Kyra Sedgwick Shoulders Fifth Season of The Closer
Kyra Sedgwick describes her Closer character, Brenda Johnson, as “incredibly delicate and fragile and yet really, really strong and fierce” — and to look at Sedgewick, that could describe her as well. Dressed in an immaculate white dress, surrounded by a crush of people working the room at TNT’s recent spring presentation to reporters and advertisers, she looks as endangered as a lilly at the side of an on-ramp.

Until you see her up close.

Sedgwick, it turns out, is ripped. She’s small, of course, but with sturdy shoulders and slender, powerful-looking calves. Maybe it’s the dress, but the actress seems to draw the light in a room filled with star power, including not only Saving Grace star Holly Hunter, but Jada Pinkett Smith, star of the network’s new HawthoRNe, and her husband, Will Smith, one of the most bankable movie stars in the world. And yet Sedgwick stands out — perhaps because she’s the essence of TNT.

Whether by coincidence, careful niche-making, a feminist streak or some combination of the three, TNT has become the go-to network for female-driven, emotionally involving dramas. And The Closer, which begins its fifth season Monday at 9 p.m., started the cycle.

“The theme this year is change, and obviously there’s change in the fact that she’s married, and she’ll have to be married to her job and her husband,” she says. “There’s obviously talk about having a child, which is challenging for Brenda: believing in a universe that’s friendly and benevolent enough and safe enough to have a child.”

Brenda could take tips from the woman who plays her on how to blend home and career. Sedgwick’s husband, Kevin Bacon, directs an episode of The Closer each year, and they also worked together in the 2004 film The Woodsman. Their next joint project is developing a new series for TNT.

The tentatively titled Zapata, Texas is the story of a high school football star whose dreams of NFL stardom are dashed by a torqued knee. He returns home to find his father, the town sheriff, has fallen ill — and resolves to take his place.

“He ends up taking over as the sheriff of this biracial border town. So he has to navigate the politics of small towns and the politics of the law there. It’s a character-driven piece, with issues of law and order,” Sedgwick says.

Kind of like The Closer. But Zapata, Texas will have a male lead — a further expansion for the TNT brand.

Can Sedgwick carry the weight? All indications point to yes. She already carries The Closer, which it turn has helped built an entire network’s reputation. And, like we said, the woman has strong shoulders.

seattlepi.com

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Kyra Sedgwick may be heading into the most explosive season of ‘The Closer’ yet

Kyra Sedgwick nabbed a Golden Globe for playing Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson on TNT’s The Closer but can an Emmy be close at hand?

Let’s hope so. The well-crafted series, created by James Duff—Sedgwick is also the co-executive producer—stormed onto the scene in 2005 and became an instant hit for TNT. Millions tuned in, and kept tuning in, to watch Sedgwick’s fish-out-of-water Southern Belle use her charms in L.A.’s beleaguered Priority Homicide Division. The character is now an icon and most cherish the show’s closing moments, when Chief Johnson gushes out “thank yous” while single-handedly milking out a confession from wrongdoers using her one-of-a-kind verbal warfare.

Behind the scenes, Sedgwick did garner multiple Emmy nominations for the role and took home a Golden Globe for Best Actress (in a TV Drama) in 2007. She also nabbed a People’s Choice Award this year (for TV Drama Diva). It’s a nice shift for Sedgwick, who had noteworthy supporting roles in such films as Something To Talk About, Loverboy and The Woodsman (opposite husband Kevin Bacon). The series enters its fifth season tonight at 9pm.

“It’s a hard thing to articulate how to keep Brenda ‘fresh.’ A lot of it has to do with being with the character for a really long time and getting deeper into her psyche,” Sedgwick says of the role. “But I also think some of the stuff is really in the writing and the new things she comes up against—getting married, getting older, her parents getting older, her cat getting older. Things keep changing.”

She’s quick to praise the show’s diverse cast (J.K. Simmons, John Tenney, Raymond Cruz, Corey Reynolds, Robert Gossett, G.W. Bailey, and San Francisco natives Gina Ravera, and Michael Paul Chan). “The best thing about playing the character, for me, is the myriad contradictions Brenda has,” Sedgwick adds. “Like the fact that she can be so strong and so incredibly delicate and fragile with her personal relationships. That is very exciting to play as an actor.”

Even more interesting perhaps is how Sedgwick polishes the dynamic dialogue she’s often given—she uses a dramaturge to work on scenes and tape records many of her lines, playing them over and over as she walks or runs errands.

“Brenda often has diarrhea of the mouth,” Sedgwick jokes, “and I am not the kind of person who can just look at dialogue and learn it really quickly. I have to learn it through the senses; every sense has to be used. I have to hear it, look at it and if I could, I have to touch it, like brail.”

There are some major changes in Season 5. (Most appreciated last season’s wrap-up, which finally found Brenda marrying longtime love Fritz. Tonight’s opener covers a brutal mass murder.) The series looses one cast member this year but Sedgwick says, “It’s the best, first six scripts I’ve read since we’ve been going.” Biggest news, perhaps, is the addition of Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica)—another fine actress who’s work on TV has been overlooked by Emmy voters. McDonnel plays Capt. Melinda Rehder of the Force Investigation Division, an internal group that investigates officer shootings. (Expect her to butt heads with the chief.) Stephen Martines returns as the L.A. Times reporter that often stifles investigations.

examiner.com

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Kyra Sedgwick Talks Season 5 and Another TNT Series

The fifth season of The Closer kicked off last night with an episode that saw the team investigating a quadruple murder that may be linked to an FBI case. Of course, there were some notable changes this season and lead star Kyra Sedgwick dished out what’s in store for her character Brenda Johnson now that she’s married to her FBI beau Fritz (Jon Tenney).

“The theme this year is change, and obviously there’s change in the fact that she’s married, and she’ll have to be married to her job and her husband,” the Closer actress explained. “There’s obviously talk about having a child, which is challenging for Brenda: believing in a universe that’s friendly and benevolent enough and safe enough to have a child.”

Meanwhile, Sedgwick also revealed some of the guest stars who would grace the new season.

“One of the things I’m most excited about is Mary McDonnell [from Battlestar Galactica] comes on and plays an antagonist for Brenda. It’s really great for Brenda to have a female antagonist, I think. And Lee Tergesen from Oz. We’re trying to get someone great for the next episode. I don’t know who it’s gonna be,” she said.

But The Closer isn’t Sedgwick’s only show on TNT. She and husband Kevin Bacon, who directs an episode of The Closer each year, are currently developing a new series for the network which is tentatively called Zapata, Texas.

The new series, Zapata, Texas, has a similar premise to The Closer but will have a male lead instead—a further expansion for the female-dominated TNT brand. The show centers on the story of a high school football star whose dreams of NFL stardom are crushed by a torqued knee. When he returns home to find his father, the town sheriff, has fallen ill, he resolves to take his place.

“He ends up taking over as the sheriff of this biracial border town. So he has to navigate the politics of small towns and the politics of the law there. It’s a character-driven piece, with issues of law and order,” Sedgwick said.

buddytv.com

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The Closer: Preview of Season 5 Premiere

Other than the return of Weeds and the premiere of Nurse Jackie, Kyra Sedgwick also returns tonight on TNT’s crime drama The Closer. Sedgwick’s Brenda Johnson is now married to her FBI beau Fritz (Jon Tenney) which can make matters a little tricky, as her first case of the season lands her right in the middle of an FBI investigation. On the season 5 premiere episode “Products of Discover,” the team is tasked to investigate a quadruple murder. According to the promo, Brenda “loses someone very dear to her.” Sedgwick advised, however, that “It’ll be quick and painless, and it’ll be soon.”

Series creator James Duff says in reference to season five: “After four years of really getting to know these characters, the fifth season marks a great time to see how they react to major changes both inside and outside the squad room. We’re very excited about where we’re taking Brenda and her squad in the coming year.” Also on tonight’s episode, Mary McDonnell guests as a new internal affairs officer, a character whom Sedgwick says is the complete opposite of hers.

The Closer stars Sedgwick, who won the 2007 Golden Globe for Beast Actress in a Drama Series for her role as the feminine but forecefull CIA-trained Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson. She heads the special LAPD unit Priority Homicide Division charged with cracking sensitive, high-profile murder cases.

Says the network, “For the fifth season, The Closer will explore the issue of change. Just as Brenda starts adjusting to married life, she loses someone very dear to her. Meanwhile, her righthand man Det. David Gabriel (Corey Reynolds) gets over a nasty breakup.” The Closer’s fourth season registered a slight decline in ratings, from an average of 9.21 million in the third season to 7.63 mil. The 15-episode fifth season premieres tonight on TNT.

buddytv.com

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Kyra Sedgwick Carries Fifth Season of The Closer

TNT’s blockbuster hit returns to prime time this evening with an explosive season premier that will have crime drama fans, and pet owners, equally on the edge of their seats thanks to Sedgwick’s powerful performance.

NEW YORK — Tough cookie Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson, played by Kyra Sedgwick, may mistakenly call her female cat, a “he” but her attachment to her pet, named Kitty, becomes strikingly clear throughout the season premier of TNT’s The Closer.

Airing tonight at 9 EST, Sedgwick, a Golden Globe winner for her role as Johnson, delivers another poignant performance which has made the cable series a blockbuster.

Facing a quadruple homicide — a grisly crime where a grandmother, mother and two children were shot execution style — the LAPD homicide unit struggles to cope in piecing together the case.

Each detective shows signs of their own personal connection to the case — with their own heartaches brought to surface by identifying with similar losses embodied in the homicide case.

For Johnson, peppered through the episode, which chronicles a three-day investigation, the conflict lies in helplessness.

After the first day’s investigation, Johnson first arrives home to greet — in normal everyday fashion — Kitty and her husband, FBI Agent Fritz Howard, played by Jon Tenney.

But the normal routine quickly begins to slip away as Johnson learns that Kitty’s sudden fickle eating behavior might mean something more serious.

Johnson’s bond with Kitty parallels the premier’s explosive plot, says James Duff, the series creator and executive producer.

“She’s projecting the exact details of the case onto Kitty — where the guy left his house at breakfast and he came back and his family was gone,” said Duff in an interview with ZT Pet News.

Having worked Kitty into the plot at episode three, Duff says the pet has been a symbolic tool for showing that Johnson and other real-life detectives are just “normal people doing (a really hard job) and they are sent out there to deal with extraordinarily terrible people.”

Dressed in feminine lines of various pink hues, Johnson’s soft appearance starkly contrasts her stalwart demeanour despite the harrowing turns the murder investigation takes throughout the course of three days.

But Kitty is Johnson’s escape.

“It gives her a chance to project what she can’t do at work — she can’t be seen at work weeping at crime scenes,” Duff explained. “She can’t be seen as overly grief stricken.

“But all of that does not go away.”

Known as “the closer,” Johnson lives up to her reputation in an emotionally intense and exhausting interrogation which puts the case to bed and the murderer behind bars.

Eager for the comfort of her furry friend, Johnson walks through the door calling for Kitty. The house is ominously still, until her husband, Howard, emerges with news that the vet had to keep Kitty overnight.

“Then she says, ‘how come I couldn’t’ see this happening,’ ” recounted Duff. “It’s the moment she realizes Kitty is much sicker than she thought … so we are going to see her struggle with this for a while.”

Embracing the theme of “change,” this is The Closer’s fifth season as it leads the network’s programming for female-driven, emotionally packed dramas which also includes Saving Grace and HawthoRNe.

zootoo.com

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 at 9:34 am and is filed under The Closer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.