TURNER ENTERTAINMENT
Moderator: Wendy Levison
November 17, 2010 11:40 am CT
Operator: Good day and welcome to the Turner
Entertainment conference call with Kyra Sedgwick and James Duff of The
Closer. Today’s conference is being recorded.
At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Wendy
Levison, please go ahead.
Wendy Levison: Good afternoon. Thank you so much for joining with the
conference call with Kyra Sedgwick and James Duff of The Closer. The
Closer returns with all new episodes on Monday, December 6 at 9:
00/8: 00 Central on TNT.
The conference call’s now is open for question. Please press star 1 to
ask a question. Thank you.
Operator: And as a reminder, it is star and one if you
would like to ask a question. You may remove yourself from the question
queue at any time by pressing the pound key. Once again, it’s star and 1
to ask a question.
And it looks like our first question comes from the site of Jay Jacobs
with PopEntertainment.com. Your line is open.
Jay Jacobs: Thank you Kyra and James. Thanks for
talking to us.
Kyra Sedgwick: Hi.
James Duff: It’s our pleasure.
Jay Jacobs: I really enjoyed the first episode. I was
just wondering there is so much political stuff going on in this
((inaudible)) this season and Brenda is so much not a political animal.
Why do you think it’s interesting to have her in these situations?
James Duff: I think it’s interesting because of the
premise in your question. She’s not a political animal and she’s having
to navigate political waters. It’s a huge obstacle to her and I think it
gives the character, I mean it’s just something interesting to play in
the characters dynamic. Don’t you think Kyra?
Kyra Sedgwick: Oh yes for sure. I mean I think that
you know I think everyone projects their own dreams and aspirations on
to her. I think that you know whether it’s Mary McDonald or it’s Fritz
and I think that often happens in the world. And I think that you know
she you know where – what she wants gets completely lost in the shuffle
because she’s also a person who doesn’t really know what she wants until
actually the last you know I think.
And I can’t remember which episode it is but there’s one in these final
five when she finally gets clear about what it is that she wants. But I
think that she’s easily malleable because there’s all these people with
all these very strong opinions about what she should do. So I think
that, I think that it makes her you know just a great stuff to play and
great places for her to go.
James Duff: And also we’re told throughout our lives
that we should be ambitious, that we should want to climb the ladder.
And not everybody actually does want to do that. And it seems like that
it’s a question of you know the pressures that society puts on us to
excel and how they measure that ability to excel. Excel is oftentimes
measured by the position in front of your name. Rather than how you were
actually performing.
I’ve never been, by the way, I mean I’ve never been in an apolitical
work place. Even when I was attending bar, I’m not kidding – people
jacking for the shift and people having all kinds of good reasons why
they couldn’t work Monday. And also, even Acme rubber stamp company when
I was going to college, even there. So I think people relate to politics
in the work place.
Operator: And it looks like our next question comes
from the site of Richard Eldridge with Atlanta Magazine. Your line is
open.
Richard Eldridge: Hello James and Kyra. Thank you for
doing this. I wanted to ask; I think the returning episode, Old Money on
December 6, really sort of brilliantly illustrates my question about the
tone of the show and how it’s evolved. We’ve got, in a single episode,
very, very strong dramatic elements.
We’ve got sexiness, and we’ve got these laugh out loud funny moments.
And I wanted to ask – and now we’ve seen other crime shows on other
networks sort of take on the same tone that you’ve kind of carved out
here. I wanted the both of you to talk a little bit about how that tone
evolved on the show and how the actors and their chemistry in the
ensemble affected that?
Kyra Sedgwick: I think you should start with Ellen,
James.
James Duff: Okay, all right well you know. I mean the
tone evolved, I mean after our first episode. Our second episode has her
trying to get to a crime scene with a book of maps and being utterly
lost. And then going to make an arrest and trying to make a statement by
going off by herself and Gabrielle following and saying. “Are you sure
you can find the way?”
And this comes from my own observation with police officers who are at
their darkest and funniest when they’re standing 6 feet away from a dead
body. And that’s human nature. You know that’s the humor of the hang
man. And it’s just a – you know we visit some very, very dark places in
this show. And I just feel we need to bring a flash light with us. And
that flash light is humor a little bit.
It’s – and you know we also decided early on what we wanted was that,
not only for there to be a mystery about you know a crime that you could
follow but also a total mystery so that you never knew what you were
going to get when you stepped inside The Closer. So that it was not so
formulaic. We wanted to stay – we wanted to keep the formula from
hardening, I guess is what I would say.
And then just to add to that, one other thing, is that most of the cast
has a huge range. And I mean all of the cast is ranging but I mean some
of the case like J.K. Simmons whose knows for his dramatic work got his
start, his big break is playing Captain Hook in Peter Pan. And Corey
Reynolds was nominated for an Oscar, I mean Oscar, I mean a Tony for
Hairspray.
And you have all these actors with comic chops and you don’t want to not
use those. You don’t want to narrow the range that your actors can play
when they can do so much. And I think too and maybe Kyra would answer
this, I think going in and doing a episode 8 like last year where she
has to you know make a decision about taking this gang boy back home. I
think doing an episode like that every week would be hard on the actors.
I think the lighter episodes are necessary to help them not live in such
dark places all day long.
Kyra Sedgwick: Yes, I think so too. I think it’s
really good for the actors to be able to do that and it also feels very
real and very right. I mean when you talk to – one of our writers is an
ex-police detective for 25 years with that of the LAPD and he you know
he’s laughing all the time about the most horrific things that happen to
him. So I think it wouldn’t feel – it wouldn’t have that you know
reality to it if we didn’t have the humor.
And I also, and also I guess it gives a good break for our audience too
because we don’t just want to be somber and gloom all the time. I mean
you know and I do think that, I do think that – you know anyway I’m
done.
James Duff: Remember too there was a grave digger in
Hamlet who’s really funny.
Kyra Sedgwick: Yes, right.
James Duff: And in Macbeth you have the porter who’s
very funny. I mean there’s an element of that, that you have to keep
that there to keep I think the audience. And you want valleys and
troughs and as well as plateaus and hills. We probably over answered the
question.
Kyra Sedgwick: It’s okay.
James Duff: All right.
Operator: And it looks like our next question will
come from the site of Liz Gordon with Yahoo. Your line is open.
Liz Gordon: Oh hi guys. So it’s sort of a follow-up
then. What specifically is going on this season to keep things fresh and
interesting you know for viewers who’ve been watching several seasons?
James Duff: Hope is dangling onto his job by a thread.
And major crimes is you know on the chopping block again because – and
this is the way, I mean, this is not just the way the LAPD moves but one
chief centralizes everything and the next chief decentralizes
everything. And that’s kind of the human condition ((inaudible)) that
you get the person in-charge wants to redo everything and the person,
the next person whose in-charge comes in and redoes what they do and
that’s what we’re facing.
We have a new chief and a new order is going to be put on top of things.
So you have that and then her parents arrive with a big surprise.
Kyra Sedgwick: That’s fun.
James Duff: And they arrive in episode 14 with a huge
surprise and …
Kyra Sedgwick: And our final two were just the darkest
episodes of course because they’re for Christmas which is lovely. And
then there’s also a moment where …
James Duff: But there’s also, our life is difficult.
Kyra Sedgwick: Right, right, really?
James Duff: Yes, yes. I mean there’s lightness. I mean
if you remember the business of Taylor in a Santa suit.
Kyra Sedgwick: Oh that’s right, you’re right. It’s
very mixed but I mean the story is pretty dark.
James Duff: The story is very dark.
Kyra Sedgwick: The story is pretty – I mean like the
murder is pretty dark. And then there’s a great moment where you know
Gabriel goes over my head. I mean I think – you know what I’ve been
saying to people James, you may not agree with this but to me she’s more
like alone than ever this season. I think that was sort of an
unintentional theme of this whole season and ((inaudible)) are the same
way.
Again you know that thing of everyone projecting onto her what they
think she should want and need and who she is. She almost you know. And
then she’s always having to make – she continues to have to make these
decisions that leave her very much alone.
James Duff: In her antagonism with Pope early on left
her alone. I mean because she normally could count on him. And also her
antagonism with Fritz about this issues both the men in her life having
huge opinions on what she should do. And this goes back to always
playing – one thing that we’ve always tried to do is play the pressures
of being a woman in the workplace, a woman in power in the workplace.
And it’s not so simple. I mean we say it’s all very simple but it’s not.
There’s still so much that has to change that hasn’t changed.
Kyra Sedgwick: Yes.
James Duff: Great. Again we’re probably – I try to
live it myself. All right.
Operator: And we’ll move next to the site of Curt
Wagner with RedEye. Your line is open.
Curt Wagner: Hi guys, nice to talk to you both again.
I was wondering, you may have sort of given this away but I was just
wondering – I was very happy that Brenda did not get the big promotion
last season. But now we’re faced with another one. And I was wondering
what – does Brenda really want to be promoted because I would think that
what she does best, she would not be able to do.
Kyra Sedgwick: Yes I think that she really spent most
of the season trying to figure out what it is that she wanted especially
with the influence of all these people in her life that she respected
and if not loved telling her that she should want this thing. And I
think that ultimately where she comes to in the last five episodes, in
one of the last five episodes is what she really wants.
And I think that’s great because I think that’s really hard for Brenda
to know what she wants. I think she spends most of her life knowing
what, why everyone is the way they are and what makes them tick and you
know how and what motivates them, what is really their driving force in
their life. And I don’t think that she really knows she’s not a
self-aware person. So I think it’s sort of a wonderful moment when she
finally realizes what it is that she wants and what she doesn’t want.
Curt Wagner: All right and I was wondering if – oh go
ahead.
James Duff: I agree with that.
Curt Wagner: And I was wondering if we’re ever going
to see that lunch with her and Captain Raydor.
Kyra Sedgwick: Yes right good point. Are we?
James Duff: Yes we will see definitely see that lunch
one day. Not in these back five but definitely you will see. You know
Oscar Wilde had a great quote and I’ll just mention this, it’s sort of
I’ll hint at this and see. He said, “Woman only call each other sister
after calling each other a lot of other things first.” And that’s the
take where we’re sort of maneuvering I guess a little bit with Raydor to
make her and Brenda surprisingly close in some ways. Although they still
have a ways to go. I would say great ways to go. But they’re moving in
that direction.
Kyra Sedgwick: Yes.
Operator: And we’ll move next to the site of Earl
Dittman with Wireless Magazine.
Earl Dittman: How are you all this morning?
James Duff: Fine.
Kyra Sedgwick: Fine.
Earl Dittman: That was part of my question. It seems
like that, part of my question, is that it seems like Captain Raydor
would be great allies if they got past a certain point. And are they too
much alike to get along sometimes, Kyra?
James Duff: I think they are a little bit.
Kyra Sedgwick: I think so. I mean I think that you
know I mean – well I don’t know how alike they are actually. I think
that they – no I actually think they’re very different and I think that
sort of what – with the greatest obstacle in their relationship and I
think that because she – I mean that’s a really hard question.
I mean in some ways they are very similar but in some ways they are very
different. I think that she is much more of a political animal and she
is much more of a by the rules kind of person. And I think that she,
well, actually now I’m going to ((inaudible)). Yes that actually, she
thinks that they’re very different but then ultimately – I mean I guess
in that final scene before she actually goes for her meeting with the
mayor, it really becomes clear that Raydor only took the IA job because
she wanted, she felt it important for a woman to be in a uniform and it
was the fastest way to move up in rank.
And so it wasn’t that it was her passion to you know interrogate and to
put you know put police officers in a bad spot but she, but it was the
job that could get her you know up the fastest. And I think that in that
way they are different because I don’t think that you know I don’t think
that Brenda is about you know getting more or getting higher in rank and
she has no ambitions in that area.
I think that in some ways she sort of that’s the worded desire of you
know she never really did get to do what she wanted to do and in some
ways Brenda is going to do what she wants to do. So I think probably by
the end of this season, we learn that there are more alike than they
appear. Right, James?
James Duff: Yes, and I was going to say, they come
from different countries, ((inaudible)). And friendship seems unlikely
between and IA Captain and a Homicide Deputy Chief. I mean it’s just
very unlikely in the real world. And just the panic used to the word
friend when she introduces Captain Raydor to her parents.
Kyra Sedgwick: Right, right, right.
James Duff: Creates a moment of stunned reactions from
her squad. She’s trying to introduce Sharon Raydor to her Mom and Dad
and she pops out with the word friend. And everybody is stunned by that.
And it’s – so it’s more of a ((inaudible)) I think you have to establish
first. And they’re establishing – and you’re right. You know they would
make formidable allies but how often do we see that in life where two
people who would make formidable allies are at terrible odds and can’t
manage. You don’t know whether they would make better friends or better
enemies.
Operator: And we’ll move next to the site of …
Kyra Sedgwick: ((Inaudible)) 1 o’clock. Can we just
make this the last question?
Wendy Levison:: Yes absolutely thanks.
Kyra Sedgwick: Sorry I worked around that rule.
Wendy Levison:: Yes absolutely.
Kyra Sedgwick: Okay.
Operator: And our last question comes from the site of
David Martindale with Hearst Newspapers. Your line is open.
David Martindale: Okay thank you. Hi I enjoyed the
return episode. Got to love Tony Denison.
Kyra Sedgwick: Really.
David Martindale: Yes. This isn’t a question but if I
woke up in a hospital bed, I would love to have Brenda pressed up
against me and dotting on like that. Question for Kyra, I interviewed
James MacArthur years ago. He was Danno in the original Hawaii Five-O of
course. And he told me about this great story about being pulled over
for speeding and the punch line is basically the cop giving him back his
license and saying just a warning Danno professional courtesy slow down.
Now I’m sure that you’re an excellent driver but when you hear that
story that I just repeated given the respect that real life police have
for the show, can you relate, like been there, done that in any context
or is the opposite true? Maybe you’ve got a ticket that you now think
you should have gotten a free pass?
Kyra Sedgwick: No but I definitely get, it is nice to
get the respect from you know our fellow officers or you know officers
that are actually in the field. Like I definitely think that we really
do try very hard to just stay real, and true and current. But sometimes,
I actually got a ticket for walking after you know off lease after a
certain time and I really had hope that it was going to end up by being
somebody who was a fan of The Closer but she hadn’t a clue as to who I
was or cared either way and gave me the ticket anyway. So I hope to cash
in on that someday but it hasn’t happened yet.
David Martindale: Okay.
James Duff: Other members of the cast have. I know
Raymond was pulled over on a motorcycle and he took off his helmet and
the cop just went up, started jumping up and down, he was so excited to
meet him and gave him a warning. And – but on the other hand, Jon Tenney
who plays an FBI agent has gotten three speeding tickets.
Kyra Sedgwick: Well he needs to stop driving so fast.
And then he threw out a banana out of his car and had to do service on
the side of the highway.
James Duff: A banana peel and we actually used that in
the show. And he said I was driving a hybrid. And I can’t help but
wonder if the ((inaudible)) antagonism between the police and the FBI
shows us in Jon’s traffic record.
Kyra Sedgwick: Oh.
David Martindale: Maybe on to something. Well thank
you so much. It’s a pleasure.
Kyra Sedgwick: Thank you.
Wendy Levison:: Okay, we’re going to go ahead and let
Kyra go. Thank you very much.
Kyra Sedgwick: All right, thanks you guys.
James Duff: Bye Kyra.
Kyra Sedgwick: Bye James.
James Duff: I’ll talk to you later. Hello? Okay. I
think I can go too.
Operator: And at this time I’d like to turn the call
back over to Wendy Levison: for any closing remarks.
Wendy Levison:: Thank you so much for joining today’s
call. As a reminder The Closer returns on Monday, December 6 at 9:
00/8: 00 Central of TNT. A transcript of this call will be
available in 24 hours. Please check with your respective TNT publicist.
Thank you, Kyra and James, and thank you all for participating.
James Duff: Bye everybody.
Operator: And this does conclude today’s
teleconference. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at
anytime and have a wonderful day.
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