The TV Chick

I absolutely adore everything about The Good Wife — from the tremendous acting to the amazing writing to all the characters with such great backstory and storylines. One of the greatest things about the show is that they bring on such amazing guest stars. Some become regulars (Alan Cumming) and some return for more in another season. Carrie Preston played Elsbeth Tascioni in season one and she is back recurring her role in tonight’s episode. I recently had the chance to chat with Carrie and we talked about what Elsbeth is up to this time around, season five of True Blood and some of her upcoming movie projects.

You are returning to The Good Wife tonight, one of my favorite shows. What is Elsbeth up to this time?
Well, this time my character has been hired by Alicia Florrick to help her with a Catch 22 situation that she’s gotten herself in. She’s defending a suspected terrorist and she reveals something to her that if she tells the State Department what she heard from him, he will go to prison. But if she doesn’t tell the State Department what she heard from him, she will go to prison. So she’s stuck. So that’s when I come in.

Do you think where its left might allow you to come back for more episodes at some point?
Yes, I do think that’s a possibility. I think it’s also part of what they do on The Good Wife. They have a stable of wonderful guest players that they like to dip into and bring people back. They certainly did that with me already. I did the two episodes in season one and now I’m back in season three. Yeah, I would love to come back. It’s such a fun singular character, unlike any of the others on TV.

Were you a fan of the show when you first signed on back in season one? Had you been watching?
I had. I had been watching from the beginning. Julianna Margulies is a friend of mine. We did a Broadway show together about five years ago and we got to be friends, and so I started watching it first to support her, and immediately became a fan. And I have never missed an episode.

Is it exciting to play someone totally and completely opposite from Arlene?
It is. It’s really fun to show different colors. As an actor, what we all strive for is to be able to transform and to be able to get inside the skin of all different kinds of people. Certainly, doing the character work that I end up doing, it is fun to see where I’m going to end up (laughs) depending on the role. And it was fun to get into the skin of a scatterbrained genius.

Obviously, you probably don’t know much about season five of True Blood, but what can you share? What are you looking forward to?
Well, I have read the first episode. It starts taping in three weeks. I just have to say that many of the answers that people are looking for will be addressed pretty immediately. True Blood’s pretty good about that — picking up on the heels of where we left off and providing answers pretty quickly. But then of course, a million other questions (laughs) get addressed and brought up and I’m curious to see myself where those things end up going. But, it’s, I think, going to be an exciting season already.

What have you loved most about playing Arlene over these last four seasons?
I guess I just love how consistent she is as a human being. You can pretty much count on how she’s going to react to any given situation. But for me, it’s been really fun finding ways to deepen her and give her more humanity within the humor. And the writers have definitely given me that gift of some more dramatic scenes and that’s been refreshing as a nice balance to her comedy.

I probably loved the crazy baby scenes the most last season.
They were very fun and also kind of challenging to play, because the baby was so cute. (laughs) It was very hard to think of that child being possessed at all. They were twins. They were precious.

You have a couple movies coming up. “A Bag of Hammers” and “Sironia.” What can you share about those projects?
Well, both of them are independent films that have a lot of heart and a lot of talent behind them. “A Bag of Hammers” is a really interesting film about two young men who start off at the beginning of the film with no sense of consequence or responsibility and by the end of the film, they’ve really grown up. And my characters is pivotal in that growth because I’m a single mother with a child that is in desperate need of some kind of parenting that my character’s not able to provide. So, it’s a really interesting look at alternative parenting, without ever really saying that that’s what it’s doing. And I really appreciate that about the film. And then “Sironia,” I have more of a cameo in that. I’m at the beginning of the film and at the end of the film. But the scenes are very important to the main character’s journey. And I sort of set the whole thing in motion and then I come in the third act and help the main character who has a very important revelation. So in a way, the scenes kind of exist separate from the film, which was fun to do. And it was fun to play something so subtle and again, quite different from Arlene. (laughs)

And do you think we might at some point see you guest star on your husband’s new show, Person of Interest?
Oh, I hope so! I certainly hope so. I know there’s been some talk about finding a way to get me on there. Nothing’s come up that’s been quite right yet. But I certainly hope I get to do that because I had a great time when I guested on “Lost.” One of these days, we hope that I’ll be on there. And one of these days, we hope that he’ll be on “True Blood.” You never know. All the stars have to align.

It seems like on tonight’s episode of The Good Wife, you mainly work with Alicia. Is there someone you would have loved to have a scene with or someone you’d love to work with if you come back?
Oh gosh, it’s such a tremendous cast. I’ve always been a fan of Christine Baranski, so I would love to do a scene with her.

Be sure to tune in tonight at 9 PM to CBS for Carrie’s episode of The Good Wife