By: Amrie Cunningham, My Take On TV
The season finale of DAMAGES airs tonight on FX and I have to tell you, I cannot wait. You know who else is excited about the finale, and this amazing show? The one and only Glenn Close, who, as the star of the show, blows me away on a weekly basis. We had the privilege of talking to Glenn as part of a conference call FX set up to gear up for what I hear is an amazing finale and she had such wonderful things to say. I could have stayed on the phone for hours!
Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule. I have so been enjoying Patty Hewes and your wonderful series on FX. I’m curious to know after the Frobisher case wraps and Ted Danson is essentially done, what actors are on your short list that you would like to invite on your series to play opposite with?
Glenn: I’m totally unprepared to answer that question, because we’ve just been so concentrated on finishing up. I have not given it any thought. There are tons of actors I would love to work with, but I’d be just randomly throwing names out at this time. I think what is exciting about Damages is that the writing is such high quality that it will attract, hopefully, a lot of really, really good top actors. That’s what makes it fun for all of us.
My question for you is, you had a very critically acclaimed turn with 13 episodes on The Shield. And I’m wondering what lured you back to TV, given your success as a feature and stage actor?
Well, when I finished The Shield, I loved working on FX a lot. I really had a lot of respect for Peter Liguori, who was the head of FX at the time and John Landgraf, who is the head right now. I like the way they take risks and they give really gifted writers a lot of creative leeway. So I kind of casually said to John, “If you ever can think of anything in New York, just let me know.” And lo and behold, I guess it was about a year later, I was told that these three guys wanted to pitch me an idea. It would be shot in New York, which was imperative for me, because I can’t go to California, because of my family.
So we sat down and talked about it and I said, “It sounds really intriguing; I’ll wait to read the pilot.” I read the pilot and I said, “Wow, this is really good.” So on the strength of that one script and the fact that I’d be working in my backyard close to my family, I said, “I think this has become a no-brainer.” I was teamed up with FX again and a really incredible cast and crew and writers.