Post by TVFan on Jun 6, 2005 10:13:02 GMT -5
Found this article on Kathryn.
Copyright 2005 West Australian Newspapers Limited
All Rights Reserved
The West Australian (Perth)
June 4, 2005 Saturday
Cold comfort
BY NICK MILLER
TV cop Kathryn Morris is determined to be seen as more than just another Bruckheimer blonde.
Critics have dubbed them the "Bruckheimer blondes".
They calmly survey crime scenes through stray wisps of Hollywood hair, slight frowns putting the tiniest of creases on their doll-like faces.
But the petite exterior hides a heart of gold and a mind like a steel trap, that closes relentlessly on the criminal within 60 minutes, minus ad breaks, thanks to the flimsiest of clues and sometimes puzzling leaps of logic.
Never mind. It's TV crime as reinvented by legendary Top Gun (etc) producer Jerry Bruckheimer. It's damn entertaining and it's all the rage on TV (what's next, CSI Balcatta?).
And maybe, sometimes, it's unfair to judge the book by its cover.
Yes, Kathryn Morris, aka Cold Case's Det. Lilly Rush, is blonde. But it's an unkempt, just-got-out-of-bed blonde that says more about her character than her stylist. The interviewer from The Age who talked to Morris just before I did described it as "simultaneously careless and fabulous".
A professional hairdresser described it as combining "elements of shattered pieces in cascading lengths around her face line and in the back ... is it a bob, is it a shag or it is a classic blunt cut?"
Morris says everyone should shut up about her hair.
"I don't really care," she says. "It was surprising that it's been made such a big deal. Men have come up to me in coffee shops and say, "I know people give you problems about your hair but I love it because it reminds me of my wife when she is taking my kids to school'.
"It's not a traditional picture-perfect, everything's-great, slick-soap-opera hairdo. It would have been a lie if Lilly Rush was this cop who also happened to have the most fabulous blonde and perfect highlights, and an hour and a half to perfect her hair every day before getting to the bottom of a case.
"I'd like my character to be more imperfect and human - it gives the audience a chance. If her hair isn't perfect, at least she's solving some difficult cases."
Morris was determined that this level of honesty would prevail if she was ever to take a TV detective role - and not just in the choice of hairstyle.
Morris, 36, came from a theatre background and has a long string of TV bit parts on her CV, most notably as a gritty zealot in Xena: Warrior Princess. She finally "broke through" playing Tom Cruise's wife in Steven Spielberg's 2002 film Minority Report. She won the Cold Case role the next year.
But before taking the job, she had a long talk with the producers, seeking their assurance that Lilly Rush would be more (or rather, less) than just a crime-fighting superhero.
She was impressed with the "gimmick" - the solving of long-cold cases with liberal use of flashbacks, and the presence of a strong female lead - but she wanted more.
"I remember over the years I would get a scripts like this and the character breakdown would be cartoonish, a "drop-dead beautiful tough-as-nails cop'," Morris says. "I didn't feel that a show (like that) would do well."
If they were going to break new ground, she wanted to break it properly with a modern character.
And she says she found it in Lilly Rush.
The men Rush works with already respect her, Morris says. She's been through the jokes and proved herself. They know she will solve some cases better than them sometimes. "It's much more of our time," Morris says. "Men and women are working together as colleagues."
Morris also saw in Rush a character that would grow and evolve and she wouldn't get bored. "You sign up for a series and it could go on for 10 years, so, if I'm the lead, I'd better make sure I'm ready to do that."
This desire for a meaningful, rather than cursory character was inspired by Australian actor Anthony LaPaglia, star of another Bruckheimer crime show, Without A Trace.
Thanks to the success of Cold Case, Morris co-presented an award with LaPaglia at last year's Emmys.
"I love Anthony, he's actually one of the reasons I decided to do Cold Case," she says. "I watched his work and liked what he was doing. When I'm watching him in Without A Trace it feels like he's performing in a feature film. He's very natural and real and has an authenticity."
The authenticity is in the script as well as the performance. Rush is a cop who holds her cards close, Morris says. She's secretive and guarded. Subtlety is more challenging for an actor than throwing people through plates of glass, but it is also more rewarding for the audience.
"I like to put my toe in the water, try things like, "What if Lilly is not so nice with this guy, maybe she just doesn't like his tie, or didn't have chance to take lunch that day'," Morris says. "It's very human. We talk about it between the actors, we make up things like our characters tried to get together for a barbecue but didn't really have anything to say to each other.
"The audience sees someone like themselves. And having a female character lead the way into these cases that are very old wounds somehow gives the audience permission to grab on - because she's more allowed in society to be more emotionally available, able to go into the stories in a deeper way."
Morris hopes this emotional truth will give the show a life even if "the crime drama thing" falls away, like "the hospital drama thing" has, because the audience will have invested in her character rather than the show's theme.
As the show has gone on - they start shooting a third series next month - the writers and cast have tried to "de-perfect" the characters, giving them more flaws and frustrations, human niggles rather than ruthless efficiency.
Rush's personal history is also being slowly filled in: a past that explains her flaws as well as her talents. It allows Morris to play to the character's depth, exploring her family tensions and desire for romance as well as the inevitable cold case.
"But I think Lily does need to go out and have a couple of drinks now and then, go out dancing and have a few hot boyfriends over the years don't you think? That would be good."
Outside Cold Case, Morris is trying to squeeze movies in between series, though the hiatus is short now the show is a bona fide success.
Her most recent is the action-thriller Mindhunters with Val Kilmer and Christian Slater. "It's my popcorn thriller. I'm Sigourney Weaver in Aliens."
She is also trying to line up some independent films, to give her some perspective. "I'd love to do a comedy, something nutty and crazy. Or a crazy woman who did something terrible - Lilly always does everything right."
Hmmm ... a crack in the polished Hollywood press performance? Maybe, sometimes, Morris suspects she might just be another Bruckheimer blonde after all, albeit one on a perpetual bad hair day.
Cold Case is on Monday at 9.35pm on Channel 9 and WIN.
Copyright 2005 West Australian Newspapers Limited
All Rights Reserved
The West Australian (Perth)
June 4, 2005 Saturday
Cold comfort
BY NICK MILLER
TV cop Kathryn Morris is determined to be seen as more than just another Bruckheimer blonde.
Critics have dubbed them the "Bruckheimer blondes".
They calmly survey crime scenes through stray wisps of Hollywood hair, slight frowns putting the tiniest of creases on their doll-like faces.
But the petite exterior hides a heart of gold and a mind like a steel trap, that closes relentlessly on the criminal within 60 minutes, minus ad breaks, thanks to the flimsiest of clues and sometimes puzzling leaps of logic.
Never mind. It's TV crime as reinvented by legendary Top Gun (etc) producer Jerry Bruckheimer. It's damn entertaining and it's all the rage on TV (what's next, CSI Balcatta?).
And maybe, sometimes, it's unfair to judge the book by its cover.
Yes, Kathryn Morris, aka Cold Case's Det. Lilly Rush, is blonde. But it's an unkempt, just-got-out-of-bed blonde that says more about her character than her stylist. The interviewer from The Age who talked to Morris just before I did described it as "simultaneously careless and fabulous".
A professional hairdresser described it as combining "elements of shattered pieces in cascading lengths around her face line and in the back ... is it a bob, is it a shag or it is a classic blunt cut?"
Morris says everyone should shut up about her hair.
"I don't really care," she says. "It was surprising that it's been made such a big deal. Men have come up to me in coffee shops and say, "I know people give you problems about your hair but I love it because it reminds me of my wife when she is taking my kids to school'.
"It's not a traditional picture-perfect, everything's-great, slick-soap-opera hairdo. It would have been a lie if Lilly Rush was this cop who also happened to have the most fabulous blonde and perfect highlights, and an hour and a half to perfect her hair every day before getting to the bottom of a case.
"I'd like my character to be more imperfect and human - it gives the audience a chance. If her hair isn't perfect, at least she's solving some difficult cases."
Morris was determined that this level of honesty would prevail if she was ever to take a TV detective role - and not just in the choice of hairstyle.
Morris, 36, came from a theatre background and has a long string of TV bit parts on her CV, most notably as a gritty zealot in Xena: Warrior Princess. She finally "broke through" playing Tom Cruise's wife in Steven Spielberg's 2002 film Minority Report. She won the Cold Case role the next year.
But before taking the job, she had a long talk with the producers, seeking their assurance that Lilly Rush would be more (or rather, less) than just a crime-fighting superhero.
She was impressed with the "gimmick" - the solving of long-cold cases with liberal use of flashbacks, and the presence of a strong female lead - but she wanted more.
"I remember over the years I would get a scripts like this and the character breakdown would be cartoonish, a "drop-dead beautiful tough-as-nails cop'," Morris says. "I didn't feel that a show (like that) would do well."
If they were going to break new ground, she wanted to break it properly with a modern character.
And she says she found it in Lilly Rush.
The men Rush works with already respect her, Morris says. She's been through the jokes and proved herself. They know she will solve some cases better than them sometimes. "It's much more of our time," Morris says. "Men and women are working together as colleagues."
Morris also saw in Rush a character that would grow and evolve and she wouldn't get bored. "You sign up for a series and it could go on for 10 years, so, if I'm the lead, I'd better make sure I'm ready to do that."
This desire for a meaningful, rather than cursory character was inspired by Australian actor Anthony LaPaglia, star of another Bruckheimer crime show, Without A Trace.
Thanks to the success of Cold Case, Morris co-presented an award with LaPaglia at last year's Emmys.
"I love Anthony, he's actually one of the reasons I decided to do Cold Case," she says. "I watched his work and liked what he was doing. When I'm watching him in Without A Trace it feels like he's performing in a feature film. He's very natural and real and has an authenticity."
The authenticity is in the script as well as the performance. Rush is a cop who holds her cards close, Morris says. She's secretive and guarded. Subtlety is more challenging for an actor than throwing people through plates of glass, but it is also more rewarding for the audience.
"I like to put my toe in the water, try things like, "What if Lilly is not so nice with this guy, maybe she just doesn't like his tie, or didn't have chance to take lunch that day'," Morris says. "It's very human. We talk about it between the actors, we make up things like our characters tried to get together for a barbecue but didn't really have anything to say to each other.
"The audience sees someone like themselves. And having a female character lead the way into these cases that are very old wounds somehow gives the audience permission to grab on - because she's more allowed in society to be more emotionally available, able to go into the stories in a deeper way."
Morris hopes this emotional truth will give the show a life even if "the crime drama thing" falls away, like "the hospital drama thing" has, because the audience will have invested in her character rather than the show's theme.
As the show has gone on - they start shooting a third series next month - the writers and cast have tried to "de-perfect" the characters, giving them more flaws and frustrations, human niggles rather than ruthless efficiency.
Rush's personal history is also being slowly filled in: a past that explains her flaws as well as her talents. It allows Morris to play to the character's depth, exploring her family tensions and desire for romance as well as the inevitable cold case.
"But I think Lily does need to go out and have a couple of drinks now and then, go out dancing and have a few hot boyfriends over the years don't you think? That would be good."
Outside Cold Case, Morris is trying to squeeze movies in between series, though the hiatus is short now the show is a bona fide success.
Her most recent is the action-thriller Mindhunters with Val Kilmer and Christian Slater. "It's my popcorn thriller. I'm Sigourney Weaver in Aliens."
She is also trying to line up some independent films, to give her some perspective. "I'd love to do a comedy, something nutty and crazy. Or a crazy woman who did something terrible - Lilly always does everything right."
Hmmm ... a crack in the polished Hollywood press performance? Maybe, sometimes, Morris suspects she might just be another Bruckheimer blonde after all, albeit one on a perpetual bad hair day.
Cold Case is on Monday at 9.35pm on Channel 9 and WIN.
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