Post by Naj on Oct 29, 2004 16:19:02 GMT -5
THE FORCE
'Cold Case' star Morris
says the force is with her
By MARISA GUTHRIE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Kathryn Morris plays Detective Rush.
'Cold Case' star Kathryn Morris isn't the stereotypical coiffed and shellacked L.A. actress.
But over breakfast earlier this week she was feeling perilously close to the parody.
"I don't usually look like a drag queen," Morris quipped.
The look - pink frost lipstick and gobs of eye makeup - is definitely not her, or the woman viewers are used to seeing on the CBS drama.
The hair and makeup were necessitated by a series of morning TV interviews, she said.
As Detective Lilly Rush, the lone female in the Philadelphia homicide squad's cold-case unit, Morris plays a character much like herself - down to earth, in tune with her working-class roots (Morris grew up in Windsor Locks, Conn., where Bradley International Airport is located) and comfortable in her own skin.
"When I read the script," said Morris, "I thought, 'What a great role. I hope whoever gets it doesn't screw it up. It can be done so well or so badly.'"
Morris said Rush easily could have lapsed into the hackneyed, "drop-dead gorgeous, tough-as-nails cop," Hollywood-speak for scene-chewing eye candy.
"I wanted to emulate the type of women I know," said Morris, "including single moms, including working moms who are juggling job and life, including the 'Sex and the City' girls who are in their mid-30s and decided they're not going to settle for some stupid guy."
Morris spent time with Philadelphia homicide detectives while researching the part. Cast and crew were in New York this week en route to the City of Brotherly Love for a location shoot.
"I met one female detective in Philly - she worked with the special victims unit - and she's kind of a hot little number, but she's so good at her job," said Morris. "But I also kind of tried to base [the character] on the male detectives that I worked with [in Philadelphia]. I try to possess qualities that they have - this quiet integrity, and making things right in the world."
This season, the series will delve a little deeper into Rush's personal life. But what will be revealed, said Morris, is decidedly flawed.
"Those are my favorite parts of the show," she said. "When we get to see parts of Lilly's character that aren't always perfect. To me, those are the best moment. ... I'm always asking for more of that."
Originally published on October 29, 2004
