament of a man we should

Trump insisted. Responded Kimmel:

elect as president?” she asked him,

“No. Sounded like you.”

rhetorically.

The next day, Trump complained

Trump has changed the rules of the TV news game. Phoning in inter-

to CNN’s Don Lemon—making Kelly’s

views is now okay, thanks to Trump.

point in the process—that she had

Debates can’t be three hours long

asked him “all sorts of ridiculous

anymore, thanks to Trump. He even

questions and…you could see there

demanded he be paid for his debate

was blood coming out of her eyes,

appearances, and very nearly pulled it

blood coming out of here—wherever.

off when networks tried to land that

A star was born.

debate with Sanders, though it was

“You may have heard there

being couched as cash for a charity.

was a dustup involving Yours Truly

Trump also created a new TV

and presidential contender, Don-

genre: political horror. This according

ald Trump,” Kelly simpered soon

to Republican strategist Frank Luntz,

thereafter. Before long, she was out

who recently described Trump’s

promoting her new book on TV news

momentum to Rolling Stone. Republi-

programs and late-night shows. “It

can party intelligentsia, he said, knew

was bizarre because I became the

something was out there but did not see it until they were getting stabbed.

John Oliver announced last fall he

story...You never want to be the story

of ratings, having brought millions of

“couldn’t give less of a shit” about

when you’re a news person,” she told

Added New York Times op-ed

new viewers to the election cycle.

Trump and would not discuss him.

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.

writer Charles M. Blow: “When you

By late February, though, Oliver con-

After telling Stephen Colbert, after

compare your own base to the killer

most-watched program in cable

ceded defeat, devoting an episode

telling Jimmy Fallon.

in a slasher flick, you know you have a

news history. A whopping 24 million

of his late-night to a takedown of the

people tuned in to the first GOP

candidate on the eve of Super Tues-

thews sexy, when he appeared in a

debate of this election cycle, on Fox

day. Oliver later acknowledged, to

Matthews-hosted MSNBC town hall

entertainment programming, though

News Channel. One month later, the

Stephen Colbert, that he’d misread

and got scolded for trying to dodge a

it seems just a matter of time given

second GOP debate—again starring

Trump’s candidacy, explaining, “I

question about abortion. “This is not

his current trajectory. He’s already got

Trump and this time three hours

didn’t think I’d have to care.” On the

something you can dodge,” Mat-

GOP pundits talking like characters

long—averaged 23 million viewers on

bright side, bowing to the inevitable

thews demanded. “Do you believe in

from Paddy Chayefsky’s Network. And

CNN. That is the largest audience

brought Oliver his most watched

punishment for abortion, yes or no, as

during its most recent season, Netflix’s

in CNN’s 30-year history and the

Last Week Tonight episode to date:

a principle?” The exchange made big

House of Cards came in for comments

second biggest audience in U.S. cable

nearly 27 million YouTube views.

news when Trump said women who

that it seemed a tad tame compared

have abortions should undergo some

to the prospect of a Donald Trump

form of punishment if the procedure

White House. ★

Last August, he starred in the

news history.

Even so, HBO political satirist

14

Famed WaPo Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein observed, in April,

Trump also made Chris Mat-

problem.”

Trump has yet to impact scripted

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From anthology master Ryan Murphy, American Crime Story examines the dark underbelly of America’s passions and prejudices.

Beginning with The People v. O.J. Simpson, which made the nation reevaluate the most infamous murder trial of all time, stars Sarah Paulson, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Courtney B. Vance, and producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson, explain why crime isn’t the exclusive preserve of criminals.

on trial

By Joe Utichi

Photographs by josh telles

styling by lindsey nolan

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and this was before the limited model of television had come back.”

Later, after Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Sopranos had rewritten the landscape of television, their company Color Force signed a first-look deal with FX, and the pair met with Gina Balian, who was scouting for series. They thought about The People v. O.J. Simpson and pitched it as a one-off. Balian bought it in the room, and connected the producers with Ryan Murphy, who had tremendous success at FX with the anthology series American Horror Story.

“He read the script, and wanted to be involved,” Jacobson recalls.

The producers chalk it up to their naïvety about television production that the first two scripts they’d commissioned, from Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, were too grand for television, and Murphy worked with the writers to tighten them and make them network-ready, without stripping

Cuba Gooding Jr. was in South Central L.A., sometime in the early ’90s. He had just had a massive success with Boyz n the Hood, the John Singleton film about three men’s lives in the Crenshaw ghetto, and it was coming to HBO. The HBO house style of the time was to take the cast of whatever series or film was premiering that month, deposit them at a location that had something to do with the project with which they were associated, and have them film a bumper teaser promoting the airdate. If it were a film about lifeguards, for example, the cast would turn up on a Santa Monica beach and frolic in the sand for 30 seconds at a time. But Boyz n the Hood wasn’t a film about lifeguards. And so he found himself shooting a bumper teaser for his movie in the ghettos of South Central.

the key theme of the show, which is that for a trial we all remember, we know so precious little about it.

The show played on that know-but-don’t-know nature all the way to its casting. Gooding is amongst the names brought on for The People v. O.J. Simpson as much because of his rise to fame in the ’90s as his abilities in front of the camera. The ’90s was also the decade that David Schwimmer—who played Ross on Friends—became an overnight household name. And it was when John Travolta—who played Vincent Vega in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction in

“I WAS VERY NERVOUS of being in that area,”

wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron

1994—experienced a career resurgence. “The thing

Gooding recalls now. “It was a hotbed of racial

Goldman, sent shockwaves because Simpson was

about this trial is that people became so famous,”

frustration and anger.” The shoot was doomed from

one of the most famous people on the planet. A

notes Brad Simpson. “You felt like you needed

the start. The Nation of Islam had been hired to

beloved football star and actor, Simpson was a mul-

people who had that sheen of fame about them in

secure the set, but there were no police on hand

timillionaire and a national hero. Innocent men don’t

these roles. For O.J. Simpson, Robert Kardashian

to keep things calm. “People just started grabbing

run, went much of the thinking at the time, and yet

and Robert Shapiro, it was important to have

lights off the truck,” he laughs now, remembering

O.J. had boarded his white Ford Bronco truck and

people who were in the public eye at the time.”

the chaos. “It was a disaster. It was crazy. We had to

taken off down the freeway, sparking a low-speed

jump in our cars and drive out of the city. That’s how

chase that was televised live to the nation.

racially tense it was back then.”

The O.J. Simpson murder trial in 1994 was then

Two decades later, producer Brad Simpson had

“These were all number-one-on-the-call-sheet actors,” says Jacobson, “and yet, what this show required was almost like a play, because they all have

found Jeffrey Toobin’s 1997 book about the trial, The

to be in the courtroom with each other, witnessing

just the most recent incident in a flurry of racial

Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson, in a used

each other’s performances most of the time.”

tension that had been building in Los Angeles since

bookstore in Vancouver, where, along with his part-

They were all, rightfully, hesitant to sensational-

Rodney King was beaten by LAPD officers at the

ner Nina Jacobson, they were doing their usual day

ize an already sensational media event, but Ryan

intersection of Foothill and Osborne in East LA,

job: producing feature films like Diary of a Wimpy

Murphy, and the material, won them around.

sparking the LA riots. “There were certain areas in

Kid and The Hunger Games. They would trade

“It’s testament to Ryan to have convinced John

LA where you knew if you were driving down the

deep-dive journalism with one another whenever

Travolta—when he’d refused to play the part for a

street as a black man, and you passed a cop, he

they found something that piqued their interest, as

long time—to play Robert Shapiro,” says Gooding.

would do a U-turn and pull you out of the car to find

much to satisfy their curiosity as to scour for mate-

“And to see the brilliance of Courtney B. Vance’s

out why you were there. I remember feeling that,

rial to adapt. Toobin’s book had been out of print

channeling of Johnnie Cochran. To discover Sterling

back then: just driving in LA was a very tense thing.”

for years, but Brad Simpson was fascinated by the

Brown, as Darden, and the conflict and torment

It’s this tension that informs the 10-part FX

detail within it, and by how this contemporaneous

that character goes through. And to continue this

limited series American Crime Story: The People v.

account changed his view of the case. He shared

relationship he has with Sarah Paulson, who is

O.J. Simpson. To the predominantly white-run media

it with Jacobson. “We never thought about doing

giving a masterclass performance as Marcia Clark

of the time, Simpson’s arrest for the murder of his

anything with it, because it was too big for a feature,

in this piece.”

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Marcia, or Johnnie, or any of the other participants.

We wouldn’t have known the drama. Via the news media, it looked like these dream teams were at each other’s throats, but we didn’t know any details.” “[The trial] was the first celebrated reality show extravaganza of its era,” notes Gooding. “Out of that trial were born a number of facets of celebrity that are still dissected today, from the Kardashians to Judge Judy and all of these shows.”

“It’s funny,” adds Paulson, “because people have said to me that, if the trial were to happen today it would be very different for Marcia. She would have had more support. I completely disagree. There are so many platforms, now, from which to stand and bash people. Can you imagine the blare of it now with Twitter and Facebook and Instagram? The cacophony of sound?”

One day on set, Sarah Paulson checked her email more than she usually did. She was sitting on location in Los Angeles, not far from where Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman had been murdered, and she’d mentioned that fact in the message to which she was waiting on a response. People in the crew asked her—all day—whether she’d heard back yet. “It was like I’d written to someone I had a crush on,” Paulson says, “wanting to know if they’d go on a date with me.”

Still, the glare of the trial at the time, and the way people remember it, presented a unique challenge for the cast, who had to battle the preconceptions of a world that had dined out on Simpson’s legal troubles for almost a year. For Gooding, this meant tapping into O.J. Simpson’s emotional core, and discarding the rest. But he was surprised

BUT SHE DID HAVE A CRUSH, of a sort. When

those physical things in the show, and I don’t think

with the voracity of the enquiries he’s had about

Ryan Murphy approached her about The People

anyone noticed them,” Paulson laughs. “We had a

his own take on what went down on Bundy Drive

v. O.J. Simpson, she had consumed every book on

wonderful evening together, drank plenty of tequila,

that one fateful night. “It’s the first time I’ve played

the trial she could find. “I read Toobin’s book, I read

and closed the restaurant down.”

a character where people want to ask what my

Darden’s book and I read Marcia’s book, grabbing

They talked about life, they talked about art,

position is on his guilt or innocence more than they

information wherever I could.” The Marcia Clark

they talked about the O.J. trial; and Paulson noted

do my performance,” he laughs. “But it’s my job to

she found within the pages of the former prosecu-

the emotion in Clark’s voice when they settled on

give the director the tools he needs to manipulate

tor’s account of the trial had not been the dowdy

the latter. Professionally, O.J. Simpson’s acquittal

the performance in the editing room, and that puts

incompetent the news media had painted. “I came

had been a blow to Marcia Clark. But personally,

me in an almost schizophrenic frame of mind where

to have so much respect and admiration for her,”

the work that had gone into building the prosecu-

I can go from guilty to innocent in any moment. The

Paulson says now. “But I feared if I met her, I would

tion’s case, and the way the world scrutinized its

hardest part was playing this split personality. It was

all of a sudden feel like I had to tell every part of this

execution on live television, had been devastating.

almost like playing twins.”

story from the actual Marcia Clark’s point of view,

“If I loved her before, I loved her even more after

which might have got in the way of telling the story

this dinner,” says Paulson. “The thing that mattered

Marcia that she even knew it would be possible to

most of all to me was that there was integrity and

play the part. “Everybody enjoyed the pastime of

honesty in the performance, because she had so

making fun of her, belittling her and joking about

as it was written.”

So she delayed sending an email to Clark until

It wasn’t until Paulson did her deep dive into

she was well into shooting. By that point, there were

much integrity, and her own moral compass was of

her appearance. Myself included, by the way. How

only three episodes left, and she’d just wrapped the

paramount importance to her.”

was I going to be able to offer up anything new? I

hardest task she faced on the show: the episode

When it started airing in February, The People

was scared—which typically is a sign that I have to

“Marcia, Marcia, Marcia”, which was all about Clark’s

v. O.J. Simpson became as much of a watercooler

do something. I had no idea the scripts would be

own trials as she prosecuted this case. She offered

topic as the trial it was depicting. Through the

so enlightening, and show a whole entire side of her

dinner, lunch, a drink, a coffee; anything that would

meticulous research of the writing staff, which

that no one even thought about at the time.”

have resulted in a scrap of Clark’s time.

extended well beyond the pages of Toobin’s book,

Vance also understood the big shoes he was

Marcia Clark opted for dinner. “And it was a

the show felt like it was breaking news every week:

stepping into by playing Cochran, whose infamous

surreal, out-of-body experience.” When she walked

sending facts into the world that the media of the

“if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit” defense rang

into the restaurant, Paulson’s immersion in all things

time didn’t know—or didn’t care—to report. “There

repeatedly in our ears. “I realized that I didn’t want

Marcia meant she recognized her instantly from

was only so much a camera in a courtroom was

to start imitating him. He had a very big life. He’s like

her gait and the way she used her hands. Clark had

going to pick up on,” notes Courtney B. Vance, who

Muhammad Ali, Ray Charles or Michael Jackson. I

wanted to be a dancer and had done a lot of training

plays defense lawyer Johnnie Cochran. “We weren’t

chose not to get engaged in that big life, and just try

in her youth that had informed her posture. “I did all

following them home. We weren’t with Darden and

to cut him down to size so that I could see him.”

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black man as president, and hopefully we’re on the verge of having the first woman become President of the United States. But all you need to do is go online and read the things people write to realize that, while there’s been forward movement, there hasn’t been enough.”

Indeed, racial tension is a fire that remains alight, says Vance. “It’s the river that runs through this country, just as slavery was.

From the establishment and development of this country, race has been the most important, primary issue that affects our nation. It’s always been there; we just want to pretend that it’s not there, and that we’re all one. But we’re not all one. Until we actually talk about and examine our differences in a sit-down, calm discussion, we won’t be able

Courtney B. Vance was a budding actor when he received an invitation to a party at O.J. Simpson’s house. Vance was a huge O.J. fan, like so many at the time. To him, O.J. was an icon of sport and a hero. So he was just happy to be in the room as ‘The Juice’ held court. “Of course, he was the life of the party and a wonderful man,” Vance remembers.

“In my mind, he was someone who did wonderful work in the community and he helped celebrities at the same time. In the black community, he was a superstar.”

to learn anything.”

It isn’t worth asking any of the people involved in this show whether it has changed their view of O.J. Simpson—it would have been impossible for it not to, given that, like us, they were casual viewers of the circus that ensued in 1994.

And perhaps it’s an actor’s job to

LATER, HE’D BEEN WORKING ON Mario

when their jury consultant told them, ‘This case

Van Peebles’ film Panther when, gathered with

is about nothing but race, and since it is, you

identify—and maybe even empathize—with

his cast and crew in the lobby of a hotel after

need to put the case in Santa Monica. Make

the characters they play, regardless of their

a day’s shoot, he tuned into the 1994 NBA

sure you have white jurors.’ The prosecution

origin. Gooding is circumspect about the

Finals. When O.J. Simpson’s Bronco popped

said, ‘What are you talking about? This is about

man he has spent a year thinking about.

up in a box on the corner of the screen, he

the facts.’ Johnnie was a step ahead, and a step

“O.J. is just a sad fucking victim of his own

was concerned. The game was eventually

above.”

talents and profession,” he says now. “If he

preempted to go live to the chase, but Vance

Adds Gooding: “Whether he was guilty or

killed those people, it’s sad how that one act

not guilty, that whole aspect of the trial was

unraveled not just his own life but the lives of

potential of this going down, I couldn’t take it,”

left on the sidelines, because you had all of

his children and everybody involved. But it’s

he says. “It was too much for me.”

these other elements taking center stage. It

twice as sad to think that, if he was innocent,

was playing on people’s emotions,” about race,

his behavior, and the things he said and did,

celebrity and the climate of the time.

destroyed his career and affected his family

couldn’t bring himself to watch. “With the

In fact, he avoided the entire trial, tuning in finally to watch the verdict. Like many in the black community, Vance cheered when the jury

In the wake of the Ferguson unrest and the

announced that Simpson was innocent of the

Black Lives Matter movement, it’s small wonder,

for the rest of their lives.”

Simpson is currently sitting in a cell at

charges against him. Because, like Gooding,

then, that the O.J. Simpson murder trial is back

Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada, in

Vance knew the challenges of being black in Los

in the news. Prior to signing on for American

his eighth year of a 33-year stretch for armed

Angeles in the early 1990s. “O.J. was the right

Crime Story, Gooding had been offered a role

robbery, kidnapping and assault committed

person, right time, right situation; the perfect

as O.J. Simpson in a feature film about the

in 2007. He will be eligible for parole next

storm for us all to see how deep the race issues

case, which he had turned down. And ESPN

year. Gooding believes the murder trial and

were in this country. If it had happened to an

started airing a five-part, nearly eight-hour

Simpson’s acquittal have a part to play in the

average, everyday black Joe, it wouldn’t have

documentary about the man and the trial this

length of his sentence for these crimes. “I

garnered the attention.”

past Saturday. “People are starting to question

can’t tell you how O.J. feels today because I

authority,” Gooding says, “whereas before

haven’t spoken to him,” he says, “but I’m sure

members of Simpson’s defense team who

they just accepted the fact that it was easier

there’s a part of him that feels he got royally

recognized the climate of the time, and how

to govern a people with fear. As we look back,

screwed on this latest conviction. If he was

much it would bring to bear on the case. “He

hopefully we’re learning from the mistakes of

innocent [of the murders], now he’s being

knew that this was the case he’d been waiting

our past.”

Johnnie Cochran was one of the few

for,” says Vance. “Nobody else in the trial knew what was at stake. The prosecution didn’t listen

24

“You can’t deny that some progress has been made,” notes Paulson. “We do have a

victimized. And if he was guilty, now he feels like he’s paying penance. To even wrap your head around that shit is mind-blowing.”

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change tack, with Season 2 of the show placing the emphasis on the American response to Hurricane Katrina.

“We started talking about ‘American crime stories’ as being before and after moments—crimes in which nothing was the same after as it was before,” says Jacobson. “They’re turning points. As we started looking at O.J. and Katrina next to each other, we realized that they were crimes in which America was culpable for the crime as much as anybody else.”

In the case of Katrina, that means examining the neglect and disparity of care that followed the storm’s landfall on August 25 2005. “To explore these things from a character foundation, and to revel in the shades of grey—to explore moments in which there’s a disparity between the way our country wants to see itself and the way we actually are— that’s been a really inspiring perspective for us.”

Adds Jacobson: “It’s a very different story to O.J., but we’re optimistic that if we dive deep and focus on great characters, we can have another great season of television.”

Those characters will differ from the denizens of the O.J. case, because there weren’t so many ‘breakout stars’ in the wake of Katrina. “But the one thing it has in common with O.J.,” notes Brad Simpson, “is that America stopped and watched this thing happen, and it exposed some truths that maybe we didn’t want exposed. Things we didn’t want to admit to ourselves about this country.”

The plan—as with Ryan Murphy’s other anthology series American Horror Story and Scream Queens—is to encourage as many of the cast from The People v. O.J. Simpson back as schedules allow.

John Travolta, who flew to Louisiana after Katrina to assist in the rescue effort, has already gone on record to express his interest, and Paulson says now that she’s in too.

“I would be more excited than almost anything to have a crack at something else with this same AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana in 2005.

creative team,” she admits. “For me, the idea of treating Katrina as an American Crime Story is

WHEN NINA JACOBSON AND BRAD SIMPSON

questions it asked about race, gender and celebrity,

incredibly resonant, powerful and accurate. The

pitched The People v. O.J. Simpson, which would

and yet we did. If anything, the lessons the O.J.

Katrina story, to me, is a literal American crime. It

become the first chapter in American Crime Story,

Simpson trial tried to teach were ignored, if not

says something about a uniquely American attitude,

they hadn’t conceived it as an anthology show that

actively rallied against, as 24-hour news media

and I find it incredibly potent. I’ve begged them, and

would run on after the conclusion of this particular

and the rise of the internet gave us all an excuse to

there have been some conversations.”

story. It was Ryan Murphy and FX who brought that

exercise opinions before they were fully-formed.

Paulson has relished the chance to change

And American Crime Story faces an uphill

gears every year with American Horror Story. “The

ambition, and it was conceived in the notion that crime is about apathy as much as action.

In the case of O.J. Simpson, Toobin’s book about

struggle as it steers towards a second season,

idea of taking this repertory group of actors, who

thanks to the outpouring of critical praise and

tell different stories all the time anyway, and giving

the trial had made it clear that many injustices

interest heaped on The People v. O.J. Simpson. But

them an opportunity to go out every year and do

served to prejudice the perspectives of the nation

for the creative team, alighting on this broader

something different; to me it’s the greatest job in

that consumed it. There was no way to avoid the

definition of “American crime” has allowed them to

the world.” ★

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For Your Emmy® Consideration

“THE

MOST IMPORTANT SHOW ON TV IN 2015.”

— VANITY FAIR

To watch additional episodes of this and other 20th Century Fox TV programs, go to TCFTVScreeningRoom.com.

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★ JENNIFER LOPEZ & RAY LIOTTA Shades of Blue

“I grabbed a guy’s dick in a scene, and when we were doing the shot, I figured, well, I’ll go with the belt, or I’ll go with the hair. They say, no, they want a close-up.” —Liotta

★ OLIVIA WILDE Vinyl

“I drank whiskey and spat in Bobby [Cannavale]’s face. Marty walked up to me after and said, ‘Now, she’s somebody.’” —Wilde

★ GILLIAN ANDERSON & DAVID DUCHOVNY The X-Files

“These two people complete one another intellectually and emotionally. It’s highly romantic and yet not sexual, though there’s a lot of tension.” —Duchovny

★ KERRY WASHINGTON Confirmation

“I really studied every press conference and TV interview because I wanted to find her rhythm and her cadence through the truth of who she was.” —Washington

★ MELISSA ROSENBERG & KRYSTEN RITTER Jessica Jones “As soon as I got the part, I’m in the gym, getting beat up by a trainer, lifting. I’m a lanky girl.

I’m not cool like Jessica Jones, so I had to change my posture.” —Ritter

★ MIRANDA OTTO Homeland “I think what we find most interesting in actors is some kind of paradox, some kind of juxtaposition of ideas so that we can never completely settle on who they are.” —Otto

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Jennifer L OPEZ Ray LIOTTA ★

★

★

Liotta: I’m 61, so when I first started out, if you were doing a television show, it was the end of your career, and then things just changed about 10 years ago. They were casting people who were doing these 13-episode shows. I was happy with what I was doing, but you just want more as an actor. I just wanted to keep working with the best people, the best scripts, and that seemed to be

★

the way it was going. Either you fight it and you just say, "Oh, I’m never going to do TV,"—and then you

Redefining the police procedural with Shades of Blue.

just sit home—or you play the game to beat them at the game. And this had the ingredients to do it.

BY PETE HAMMOND Jennifer, were you always going to star in the series when you were developing it?

Lopez: No, no. Elaine [Goldsmith-Thomas] brought it to me for us to produce together. When we went into NBC and pitched it, they loved the whole idea, and they were like, “You’re not playing

G

RITTY IS A WORD GENERALLY reserved for cable, but Jennifer Lopez and Ray Liotta instead hooked up with a broadcast network, NBC, for their gritty new cop series, Shades of Blue, with the promise that it be every bit as edgy and “envelope pushing” as anything on the cable networks. Lopez is a single mom and NYPD cop who gets enlisted by the FBI’s anti-corruption task force. Liotta plays the complicated and vice-fuelled lead detective of the team. Right off the bat the chemistry between these two stars was apparent, and the level of drama matches anything the cablers are serving up these days. In a wide-ranging conversation, they explained why they signed up, and what the magic formula is to make this show stand out.

this role?” Bob Greenblatt said to me, “You play this role, we’ll do it right now.” This is an amazing role, and it really made me think, okay, this is something that I want to happen.

How do you balance your work on the series with your other commitments, including your Las Vegas show?

Lopez: While I was shooting Shades, I was doing American Idol on the weekends. But we were also planning my Vegas show at that time. Then I went home and rehearsed for five weeks, and then we

This series feels risky in its portrayal of char-

in film. Now, going into network television,

were live on the show. So it was a challenging year.

acters who aren’t exactly model cops. The

perhaps with the expectation of new creative

It was a lot of work for me, but I just tried to stay

title Shades of Blue is very apt.

restrictions, what was it about this series

focused when I was on set.

Lopez: Yeah, it is. Shades of Blue is a cop show, but

that made you want to take it on?

Liotta: Yeah. You’d never know that she was doing

it’s really a show about human nature. It’s about

Lopez: What’s funny is, the network, when we

two other things.

people; it’s about what they would do when put to

were developing this, wanted us to push the enve-

Lopez: I just tried to be grateful for the fact that,

the test on certain things, how you can be a good

lope. They know what they’re competing with out

at this point in my career, I have this much going

person and really do fucked up things. And we do

there on cable.

on. But the truth is the quality of the work, of the

all the time.

Liotta: And [NBC chairman] Bob Greenblatt was

writing, of the actors, of Barry [Levinson], of the

the head of Showtime, so he’s always played that

producers, of the writers room—I felt like, this is

Watching your powerful chemistry on screen,

game.

my best work, you know? This was how I started

it’s surprising to note this is your first time

Lopez: And he knows what that is—and they’re

my career. This is who I am. I always saw myself as

working together.

like, push, push. We wanted to bring a cable show

an actress who danced and sang and had those

Liotta: Yeah, a lot of people say that. Everybody

to network TV; that was our goal, and I think we’re

talents as well, and I made my records later in my

says it.

doing that. And even with the restrictions, you see

career. I didn’t make my first record until I was

Lopez: It’s always a natural thing I find with actors,

a lot of it’s left to your imagination. You just have to

almost 30. So the acting was always the first thing.

if you have chemistry or not. And I always say you

lead them down the path.

That was where people got to know me.

can create some, but innately, there has to be a

Liotta: I grabbed a guy’s dick in a scene, and when

rapport, an easiness, a respect. I feel like we were

we were doing the shot, I figured, well, I’ll go with

You had police officers as consultants on the

willing to open up to each other and be those

the belt, or I’ll go with the hair. They say, no, they

show. What research was involved for you

people to each other.

want a close-up. I said, "Get the fuck out of here.

both in crafting these characters?

Liotta: Personally, I think that it starts from that;

There’s no way they want a close-up." But they

Lopez: I’ve played about 10 cops in my career.

we’ve all done things where you’re supposed to like

asked for a close-up, and so I said, "All right."

It’s a fairly dicey portrayal of police officers.

somebody and you can’t stand the person, but in this case, as soon as I met Jen, she’s so open and

A lot of times with television, there’s an

Liotta: I’ve played so many cops that were bad,

honest, and we both respect each other’s work,

expectation of where a series is going to be

and the first people coming up to me would be

and just let it rip.

five years down the line. Ray, I read some-

cops. They know it’s make believe. They’re not

where that you were initially just looking for a

offended. They know it’s entertainment; we’re not

13-week gig.

indicting them in particular. ★

You’ve both had very successful careers

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Olivia WILDE ★

★

★

sense of where she came from. She was an artist who was energized by chaos and an experimental sense of adventure; someone who never fit in the norm of society. I knew from early on that there had to be a reason behind her shift; why Richie and her moved to Greenwich. There was a traumatic event that changed the course of her life, to make

★

that sacrifice in episode 6 where she’s pregnant

On her serendipitous casting in Vinyl, and making magic with Bobby Cannavale.

B Y A N T H O N Y D ’A L E S S A N D R O

with their first child and she loses it and their best friend in a car crash.”

In Cannavale, Wilde found a fellow actor who could emotionally flip on a dime, and tap into an icy rage; something she could draw from. “He’s creative, loose and eager to play. That comes from his years working in the theater,” says Wilde.

Both actors were adamant that their connection onscreen had to be sublimely passionate.

They could light each other’s fires, and yet were capable of destroying each other. While Richie

M

OST AUTEURS PREFER THEIR STARLETS to be seen and not heard, but as any good writer or filmmaker knows, your actors only elevate the material on screen.

With Olivia Wilde, Vinyl creators Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger, Terence Winter and Rich Cohen have found a lynchpin collaborator, who has infused more blood and guts into her character Devon—a counter-culture 1970s free spirit femme and wife to rock label czar Richie Finestra—than possibly imagined. It’s arguably Wilde’s most definitive dramatic lead yet, after playing all sides in a variety of genres including TRON: Legacy, Cowboys & Aliens, Rush and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. As Devon, Wilde exposes the shades, hues and warts of a tortured spouse who has outgrown her time.

battles a world that’s falling apart around him through coke and booze (his depreciating record label, not to mention he’s a suspect in a radio kingpin’s murder), Devon battles the mediocrity of suburbia and contends with her crazed man. Wilde credits Winter’s choice in making Richie a different type of guy from Tony Soprano: “Richie can’t bring himself to cheat on Devon, and that’s something that separates him from other antiheroes. Richie and Devon’s conflict is different.”

The scene where Devon and Richie meet each other at the Velvet Underground for the first time, and make love in the bathroom, was a crucial

In directing the pilot for Vinyl, Scorsese yearned for Devon to be something more than just the

Devon. She was already a shoo-in.

Wilde’s Devon on Vinyl is essentially the Factory

moment for the actors in regards to establishing their footing with the duo’s intensity.

unhappy housewife to an unhinged, cocaine-

girl that left Andy Warhol’s building. A promising

addled music exec. “Marty doesn’t see his females

fashionista photographer entrenched in the ’70s

two of them collide,” explains Wilde. “Bobby had a

as accessories to men,” said Wilde. “I found him

Gotham party scene, she’s an amalgamation of

lot of patience in this scene, performing it with no

to be an incredible feminist, treating his male and

British Invasion songwriter-performer Marianne

self-consciousness or nervousness. We main-

female characters equally.”

Faithfull and Factory gal Edie Sedgwick in regards

tained a real awareness of what we were trying to

to her art.

tell in that moment.”

When Devon cops Richie after a guitar playingdrunken bender in their den at the end of the pilot,

“She has this love for photography and an

“No pun, it was the big bang scene when the

When most marriages fall apart, quite often

Wilde thought, “I think there’s more there.” So, she

understanding of musicians, and is sensitive to the

the reasons for their unwinding were already there

pitched Scorsese something that wasn’t in the

artist’s way,” says Wilde, who also likens Devon to

before they even realized it. Wilde and Cannavale

script on the day of the shoot. “I drank whiskey

photographer Annie Leibovitz. “Women today can

wanted to play the reality of that. One flashback

and spat in Bobby [Cannavale]’s face,” says Wilde,

only exist in an independent way because of the

early on in the series showed Devon and Richie

“Marty walked up to me after and said, ‘Now, she’s

social revolution promoted by [women like] Devon.

fighting soon after they arrived in Greenwich.

somebody.’”

They found themselves to be part of the coun-

He wanted another child; she yearned to work.

terculture revolution of the 1960s, thus facing the

Rather than play the scene in shouts, the actors

an audition for The Wolf of Wall Street. She was up

Wilde forged a shorthand with Scorsese during

consumerism of the 1970s, whereby they had to

expressed their intention to play the drama in a

for the role of Leonardo DiCaprio’s wife—another

figure out a balance between living independently

flirty, pillow talk type of way.

domestic damsel who endures a monstrous alpha

and the life of a mother.”

male better-half—a part that went to Margot

In some ways, Devon was the ‘what-if’ spin

“It was one of the conversations early on in a marriage, where as a couple they didn’t realize

Robbie. It was during Wilde’s screentest that she

on Sedgwick, who was estranged from Warhol’s

the truth the other was saying. It’s when you don’t

found, “Marty and I had good sense of communi-

circle and met a tragic fate at 28. What if Sedgwick

hear what your spouse is telling you, when you’re

cation. It was so thrilling to see how he works. He’s

accepted Bob Dylan’s invitation to move up to

distracted by the haziness and newness of love,”

so clear about what he’s looking for and open to

Woodstock, NY for a better career and life, leaving

says the actress.

what you present, which is rare [in a director]. And

her debaucherous one at the Factory behind?

Looking back on that scene, Wilde adds,

he’s someone who is really observing and listening

Devon’s move to Greenwich, CT with Richie is a

“Bobby was in touch with that and understood it

to the actor.” As such, it comes as no surprise to

partial dramatization of that fantasy.

with these characters, and we were able to create

hear that Wilde didn’t have to read for the role of

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“For Devon, I wanted there to be a strong

this beautiful scene.” ★

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Gillian ANDERSON David DUC HOVNY ★

★

★

The chemistry between Mulder and Scully was stronger than anything on television.

Was that always there?

Duchovny: That word always perplexes me, because Gillian and I never worked on our chemistry. We don’t come in, in the morning, and go, “How’s the chemistry? I really need some coffee with my chemistry this morning.”

★

It’s really a mutual respect and enjoyment of

How The X-Files returned to find Mulder and Scully in different places.

BY JOE UTICHI

acting with one another. What exists in the writing, as well, is that these two people are true partners and they complete one another intellectually and emotionally. It’s highly romantic and yet not sexual, though there’s a lot of tension. Chris always used to say that Mulder and Scully were one person when they were together… by which, I assume he meant they were Chris Carter.

I

T WASN’T LONG AFTER CHRIS CARTER’S The X-Files first aired in 1993 that it became a global cultural phenomenon.

A genre show, about a skeptic FBI agent and her partner—a man who believes in the existence of extraterrestrials and is determined to prove it—on a network not well known at the time for high-quality programming. On paper, the chances of it gracing the cover of Rolling Stone were slight. And yet… Now, 23 years after its debut, with a limited series of six episodes allowing its cast time to indulge other passions, The X-Files has returned. As Gillian Anderson takes to the New York stage in a revival of Streetcar, and as David Duchovny takes to a Los Angeles soundstage for a second season of Aquarius, the two stars reunite by phone to talk about reopening The X-Files.

Anderson: They have a clear depth of caring about one another, and that’s what really gets people. They care about one another’s welfare, and so even if they’re at odds in their beliefs, their caring transcends that, through all nine seasons.

Do you remember your first meeting?

Anderson: In the beginning of the casting process, when we were at network, David was cast and I was among a number of actresses being tested alongside him. They were looking for a match of which two looked right together, who worked best together, etcetera. We didn’t know each other at all, but for some reason

How long have you all wanted to return to these

We’ve lived with these characters for 23

there was something in the room between the

characters and this show?

years now. Where did you find them, now?

two of us that wasn’t there with others. To a

David Duchovny: I can’t really say that I’ve wanted

Duchovny: That’s the toughest question for

degree, you can manufacture that as actors,

it to return, necessarily. I just always hoped and

Gillian and I, and probably the hardest thing to

and you have to most of the time, but for some

assumed that we would continue doing movies, and

gauge going in. Mulder always had this gullibility

reason there was something tangible and

that this wasn’t going to be a show that ended in the

and boyish wonder that I find hard, in my 50s, to

palpable that existed between us, right then.

traditional way that shows end. That there would be

act and make believable. That required recalibra-

an afterlife. We always talked about the possibility of

tion, because the character, as written, doesn’t

This latest season included a little comedy,

coming back, and what to do next, and who wants to

really change all that much.

a little mythology, a little horror. Did every

do what. But after the second movie opened against

Anderson: Exactly. Arriving at this character,

episode feel completely different?

The Dark Knight, and it was kind of a doomed enter-

and figuring out what part of a 50-year-old

Duchovny: I would say that was the interesting

prise in that way, I think we assumed it was dead. As

Scully still exists in this world, that’s the chal-

challenge of returning, because in a full season,

television rearranged itself over the last 10 years, the

lenge. It wasn’t until I tapped in less to her

even if the writers had different voices, the

idea of a season changed from 24 episodes, to 6, 8,

seriousness and more into her goofiness that I

directors were also rotating and so there was a

10, 12, or whatever. It became apparent that we could

found her again.

continuity there. With this, it was almost like you

exist there, at least temporarily.

had little movies, and the director became the

Gillian Anderson: In my head, at least, was the

In that way, you’ve both found opposite

keeper of the tone of the piece.

fantasy of maybe doing three movies. I don’t know

ends of the spectrum.

Anderson: I think over time we’ve learned how

where that came from, but it was a shame the

Duchovny: I don’t know any other actors who

to interpret the different writers, and that it’s not

second was handled in the way it was. We knew we

have been faced with these kinds of questions.

appropriate to play a Darin Morgan script in the

wanted to continue the conversation and try and

It’s a very interesting thing to keep coming back

way that Chris would write you. So in the end, we

trump that experience. The truth is, in no way or

to something you started 23 years ago.

almost become different characters. Because

shape am I built for a 24-episode season anymore.

Anderson: I didn’t notice, though, until I sat

we built that road way back, the fans know the

But the idea of doing a small pack, and realizing that

down and watched this series, that I’m hold-

variables and they welcome them and accept

our series works best when we have an opportunity

ing Scully a lot lighter and allowing her to take

them as a part of what The X-Files is.

to show all the elements of it, which you can’t fit into

herself less seriously. That’s an interesting thing

Duchovny: I don’t know what other show is

a single feature, suddenly it could be allowed to be all

to observe and not realize you were doing until

like that. I can’t think of any other show that is

those things it is at its very best.

after the fact.

tonally as expressive, or variable. ★

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Kerry WASHINGTON ★

★

★

★

feels great about what they did or how they did it, and that is showing up in some of the feedback,” she says.

Washington feels it was all very complex.

Anita Hill came forward to talk about sexual harassment, but the dynamics at play were about power, gender and race, in her view.

She also notes it was really the beginning of

The Scandal star returns to D.C. in a different context with Confirmation.

BY PETE HAMMOND

the idea of consuming news around the clock as we now do with 24-hour cable news. She emphasizes it was not her goal to make a simple story that is just about good guys and bad guys, winners and losers. “I just felt like there was more here. I wanted to peel back more of the layers that were going on for Anita, but I also wanted to know what was going on with [Judiciary committee chairman] Joe Biden, and what was going on with Clarence Thomas. I wanted to know what was really

K

ERRY WASHINGTON’S LAST NAME seems perfectly suited to an actress who these days is spending a lot of time in Washington, D.C. Of course since 2012, she has played Olivia Pope, the ultimate D.C. insider and confidant to the President in Scandal. The role has won her a widespread following, plus Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG nominations.

That’s a trio of honors she can also probably count on for her understated and pitch-perfect performance as Anita Hill, who in 1991 accused then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. The U.S. Senate hearings became a sensation, but through it all, Hill maintained her dignity, even as Thomas was eventually confirmed.

going on at the White House, and maybe that’s because of being on Scandal for five years.

“I was like, ‘What is the machine doing?’

We really wanted to take these kind of iconic symbols and find the humanity, rather than have them be just political figureheads. That, for me, is what the film is all about.” She also notes the movie doesn’t define just who were the winners and losers, and that was intentional. “It’s tricky. And we wanted to keep it tricky. We wanted to keep it complicated.”

So what was the underlying challenge for

with not only Hill, but also other key figures

an actress who spends so much time in the

who also is an executive producer on the HBO

of the time. For Washington, there was fun in

Washington D.C. environment? Why did she

film Confirmation depicting this particular

the details, like the necklace she wore, or the

want to go back there—at least figuratively—

battle of the sexes, doesn’t even suggest Olivia

sling-back shoes. “But I also had to figure out

on her hiatus? “I have spent five years playing

Pope territory, delivering a finely modulated

where I could enter into the truth of her from

somebody who, for the most part, is always

performance in a movie sure to bring back

my own experience and my own understanding.

the most powerful person in the room. Olivia

memories of those who lived through the era,

I had to figure out what I could bring of myself

Pope is always the smartest, most powerful

and spark interest from those just discovering

into her experience so that I could bring

person with the most access in every room

this unique moment in recent American history.

some emotional truth to what she was going

she’s in. And I think I was drawn to the idea of

She was 14 around the time of the events, she

through.”

working within that same environment—that

This is hot-button stuff, but Washington,

says, but her memories were more specific to

It is interesting to note that Washington says

same context—but playing somebody at the

the way her parents viewed the controversial

the filmmakers didn’t make the film seeking

complete opposite end of the spectrum;

hearings, with her dad taking Thomas’ side

Hill’s approval, so she is sure Hill doesn’t love

somebody who has no power, and access and

and her mother in Hill’s corner. It surprised

everything about it. However the important

authority in that setting, and who still has to

Washington, because her parents had always

thing for her is that Hill was pleased with

find the courage to step forward.

agreed on everything and were always on the

her performance. That isn’t true of some of

same page.

the other figures depicted in the film, but

too, because I was nervous for some of my

“Honestly it was a real challenge for me,

Washington said it was to be expected that

Scandal family to see the film. If anybody

life, how did she approach the daunting task

there might be some blowback over how

was going to see a bag of acting tricks,

of playing someone still very much alive? “I

the filmmakers, who included director Rick

they were,” she laughs. “It would be easy in

did meet with her. I really studied every press

Famuyiwa, handled everything.

that context—in that world—to just fall into

So with just that to go on from her personal

conference and TV interview in the hearings

Grant says it was all checked and double-

patterns that I’ve very happily developed

themselves because I wanted to find her

checked, and Washington believes they have

over the past five years because I know the

rhythm and her cadence through the truth of

gotten to the core of the truth. “I think it was

character so well. So to keep pushing myself,

who she was, and we have that on film because

a really difficult time in our American history

to make sure I was being somebody else

who she was in ’91 is obviously different from

where really complicated issues were coming

even in that very same world, in some of the

who she is today, “ she says.

forward for the first time, and nobody had

same kinds of rooms, and to really define the

a toolbox to deal with it in the way that we

difference between those two women... that

do now. So not everybody, looking back,

was important to me.” ★

Washington and writer Susannah Grant spent a lot of time during the research phase

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Krysten RITTER Melissa ROSENBERG ★

★

★

in New York City [preparing]. I live in Los Angeles mostly, and have a lot of girlfriends and a full life out here. But in New York, I had a random furnished apartment, my girlfriends weren’t there, and I lived in complete isolation. That helped me get into character and stay there.

I read the entire Alias series. I devoured them. I wasn’t exposed to the comic book. The fourth book

★

is the most important in regards to the show. The writers took events even further. The original IP is

The Jessica Jones duo on reimagining superheroes for Netflix.

so great, they shot [panels] directly from the comic book. What I love about her is that she’s not defined

B Y A N T H O N Y D ’A L E S S A N D R O

by what’s happened in her past. No matter how bad things get for her, underneath it all, she’s capable of greatness.

What drew you to Jessica Jones, Melissa?

Rosenberg: It was after the whole Dexter and Twilight runs when I took meetings. ABC Studios asked

I

T WOULD BE A MISTAKE FOR EMMY VOTERS to overlook Netflix’s Jessica Jones and relegate it as just another Marvel superhero TV series. Despite the long-awaited genre breakthrough last year at the Emmys in the drama category with HBO’s Game of Thrones, Jessica Jones is so much more than a neo-noir crime story about a kick-ass girl in leotards (in fact she doesn’t wear them). Adapted by Twilight screenwriter and Dexter EP Melissa Rosenberg from Marvel’s Alias comic book series, Jessica Jones follows an alcoholic, PTSD-plagued, rape-surviving gumshoe who possesses an incredible degree of physical strength. Jessica Jones is a serious show about the realities of abuse survivors and is told through a vigilante prism. In the wake of her emotionally affective turn as a tragic heroin addict on Breaking Bad, Krysten Ritter outstrips herself here, playing a sublimely intense, fierce antihero, who in her deepest cynicism is just trying to keep peace in the world.

what I was interested in doing next. I said I’d love to do a really damaged, complex female superhero, like Iron Man. They quickly put me together with Jeph Loeb, and he brought me Jessica Jones. We did it for the ABC network, but it turned out not to be the right tone for them. Jeph went on to work on something else, but he was always about putting this together. That project was only on the page, it never went beyond that.

What was different about the ABC version?

Rosenberg: When you have a series that’s on week to week with commercial breaks, it lends itself to the case-of-the-week scenario. It was heavily weighted in that direction. It was bound to be

Melissa, what made Krysten the right actress

My mind went to a slapstick version of a superhero.

less gritty and raw. But when it went to Netflix, we

to play Jessica Jones?

He pitched it to me poorly. When I went in to read,

weren’t looking at commercial breaks, you’re looking

Rosenberg: She was one of the first actresses

it was a scene with dummy fake character names

at someone binge watching. You’re not spending

to come in, even back when I was developing it at

inserted in for Luke Cage. That scene gave me the

real estate on the page, reminding what the charac-

ABC. She was always on my mind. One of the more

seeds for Jessica Jones and her demons. She’s an

ters said before. You’re telling a 13-hour movie. So at

important aspects of the role is that the performer

alcoholic, she’s a mess and I became very intrigued.

Netflix, there was more real estate in creating depth

couldn’t just have the dramatic chops, but the com-

I met with Melissa and talked about the show. She

and more time in evolving characters. Whereas on

edy chops as well. As the saying goes, dying is easy,

spoke about it like a straight drama; a physical char-

the network, it would be about trimming frames

comedy is hard, and it’s hard to find people who can

acter study. Then they locked me in the room with

and plot. On Netflix, it was the opposite. It was

carry both those ranges. One scene that was always

the script and I was blown away. I walked out of that

about finding more scenes to shoot. We had space.

the tell-tale with performers during auditions takes

meeting, and said, “Let’s lock this up.”

Jessica Jones is one of the most forward think-

place in episode 2, when Jessica says the line, “I don’t give a bag of dicks what kinky shit you’re into,

How did you prepare for the role?

ing feminist shows on TV, despite the fact that

just be into it quietly.” No one could deliver that line

Ritter: It’s the most rewarding creative challenge

it centers on a superhero.

and find the humor in it. Right off the bat, Krysten

I’ve ever faced. As soon as I got the part, I’m in

Ritter: The series has started so many feminist

said that line, separating the wheat from the chaff.

the gym, getting beat up by a trainer, lifting. I’m a

conversations that I never anticipated. People

She set the bar so high, and we saw a lot of people.

lanky girl. I’m not cool like Jessica Jones, so I had to

come up to me and find meaning in things that I

change my posture. I spent three-to-four hours with

didn’t realize I was doing. I think people enjoy seeing

Krysten, when you initially heard about the

an acting teacher, which informed me in building

a woman who doesn’t look a certain way, who is

role, you weren’t bowled over.

out her backstory. In TV, you move so quickly, you

strong, ass-kicking, who isn’t rolling over and dying.

Ritter: I was looking to be in a dark, gritty show

get scenes at the last minute. Having that solid

She shows real strength. I’m moved to tears when

that could push boundaries. When I got the call

foundation for Jessica [prepared me] for several

people tell me that the show has helped them:

from my manager and heard the words Netflix and

scenes that would occur in one day.

“Thank you for doing it with integrity. I have PTSD.

Marvel, those are two giant super brands you want

When you know your character so well, you know

That’s what it feels like for me.” So many people feel

to be in business with. I’m like, “Great.” Then I heard

how she listens and responds. It’s about prep work,

represented by Jessica and that’s refreshing and

that she’s a typical superhero, but she’s bad at it.

endurance, and just immersing myself in it. I was

amazing. ★

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Miranda OTTO ★

★

★

people who are emotional all the time, that we’re always worried about our children, or we’re dealing with these kind of issues that are more domestic.

That’s what’s so great in this show, is the women have roles where they’re arguing with ideologies and concepts and greater issues in the world rather than just getting more domesticated.

★

How did you get into Allison’s almost

The Lord of the Rings star on joining the cast of Homeland.

sociopathic headspace?

It was interesting, because it was kind of

B Y A N T O N I A B LY T H

developing as it went. I felt toward the end it was really fun to play, because it became much more that she was somebody who was in it for herself at the end of the day. Her first loyalty was most definitely to herself, and not to her colleagues or her country, or anything. It was very much her own need to survive, her own need to attain things along the way, and in the end to try to survive

HEN MIRANDA OTTO (The Lord of the Rings, The Thin Red Line) took up the role of Allison Carr in Homeland’s fifth season, she was to embody one of the most dynamic and powerful female roles on television. Otto’s arc as the double agent and genius manipulator felt like what would traditionally be “a man’s role,” she says, adding, “I couldn’t help but really like her because it was just fun to be a woman who was continually using her intelligence and her wits to get herself out of situations.” Carr’s death also served as a key dramatic turn in the season finale. Otto’s critically-acclaimed performance on the show has certainly got her noticed, as she’s now set to appear as the female lead on 24: Legacy. Otto is Rebecca Ingram, former head of the Counter Terrorist Unit. “I love this world,” Otto says. “I just find it really fascinating, and as a woman, really interesting to play in, because it’s such a traditionally male kind of world.”

everybody.

How did you get on board with Homeland in

Did you get a full rundown of your arc

time. Obviously, that’s one of the amazing and

the beginning?

before you came onboard? It seems like the

original aspects of the show. There’s something

I was asked to come in and read two scenes for

Homeland set is a pretty secretive place.

about it that is even more pressing now, with

Alex Gansa. I got sent two scenes. It sounded like

I kind of got a sense from one of the scenes that

everything that is going on. It just seemed so

such a great part, and then I got cast really quickly.

I was reading that perhaps there was something

incredibly current, which I find really interesting to

It all turned around in a few days, and then within

with myself and Saul. That was what I knew going

work on. It is very much in the moment that we’re

about a week, I was in Berlin, getting ready to

in; that she was having an affair with Saul, and

living in right now.

shoot. They’d already started shooting, so it was

that she was indeed working as a spy for the

really sort of a whirlwind to get the whole thing

Russians as well. So, I knew those two pieces, but I

With Homeland and now 24: Legacy you’ve

started, and I had to do a lot of it on the run.

thought that would be my whole arc; the audience

carved out a niche as this tough agent type,

wouldn’t know until the end of the season that I

which few could have expected. Do you feel

was actually working for the other side.

you have a certain quality that made you a

W

For 24: Legacy you’re reunited with Homeland’s EP Howard Gordon–how has that experience been?

When I left Homeland at the end of last year, I was thinking, “I loved this world so much.” I found it so stimulating to work on, and the character’s so interesting, and I thought, “What am I going to do next?”

Then this came through, and it was a show that I had really loved when it first started on TV, and it was Howard again, so I really jumped at the chance.

They’re using the concept of the show, of real

You talked to a former member of the CIA as preparation.

But as it turns out, the audience found out,

good fit for those roles?

Yes. I felt like the rest of the cast are so entrenched

I think, at the end of episode four, and so then I

I think what we find most interesting in actors is

in that world, they understand it so well, and in

was like, “Wow, what happens next?” They really

some kind of paradox, some kind of juxtaposition

the position that I was going to be in with my

do move through the story really fast, and they

of ideas so that we can never really completely

character, I really had to know a lot very quickly

just keep coming up with more amazing things to

settle on who they are. We’re never really sure

about everything that was going on.

follow it.

exactly where they sit, and I suppose in some

Once I was over in Berlin, they have a consultant

way physically, because I’m fair-skinned and all

on the show who used to work for the CIA, who

Lesli Linka Glatter has talked about the

that, I sort of have a slightly more fragile look or

then helped me a great deal. I would have really

importance of gender equality in television,

something. So it’s interesting to see someone like

wonderful long conversations with him on the

and this show does so much for showing

me play something that is harder and tougher,

phone about what would happen in this situation.

women without traditional trajectories. Do

because it’s not what you would expect.

We kind of built a back story together, how we

you think it's changing the landscape?

thought I would have become chief of station in

Absolutely. It felt like a male role, in that so often

contrasts, you know? I think it’s a good place for an

Berlin and what kind of training I would have done.

with women’s roles, we get kind of typecast as

actor to be.★

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★ | flash mob THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, DEADLIINE PRESENTS AWARDSLINE SCREENING SERIES, JUNE 9, LOS ANGELES Left to right, top to bottom: Kristen Schaal, Will Forte and January Jones; Deadline’s Anthony d’Alessandro, Forte, Schaal and Mary Steenburgen; Jones and Cleopatra Coleman; Steenburgen.

UNDERGROUND, DEADLIINE PRESENTS AWARDSLINE SCREENING SERIES, JUNE 7, LOS ANGELES Left to right, top to bottom: Amirah Vann and Aldis Hodge; Alano Miller, Vann, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Hodge and Deadline’s Dominic Patten; Anthony Hemingway; Misha Green.

RE X /S H U T T E RSTO CK

THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, DEADLIINE PRESENTS AWARDSLINE SCREENING SERIES, JUNE 6, LOS ANGELES Left to right, top to bottom: Alexa Davalos, Joel De La Fuente, Davalos, Luke Kleintank, Rufus Sewell; Davalos, Kleintank, De La Fuente; Rupert Evans.

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★ | flash mob

DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD EMMY PARTY JUNE 8, ROOSEVELT HOTEL, LOS ANGELES Top row, left to right, top to bottom: Will Forte and Michael McKean; Dash Mihok; Tony Hale and Linda Cardellini; The Filharmonic; Gillian Jacobs and Natalie Zea; Dan Bucatinsky.

Middle row, left to right: Charley Koontz, Rhea Seahorn and Tommy Dewey; Christina Millian; Freddie Highmore.

Bottom row left to right, top to bottom: Ray Liotta; Alyvia Alyn Lind; the cast of Underground; Mallory Jansen and Emily Osment; Lisa Edelstein; Luna Blaise. Special appearances from the Narcos sniffer dogs.

RE X /S H U T T E RSTO CK

–See more photos from the Deadline Emmy Party online at Deadline.com

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®

FOR YOUR EMMY CONSIDERATION - OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES AND ALL OTHER CATEGORIES

SM

‘‘THE FUNNIEST SHOW ON TV’’ USA TODAY

EMMY 2016 ®

©2016 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. HBO ® and related channels and service marks are the property of Home Box Office, Inc.

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