(Credit: Miranda Penn Turin/FOX)
Her tough-as-nails TV mom must be so proud.
We chatted with former "ER" star—and new mommy—Julianna Margulies about portraying a lawyer on her new FOX show, "Canterbury's Law."
As an actor, is it more difficult to rattle off legal jargon or medical terminology?
Oh, medical by far. I would look up in the medical dictionary what I was saying. I didn’t know what Demerol was until I tried it, you know? [Legal jargon] is much more feasible to me than the medical profession. Also, when I trailed nurses in hospitals, I usually ended up in the hallway with my head between my legs because I was so nauseous from watching an intubation!
So what's been the tougher battle: facing down Canterbury's personal demons, or fighting all those snakes on a plane?
"Snakes on a Plane" was a fun jaunt. There wasn’t a lot of extra thinking that went into that role in terms of character layers. Fighting personal demons is what we do in life, and those of us that say we don’t have them I’m worried about. I think they’re lying, and they’re going to combust any minute, so don’t trust anyone who says they don’t have something lurking in the dark.
The backdrop for this character is this missing child, and I don’t know how a mother or father would move on from there anyway. Not to have closure, not to know if your child is alive or dead, that backdrop has given her character a springboard. She’s already sunk to rock bottom, there’s no lower she can go in how she feels.
In one episode of "Canterbury's Law," your character is released from jail and seems completely unfazed by the whole experience.
There's something about her being locked up that’s almost a relief for her. That’s how I felt when I shot that scene. Lock me up, man, because I would love someone to tell me what to do and how to feel!
A friend of mine was telling me a story about a man who lost his wife after having twin daughters, and he woke up the next day and he thought it had been a dream, so he jumped out of bed, and then realized it was true. And it’s that feeling. It’s like, every day that’s how she wakes up. She jumps out of bed and then remembers the pain. And so, who cares? Jail, not jail—it’s all the same.
Yeah, she’s kind of living in a jail already.
A little bit, yes. It’s a prison to be trapped in this constant state of limbo. You don’t know where your kid is. It’s been four years. Is he alive? Is he being sexually abused? Does he remember me? Is he dead? Was he buried alive? What happened? It would truly make me want someone to give me a lobotomy. So jail, no jail, whatever; it’s what makes her interesting.
If you had to spend time in jail, is there anything you couldn’t live without, even for a few hours?
(Laughs.) Even for a few hours?
Something you’d be craving, or couldn’t live without...?
I think if anyone couldn’t spend a few hours without anything, they should go to therapy. A few hours I could handle. I could handle a few days. But if it was more than a few days, I would say I'd need ice cold water.
Ice cold water? Why's that?!
It could be because I’m nursing right now, and all I do is crave ice cold water. So let’s hope when I do go to jail, I’m not nursing!
