Julianna Margulies: The Dark Side of ‘The Good Wife’

“The Good Wife” star on what she likes about the Emmys (they’re old school) and what she doesn’t (they judge you on one episode)

It's probably unkind to say that "The Good Wife" is the last best hope for the broadcast networks when it comes to the Emmy drama categories, but the second-year CBS show is one of the few network offerings to challenge in a field once again likely to be dominated by the likes of HBO, AMC and Showtime. And Julianna Margulies, whose portrayal of long-suffering political wife Alicia Florrick gives the show its title, will certainly be in the thick of this year's race for Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

After a debut season in which Florrick tried to rebuild her life and her law career after her husband was caught in a very public sex scandal, Margulies' character got a lot more assertive in year two. Particularly dramatic was a season-ending string of episodes in which she dallied with a co-worker and threw her husband out of the house as his political career was showing new signs of life.

Julianna Margulies(Getty Images photo by Frazer Harrison)

The way this season ended, apparently she's not such a good wife anymore.
I find her fascinating to play, because I wish I could be as reserved in expressing myself as she is. And I think finally, after two seasons of her sort of brushing things aside, she goes a little crazy. And that's good.

But the experience of it was pretty intense. Those were the hardest episodes I've shot.

After two seasons, do you feel as if you know her better?
What's really intriguing about doing a television series is that it's a never-ending path to finding out who these characters are. As it is in real life. With films and theater you get a beginning, a middle and an end, so you can create this arc of a human character. And the challenge of television is to constantly unfold who this person is, because without that it would become one-dimensional.

It's been an incredibly cathartic experience this season. She spent a good three-quarters of the first season watching, which is what I love about her. My favorite movie is "Being There," and that's what Chauncey Gardner does: He watches. And she takes a lot in. And I think now she's reacting and she's taking charge a little bit. Whether it's taking charge in a positive way, we don’t know yet.

When a series has been on the air for a while and we start learning new things about the characters, I always wonder if the actors think, "Damn, I wish I knew that piece of information when we were starting out."
That's really interesting, because it happened to me when I was doing "ER." I had done all this research on the character for myself: What kind of a person tries to commit suicide, this and that. And I pieced together from what they gave me that she had been an only child, and at her wedding she only had her mother and her uncle, there was no father around.

And then in year four I had a flippant line where I was walking down the hallway and I said, "Well, I had to share a bathroom with seven sisters." And I said, "Guys, I can't say that. If I had seven sisters, why wouldn't they have been at the wedding?" "Well, we need to start bringing in new characters… "  "No no no no no, you can't do that to me."

Julianna Margulies and George ClooneySo that was one of those moments to me. But where we are now with this character, there's so much that's possible. I would love to know a little bit more of the relationship with her parents, and what kind of a father she had that she would marry a man like Peter Florrick.

Do you talk to the writers about where you'd like her to go?
At the end of every season, they always ask. You don’t usually get that from showrunners, but they sit us down and ask us what we would like to see, what we've enjoyed doing, what we haven’t enjoyed doing, what we would like to see our character do.

And the truth is, for me, because the character is the central thread of the show, I feel incredibly beholden to the writers. I need to allow them to do what they want with her, and to make it my job to somehow incorporate that into a performance that makes my character work. I don’t want to know too much about her. I like to stay as present as possible in each episode.

But there are certain things. Last year I said to them, "I think it would be important for the audience to understand why she was the good wife, why she stuck through this. Let's bring in some family member who knows her past." And they did that so beautifully with the Dallas Roberts character.

It's a beautiful way to discover who Alicia really is, through her gay brother. He's an incredibly funny man, but with such humanity and compassion. And I think she's lived this life of straight men, she's in a business with straight men, her husband has been nothing but a philanderer and pig, and so it's sort of nice to see that she can be coddled by someone.

What did you tell them this year when they asked what you'd like to see for her in the future?
I said, "I'm very excited to explore what life would be like without her being the wife of." It's going to be an interesting situation that she's been put in, which is he's obviously running for senate or governor or something, and there are going to have to be arrangements made, where they'll have to pretend that they are married. That title, the good wife, may really come to fruition. It's gonna be interesting.

Are you doing anything on your hiatus?
I'm trying not to. I'm tired. It's been a really great season, but the last four episodes basically didn't give me a moment to breathe. And so I would love to be a mom and a wife, and clean out my closet.

Julianna Margulies and Josh CharlesYou obviously have a lot more breathing room on an ensemble show like "ER" than on this, where you're the center.
You do. It's a great problem to have, and they really tried to lighten it this year. I didn't have to be in every courtroom scene. Last year they were so adamant about me being in every single scene, there was actually a courtroom scene – it wasn't my case, it was Josh Charles' case, and I sat behind him – where I actually saw myself fall asleep onscreen. Which my lawyer friends tell me is completely realistic.

It's a big load to carry, but I do love it. I love the character, and i love the writing. It's very rare when you get a job as an actor where you don’t need to change an if, an and or a but. I'm always so skeptical of actors who walk on a set and say they have to change the lines into their own words. I think, well, maybe you should actually try and respect the writing a little more. That's our job. And if the writing's good enough, you should be able to do that.

You've been nominated for an Emmy seven times before, and you won the first time you were nominated.
For "ER," yes.

At this time of year, do you allow yourself to get wrapped up in Emmy talk?
You know, I'd been away from it for so long that last year was the first upheaval of it all again. The truth is, it's great for business and it's great for the show, but I always look at it and think, Richard Burton does not have an Academy Award. One of the best actors to ever walk the earth.

So there's a certain distance I give myself from it. Listen, to work in this industry at all is a gift. To work on a show where people are watching is a huge gift. To then be recognized for your work is beyond that. So of course it's a lot of fun to wear a pretty dress, and it's incredibly flattering and it warms your heart and it makes you happy. But at the same time, you have to keep everything in perspective.

Have you picked out your Emmy episode to submit?
I will after I see them all. That's a tricky thing with the Emmys. With SAG and the Golden Globes, it's based on your body of work on that show. For the Emmys, it's based on one episode. And picking that episode is a very difficult task, especially in a show like ours, which is a serial, not a procedural. Alicia Florrick is a very still character. It's not a splashy role, and I know that awards like a splash.

Julianna MarguliesI think the reason I've been recognized at the Globes and the SAG Awards (right; photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) is that they're basing it on the through-line of a character I've been portraying, rather than just one episode. But what I love about the Emmys is that it's old school. The Emmy are very sort of traditional and respectful: this is who we are and this is what we do. And we go and have some fun.

Sounds like a healthy attitude.
Awards shows are strange, anyway. How on earth did I win a Golden Globe over Glenn Close, for crying out loud? You can't pit people against each other. You can win a race, you can run faster than someone else. That's a win. But can you act faster than someone else? You really have to get serious about that and understand that it is what it is.

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