Kathy Bates wasn’t about to let a long day of work on “Matlock” get in the way of her Variety interview to grace the cover of our annual pre-Emmy Awards issue.
On the latest episode of “Daily Variety” podcast, Michael Schneider, Variety‘s television editor, details his experience spending a day observing Bates at work on the Paramount Pictures lot where her CBS drama “Matlock” lenses. As the shooting wore on, Schneider admits he began to worry whether he would still have a good amount of time for a conversation about Bates’ long career. He needn’t have worried.
“It was interesting to see that Kathy Bates is still human. She was struggling with a line. It was almost a tongue twister of a line. But it was so sweet to see [‘Matlock’ co-star] Skye Marshall pull her aside, and they rehearse together to nail it down. And then they they got it,” Schneider says. “But the shooting was running late. And I was exhausted, by the way, I was sitting there for several hours. And so I was like, well, is Kathy Bates going to be up for talking to me at seven o’clock at night after a long day of shooting? If anything, I think she was more ready to go than I was.”
Bates, who is nominated for best actress in a drama at Sunday’s Emmy Awards, more than delivered. Schneider’s cover story, available in print and online, features a lively and very salty conversation with the Oscar winner about her decades in entertainment and her recent physical transformation with weight loss. Bates is uncommonly candid and vulnerable in discussing her struggles with self-esteem and physical stamina when she was heavier.
When “Matlock” came together, Bates used her clout to insist that the show film in Los Angeles.
“One of the important things that we talk about is how she wanted to make sure that ‘Matlock’ shot here in Los Angeles. She made that a priority. If they were going to cast her, this was going to shoot not too far from her house. And she was able to pull that off. And the studio was able to make it work. And that’s allowed this cast and crew to live in Los Angeles and to go home at night.”
Also in the episode, Emily Longeretta, senior TV features editor, details the process behind the assembly of Variety‘s annual TV Producers Impact Report. The definition of “impact” stretches beyond a hit show.
“One of the things I really wanted to make sure we were doing this year with this list is not just highlighting the shows that are continuously nominated for things. I really wanted to also highlight some of the producers that maybe aren’t talked about a ton and aren’t doing these really prestige shows, but are still creating really good storytelling on TV,” Longeretta says.
“Taylor Sheridan is actually a perfect example of this, because while he’s not a newcomer by any means, he doesn’t see a lot of awards glitter or glam. But he had ‘Lioness,’ ‘Landman,’ ‘1923’ and “The Mayor of Kingstown” all on TV this year. And then there’s people like Ben Watkins who created “Cross” on Prime Video and got 40 million viewers and got an immediate Season 2 pickup. I think that that’s important to highlight those,” she says.
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