Q) Jamie, of course we know you better from Battlestar Galactica and then Law & Order UK. Was it pretty evident that this was pretty special when you first read the script?
Jamie: Yeah, it was. It was really three things for me. When you read David E. Kelley’s name on a script you get a good feeling, you know that this is going to get a chance, people are going to give it a chance and then Sanjay Gupta coupled with that so you have David Kelley’s dramatic experience and then you’ve got Sanjay Gupta the medical angle and a great communicator in his own right that everyone’s heard of and you’ve got two great authorities right there. But for me it was about the character in that first episode because when you read one episode you don’t know really what the series is going to look like but I knew that there was a really good character that I could get myself and my teeth into someone who has been blessed with natural confidence and his own ability whose confidence is shattered in the very first episode. So I knew there was massive dramatic potential and I trusted that David and Sanjay would know how to make more of the same and it was really those three ingredients.
Q) Would you say that it’s maybe the most challenging character you’ve played so far? Would that be fair in saying?
Jamie: I don’t know if it’s the most challenging, you know, every character is a challenge, for me the particular challenge of this guy is the unquestioned confidence with which he confronts everything that he does. That’s certainly not who I am in life and, yeah, so that aspect of it was a challenge it’s always a challenge to sell the idea that I’m actually a neurosurgeon and I know what to do with all of these instruments and tools and all of these words. Would I say – I don’t know if it’s the greatest challenge. I think I felt more challenge when I started Battlestar just because I felt very unprepared for the whole American TV machine and I was trying a new accent on and I don’t have any issues with an accent. And I did have anxiety when I started Battle – well, you’re very sweet! So yeah, I felt pretty – you know, I was nervous because of David’s reputation. He’s a great producer over here and I didn’t want to let myself or him down so I was definitely apprehensive and nervous but, no, he was challenged enough, put it that way.
Q) Jennifer, same kind of thing, when you read it what were your feelings?
Jennifer:Yeah, very similar to Jamie first and foremost the David Kelley aspect and then the fact that we had Sanjay backing us and not only that it was based on a novel and I’ve never played a character that was based on a novel before. I liked that there was a very clear outline of who this character was. I liked that I had someone to guide me if I had any questions and then I think there were a couple of other ingredients that were important to me as well. I’ve wanted to be part of a very strong ensemble for a long time and I was fortunate enough to do that in comedy in my last show but I truly was wanting to do that in drama. And then the other thing being I desperately wanted to work on a cable show. I think that especially TNT is notorious for allowing their shows to grow and giving them a chance and there expectations are more realistic. They also allow a show to breath, allow the creators to really have their own space and they don’t try to interfere so much they just really allow the show to grow and to sort of do it’s own thing without trying to poke their heads in. I mean, everybody knows the story about how Cheers used to be, what, “Cheers” was like number 99 and then they gave it a couple of years and it was number one for eight more years. So, you know, there is something to be said about allowing audiences to discover a show over time and it’s certainly a blessing for us actors if we get more than a season to really discover who our characters are and get down deeper as performers.
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