Backbiting, underhandedness, betrayal and lots and lots of dirty, sexy money.
That’s the basic premise of the new hit ABC show Dirty Sexy Money about an idealistic attorney Nick (Peter Krause), who takes over his deceased dad’s job as the family lawyer to a quirky, demanding, dysfunctional, influential, old money New York family called the Darlings. He unexpectedly finds himself on call 24 hours a day to tend to their legal–and sometimes illegal–needs, much to the chagrin of his lovely wife, Lisa (Zoe McLellan).
The cast also includes Donald Sutherland as the patriarch Patrick “Tripp” Darling; Jill Clayburgh as his socialite wife, Letitia; William Baldwin as the eldest Darling sibling, Patrick Jr., an aspiring politician; Glenn Fitzgerald as Brian Darling, the wayward Episcopal priest; and Blair Underwood as a Russian techno-billionaire Simon Elder and the Darlings’ nemesis.
The show thrilled audiences and critics alike but just as Dirty Sexy Money was on a roll, the writers’ strike hit hard, cutting some of the show’s forward motion. Luckily, the complete first season is now available on DVD, so you can either get reacquainted or get hooked on the show before its second season airs Wednesday, Oct. 1 at 10:00 pm.
At the green carpet (green, as in money. Get it?) launch party for the DVD, in downtown L.A., Hollywood.com met some of the cast members, who weighed in on why the show has hit a chord with them:
Donald Sutherland: “It’s been very smooth and gentle. Extraordinarily, for me, creative. Creative in the best sense in that you get to call out pieces of truth and work with a genius. [Creator] Craig Wright has such a reserve of knowledge that he taps into, intellectually and emotionally, it’s substantial. It’s just one of the best exchanges I’ve had in my life.”
Blair Underwood: “My favorite episode [from the first season] is between me and Donald Sutherland’s Tripp Darling. We didn’t get to work together all that much but in that episode, Tripp calls Simon out on his agenda against the Darlings. But Simon is going to get his way, going through that family one person at a time.”
William Baldwin: “It’s not the biggest break of my career, but it is a big break in my career. It’s just incredible writing, incredible cast. A lot of film actors and writers are moving towards television. I mean, the movie industry is quiet right now, the Hollywood economy is bad, the Bush economy is bad. And I’ve got an 8, 6 and 3-year-old and to get out of bed every morning to know I’ve got this incredibly cushy gig. I live in Santa Barbara and drive down a couple times a week to knock out four or five scenes and to be in this show everyone seems to dig. It’s just a really, really incredible blessing to me.”
Glenn Fitzgerald: “I feel really lucky, such a fantastic character and the writing is so specific. It’s really not like any other thing. For an actor like, I really needed something specific. So I’m really happy to have found a place where someone like me can come in and do my thing.”
Zoe McLellan: “On a personal level, I’ve grown up a lot on the show. It’s never just about the job, there’s always layers that we dive into and peel off. I’ve realized what I really want for myself, learned how to say what I want and ask for what I want. So that’s really cool. And to be on a show where we just play and laugh a LOT.”
Of course, the one thing on the DVD they are all looking forward to is the blooper reel. “Oh, I’m probably going to be all over that thing,” Baldwin confesses. Hmmm, we’ll have to check it out! Will you?
