Fans of the prolific Canadian screenwriter and playwright George F. Walker will not be disappointed by his latest TV series, the grimy cop dramedy The Line.
All the Walkerisms we know and love are in full swing. Deeply flawed leads with substance abuse and/or compulsive behaviour problems? Check. Middle-aged women confronting the redefinition of their sexualities? Check. A mixed race/class/occupation assortment of oddballs, scammers, victims and the well-off but miserable? Check. Slapstick criminals with hearts of gold and heads of straw? Check. A dirty old motel complete with ratty carpets and fly-specked walls that could talk, but would rather not? Check and double check. Men who still wear sleeveless undershirts without irony? Way too many checks.
So far, so Walker. But there's something distinctly non-Walker in this mix, too, something nobody familiar with his canon will expect - a little sprinkling of Hollywood glamour and power. Playing Carol, a career grifter with messy hair but a very orderly, if somewhat benighted, mind, is none other than Linda Hamilton. Yes, the former Beauty half of Beauty and the Beast, and the valiant, tough-as-wire robot fighter Sarah Connor in the first two (and best) Terminator movies.
Hamilton is a great addition to The Line's already stellar cast, but one can't help wondering how they got her to do it. Since her last Terminator outing, Hamilton appears to have drifted off the Hollywood radar. She's never stopped working, but to go from an international hit television show and two blockbuster films to guest spots on Frasier and, horror of horrors, According to Jim ... Well, that's just sacrilegious.
Speaking with Hamilton, however, I quickly realized that she has left the whole A-list nonsense behind her by choice, and that her earlier successes allow her to pick and choose parts for their appeal to her artistic interests. Hamilton may have jumped out of the Hollywood hamster wheel, but she's still rolling along.
This is a really angry show. Everyone seems to be in a permanent state of rage.
Hmmm ... That's not what drew me to it. Oh, no, no. Actually, I'm the opposite. I'm all about being lighthearted. No, what drew me was the writing. The writing and the characters. I just think George Walker is completely gifted. And I was brought in by the director, so I didn't know anybody, and it was just this choice little thing. I read it and I thought, well, this is very actable. And now it's growing into something so much more than a choice little part. I am just having the best time.
How much did you know about the urban Canada the show portrays?
The only sense of urban Canada I have is working in Toronto or Montreal. But I have spent a lot of time in Canada. And I'm stunned every time I go up, because I had no idea how racially mixed it is. I go into the makeup room and see countless photos of people from everywhere and every single one of them is a character that is as treasured as much as my own. It's a wonderful thing. There are no secondary characters in the show.
Some critics might argue that that kind of parade of characters creates a show has no centre, no one for the audience to identify with.
No, no, it's not wandering. Your characters can go here or there and still tell a great story. It's about the thread of the character, and the story for each one of them adds up. And that's all that I can hope for as an actor, to walk the line on a good story. And that seems to me what every actor on that show does.
You've said before, as you just did, that you're a lighthearted person - but you often take very dark and damaged roles.
They're much more interesting to play than intact, gorgeous, leading-lady types. I'm so bored with "professional" women.
You mean hookers?
Ha! Yeah! No, no, lawyers, doctors - there isn't a whole lot that really thrills me. And, quite frankly, it is comedy and the lighter stuff that I like to do, but there is tons of comedy in this for me. I sit in my hotel room cackling to myself about what I get to do the next day. Cackling - like a madwoman! The more you are on your game, the more comedy you find in it. It's so much fun.
Do you enjoy negating the glamour factor of your career and persona?
I haven't had a glamorous career.
You were named one of the most beautiful people on Earth by People magazine!
Well, that's so nice of you to say, but I think I only got voted for that by Homer Simpson once, on a Simpsons episode. It's true! The only list I ever made of the sexiest or the most beautiful was Homer Simpson's list.
And People magazine. I've done my homework.
Okay, okay. Well, I'll tell you, I do enjoy negating people's expectations of what I'm going to do next. It's not so much about "the beauty." That would get really boring after a while. The best compliment I've gotten about this show was when George came up to me and said, people are going to see you and they are going to be appalled. Ha! That's gonna be my goal from here on out - to appall them even more.
Particulars
Born
Sept. 26, 1956, Salisbury, Md.
Cronenberg would love her
Hamilton has an identical twin sister, Leslie, who was her double in Terminator 2: Judgment Day; fans of the 1991 film about a shape-shifting synthetic assassin will recall the scene with two Sarah Connors.
What's next?
Hamilton - probably Linda - does the narration thing again for the next instalment in the Terminator franchise, Salvation. Due for release this spring, the movie follows a rampaging actor as he sets out to destroy the last shred of dignity of an unfortunate film-crew member - oh wait, that's star Christian Bale. ...
And look for Hamilton in the film Waters Rising, about a group of village ne'er-do-wells who steal a shipment of Viagra and stash it in the town's well. Unprecedented product placement and hilarity ensue.
Massimo Commanducci