PRESS ARCHIVE
Herald Sun - May 18th 2002
Flockhart bids fond farewell to alter ego 'Ally McBeal'

By John Crook

Ally McBeal is McBummed.

At least Calista Flockhart is, and the 37 year old actress is used to blurring the line between her own personality and the title role on the Emmy-winning Fox series that ends a five-season run on Monday, May 20.

"Actually, I'm going through a myriad of emotions," Flockhart says during a recent break in filming the episode finale. "I think we all are. And I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to talk about the last episode at all, or someone would come in and put a bullet through my head while I am on the phone with you."

She can crack jokes like that now, because it's been a little over a week since David E.Kelley, the creator and executive producer of "Ally McBeal". told his cast that their show had been cancelled, a victim of declining ratings.

"I was sitting in the makeup trailer. David came in and said 'Can I talk to you a minuter?' I said 'Sure.' We went outside and he told me, and then he called the crew and the cast and everybody to the set and told us all together," she recalls.

"There had been a lot of speculation, and people were somewhat prepared for it. We all sort of knew it would end this year or possibly next year, but it was still a blow. Like I said, you feel a myriad of emotions, because it's very exciting to think about the future and having the opportunity to do new things, and at the same time it's sad to say goodbye to all your friends and the work. I think everyone on the set feels proud to have been part of something that has been so special."

Ironically- and Flockhart laughs when she is reminded of this- she expressed strongly mixed emotions five years ago when Kelley plucked her from a very promising career on the New York stage, where she had earned glowing reviews for her performances in such classic plays as Anton Chekhov's "The Three Sisters" and Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie".

At the time, she was bracing herself to surrender part of her privacy and anonymity as an inevitable price for starring in a TV show, but she couldn't have known how deeply intrusive some of the media scrutiny would become, particularly in respect to her weight, or perceived lack thereof.

"I literally cannot imagine being put under a microscope like some people are doing to Calista, nor can I imagine dealing with it with as much grace as she somehow manages," co-star Greg Germann, who plays law partner Richard Fish, said in an interview at the height of the tabloid allegations that Flockhart suffered from a severe eating disorder.

"I know actors supposedly are fair game, but some of this stuff they've written about Calista goes way over the line," agreed Gill Bellows, who played Ally's erstwhile love interest, Billy Thomas.

Today Flockhart admits she's happy that media storm has moved elsewhere- no one went nuts when the unwed actress adopted an infant son, Liam, in early 2001, for example- but she doesn't see her renewed privacy as anything she accomplished on her own.

"I don't know that it's anything that I have done as much as that people have just kind of moved on. I think people pick a 'target', and they focus on that for a while, then they move on to somebody else," she says. "I've always tried to remain impervious to a lot of the press, to the ridiculous rumours and the things that were happening. You just focus on the work, and hang out with your friends and your family, and you just try to separate yourself from it.

"I don't have any regrets at all. Not a one. I feel so fortunate to have been part of the show. Change is inevitable, and you always have a period of adjustment, which I know I will go through again, but there are so many positive elements as well as so many things that will just be very hard to say goodbye to. So I guess I'm right back there where I started, feeling a little ambivalent.

A romantic comedy at heart, "Ally McBeal" usually focused on the love life of its title character, yet Kelley did some of his best and most poignant writing in scenes that accented the very deep platonic affection that blossomed between Ally and John Cage (Peter MacNicol), the decidedly eccentric law partner better known as "The Biscuit." Flockhart admits that she will miss playing those scenes between the two oddballs who resonated so strongly with one another.

"I've always thought that the scenes between Cage and Ally were beautifully written and I loved working with Peter MacNicol so much," she says quietly. "We had chemistry and a mutual respect and a mutual fondness. It's rare that you find people that you connect with, and it was especially rare for Ally- and I think that John Cage and Ally McBeal really connected in a profound and special way."
Date of this item added :
2007-09-02