In yet another move that shows television is way ahead of the movies these days, the legendary Kathy Bates turns up on TV3’s latest American import, a courtroom comedy-drama called ‘Harry’s Law’.
The latest creation of David E Kelly (the brains behind shows such as ‘Picket Fences’, ‘Chicago Hope’, ‘The Practice’, ‘Ally McBeal’) it’s a comedy drama about Harriet Korn, a recently-sacked lawyer, and her disparate group of associates as they come together to form an idiosyncratic lawfirm in a former shoe store in a rundown part of Cincinnati.
As ever with a David E Kelly show, the quirky quotient is quite high, but if the fun pilot is anything to go by it’s well worth investigating. And, of course, Bates is terrific.
“Well when I first saw the set, when I walked on the set and saw the shoe store I just thought this is amazing, nobody’s ever done this before,” says the Oscar winner. “When I first saw the script I just fell in love with the character. That’s why I wanted to sign on to do it. It’s such a fun character to play. She’s such a curmudgeon. She doesn’t care what people think of her.
“You know, I think what it boils down to is people really love to be entertained,” she adds. “After we opened I read some of the feedback on the blogs the next day. A lot of people who enjoyed the show said they enjoy the humour and the corky-ness of it and they like to just be entertained.”
Praising the show’s creator, she considers Harry’s Law to be “about really good writing, interesting characters and David does that to a T.”
Given her pedigree and impressive back catalogue as an actor and director in movies and on TV, it’s no surprise to hear that Bates took on ‘Harry’s Law’ - her first lead TV role - for one reason, and one reason only.
“I'm really an actor driven by wanting to play a great character,” insists the 62-year-old. “And that's what attracted me in the beginning, was finding this terrific character that just jumped off the page. And I really didn't care at that point whether it was the little screen or the big screen. I just really wanted to play this character.”
When she first picks up a script, Bates knows pretty quickly whether it’s right or not for her. She has faith in her primary instints. “I think it’s more of a gut reaction for me when I first read a character,” she says. “If she jumps off the page. In this case it was written for a man so he jumped off the page and I was so taken with where he is in his life.
“He’s disillusioned. He’s 60 years old. He’s been practicing patent law for 32 years and he’s bored with it and he wants something new and as he gets fired he begins a new life. It just hit me in my gut that that’s sort of in a way what I’m doing in creating and helping create my own television series with David E Kelley is I’m beginning a new chapter in my life as well.”
Harriet Korn is a bit of a sarcastic so-and-so, but she’s got a good heart as she defends those who may otherwise seems unworthy (such as Malcolm Davies, the guy who fell on Harriet in the pilot and became a member of her legal team). Is Kathy Bates anything like this particulat character?
“You'll never know,” ahe says, coyly. “You'll never know.” Then she changes tack, gets serious and adds: “Truthfully - and I'm not being flippant about this - if somebody asked me to play somebody who was really bright and optimistic, I think I'd freak out. I just never ever wanted to play that kind of bubbly, up, happy person. And I think if you look back through my IMDb, there's a lot of dark characters in there. And I guess I'm just more comfortable on the dark side.”
There’s another bottom line at work here. Harriet Korn and Karthy Bates could be buddies if they weren’t both played by the same person. “I just identify where she is in life,” says Bates. “I identify with that. And that's one of the big reasons why I wanted to come and play the character that she has . . . she has lived a certain amount of her life. She is a bit disillusioned. She's a bit crabby. She's had it with people, and I can identify with some of that.”
One of the reasons many people are drawn towards acting is the unpredictability of it all. One day you can be a big star in a huge hit, but before you know it you easily beome unemployable. It’s the kind of career that is always full of surprises, and even at her stage in the business – her Oscar-winning performance in ‘Misery’, for example, was more than 20 years ago – Bates still enjoys the unpredictability of it all.
“I mean last spring when I got the script I just - I wasn’t planning on doing a television series,” she admits. “In a way I felt like I was sort of beginning to inch my foot out of the business and do other things and so I’m really surprised now to find myself here doing a television series and the numbers have been great and it’s a whole new world for me. So I feel like I’m right up there with Harry. I’m starting a whole new chapter in my life.”
It may not be common knowledge, but Kathy Bates has been on the other side of the camera for quite some time, working as a director. The list of TV shows and movies she helmed goes back to the 1990s and includes the likes of of great series such as ‘Homicide: Life on the Street’, ‘NYPD Blue’, ‘Oz’, and ‘Six Feet Under’.
“Well mainly I’m acting right now,” she says, when asked about her work as a director. “I haven’t been directing for a while. I loved working on ‘Six Feet Under’. It really taught me a lot and those actors were fantastic and still follow them. Michael C Hall, ‘Dexter’ is one of my favourite shows. They really taught me a lot about how to talk to actors and how to learn how to - where to put the camera and all of that. I miss it but I’ve been mainly making my bread and butter by acting these days.”
Harry’s Law is on TV3 on Sundays from April 3rd
