We take a look at another TNT favorite during our day of set visits
After our visit in Sylmar for the Saving Grace set visit, we all hopped back on the bus back to Hollywood and met up with the cast of The Closer, the immensely-successful series starring Kyra Sedgwick. We were watching the season premiere on the bus, but I had already seen it. It’s quite a fine season premiere that deals with an immense fire that stars in Griffith Park, with an old face from the end of the first season showing up. They led us into this nice little cafe-type thing on the studio lot where we all sat down at different tables and were greeted by various members of the cast. It was musical chairs after that, as the cast members rotated from one table to the next until all the roundtable interviews had been conducted. It should be noted that there are portions of these sessions that were omitted simply because they were inaudible with everyone in the same room. The first table I sat down at just happened to be the one that Kyra Sedgwick, who plays the hard-hitting Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson, Corey Reynolds, who plays Sgt. David Gabriel and Jon Tenney, who plays Johnson’s wife and FBI agent Fritz Howard. Here’s what this talented group had to say about this program.
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Kyra Sedgwick, Corey Reynolds and Jon Tenney
Some of the press material talked about this season being about power and loss. Can you talk a little bit about what you meant by that?
Kyra Sedgwick: Well, last year was about family. These are subtle themes. These are fun things for the audience to know about because every episode will deal with power in some way. It will deal with how we feel when we’re powerful and when we’re not, when we are powerless and we actually don’t think we have any power. The first episode, there’s a fire and Brenda is just completely out of her league. She’s from Atlanta and there aren’t fire like this in Atlanta. Everybody around her is sort of overwhelmed and out of her league too. There’s very little to go on and then Croelick (Jason O’Mara; from Season 1) shows up, who’s the one who got away. I know that Brenda feels that way and I think everyone feels that way. There was this weird connection with him that when he’s in her life, she gets really spun around. That is witnessed by the end of the last scene. She feels culpable and some shame that she brought it on herself. It’s something that’s totally out of her hands, out of her control. The idea of keeping everything in boxes is a way to sort of compartmentalize her life. Of course, it’s the craziest thing every. She feels out of control in that first episode.
How far into the season are you and did you guys start any earlier?
Corey Reynolds: We started later because there was the writers strike. We were about seven weeks behind.
So what kinds of things did you do in those two months to kind of fill the time?
Jon Tenney: I actually did work on a couple of movies that were already greenlit and were going. They did a remake of a movie called The Stepfather, Dylan Walsh and I. I did another movie, also for Sony actually, called Legion. Those are going to come out in 2009.
Were you the Stepfather?
Jon Tenney: I was actually the real father, who pieces it all together and then dies (Laughs).
In Kyra’s character arc, it seems like you guys switch roles, with Kyra being harder to deal with and Corey being easier to deal with. Jon, you seem to be the rock and are more challenging to her. Is that intentional?
Corey Reynolds: I’ve theorized for some time, with some people, there’s a duality to their life. A lot of times, a relationship you have at home with a loved one, is emulated or reflected on the relationship you may share with someone at work. I think, in a lot of ways, I become her at-work Fritz and in some ways he’s her at-home Gabriel, in a sense that we provide different things to her for what she needs at that moment. I think we both take on that role, me at work and Jon at home. I think the difficulty comes, in the beginning Gabriel didn’t have much experience to pull from and in the course of these three years, what he’s seen and what he’s been a part of, he can create an opinion. Sometimes, his opinion isn’t always the wisest one, especially when it challenges her opinion, in particular. It’s a matter of growing, just like a family.
Last season, Corey, you looked angry at Brenda’s character and I was wondering if your anger is going to continue this season?
Corey Reynolds: I think some new things arise this season that creates the tension between Brenda and my character. I don’t think it’s so much anger with her, as opposed to the situation. I don’t think he’s ever angry with her. I think he might be disappointed or frustrated with how she might be handling something, versus how he might have handled it, but I don’ t think it’s ever anger. Ultimately, he knows that she’s going to do what’s best, and I think he supports that.
Kyra and Jon, will there be a lot more deepening of the ties with your two characters as well in this season?
Jon Tenney: Yeah, definitely. A lot more tension arises too.
Kyra Sedgwick: A lot more tension, a lot more honesty. I think it’s just going to be a constant slow boil.
Jon Tenney: We had a big fight that we never ended.
Well, your biggest one was you not telling her about AA.
Jon Tenney: Yeah, well that whole dynamic continues. I like to look at the fact, personally, that this is two addicts. One person is trying to be conscious of it and the other person is trying to be not conscious about it (Laughs).
After that it was time for the musical chairs to get into swing and we were then joined by the foursome of Tony Dennison, who plays Lt. Andy Flynn, Gina Ravera, who plays Detective Irene Daniels and the love interest of Corey Reynolds’ Gabriel character, Phillip Keene, who plays the squad’s surveillance expert Buzz Watson and G.W. Bailey, who plays the cranky Detective Lr. Provenza. Here’s what this interesting group of actors had to say.
Tony Dennison, Gina Ravera, Phillip Keene and G.W. Bailey
The fans are really responding to this show. How does that make you feel?
Tony Dennison: It’s really nice to be appreciated and it’s a very hot show, as far as cable is concerned. We have a really tremendously large audience. They’ve said if we still didn’t have half our audience, we’d still be the number one show on cable, by leaps and bounds, so that’s how popular we are and it’s great to be a part of it.
What do you get recognized most for, since you’ve done a bunch of different things over the years?
Tony Dennison: I’ve been getting a lot of notice from The Closer, but I used to do another show that I can’t mention, but I get a lot of notice from that and Playmakers, the football series. OK, I think we can mention it, Crime Story. It’s nice to be a part of some really good shows. The Closer is very quickly going to become legendary, if for no other reason than how greatly it’s been received.
G.W., are you as cantankerous a person as you are a character?
Tony Dennison: Hell yeah!
G.W. Bailey: Today, in particular.
Because of this?
G.W. Bailey: No, it’s just some days you get up on the wrong side. I have been cantankerous today, haven’t I.
Tony Dennison: Have been? Have been? Still are (Laughs).
Jason O’Mara, I know there’s no definite return of him…
Tony Dennison: Yes, Bill Croelick, yes.
Did you enjoy his energy on the set?
Tony Dennison: Oh, this is the second time he’s been on the show.
G.W. Bailey: He’s great.
Phillip Keene: He was really great.
Tony Dennison: It was great to have him back. He’s a terrific actor. He’s got a series he’s shooting in Newark.
Phillip Keene: That’s the one thing about our casting director. He finds a lot of really interesting people to bring in. It’s not the usual people you see on other shows that are just rotating from network to network.
Do you want him to come back on the show?
Tony Dennison: I wouldn’t mind having him back again. It would be fun. The thing that’s really cool about this show, for many of the guest stars, I would say about 99% of them, whatever they do on this show is worthy of putting on their reel. It’s that kind of scene when you’re the guest star or the guest murder, or whatever.
Phillip Keene: I think generally it’s a very good place just to come in to work. Everybody is accommodating and very nice to our guest stars. On other sets, I hear, maybe it’s not the same experience.
Gina, you’re one of two female cast members. Having so man men around you, do you like the way your character has gone over the course of the four seasons?
Gina Ravera: Yes, I am the only other female and the writers have said that the relationship between the other woman functions more like most women. They observed in the professional environment, if it’s male-dominated, women actually choose to distance themselves from one another, rather than create some bond because they’re behavior is being observed. This is a show about a woman being in a man’s world and Brenda’s character chooses the most efficient manner, which would be to not bond with the other female. Most of the cases you see on the show are real. The fans responded to the show the first year because it was seeming to be a place that everybody lived in, rather than in the plastic world.
G.W. Bailey: One of my favorite lines in the first three years was about this relationship, in a quirky way. Brenda had found out that her lipstick was way too bright…
Gina Ravera: I remember that.
G.W. Bailey: So she finally asked a personal question of Gina’s character. She said, ‘Did you know that it was too bright?’ Gina nodded yes and Kyra said, ‘Why didn’t you tell me the truth?’ And Gina said, ‘The same reason I never told you about the sweaters you wear.’ It was such a wonderful line.
Gina Ravera: But I was very apologetic. But, working with the boys, no, I don’t have to start anything. I’m as bad as they can be. I grew up with a bunch of guys and I know more than I should know.
