Post by -|E|- on Sept 17, 2006 16:14:23 GMT -5
One is not the loneliest number
By Amy Amatangelo
Sunday, September 17, 2006 - Updated: 03:09 AM EST
BostonHerald.com
Women are breaking hearts at Seattle Grace Hospital, stirring up trouble on Wisteria Lane and speed-talking their way through Stars Hollow.
A TV series is a great place for women to find juicy, multidimensional roles that may elude them on the big screen.
“I wasn’t getting these kinds of roles,” Amanda Peet said about her character on the new NBC series “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” (premiering tomorrow at 10 p.m. on WHDH, Ch. 7). “I don’t think 99 percent of the actresses out there get these kinds of roles.”
But many actresses not only like being on TV - they enjoy the opportunities provided by being one of the few women on a male-dominated show.
Diane Farr has made a career out of being the girl in the boys’ club. She starred in “The Job” and “Rescue Me” and now finds herself surrounded by men in the hit CBS series “Numb3rs.”
“It’s never an accident,” Farr said about her TV roles. “People are always like, ‘That’s so funny,’ and I’m like, ‘No, that’s a choice.’ Female actresses are so much more emotional. One person gets a free pair of shoes and all hell breaks loose. So if you’re going to spend 14 hours with a bunch of people in a tiny corner, I have a much easier time with a bunch of boys.”
Catherine Dent, who plays Officer Danny Sofer on FX’s “The Shield,” loves her character.
“I’m really glad they show women in the work force,” she said. “When I’m on hiatus, I’m like, ‘Don’t send me the script of the mom with the dying kid. I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to do it. I’m not interested.’ I did that before I got this show.”
“I think they do write for women very realistically and very well,” said Cathy Cahlin Ryan, who plays Corrine Mackey on “The Shield.” “And they’re not always physically the best-looking as well, and they’re not always right all the time and all of that. And there’s not a romance every week. I’m glad to do it. I think it’s unique on episodic TV to have women who are all different shapes and sizes. It’s real.”
Connie Britton reprises her role as Tami Taylor, the wife of a football coach, on the new NBC series “Friday Night Lights” (premiering Oct. 3).
“I got to play this role in the movie and we kind of didn’t really do it justice in the movie,” Britton said. “And so (executive producer) Peter Berg took this pin and he put it into his fingertip and he drew blood and he swore that in this TV show we were going to really talk about these women, and that really excited me.”
Previously Britton starred in “Spin City,” and last season she played Jack’s girlfriend on “24.”
“For some reason, in my career, I seem to have played a lot of these women in men’s worlds. So I think it’s become kind of an interesting exploration for me as an actor,” Britton said. “The truth is we live in a man’s world. This is what I love about ‘Friday Night Lights.’ It is a microcosm of the world that we live in. To see a woman who is strong and complicated and doesn’t know everything all the time and is sometimes wrong and also has her own wants and needs . . . to see that in this kind of very testosterone-driven world is kind of cool.”
Being on a male-dominated show may provide incredible acting opportunities, but Sofia Vergara, who went from starring with all women last season on “Hot Properties” to being the only woman on “The Knights of Prosperity,” is finding one challenge. The men have trouble understanding why she needs so much more time than they do in hair and makeup.
“They’re always hurrying me up,” Vergara said and then laughed. “I say, ‘Listen, I need time.’ I have to put my foot down.”
By Amy Amatangelo
Sunday, September 17, 2006 - Updated: 03:09 AM EST
BostonHerald.com
Women are breaking hearts at Seattle Grace Hospital, stirring up trouble on Wisteria Lane and speed-talking their way through Stars Hollow.
A TV series is a great place for women to find juicy, multidimensional roles that may elude them on the big screen.
“I wasn’t getting these kinds of roles,” Amanda Peet said about her character on the new NBC series “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” (premiering tomorrow at 10 p.m. on WHDH, Ch. 7). “I don’t think 99 percent of the actresses out there get these kinds of roles.”
But many actresses not only like being on TV - they enjoy the opportunities provided by being one of the few women on a male-dominated show.
Diane Farr has made a career out of being the girl in the boys’ club. She starred in “The Job” and “Rescue Me” and now finds herself surrounded by men in the hit CBS series “Numb3rs.”
“It’s never an accident,” Farr said about her TV roles. “People are always like, ‘That’s so funny,’ and I’m like, ‘No, that’s a choice.’ Female actresses are so much more emotional. One person gets a free pair of shoes and all hell breaks loose. So if you’re going to spend 14 hours with a bunch of people in a tiny corner, I have a much easier time with a bunch of boys.”
Catherine Dent, who plays Officer Danny Sofer on FX’s “The Shield,” loves her character.
“I’m really glad they show women in the work force,” she said. “When I’m on hiatus, I’m like, ‘Don’t send me the script of the mom with the dying kid. I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to do it. I’m not interested.’ I did that before I got this show.”
“I think they do write for women very realistically and very well,” said Cathy Cahlin Ryan, who plays Corrine Mackey on “The Shield.” “And they’re not always physically the best-looking as well, and they’re not always right all the time and all of that. And there’s not a romance every week. I’m glad to do it. I think it’s unique on episodic TV to have women who are all different shapes and sizes. It’s real.”
Connie Britton reprises her role as Tami Taylor, the wife of a football coach, on the new NBC series “Friday Night Lights” (premiering Oct. 3).
“I got to play this role in the movie and we kind of didn’t really do it justice in the movie,” Britton said. “And so (executive producer) Peter Berg took this pin and he put it into his fingertip and he drew blood and he swore that in this TV show we were going to really talk about these women, and that really excited me.”
Previously Britton starred in “Spin City,” and last season she played Jack’s girlfriend on “24.”
“For some reason, in my career, I seem to have played a lot of these women in men’s worlds. So I think it’s become kind of an interesting exploration for me as an actor,” Britton said. “The truth is we live in a man’s world. This is what I love about ‘Friday Night Lights.’ It is a microcosm of the world that we live in. To see a woman who is strong and complicated and doesn’t know everything all the time and is sometimes wrong and also has her own wants and needs . . . to see that in this kind of very testosterone-driven world is kind of cool.”
Being on a male-dominated show may provide incredible acting opportunities, but Sofia Vergara, who went from starring with all women last season on “Hot Properties” to being the only woman on “The Knights of Prosperity,” is finding one challenge. The men have trouble understanding why she needs so much more time than they do in hair and makeup.
“They’re always hurrying me up,” Vergara said and then laughed. “I say, ‘Listen, I need time.’ I have to put my foot down.”