Mary (“K Street,” “Private Parts”) guest-starred on a four episode arc on CTV's Emmy Award-winning “The West Wing” (Wednesdays, 9pm ET) as the President’s (Martin Sheen) new deputy National Security Adviser whose first encounter with the Chief Executive proved to be more brusque than she expected.

She plays Kate Harper, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and military prodigy who is not afraid to stay true to her advice and convictions.

McCormack starred guest-starred on two episodes of CTV’s “ER” last October.

Mary McCormack faces up to 'Traffic'

By Bridget Byrne

LOS ANGELES — Mary McCormack scratches her nose, illustrating a point about the kind of actress she never wanted to be.

In 1995, she worked on an episode of the short-lived CBS courtroom drama The Wright Verdicts, starring Tom Conti, and was chastised for making a similar move.

"I remember the director saying 'Don't touch your face! Why would you touch your face?' And I was like, 'I don't know. I just did it because it itched. It just didn't occur to me not to scratch an itch!'"

She's glad she didn't take such advice, and has remained natural in her approach to acting rather than turning into "a scratchless, itchless, posey person."

Dressed in jeans and a floppy pink blouse, McCormack certainly doesn't project any sense of formality or pretense as she chats about her latest project, Traffic: The Miniseries.

Inspired by Steven Soderbergh's 2000 film Traffic, about the international drug trade, the miniseries uses a different group of characters to reveal not just the inner workings of heroin smuggling, but also how it's linked with the trafficking of illegal immigrants, arms, and chemical and biological weapons.

McCormack plays Carole McKay, wife of a drug enforcement agent working in Afghanistan. Left home in Seattle, she has to cope not just with her teenage son's flirtation with the local drug scene, but also the possibility that her husband has been corrupted.

McCormack likes the way the series doesn't try to suggest solutions to the problems it exposes, yet brings the tragic consequences so close to home.

"It's interesting that throughout the show, many characters say, 'I'm just the middle man.' Through our apathy we are all middle men — every time you hire someone to cut your lawn who you don't pay benefits to, you are a middle man. We are all sort of responsible. I thought the show did a really amazing job in pointing out how we are all complicit."

McKay evolves from someone who trusts in simple truths to someone who understands greater complexities. "Gray is the most interesting color," says McCormack.

Before signing on, she had a long conversation with producer-director Stephen Hopkins, whose previous work includes Fox's 24, spelling out her concerns about some things in the script that felt "a little wifey."

"My antenna tends to go up for things that are a little pat," she says.

Elias Koteas, actor who plays McKay's husband, Mike, gives McCormack credit for "creating" a character much more complex than first written.

"Mary's got a point of view. She's vital ... She has great ideas. She worked really hard to get (the character) to what it became," he says.

Acting is something "I just always did," says the 34-year-old New Jersey native, whose first big part was as the little boy in a local production of Amahl and the Night Visitors. As an adult, she played Sally Bowles in the Broadway revival of Cabaret.

Her film credits include playing Howard Stern's wife in Private Parts, Soderbergh's Full Frontal, and the David Spade comedy Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star.

On TV she was attorney Justine Appleton on Steven Bochco's drama Murder One, and most recently, political consultant Maggie Morris in HBO's fact-and-fiction political series K Street, devised by George Clooney and Soderbergh.

"I loved it. I love working with Steven Soderbergh. I love improvisation," she says.

She's disappointed but not surprised that K Street ran only 10 episodes because she always knew it was "an experiment," and that Soderbergh had always been philosophical about the outcome.

"He was like, you know, 'They'll get it, or they won't,'" she says. "He sort of likes the audience to have to work hard."

HBO and Section 8 partners Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney have mutually decided to end K Street,the political drama series that just completed a 10-episode run. According to Michael Fleming of Daily Variety, Soderbergh and Clooney executive-produced the series with James Carville and Mark Sennet, each of whom apparently expected to be more involved in planning. Instead Soderbergh reportedly became so engrossed with the format that he wound up directing every episode.

The series, which premiered September 14, is a blend of fiction and documentary, with actors playing political consultants interacting with real politicians and political consultants.

Each episode was filmed over three days, followed by two days of editing, then would air two days later.

"They were working nonstop for six days a week," a source close to the production said. "Their level of commitment was overwhelming, but midway through, it became clear they'd have to stop once they told a complete arc in the first 10 episodes."

Among the fictional associates in the show's bipartisan lobbying firm was Maggie (Mary McCormack), a conservative lobbyist who unexpectedly finds herself falling in love with another woman, Gail (Talia Balsam).

HBO's decision not to renew the series leaves Maggie and Gail's romantic future undetermined.

"Mary McCormack (who you may remember as Howard Stern's wife in Private Parts--she's also now on K Street) appears in the second episode of the season (when Carter returns to "The Congo" - an episode they shot last May in Hawaii), and I hear she's a potential love interest for Carter. She's the opposite of Abby in every way, and (according to the script) Carter is "thunderstruck" when he meets her. Word is Mary comes back to the show around end of November when Noah returns from his break."

Mary's character is called Debbie. E's Kristin later followed this up with the following:

"Carter's going to come back from the Congo in episode 10 with "Kem," a significant other, who is pregnant ... What will Abby say? Nothing. Just a signature eye roll and a shrug. They get the ultrasound and find out they're having a healthy boy. No word yet on who plays the love interest. It's not the Red Cross worker from a couple weeks ago? I believe that was the initial plan, but I'm guessing no. It's a new character name, no? I don't think the Red Cross worker's name was Kem, but correct me if I'm wrong..."

"PART OF ALL THIS confusion is mirrored by the character of Maggie Morris (McCormack) whose first same-sex relationship fell apart in the course of five episodes. The seventh episode airs this Sunday.

"Morris had a relationship with a woman named Gail, played by Talia Balsam, who is Slattery’s actual wife and George Clooney’s ex-wife. Please make all this confusion go away.

"Gail dumped Morris, who became distraught over the breakup. But on the last episode, Morris agreed to go on a date with a man. But viewers don’t know if this was out of romantic interest or professional gain. The show doesn’t even know which direction Morris’ orientation will take.

"'If she joins an ex-gay ministry, I’ll be very upset,' says gay lobbyist Jeff Trammell."

For more details

The six-hour limited series is an adaptation of the British miniseries Traffik, which also inspired Steven Soderbergh's Oscar-winning 2000 movie. Like the first two, USA's project will tell several interconnected stories revolving around the international drug trade.

Getty, whose credits also include Lost Highway and Deuces Wild, will play a man who inherits his father's shipping business, according to The Hollywood Reporter. When he takes over, he finds out his dad was transporting drugs as well as legitimate goods and decides to continue the business.

McCormack will play the wife of a Drug Enforcement Agency agent who goes missing in Afghanistan.

The cast also include Elias Koteas.

Stephen Hopkins (24) has signed on as a producer of Traffic and will direct two of the six hours.

It's set to screen on August 17 this year.

"According to Variety, Full Frontal wasn't at this year's Cannes Film Festival as Miramax had withdrawn it: '... Once considered a virtual lock for a slot, Steven Soderbergh's digitally shot "Full Frontal" was withdrawn by Miramax...'"

From http://www.web-glitter.com/~taonat/news.html

Check out the images and multimedia sections for Full Frontal stuff...

"Most of the Sitcoms are now on Hiatus til July...and this is the only taping left of this show..so grab your reservation Quick."

Not sure if this is still valid but there's a phone number on the site if you're interested.

from http://www.tvtix.com/

According to Variety, once considered a virtual lock for a slot, Full Frontal wasn't at this year's Cannes Film Festival as Miramax had withdrawn it

TPM&DG chose the usually slack time of August 23 this year to release "Madison," an action film involving hydroplane boat racing, starring Mary McCormack, Jim Caviezel, Jake Lloyd and Bruce Dern.

McCormack and Christopher Walken would play a married couple who invite psychotic pal Rufus Sewell for a school reunion weekend.

Once in their home he awakens murderous thoughts they have been concealing from each other.

The drama is set in lush uptown Manhattan and is a remake of Dominik Moll's recent French classic.

From Ananova

McCormack plays the mistress to Neeson's businessman Jimmy A Learner, who kills another man while drunk.

The story is based on a flashy phone executive called Learner who ended up in a tough Nevada jail after killing a man while on a boozy bender in Las Vegas. He was sentenced to 12 years for manslaughter in 1997.

The film is based on the man's life inside the tough prison where Learner puts his corporate skills to fit in with prison culture.

Renee Russo is the favorite to play Neeson's wife.

From Showbiz Ireland

The show stars McCormack as a harried physical therapist named Patience More.

With the pilot shot and directed by Jon Turteltaub last April, Fox is said to be seriously considering "More, Patience" as a midseason replacement by early to mid-2002.

"Fox has told us it was one of their highest-testing pilots last spring, so we're pretty confident of hearing about a [midseason] pickup shortly," Gavin Polone said.

"'Patience' is a single-camera sitcom and is not overly jokey - much in the same vein of 'Malcolm in the Middle.' 'Malcolm' is a great example of what we want to be doing here."

From Electronic Media Online