Photo by Matthias Clamer/NBC
Kathy Bates
has become a familiar face on TV in recent years, most notably for her role as
printer company magnate Jo Bennett on The Office. But with the
new David E. Kelley series Harry’s Law, Bates will be the full-time star of a
series for the very first time. In a recent conference call interview with
Bates and Kelley, they discussed the cast of characters on the new legal drama.
Bates is excited
to be working with her co-stars, especially Aml Ameen, she revealed, “I’m
really taken with this young man, who’s from the UK… He’s a wonderful young
actor. And we’ve had a lot of terrific scenes together and I’ve enjoyed so much
the chemistry between the two of us.”
She described how Harry and Ameen’s characters were introduced to each other. “He plays Malcolm who… actually falls on her from out of the sky in a botched suicide attempt. And she gets to know him. He’s the first guy in the neighborhood that she gets to know. And he’s got a third strike drug charge against him and she’s trying to get him off the hook. And she succeeds and he goes on probation and he begins to work for her as he continues his college courses and they begin a friendship.”
Nate Corddry
is another up-and-coming actor on the series. Bates explained his part. “[He]
plays Adam Branch… the young kid that hits [Harry] with the car. He comes in
and… we’re working on cases sort of in tandem. So we don’t have quite that many
scenes together. Although when we do get together we have a… contentious
relationship a bit, which is fun to play.”
As for her
third young co-star Bates gushed, “And then of course, Brittany Snow who’s
playing Jenna Backstrom, she’s a doll. She’s a lovely young actress, very
funny, wonderful little comedian.”
Best of all
Kathy says she’s connecting with her own character, “I'm relating pretty well
to this role here of Harriet on Harry's Law. I'm having a terrific time playing
this character and investigating her in every new episode.”
Kelley
couldn’t agree more, “I love Harry. I enjoy writing this character because
she's complicated and complex and she's different from any character I've written
before… So many of the characters I get to write maybe 60, 70 episodes of and I
just hope I have that opportunity with Harry because there's a lot of layers to
this character and I'd love the time to explore them.”
All the good
will has meant a wonderful atmosphere on the set and the hopes of great
success. Bates remarked, “The four of us get along really well and enjoy
working on the show. We just hope it runs and runs.”
But as
Kelley explained, getting audiences to warm to a character like Harry isn’t
always easy. “The ones that are grumps and curmudgeons and aren't politically
correct, those are a little more difficult because you still want the audience
to care about them and yet you want to be true to their lack of political
correctness or who the character — and Harry would be one… This is a character
who struts through the door and dares people to dislike her. I mean she has no
problem saying no. She does not care whether anyone likes her or finds her to
be a popular person.”
He continued,
“You want to be true to that part of her and yet at the same time you want that
character to be popular. It's a difficult trick. And the best way to pull off
that trick is with an accomplished actor. And I've certainly got one here. So
if it doesn't work you can lay it on me.”
No doubt
that audiences will warm to Bates. To see her in action tune in to the series
premiere of Harry’s Law on Monday, January 17, at 10 p.m. EST/9 p.m. Central on
NBC.
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