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| Shark star James Woods administers some gruff; justice | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 8 2009, 12:20 PM (64 Views) | |
| Warren | Feb 8 2009, 12:20 PM Post #1 |
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Shark star James Woods administers some gruff justice By Marcus Casey August 01, 2007 09:31am Article from: The Daily Telegraph JAMES Woods is an actor of immense experience and he has an arm's-length list of film credits. But he's best known for playing intense dudes, be they bad or good, and he carries menace on his face as easily as the rest of us wear a smile. Now at 60, the veteran is starring in his first ever TV series. While that's a break from tradition for him, the bloke he's playing in Shark is a polarising and brilliant jerk of a lawyer who has suffered a career crisis of faith and is seeking redemption. Flamboyantly abusive Sebastian Stark is the lawyer the worst of offenders turn to and he uses his arrogance as a courtroom tool, belittling opposing prosecutors. The show has been a hit in the US and Woods says it seems playing a narcissistic self-centred character has its benefits. "I have a poker-playing friend and he said to me, 'I love your character,' and I said, 'Why?'. He said, 'Because he's such a bastard'. I said, 'Well, he has a softer side', and he said, 'Well, don't show it to me because I'm not interested'," Woods explains. Stark is a torn man. In the opening pilot episode - directed with some zesty flair by filmmaker Spike Lee - he triumphs as usual in a court case defending an allegedly violent man. The lawyer is heady with success, but all that changes a few days later when his defendant brutally kills his own wife. He wants to prove to Stark that winning is not everything and really does come at a cost - that it can see a guilty man freed. Stark then crosses to the other side and joins the district attorney office as a prosecutor. His former mortal enemy Jessica Devlin (Jeri Ryan) becomes his boss and hands him a team of green young legal misfits. He promptly pulls out files to show he has profiled each of them - all entirely negative. But there's plenty of work to be done in gang-ridden South Central LA and Stark has an added responsibility when his 16-year-old daughter decides to move in with him. In effect, he is a short-tempered but thawing genius - much like another TV character called House. "I think that there is appeal with a guy who's that way but for a pretty nice purpose - and that he's in the process of serving that good purpose, which is finding justice," says Woods. "He's also doing (penance) for a time when he really wasn't serving justice, but serving himself. "So you're watching a guy kind of heal in the direction of kind of caring about others, even though he's a gruff character so there's something you like about him. "And House, as narcissistic as he is, remember, he's a doctor trying to save people's lives. "I'm a guy trying to put the bad guys away and bring justice to those who are victimised. So it's like I'm a hero, but I'm a pretty gruff one. "I've played a lot of anti-heroes and villains in my life, but I've always been most comfortable being an anti-hero. In other words, the guy who could probably just as easily be the villain, but just for the heck of it decided to be the hero. "That's always kind of fun, because heroes who are squeaky clean really aren't very interesting. But dark-and-dirty heroes like me, it appeals to women, probably, if I were better looking, and guys sort of, you know, like it too." Woods says he sees elements of his character in himself. "A lot of the Shark's in me because they really write for me," the actor says. "And I have to say Ian Biederman, who created the character, really sort of gets the voice, and I do a little bit of ad libbing and you'll be able to pick when I've done it." * Shark, Monday, Seven, 9.30pm |
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5:52 PM Jul 13