So, a couple of weeks ago, I got an email from the lovely and talented Gustave, telling me that he'd been contacted by Leslie Hope, whom he'd previously interviewed about24, and who was looking forward to talking about Line Of Fire with TWoP. He told me he'd pass along her information if I wanted the interview...which, come on, of course I did. So I talked to Leslie on December 18th, me and the speaker phone sprawled on my unmade bed, and Leslie in Richmond, filming the Line Of Fire finale. And she was a complete delight -- candid and funny and very nice about the fact that I had said some very mean things about her hair. Well, you'll see: Jessica: Hi Leslie, it's Jessica from Television Without Pity. Leslie Hope: Hi, Jessica. How are you? J: It's great to talk to you. How are you? LH: Good, thanks. J: Thanks for much for speaking to me; I really appreciate it. LH: Oh, I think that site fucking rocks. I'm totally happy to talk to you guys. J: Aw, thank you so much. We love you, too, so the feeling is totally mutual. Let's talk about Line Of Fire. LH: Okay, you go first. J: Okay! I was reading your bio, and I know that you've done a lot of interesting projects between now and 24. What made you decide to come back to television? LH: Well, I'm not actually in a position where I'm choosing things. Or, I'm not exactly fielding offers, you know what I mean? J: I find that so hard to believe, I have to tell you. I mean, I believe you, but.... LH: Thank you! I am definitely like a working Joe actor, and as much as 24 might have maybe raised a recognition or profile for me within my own industry, I still had to go in and audition. J: Oh, really? LH: Yeah, yeah. I was happy to go on something like this for a couple of reasons. One, I thought [Line of Fire creator] Rod Lurie's movie The Contender was terrific. And I thought the performances in that were awesome. And I was curious to meet him and see what he was up to. And, two, when I originally went in, I went in to read for the part that Julie Ann Emery plays [Special Agent Jennifer Sampson]. J: Oh, really? LH: Yeah, I went in to play the mom, with two kids, which on paper makes a lot of sense, but I think there was something about my surly attitude that suggested to Rod that I might be better off playing someone in charge.
J: And this part is so different from the part you played on 24, where she was sort of all in peril. And now you're this kind of hard-ass, kick-ass woman in charge. That must be fun for you. LH: Yes. And I would have to say, it, in fact, probably suits my personality a little better than being in peril. But, you know, I want to make perfectly clear, I loved my job on 24. Loved it. But it was definitely a nice change to be playing someone who was, you know, more in a Kiefer-type position than the other. J: Are you keeping up with 24 at all? Do you watch it, or is it just too weird for you? LH: It's not so much weird as I don't have a TV. I get all my insight, I swear to God, from you guys and from Kiefer. "What's our daughter doing this week? What's she up to?" J: Well, I guess that's a whole different perspective! So, you and Kiefer kept in touch? I think that's great. LH: Yes. He became a great, great friend of mine after that show, you know, during and after that show. It was one of the big bonuses of working on it. J: God, I can imagine. Has Line Of Fire been a really different working experience for you, compared to 24? I mean, I'm sure it has been, just as far as issues like continuity go -- you know, you're not in the same outfit for weeks at a time. LH: I think it has, one, because I feel like I've been through the fire a little bit with 24. I hadn't really done a television series before then, so it was all new to me. Not to work -- work wasn't new -- but to be on a show that had any kind of critical attention, not to mention that strong kind of fan base. You know, we're shooting in Richmond, and I just got stopped in a store the other day because of 24. The impact of something like that -- it was the first time I'd been through it. So this time I feel a little more...I want to say cynical and bitter, but I don't mean that. Seasoned, maybe, is a better word. I'm a little more used to how it goes. Everything is not the first time for me. And also the nature of my real life and the part I play on the show is that I'm one of the more senior members of the crew. In my little world of the FBI, I'm kind of the top dog. Whereas, certainly, on 24, Kiefer was our top dog. So that's different. That's a bit of an adjustment for me, too. But, beyond that, I think, at the end of the day, if you have a good group of people, and you're all trying to make the same show, it certainly turns out to be a pretty positive working experience.
J: Totally. I'm actually really enjoying the show. I was pretty mean about it in the first recap.... LH: I love how mean you are, I have to say. J: Thank you so much! I was thinking, "Oh, my God, she's going to hate me after I was so mean about her hair." LH: I told my agent, "Tell her I'm only going to talk to her if she talks about my mullet, and my bra." J: I have to tell you, the hair looks much better. I am very relieved. LH: Can I tell you what the real deal was with my hair? J: Yes! LH: When I got off 24, pretty soon after that I did a movie that took place in the '70s, this movie with Jimmy Caan and Gena Rowlands, and I needed to kind of have that '70s pouffy housewife hair. And I literally flew in from Calgary, and the day I was shooting here in Richmond for the pilot. J: Oh my God. LH: So we just didn't know what to do. J: Well, that explains it. I was like, "What is up with her hair?" LH: I know, it was bad. I was making the best of a bad situation. J: And the whole sleeping-in-your-bra thing....well, I'm sure that has, in part, to do with the fact that...you know, it's network television. LH: Well, you know what? Actually, no, I will tell you that...I mean, that IS a consideration -- that they can't show full frontal nudity, or we can't, or I won't, as far as that goes. But the idea was, and the idea we were trying to lay in early -- because that was a reshoot. We shot the pilot and we came back a month or two later to that particular scene -- the idea is that my character is a drinker, and reckless in her personal life, and more that's going to come out later. And we were trying to lay that in then. And the idea was -- my sort of smart idea which didn't actually come off so well -- was that she was so drunk that the best she could do was pull her pants down, have sex with this guy, and he'd left. And none of that is apparent. The guy's not there, he's long gone, and the evidence of the drinking and the smoking and all that is really not laid in too strongly. So it doesn't quite work. It just looks like...you know, I'm an idiot. So that was the idea. And having said that, I think I make the same mistake later on. J: Well, I'll keep an eye open for that. LH: But it was supposed to be that she's so drunk, there's nothing romantic about the night that she's just had. And I asked, "Can you just show my pants around my ankles?" But they thought that was too dirty.
J: That was too much? Pants around the ankles are going too far? LH: [laughs] Yeah, right. Not a problem to cut a guy's head off, but to have a woman's pants around her ankles is too much. J: Well, we have to have our standards, apparently. Actually, there's been some speculation on the boards about Lisa, your character's, sexuality. After Episode Three, some people thought she might be a lesbian. And some people think she's a promiscuous alcoholic....Basically, there's some interest in seeing where that goes -- her personal life and...sexual proclivities, I guess I'll say. LH: Okay. Here's what I think I can say that won't get me fired. My understanding of it is that this woman goes out to drink and find some kind of companionship. And it's not that she's looking for women particularly, it's that she's just open to opportunities, one. And two, I think we've been trying to find our way, too. It's the nature of a new show. I think we're throwing a few things up and trying to see if they're going to stick or not. And I can tell you that after week's episode, or the one after, it'll be more clear. But I think that's the reality of doing a new show, or one like this. 24 was mapped out to a certain extent, and it had to stay within certain confines. In a show like this, an ensemble like this, there's so many possibilities and characters and so many possible ways they can go, that they, you know, they try stuff. They see if something's gonna work or not, if there's any play in it. And sometimes it's really hard to tell until it's put together. J: Right, until you see it all strung out. Well, as far as this all goes, you definitely have good chemistry with Anson Mount. LH: Mmm-hmmm. J: So I think people are interested to see where that's going, also. LH: Interesting. J: Ha ha. "Interesting"! I get it, that's all you can say. Listen, do you ever tease him about being in a Britney Spears movie? LH: I like to tease him mercilessly and daily. J: Good. He's so cute, but my first reaction to seeing him was, "Oh my God, it's the guy from Crossroads." I don't know what that says about me. LH: Yeah, I can't tease him about it as much as I'd like, because I haven't brought myself to actually see Crossroads. J: Well, it's a fine film. LH: The very fact that he was in it makes him fodder for jokes all the time.
J: So, are you guys done filming? Are you right at the tail end, or what? LH: We are literally two days away. We're in Richmond right now, and we're all leaving Saturday, and we will have finished our complete thirteen, including the pilot. And then we wait. J: And then you just wait. LH: I guess we find out [about being renewed or not], I guess it's later in May. They could tell us earlier, but I don't know why they have to, if we're going season or not. It's bizarre because we shot...that's another thing: when you asked me about taping the show, it was well before the regular pilot season, when we shot the pilot. I was very happy to not have to go through the feeding frenzy of pilot season, as an actor. So, this early opportunity came up. It was November, I think, when we shot the pilot -- November or December -- so it's a year that we've been on this essentially. And that'll be seven months, if we're lucky, if we come back. J: Wow, so this has been a long gig for you. You must be ready for a break. LH: Yes, I am. J: I recently read that you've been doing some directing. Are you going to get a chance to direct any episodes of Line of Fire? LH: It's something that I would certainly ask them to consider if we went for another season. I think it's an easier way to come in as newer director, through a show that you're on as an actor. But it's certainly something I've been doing with my theatre company, and I've been trying to pursue actively for two or three years. But I keep getting distracted because of these TV jobs! I think I'm going to come in for a day or two, maybe a week, you know, and it won't be a big deal, and I'll leave it to someone else to sort of carry on the show, but I always seem to get more involved than I anticipated, certainly with 24, and now with this as well. I thought I might come in once a week and tell the young agents to go take care of things, but, instead, I seem to be having my own life! So, yes, it's certainly something that I'm going to go after, and I think it's something that better suits my temperament, being in charge of things. J: Well, your character is certainly very much in charge of things. I mean, since they've given you guns and stuff. That seems like it would be fun. LH: I tell you, when I first came into it, I very much had this notion that, one, the FBI were these square, kind of jar-headed, uptight guys and I also came in with this sort of girly idea: "I don't know about the guns." Well, first off, they are the most extraordinary men and women, the agents that I've been dealing with, that I've ever met though work. But, two, we've taken on some pretty intense weapons and tactical training, and I am having a love affair with my gun. When I came off the first day of practice shooting, I was so excited, I could hardly contain myself. It was incredible. And everything I went in thinking about, "Well, I don't know how to do this, and I'm just a girl," turned into "I'm gonna kill that motherfucker!" I'm loving the gun. Although the fact of the matter is, because of the part I'm playing, it's not appropriate for me to be pulling my gun that often. I leave the dirty work to my minions. But I am desperate to pull that gun.
J: Well, maybe second season. Maybe you can go on a killing spree. LH: A girl can dream. J: Exactly. So, you guys are getting a lot of input from the actual FBI, then? That's great. That must really help. Everything I know about the FBI comes from The X-Files. Which I'm sure is not very accurate at all. LH: Everything I know about the FBI came from movies! Right? The idea of these kind of uptight, conservative guys whose ties are tied too tight. Not one of these guys has been that way. I mean, they all dress nicely. But they have been so kind, and so generous with us and so morally clear about doing the right thing. And not in a corny way. In sort of a truthful way. Their compass seems to be about doing the right thing. And that informs everything that they do. And, you know, I came in sort of suspicious of anything that has to do with a government agency, blah blah blah, but most of the guys we're dealing with are street agents. And it's very different than management, or the people who are answering directly to a government mandate. And when you hear all about the fuck-ups with 9/11 and everything else that's going on, it's usually because of a disconnect with management and the government, or management and the street agents. But these guys really are the good guys. J: That's so great to hear, too, you know? LH: It's true! And I can't tell you, there's not anybody much more cynical than me. And they have completely turned my head around. And on a personal level, they've also been so generous, telling us their own stories and experiences that might not put them in the best light, necessarily, about their personal lives. And they've just been overwhelmingly open to all of us. I think, besides the fact that they want us to do a good job, it's become sort of a collaboration. And they're not being paid either. They come on set and consult with us and if we're doing anything, from arresting a guy to a SWAT maneuver to "how do you interrogate somebody?", they're there. They just come down. We have about three or four guys that we can call any time. It's extraordinary. And, you know, they work for a living. They're busy, right? Sometimes, I'll be like, "George, you couldn't come down," and George will be like, "Yeah, I had to do a SWAT raid at 2:30 in the morning. We had twenty-seven guys bust this pornographer." "Oh, that's why. That's a good reason." J: Well, this sounds like it's been kind of a great experience for you.
LH: It is. It's certainly a great part that I get to play. I like a lot of the people I'm working with. I really like Brian Goodman, who plays the bad guy [Donovan Stubbin]. J: Yeah, he's great. LH: Isn't he awesome? He kinda blows my mind. For me, he's close to my age, I'm guessing, but he's a younger actor. And he's a clinic in acting. He just shows up and you can't take your eyes off him. I think he's really great, and certainly someone I wouldn't get to know if I hadn't been on a show like this. J: Is there anything else you'd like to say to the readers? LH: What else could I tell them? Without sounding hokey, that I'm so appreciative of the support they're thrown out to me with 24 and this. J: Well, we really appreciate how open you've been with the site. It's been great. LH: I think you guys rock. And don't pull any punches just because we talked. You can still make fun of my hair and all that. J: Okay, I will. LH: Okay, good! J: In fact, I'm going to go do that now. Thank you so much, Leslie! LH: Okay! Bye!