A few month ago, Blackfilm.com and a handful of journalists got to visit the set of NBC’s upcoming series, Bluff City Law, which stars Jimmy Smits, Caitlin McGee, Scott Shepherd, Barry Sloane, Michael Luwoye, MaameYaa Boafo, Stony Blyden and Jayne Atkinson
Coming from a famous Memphis family known for taking on injustice, brilliant lawyer Sydney Strait (Caitlin McGee) used to work at her father Elijah’s celebrated law firm until their tumultuous relationship got in the way. After barely speaking to him for years, Sydney is suddenly thrust back into the family fold when her philanthropist mother passes away unexpectedly. In the wake of her loss, hoping to reconnect with the daughter he loves, Elijah asks Sydney to rejoin his firm. She agrees because despite her lingering resentment and distrust, she knows that working alongside her father is her best hope at changing the world … if they can ever get along.
Blackfilm.com’s Nicole Granston spoke with Caitlin McGee about her character and experience thus far while shooting the series.
NICOLE: Memes, group texts…we heard that Jayne (Atkinson) is winning with the dancing pig.
CAITLIN: Yeah, Jayne (Atkinson) is the mama, she really kicks it off with the dancing pig all of the time. She loves that dancing pig. (Laughs Out Loud) Otherwise, it honestly varies between Josh (Kelly) being like a straight-up clown and then Jimmy (Smits) coming in with something really genuine and sweet. Then all of us feeling like ‘awww we’re such jerks’! (Laughs Out Loud) He’s so genuine and I’m sending “Parks and Recreation” Ron Swanson things. The group text is popping though.
We really like each other, which is so nice because I have been on sets, as I’m sure anyone has where it just feels icky and hostile and the leads don’t like each other or whatever. We’re with such an amazing group of people it feels like an ensemble: it’s a gift considering we’re on location. It’s tricky you know, you’re away from your family and your dog – in my case I miss her so much…
NICOLE: You didn’t bring her with you to Memphis?
CAITLIN: No, because I’m onset like 14 hours a day, I couldn’t do that to her. My boyfriend takes very good care of her. He’s a good dog dad. He lets me Facetime her. (Laughs Out Loud) I’m literally like, “hey can I see her” and he’s like, “I just…okay” and turns the camera over to her, but yeah I’m really lucky.
NICOLE: How was it meeting Jimmy (Smits) for the first time knowing he’s a veteran actor in the industry and has done a law show?
CAITLIN: He’s such a kind man. It wasn’t really hard to immediately jump into being his daughter. Obviously it was harder to be hostile towards him – that was hard. Honestly it was one of those things where when I meet – especially famous actors – that I aspire to be like or just admire in general, I really try to think about the most human quality of them – which is that at one point in time they auditioned just like me. So I try to think about that, I try to think about what they did in the room way back in the day or however long they’ve been around. Jimmy’s such a nice person to get along with that it wasn’t really hard for me to just jump right into that. It’s also easier when you meet someone at a table read. I met him and immediately I was just his daughter. It wasn’t Caitlin talking to Jimmy and you know trying to get along, it was, I’m your daughter let’s play this dynamic authentically and that was the easier thing to do than to just pick his brain – “You have 11 Emmy nominations – what’s that like?”
NICOLE: Have any of the cases been particularly compelling to you?
CAITLIN: I told the writers and I’ve said it in interviews before, the things that I’m most passionate about – my cousin is trans and she hasn’t had the easiest time of it – I am the “B” in the LGBTQ community, it’s very important for me to represent every single walk of life and specifically Black Lives Matter. There are a lot of things that I need to see on narrative programming and our writers have addressed it in upcoming or current episodes. So not just holding big companies accountable, which is incredibly important, writing about that in a narrative form so that it’s not just a headline that we click on and then and forget about. When you associate something with a person or human being, it sticks with you. The first time that I saw the actual man who was behind the Monsanto case, when I saw the lesions on his face – that’s going to stick with me for the rest of my life, that’s going to make me care about the cause even more. If our show gets to do that and represent the people that are just part of a headline, as a real human and that sticks to someone, then that is beyond anything I care about as an actress. We’re lacking empathy in this world at the moment and I wish we could have a little more of it.
NICOLE: In watching the pilot, I saw how you struggled with this particular social justice case and your conscious and your ability as a lawyer to go in for the kill versus winning the case? Your character is a very outspoken, very passionate and she wants to win. Then she goes back to her dad’s firm and is now representing the people who have been victimized versus defending the person(s) who caused the victimization.
CAITLIN: Which is exactly why I don’t necessarily know if a lot of people will feel for her, that she went to the corporate side of things – it comes out of a place of self-protection, which is selfish. She is aware of that and that’s why there’s that scene where she says, “I don’t know how you do it” because it came from purely a place of ‘I can’t look them in the eye and tell them’. So if I’m on the other side of the table and I can separate my humanity from this job then I will survive. The reason why she left the firm in the first place was because she wrapped herself up so intensely with these clients and these causes, which is something that I myself do. I mean the first time I met with my publicist she’s like so what causes do you care about?
I was like “OKAY get a pen! Let’s go! It was like one of those moments. And then she was like OKAY CUT IT DOWN! I feel very strongly in the same way that she (Sydney) feels very strongly. I have to separate myself at times by watching reality TV or some garbage, so that I don’t rip my hair out and scream, ‘why are the children in cages’, at the top of my lungs at all times. It’s a really hard thing to be a human being in this world, in this country right now, and I think especially as not just an actress but as a white woman I have to use my privilege to speak out for those people that do not have the same privileges as I do. The fact that Sydney does the same thing as me – this is the easiest job to audition for in the whole world. This is so important to me in the long run, talking about the human stories behind all of this is really, really important to me.
NICOLE: Speaking of your audition David mentioned during the casting…
CAITLIN: He’s so sweet!
NICOLE: …That they were looking for a Jessica Chastain type and you nailed it, how does that feel?
CAITLIN: I’ve been up against famous girls for so long, I’m so used to hearing that. (Laughs Out Loud) My agent always called me a fluffer because it was a famous chick and I for everything. God bless them because they work really hard to get where they are and there’s no hate, but listen ladies ‘give me one job’! Yeah honestly a while ago I started to treat auditioning as a gift instead of a burden. I think that a lot of actresses and actors alike, they going into the room thinking okay this person has my job in their hands, I have to prove myself. If I go in there already feeling like I am that person, that I am that character, than I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. I just go in and inhabit the character the way that I want to and then they either like me or they don’t.
I had a very different take on Sydney Straight than the other girls did. I had some humor in her. I think that you have to have some light with the dark, so it was really important for me to play her authentically. And not all the moments are going to be heavy because that’s not sustainable as a person, let alone a character or an actress. I went in with guns a blazing and they went for it, which is good! I saw girls in the waiting room in with these blazers on and they were lawyered up and I went in, in jeans and my oxfords and a loose button-down. You have to care much less what you look like and make sure that you feel like the person, which I think is something I used to do incorrectly. I would think if I didn’t have the perfect dress I won’t get this part. If I’m not blonde I won’t get this part. I have dyed my hair blonde so many times at this point just because they wanted me to be blonde. With nailing any audition especially for this one, I just went in and was like, you like me or you don’t. And thank God they liked me!
NICOLE: I have to ask you about this love triangle…
CAITLIN: With this handsome fella (Jake Reilly) right there and that handsome fella (Robbie)…
NICOLE: How much fun are you having?
CAITLIN: They’re disgusting. They’re terrible to look at! (Laughs Out Loud)
NICOLE: Josh said that you guys could really be divorced in real life!
CAITLIN: Oh 100%! We’ve got great chemistry and great banter. I love him (Josh Kelly) on such a deep level, but like when we fight we fight hard. I feel like we were almost yelling in a bar at one point but then we left it and I was like, I still love you man.
NICOLE: What were you fighting about?
CAITLIN: Everything!
NICOLE: He did say you have opposing views on a lot of things…
CAITLIN: We do have opposing views on a lot of things. I’m not going to rat him out. I’m just going to say we have opposing views on some things. For sure we would be divorced in real life. With Jake (Reilly) and with Robbie, I got heat with both of them but in a very different way. Jake, its like it’s almost brotherly at the moment but it’s for sure setting stage for something deeper.
NICOLE: Sex on the fire escape?
CAITLIN: You know, you said it first! Yeah, I think with Jake (Reilly) in particular we’re so alike in so many ways. He hides his heart behind his charm; I hide it behind a brick wall. We try to hide it the best that we can and I think that’s why we can probably call each other out so easily. With Robbie I mean he’s just delicious, we have such history you know, we had a life together, we committed our lives together at one point, so it was really important for both of us to get to know each other. I don’t know if he already told you, but he really wanted to get to know me as a person before we jumped into filming, which I think has helped tremendously. Because faking history with someone is one of the hardest things that you can do – that and laughing authentically on camera – it’s easier for me to cry honestly because laughing is such a specific thing that like comes from a guttural place. You can tell when someone is faking a laugh.
NICOLE: He also had lots of praise for you by the way. He said you really set the tone for the set.
CAITLIN: That’s so nice.
NICOLE: In terms of just being nice to everyone no matter what his or her role was. The way you make the extras and background feel special and a part of the cast.
CAITLIN: I think it’s important to ask someone’s name and say thank you for your time. They’re actors, there human beings. I find it so achy when someone doesn’t respect people in the room just because there’s some sort of ‘quote on quote’ hierarchy. It’s not really my thing so going into the show, it was a very purposeful thing that I did, that I want to treat everyone with respect. I want them to feel that their work is valued. If there’s a guest star that I can tell didn’t like that take and we’re moving on, I’m going to ask them if they liked that and if they want another one. I’m going say to the directors they need another one because I’ve been the guest star on a set and I know what it feels like.
NICOLE: Did somebody do that for you or did someone do the opposite to you?
CAITLIN: Mostly, opposite! No, I honestly learned etiquette for being an actress and setting an example from Cherry Jones. I did a play with her. She’s one of the most fantastic actresses and people that I’ve ever met. She knows every single ushers name, every single person’s name. She remembers people and treats them with the upmost respect no matter who they are. As soon as I met her, I just knew that that was the type of actor that I wanted to be and the type of lead I wanted to be. It’s so sweet that Josh acknowledged that. He’s also not just an amazing actor but one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. If you sat with him for over five seconds – he’s a damn clown.
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