Post by TVFan on Mar 31, 2004 15:21:28 GMT -5
I found this today. It's from copleynews.com. I thought you guys might be interested.
Copyright 2003 Copley News Service
Copley News Service
September 22, 2003 Monday
SECTION: WASHINGTON WIRE; TV CLOSE-UP
LENGTH: 867 words
HEADLINE: Kathryn Morris
BYLINE: Eirik Knutzen Copley News Service
BODY:
Kathryn Morris loved the script for her 10th TV series pilot, felt the starring role was very special and knew that uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer - the man behind the top-rated "C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation" and summer box-office smash "Pirates of the Caribbean" among many others - is on fire.
She took the generous offer to do the pilot of "Cold Case," enjoyed herself immensely - and forgot all about it. After all, eight of her projects tanked and never hit the airwaves. The ninth, "Pensacola: Wings of Gold," cut her loose after 22 episodes of the first season.
"When you're new to the business, it's really hard when you get shot down in flames because you feel so warm and fuzzy while shooting that really good pilot with a buzz that says it could be the next 'Friends' or 'ER,"' Morris explains, not particularly carried away. "But, when all is said and done, that 'sure thing' comes down to the roll of the dice."
Looking long and hard through snake eyes, Morris knows at the very least that "Cold Case" means 13 weeks of steady employment. "We did the usual pilot recasting, re-shoots and reworked a story line, always aiming for cinematic quality on TV - that alone made the project really exciting to me. Playing an intelligent woman in a man's world was amazing. But in the end, it doesn't mean success."
Meanwhile, she is in love with her character, Detective Lilly Rush, the sole female on the Philadelphia Police Department's homicide squad assigned to cold cases. The driven cop's primary function is to dig up fresh clues - using a lethal combination of high-tech equipment and hard logic - to solve old crimes. In the process, she frequently opens old wounds and stokes the perpetrators' paranoia.
Morris was attracted to the Lilly Rush character because she felt that the detective has succeeded in a testosterone-saturated environment.
"However, she doesn't apologize for being a woman and doesn't feel the need to erase her femininity in the process. She just sees it as another tool to get the job done. If she had big muscles, she'd probably use them. She doesn't, so she has to rely on intellect and intuition instead," Morris explained.
And, ultimately rely on Bruckheimer's skill and savvy to take the show to a second season and beyond.
"One thing is hoping for a blizzard trapping people in front of their TV sets for a couple of weeks and only able to watch your channel; another thing is watching Jerry use his experience in our show that he learned on blockbuster movies like 'Beverly Hills Cop,' 'Top Gun,"Bad Boys,"Pearl Harbor' and 'Black Hawk Down."'
So far, it has been a very good year for Morris, who also co-stars in two coming big-budget feature films, John Woo's "Paycheck" and Renny Harlin's "Mindhunters."
"'Mindhunters' is actually my journey, about an anxiety-ridden federal agent who tries to leave her more habitual traits at the office but rarely succeeds," says the early-thirtysomething Morris. "She and a group of other agents are placed on an island with a killer; the first to find that person passes the profiler test. We shot it in Holland and Belgium - a frighteningly good match for Virginia, where the story is set."
Born in Cincinnati to a father who works with biblical texts and a mother who sells insurance, Morris was raised in Dallas before the family settled in Windsor Locks, Conn., a blue-collar hamlet located near Hartford. She began acting in grade school plays, but took the craft seriously enough to eventually enroll at Philadelphia's Temple University as a radio, television and film major. When the university was hit by a faculty strike three years later, she dropped out with a year to go in order to try her luck with a San Francisco-based agent.
In a matter of weeks, she made her professional debut with a modest part in the telefilm "Long Road Home," which worked out to five weeks on location in Northern California and a Screen Actors Guild membership. At the urging of others in the cast, she moved immediately to Hollywood - where she immediately went on a two-year diet consisting of Top Ramen noodles and sleeping on a throwaway sofa that she found on the side of the road.
She made her meager ends meet with a number of odd jobs, particularly in the bakery and catering services field (as it always entailed free meals). Hustling hard, every dime went to private acting lessons. It finally paid off in 1994 with a string of TV commercials and a handful of TV movies, including "Rise and Walk: The Dennis Byrd Story," "Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All" and "A Friend to Die For."
Recent big-screen credits include "As Good As It Gets," "The Contender," "A.I. Artificial Intelligence," "The Last Castle" and "Minority Report." It all adds up to a comfortable lifestyle in Los Feliz - one of the funky, older districts near downtown Los Angeles favored by artists - total responsibility for two cats and the recent engagement to an investment adviser for rock stars.
"I'm focusing on acting," she says, laughing, "so I must be the last person in Hollywood who isn't hawking books or CDs on the side."
- - -
Visit Copley News Service at www.copleynews.com.
GRAPHIC: With Photo - Kathryn Morris; To download, visit www.copleynews.com
LOAD-DATE: September 22, 2003
Copyright 2003 Copley News Service
Copley News Service
September 22, 2003 Monday
SECTION: WASHINGTON WIRE; TV CLOSE-UP
LENGTH: 867 words
HEADLINE: Kathryn Morris
BYLINE: Eirik Knutzen Copley News Service
BODY:
Kathryn Morris loved the script for her 10th TV series pilot, felt the starring role was very special and knew that uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer - the man behind the top-rated "C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation" and summer box-office smash "Pirates of the Caribbean" among many others - is on fire.
She took the generous offer to do the pilot of "Cold Case," enjoyed herself immensely - and forgot all about it. After all, eight of her projects tanked and never hit the airwaves. The ninth, "Pensacola: Wings of Gold," cut her loose after 22 episodes of the first season.
"When you're new to the business, it's really hard when you get shot down in flames because you feel so warm and fuzzy while shooting that really good pilot with a buzz that says it could be the next 'Friends' or 'ER,"' Morris explains, not particularly carried away. "But, when all is said and done, that 'sure thing' comes down to the roll of the dice."
Looking long and hard through snake eyes, Morris knows at the very least that "Cold Case" means 13 weeks of steady employment. "We did the usual pilot recasting, re-shoots and reworked a story line, always aiming for cinematic quality on TV - that alone made the project really exciting to me. Playing an intelligent woman in a man's world was amazing. But in the end, it doesn't mean success."
Meanwhile, she is in love with her character, Detective Lilly Rush, the sole female on the Philadelphia Police Department's homicide squad assigned to cold cases. The driven cop's primary function is to dig up fresh clues - using a lethal combination of high-tech equipment and hard logic - to solve old crimes. In the process, she frequently opens old wounds and stokes the perpetrators' paranoia.
Morris was attracted to the Lilly Rush character because she felt that the detective has succeeded in a testosterone-saturated environment.
"However, she doesn't apologize for being a woman and doesn't feel the need to erase her femininity in the process. She just sees it as another tool to get the job done. If she had big muscles, she'd probably use them. She doesn't, so she has to rely on intellect and intuition instead," Morris explained.
And, ultimately rely on Bruckheimer's skill and savvy to take the show to a second season and beyond.
"One thing is hoping for a blizzard trapping people in front of their TV sets for a couple of weeks and only able to watch your channel; another thing is watching Jerry use his experience in our show that he learned on blockbuster movies like 'Beverly Hills Cop,' 'Top Gun,"Bad Boys,"Pearl Harbor' and 'Black Hawk Down."'
So far, it has been a very good year for Morris, who also co-stars in two coming big-budget feature films, John Woo's "Paycheck" and Renny Harlin's "Mindhunters."
"'Mindhunters' is actually my journey, about an anxiety-ridden federal agent who tries to leave her more habitual traits at the office but rarely succeeds," says the early-thirtysomething Morris. "She and a group of other agents are placed on an island with a killer; the first to find that person passes the profiler test. We shot it in Holland and Belgium - a frighteningly good match for Virginia, where the story is set."
Born in Cincinnati to a father who works with biblical texts and a mother who sells insurance, Morris was raised in Dallas before the family settled in Windsor Locks, Conn., a blue-collar hamlet located near Hartford. She began acting in grade school plays, but took the craft seriously enough to eventually enroll at Philadelphia's Temple University as a radio, television and film major. When the university was hit by a faculty strike three years later, she dropped out with a year to go in order to try her luck with a San Francisco-based agent.
In a matter of weeks, she made her professional debut with a modest part in the telefilm "Long Road Home," which worked out to five weeks on location in Northern California and a Screen Actors Guild membership. At the urging of others in the cast, she moved immediately to Hollywood - where she immediately went on a two-year diet consisting of Top Ramen noodles and sleeping on a throwaway sofa that she found on the side of the road.
She made her meager ends meet with a number of odd jobs, particularly in the bakery and catering services field (as it always entailed free meals). Hustling hard, every dime went to private acting lessons. It finally paid off in 1994 with a string of TV commercials and a handful of TV movies, including "Rise and Walk: The Dennis Byrd Story," "Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All" and "A Friend to Die For."
Recent big-screen credits include "As Good As It Gets," "The Contender," "A.I. Artificial Intelligence," "The Last Castle" and "Minority Report." It all adds up to a comfortable lifestyle in Los Feliz - one of the funky, older districts near downtown Los Angeles favored by artists - total responsibility for two cats and the recent engagement to an investment adviser for rock stars.
"I'm focusing on acting," she says, laughing, "so I must be the last person in Hollywood who isn't hawking books or CDs on the side."
- - -
Visit Copley News Service at www.copleynews.com.
GRAPHIC: With Photo - Kathryn Morris; To download, visit www.copleynews.com
LOAD-DATE: September 22, 2003
