From: TV Guide
TV Guide: So, is there a
sisterhood on the set?
Maura Tierney: On my last
series [News Radio], there were mostly men, and it is definitely a
different feeling. I know if I'm upset or frustrated I have
someone to talk to who will be sympatric and who will get it. In
that sense, I feel really comfortable with the other actresses.
Laura Innes:
I feel very supported. I don't get the sense of competition.
I don't feel like we are on a show were our value lies in our appearance
or how sexy we are.
Ming-Na: There is no "divadom."
TVG: One of the reasons must be the green hospital
scrubs, white coats, masks, caps. They hide everything.
Ming-Na: That's really part
of it . We never get dressed up. Except of this photo shoot.
Michael Michele: Also, the
stories are more substantive than we usually see in primetime.
Ming-Na: We just have to
worry about lines, we don't have to worry about makeup.
Tierney: I worry
[laughs]. Usually on Thursday nights, about 11 o'clock.
TVG: Laura, you were the first of this new generation of
women to come to ER. And there was a strong negative
reaction to your character.
Innes: I think people did
think she was a b*tch, and probably some people still do. I never
looked at her that way. And it was sort of good that I didn't,
because it's never very interesting for a women character to want to be
likable.
TVG: In order not to make her b*tchy, they gave her a
romance this season -- with another woman [played by Elizabeth
Mitchell].
Innes: John Wells
[executive producer] and Jack Orman called me in over the summer.
And half way through I realized what they were talking about, and I
thought "What a great way to pull the rug out from under the
character."
TVG: How do others feel about the affair.
Michele: I loved it.
It was filled with real emotions -- very thought provoking.
Ming-Na: I loved Weaver's
discomfort with it. It was so natural.
Tierney: I thought it was
really hot.
Michele: Just understand
that the person who spoke that is the nymph of the show [laughs].
TVG: What was like to do the lesbian love seen?
Innes: Well, it wasn't
really a love scene. There was only a kiss and a lot of postcoital
scenes. Kissing is always a little weird. But I'd kiss any
of these girls.
Ming-Na: Michael has had
the most love scenes [with Eriq LaSalle's Dr. Peter Benton].
Michele: Oh, I've only had
two.
Ming-Na: You guys are
always screwing around.
Michele: It's not like we
are in the act. We don't do anything but kiss. We're not on
top of each other like on NYPD Blue.
Ming-Na: I think I'm the
only one that hasn't ever had a love scene. I got knocked up --
but that was off screen. Yeah. Off-screen one-night stand,
come back pregnant.
Michele: You're the slut of
the ER.
Tierney: I thought I
was the slut of the ER.
Ming-Na: No, you girls are
smart. You use contraceptives.
TVG: What is happening with Abby and Luka [Goran Visnjic]?
They always seem so tormented.
Tierney: We're going to
have a little more fun. I won't be asking him if he's all right
every five minutes. Or the line I am always saying: "Luka,
wait!" [They all laugh.] The elevator door is literally
closing in my face. "Luka, wait!" Goran tells me to say
it like this: "Luuukaaa .... waaaiiitt."
TVG: Elevator doors aside, did it feel like a new ER
this season?
Innes: Yeah, new
writers. New executive producer. More reality. Faster
pace. There is even a change to wide-screen format so you can fit
more information in a shot. So in a way, you can, without cuts and
things that feel artificial, get in more storytelling.
TVG: George Clooney and Julianna Marguiles left. Yet
this season the show seems as strong as ever. Why is that?
Ming-Na: The women.
Innes: We've benefited this year from a number of things.
And maybe the biggest thing is that nobody's leaving [before next
season]. So there's a stability there that we really haven't had
in the past.
TVG: What about Anthony Edwards's announcement that he's
leaving at the end of next season? Tierney: Anthony who? Innes:
I'm in denial TVG: What do you hope for you characters in the
future? Tierney: I don't want to say, "Luka, wait!"
again. Michele: I'd like to continue to strike a good balance
between the professional Cleo and the personal Cleo. Innes:
I
like the kind of core purpose that Weaver has -- to get people in line
and keep the place running. And I like that edge to her. I
don't ever want to lose that. But it's been fun for me to find
ways to open her up. Ming-Na:
I'd like to bring back some of
Chen's original ambitious qualities. Now that she's given up her
baby, she has to justify it somehow -- she did it to have a career
first. So I want to explore that element of why she made such a
decision. TVG: What's it like to be part of the new ER
team? Michele: Like being in
a new freshmen class at a great school. Even though this is my
fifth series and I've experienced a great deal, you walk onto this set
and there's actually have days where you go, "D*mn!" TVG:
Laura is a director, too. Is she at all like Weaver when she is
behind the camara? Michele:
No. She's very calm. Ming-Na:
Very compassionate, very prepared. And she gets to wear her won
clothes. You should see those lacy numbers that she comes with. Tierney:
She's dressed in lingerie. Innes:
Yeah, I'm hot. Very hot. |
