When season three of "Damages" ended with Glenn Close & Rose Byrne standing atop that now-iconic dock, Ellen's question -- "was it worth it?" -- wasn't the only one left lingering in the air. It was also unknown if the Emmy Award-winning series would return for a fourth year.
Fan's prayers were answered a few months later when DirecTV stepped in (as they did with "Friday Night Lights") to co-finance two additional seasons. The first of which kicks off this summer and is currently filming the penultimate episode.
It was during that hour's production I had the privilege to visit the set, watch Glenn film a tense scene alongside Rose and chat with both brilliant women. I will be breaking out choice quotes from each of these interviews over the next few weeks and where better to start than with "Damages'" MVP: Glenn Close.
It's been over a year in the real world since we last saw Patty Hewes -- where does season four find her?
Glenn Close: We find Patty with a big class action suit against a pharmaceutical company, so she’s going big guns on that. But the most problematic part of her life is that she has a three-year-old granddaughter, has a hard time keeping nannies and hasn’t seen her son Michael in three years.
So she got custody of Michael's daughter ... but will he be back?
Glenn: Yes. Michael does return, which is exciting because I love Zach Booth. I love playing scenes with him. And Patty's relationships with Michael is a very unsettling one. But fun because out of all the people that Patty has come up against, his mind is the most like hers. They are most alike.
And you always hurt the ones you love, right?
Glenn: I think so [laughs]. He tried to kill me, I put his pregnant wife in jail ... we both did terrible things.Good family fun [laughs] ... no wonder he didn’t want to see me.
But it's Patty's relationship with Ellen that has proven to be the heart and soul of "Damages" -- where does this season find them?
Glenn: Patty gives Ellen an office to work out of because she quits the DA’s office, then Ellen comes to her for help -- but Patty is very much in the background this year with the case. She obviously kicks in when she needs to, but it’s always at Ellen’s request.
So, Ellen brings Patty into the season's main case -- one against a Blackwater-esque organization, right?
Glenn: Yes. And it’s really amazing that not long after we started filming this season that guy shot and killed those three people in Pakistan. Now those companies are at the forefront of our minds. I find them to be so frightening because, in some ways, they might be the future -- it’s probably more cost-effective and we live in a world where there is less money to do big things, so you know this isn’t going to get less relevant. I think the producers were very prescient to think of this subject.
How has it been squaring off against John Goodman as Howard Erikson, the head of this company?
Glenn: He's fantastic. We had a lot of fun with this big deposition scene where first Ellen and Patty depose Howard T. Erickson – that was really fun. It’s a luxury having someone like that to play with.
How does Howard stack up against her foes from previous seasons?
Glenn: Howard Erikson is exactly the kind of person Patty hates the most: a pure bully. A real bad guy. The sad part for me, because the storylines are so separate, is that I haven’t had that much to do with him.
What excites you about season four?
Glenn: I think it’s very different for us – we go into much more macho guy territory with this one [laughs]. Rosie [Byrne] & I have a few supporting females, but not many so we’re out there with the guys – which feels very different. But I’m excited to see how everything plays out because I haven’t seen a lot of our guest star's work.
Source: New York Post
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