[IMG:L][IMG:L]Having spent nine seasons as a Marine Corps lawyer on JAG, Catherine Bell is no stranger to the military milieu, but her new Lifetime series is a decidedly different take on the armed forces experience. Army Wives, premiering June 3 at 10 PM, focuses on four women and one man whose spouses are in the service, and all of them have issues or secrets—think Desperate Housewives on an Army base (it’s filmed on an actual, defunct base in South Carolina).
Bell’s is a doozy: her character, Denise Sherwood, is the victim of domestic abuse—not by her officer husband but at the hand of her teenage son. Not surprisingly, the role was too juicy to pass up.
HW: Why was this the role to bring you back to TV?
CB: I fell in love with the script right away. She’s a very interesting multi-dimensional woman who doesn’t necessarily have it all together, certainly at the beginning of the season. She’s dealing with a lot of things [including] abuse. So she’s learning how to deal with that and stand up for herself and I think she’s a woman who has not lived for herself as much as for her husband and her child and she’s trying to learn who she is. And although it’s got ‘Army’ in the title, it really couldn’t be further from JAG, which is why I was so intrigued by it. It explores the other side, the people and the relationships and the families and the people that are not going off to war but what they have to deal with when their spouses do leave and then all of the cliques that form and the friendships and the problems and so many different wonderful stories that can be told there.
HW: Were you familiar with the military base culture?
CB: I spent a lot of time on military bases on JAG. The most touching thing was when I would meet the wives and their families. We were at Camp Pendleton one year, and all of these families came out to watch us film, women and two, three, sometimes four children. Their husbands had been away for six, eight, nine months. And I just remember being so moved by that, by their lives and their strength and what it must be like to live on that base and deal with that.
HW: Were you looking for a new series?
CB: I was open to the right series. Series work is great. It’s a lot of work, hard work. And it’s good work. It’s a good group of people. After I shot the pilot I was so glad, because everyone gets along. It’s a big group of people, but everyone’s funny and fun. We all have a good time together. The producers and writers are just top notch. And the thing that appealed to me so much about this one is I won’t be working 10 months out of the year, every single day in every single scene. It’s a little lighter schedule. I’ll definitely have days off so we can go do some things with my family, go tour Charleston and Savannah. The food is incredible in Charleston. And we want to get a boat and do some boating.
HW: It’s a big summer for you–you’re also in Evan Almighty.
CB: It’s a cameo—a cool, fun little cameo, because the movie doesn’t spend much time in the newsroom. It starts there—Evan becomes a Congressman and he’s going off to Washington so we’re saying our goodbyes to him. I can’t wait to see it.
