The Good Wife’s Julianna Margulies

The Good Wife is widely considered one of the best shows on television. The drama, starring Emmy Award-winning Julianna Margulies, looks at topical legal cases and the machinations of political campaigns as it delves into human motivations like greed, ambition and temptation. Even more interesting is Margulies’ character, Alicia Florrick, the insecure junior associate, humiliated by her husband’s betrayal and corruption scandal, who reinvents herself as a confident, competent partner in a law firm.

WS: The Good Wife is one of the few shows whose critical acclaim increases season after season. How would you explain such success?
MARGULIES: It’s the writing. One of the luxuries of television, especially network television, is that we really get to keep up with what’s happening in today’s world as it’s happening. That’s very beneficial in many ways. It keeps the show fresh and exciting; it’s not old news. That’s part of it, and a tremendous part of it is that as the lead of the show, I see what the writers have to put up with in terms of scheduling conflicts and actors coming and going and contracts being expired. Instead of looking at it as a burden, they look at it as an opportunity to advance all the other characters. So they bring on these new interesting characters that bring fresh life to the characters that have been there since day one. There is something really refreshing about that. It never feels the same and I say this because most actors shy away from television and only want to do film or theater because playing the same role can get stale. Whereas for me personally, I’m always excited to play this character because she is constantly peeling off these layers and discovering every week who she is and who she can become, but is also dealing with new characters that come in. The Kings [showrunners Robert and Michelle King] have really managed a beautiful balance of staying on top of all topics that are political and also case topics. We did Bitcoin and two years later all that was in The New York Times was about Bitcoin! We had a whole case with Oliver Platt about whether someone has the right to refuse to serve a gay couple in a store and the next week it was all over the papers. There is an incredible poignancy in that.

WS: I imagine there is a certain comfort and shorthand that has developed among the regular cast. How do these terrific A-list guest stars shake up the mix? And does that allow you to stretch different acting muscles?
MARGULIES: Absolutely. A perfect example is Josh Charles [who played Will Gardner]. He and I were friends before I suggested him for the role. I had never worked with him before, but we developed such a great working relationship and friendship on the show. It was always exciting to work with him because there was an ease and a delicacy in how we could handle a scene. When he left I was panicked because I thought, Am I going to have that with other people the way I have it with Josh? I have it with Christine [Baranski, who plays Diane Lockhart] but sadly last season our story lines were separate. We didn’t work together in enough scenes as far as I was concerned! But then all of a sudden someone like Steven Pasquale [Johnny Elfman] comes on the set or David Hyde Pierce [Frank Brady] or David Krumholtz [Josh Mariner]. Honestly, it was an embarrassment of riches for me last year! We were all laughing and saying we shouldn’t be getting paid to have this much fun together and create a really fun environment in which the writing can shine. This season Margo Martindale is coming on and so is Cush Jumbo, who is an incredible actress and playwright. When I read the first episode of season seven I was in a real panic to start work again because if you are doing 22 episodes and you are the lead of the show, that’s your life for nine and a half months. I panicked because having time off and being able to have a life and be a mother full time [during the hiatus] was really rewarding for me. I thought, Oh my God, how am I going to do another season of this? It’s exhausting! Then I read the first episode and I was in the best mood! I can’t get over the writing and how they handle every situation. Every obstacle that comes their way, they just look at it as a challenge, and for me as an actor, it’s a challenge to execute it. Any actor who would be afraid to do television, I completely understand. I would say look at the bigger picture and jump in, because these are characters that people want to live with week to week.

WS: What do you like about Alicia?
MARGULIES: I like so many things about her. At the core of her being she really is a good girl. She doesn’t really know how to be bad and yet she’s dying to get out. She’s dying to break out of the good girl role and yet people’s opinions really matter to her. I love that she is so smart and cerebral. There is incredible intelligence than comes with her silences that I wish I had more of personally. She has this amazing capacity of instead of talking when she doesn’t quite know the answer, she just thinks on it and gets back to you when she’s ready. I think that’s a tremendous talent that I’m going to cultivate before this show ends. And I really love the situation she’s been put in. It’s so much fun for me to play because it’s about loss, it’s about love, it’s about politics, it’s about the law, it’s about conquering your worse fears, it’s about raising children, it’s about trying to find love. It’s so multifaceted there’s nowhere I turn that I am bored because I’ve made that trip before. So it’s all new territory and it’s exciting to play her.

WS: One thing I love about Alicia is the way she tells people, often when she is in a difficult situation, “I’ll get back to you.”
MARGULIES: Absolutely, and you know what? I never knew I had that right! And then you realize, wait a minute, I’d be fine if someone said that to me, so why can’t I say that to someone else?

WS: It’s not disrespectful. It’s not off-putting, it’ just, I’ll get back to you.
MARGULIES: In the first episode of season seven, Alicia suddenly has this realization that she’s always saying “I’m sorry.” And women do that. There was a whole article written about why women [always say they are sorry]. For example, someone bumps into you and you say, I’m sorry, instead of, Hey, watch it! There is a wonderful exchange between Alicia and Canning [played by Michael J. Fox] and he calls her out on it and it’s great for women to see that and allow them a different way of thinking.

WS: The Good Wife is often compared to cable shows, but it’s not as dark as many cable shows are. It deals with complex issues but has never forgotten it has to entertain its audience. How does it remain so engaging while complying with broadcast network standards?
MARGULIES: I’m so sick of being compared to cable shows! We’re not a cable show. We do twice as many, if not more than twice as many episodes, and we don’t have the freedom of speech, necessarily. I asked Robert and Michelle, if we were on cable, what would they change in the show. Robert said the only thing he would change is that every now and then people would be able to swear. Everything else would remain the same. He loves funny. I sat through a play that will remain nameless and all they did was yell the entire time. At first I was very engaged and then I just cut off because it’s too much, you have to balance the light with the heavy because if you don’t the heavy has no meaning after a while. Robert and Michelle have a really brilliant way of figuring out of how to make moments funny. There are certain characters—Howard Lyman, who is one of the old partners at Lockhart Agos, the one who always takes his pants off. He is a great character, and you know what? There are guys like that! And it lightens up a moment. Zach Grenier plays David Lee. He is so evil and self-centered and yet there was an episode where he came in dressed as one of the characters from the comic opera HMS Pinafore and says, Oh, I do this on the side. And you go, wait, who is this guy? It’s just little bits, but there are enough little bits that you can then allow for the drama to play out and still be entertained. Look, maybe the real heavies, the people who only want darkness, find it mundane. But we find it enthralling because it also allows us to have a different mood on the set and have some fun.

WS: Compared to the days when you were on ER, today there is so much chatter and buzz about shows online and in print. Do you read what is written and does it impact the storylines that are chosen?
MARGULIES: I don’t do social media and I don’t read reviews. I hear things from people on the street and most people come up and tell me what they like. No one is going to come up and tell me what they don’t like, I don’t think! At least it hasn’t happened so far. I do believe that some of the writers tweet during the show and find out what the audience likes and doesn’t like. But I always remind [showrunner] Robert [King] that when he wrote the pilot, nobody had seen the show yet and everybody loved it. I always go back to the first episode, because I think it’s important to remain true to who you are.

WS: You are the lead character. What responsibility do you feel for setting the tone on the set?
MARGULIES: The biggest complement I’ve ever gotten was from our casting director Mark Sachs, who said to me, Every single actor who has been on the show has written an e-mail thanking me, because the tone you set on the show is so welcoming. I really believe that it’s important to make sure everyone feels welcome, because when you feel safe you do your best work. I look at my job as acting is reacting, so if I’m reacting against someone who is fantastic, I’ll be fantastic. I want to set that tone so everyone feels they are safe and they can try anything and they can do anything—that makes it fun and challenging. To me it’s like an acting class every day because I’m working with these incredible actors and I want them to feel at home. This is where they get to play and do whatever they want as long as it engages the rest of us.

I like to set a bar where I’m never late and I know my lines. Because if number one on the call sheet, who was on the set 14 hours the day before, sets that tone, then everyone has to set that tone. We have a crew that all wants to get home to their families. So it’s important for all of us that it’s not just about the actors, it’s about the cameramen, it’s about the boom operator, it’s about the set designer, it’s about the costumer, every single person to me is of equal value on the set.

WS: You also have a producer credit on the show. What does that entail?
MARGULIES: I take it quite seriously. I said to [our executive producers] If I’m going to do this it’s not a vanity credit because it will be a lot of extra work. What you realize when you are an actor who is the producer is that all the actors come to you with all their problems, and that’s OK. Everything from the casting to sometimes wardrobe, if there is a problem on the set that I can solve, I will try and solve it before calling L.A., where most of my executive producers are. We do have one EP on set all day, Brooke Kennedy, and we really look at our relationship as partners. And Kristin Bernstein, who is our line producer, is also a partner. One of them is always on the set with me. We really consider ourselves producing partners and we try to solve every problem before having to call L.A., which makes the day go faster, and it also keeps it more in house and doesn’t worry the writers. I just want them to do their good jobs. I was recently writing an e-mail to an actor who I had a little bit of sway in [getting him to] do the show this year. He is spectacular. I wrote him an email not just welcoming him but telling him, if you have any problems, I know the lay of the land. We want you to be happy here, call me, e-mail me; don’t let anything fester. Let’s have fun. So I try to take charge in order to [keep the production] running smoothly. If I see some sort of huge problem, I’ll always discuss it with Brooke and Kristin first before going elsewhere. But for the most part, I have to say, it’s more the minutiae than the big things.

WS: I’ve heard the courtroom scenes are the longest to shoot. Why is that?
MARGULIES: Courtroom scenes are brutal and it’s because there are so many people to film. You have the jury, you have the defense, you have the prosecution, you have the judge and you have the defendant. You have so many different angles. And then you have people sitting in the courtroom, sometimes even if they don’t have a line it’s important they hear what is going on while they are being filmed. Those are longest days and I always feel really bad for the judges because usually in court scenes we shoot the lawyers first.

Then we turn around the entire courtroom, which takes a good half-hour to an hour of lighting and then we shoot the judge and all the witnesses on the stand. So they are always long days. We have gotten it down to a science. It also depends on who the director is and it depends on whether it’s federal court or state court, because [one time] in federal court we managed to do an entire scene with a Steadicam. It took a lot of lighting and a lot of rehearsals but it was incredible, it was cinematic. But those are few and far between because you have to get everybody in there.

WS: In front of and behind the camera The Good Wife has a lot of women in various positions. Over the course of your career, how have you seen television become a better place for women than film, if that is a correct statement?
MARGULIES: It is a correct statement and you’re absolutely right. When I was on ER there were one woman producer and one in-house woman director. On my show there are six women producers, seven male producers, so it’s very even. There are two in-house female directors and we’re always looking for more, and our entire sound company, aside from our mixer, is made up of women. They hold the boom [microphone]. Our on-set producers are all women and there is a woman lead. When I was on ER, women were not the leads in television, they were part of ensemble casts. And women didn’t run sets. Women run our set because the three of us are always present and we happen to be women. And we have a lot of women in our crew. It’s a very different environment.

WS: Don’t take offense, because obviously I wouldn’t say this if you were a man, but the clothes on the show are to die for! I love watching how all of you are dressed!
MARGULIES: I have to tell you something: I think of them as part of the cast. I was recently in a four-hour fitting, and I told Daniel Lawson, our costumer—that he puts so much thought into these characters that I have had women, multiple times, stop me on the street and tell me that I’ve changed their entire wardrobe at work. They finally realize they could dress how a powerful woman can dress without feeling like a man—putting on a boxy suit—and without worrying about looking too sexy. And I think if you can do anything to help women in the workplace then he’s done his job!