TV INTERVIEW: ANGIE HARMON

Co-Starring with Sasha Alexander in TNT's New Crime-Drama, 'Rizzoli & Isles'

By: Parimal M. Rohit

July 22, 2010

It is the Summer of the Woman over at TNT, as the acclaimed award-winning cable television network is premiering yet another original drama series with at least one female in a leading role in Rizzoli & Isles. Based on characters created by best-selling author Tess Gerritsen, Rizzoli & Isles launches July 12, 2010 following the sixth-season premiere of TNT’s hit series starring Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer. (The cable network also kicked off the second season of HawthorRNe last month, which stars Jada Pinkett-Smith in the leading role.) Set in Boston, the new crime drama series features two leading actresses who are no strangers to television programs dealing with murder scenes, lawyers, judges, law enforcement, first-responders, and criminal trials. With NCIS’s Sasha Alexander taking on the role of Maura Isles the medical examiner, actress Angie Harmon deviates a bit from her lawyerly role in Law & Order by portraying Boston detective Jane Rizzoli in Rizzoli & Isles. Collectively, Angie and Sasha might just be the 21st century’s version of Cagney & Lacey.

A native of Dallas, Texas, Angie definitely hopes that is the case, as she set aside some time after leaving the production set of Rizzoli & Isles to watch over her three children at a Toy Story-themed event and chat with Buzzine about what made this latest television venture so appealing to her.

“I think the thing that made this stand out the most was just the fact that … there’s a lot more (depth) to these characters. We see their back stories, we see their present situations, and I think that, to me, was a lot more interesting than just the regular procedure,” said Angie, who previously played an Inspector in 2007 and 2008 in the television series Women’s Murder Club. “It’s like four heads standing around a body spelling it out for you. It’s a lot more of a roller coaster ride. It’s definitely got a lot more grit to it.”

The show as a whole may have some grit, but as for Jane Rizzoli, Angie took a few moments to interpret and analyze how the fictional character portrayed the real-life actress usually perceived by audiences who is traditionally tackling “intelligent” roles.

“I (think) she’s witty, she’s funny, and a lot of people … don’t … see me as a funny character because I don’t usually get to play them. I’m usually cast in the more dramatic roles, and it’s been a really, really fun time playing her humor and playing her attitude,” Angie candidly stated to Buzzine. “She’s a complete tomboy, so I did sort of a really intense study on men and how they relate to each other in the way they walk and the way they hold themselves and the way they position themselves in the hierarchy in something as simple as a conversation.”

Ironically, Angie was searching to position herself in a different kind of hierarchy — the type that would have been as simple as never picking up a script again and just tending to her children. If it had not been for Rizzoli & Isles, the last the masses may have ever seen of Angie Harmon would be in re-runs of Law & Order or Women’s Murder Club.

“I was pretty much getting ready to retire and thinking that I’m going to move back East with my kids and raise my little girls and go be mommy,” she said. “I wasn’t really finding the roles that I thought … I wanted to play. So I just sort of made a deal with God, and I was like, ‘Okay, I would love something on cable, shoot five months a year, and then I get to be mommy the rest of the time.’ I like to be funny and strong and intelligent. Literally the next day, it (the offer to star in Rizzoli & Isles) was on my front porch because my manager lives down the street. So I feel very lucky, and I feel very blessed because you don’t often get exactly what you wanted and hoped for.”

How great things eventually worked out for Angie, as she is cast in a cable television series she finds to be a perfect fit for her career while also finding time to spend with her children as a working mother. As many other working mothers will be spending equally qualitative time with their respective families this summer, Angie hopes many of them will tune in to TNT on Monday nights to watch her and Sasha Alexander in Rizzoli & Isles.

Rizzoli & Isles debuts on July 12, 2010 at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT) following the season premiere of The Closer.