Greg Kinnear joked his way onto television way back in 1991 as the first host of Talk Soup on E! He began a movie career three years later on Blankman, then followed that with a remake of Sabrina but it was his role as gay painter Simon Bishop that got him Oscar-nominated for Best Supporting Actor in James L. Brooks' As Good As It Gets.
Things took off for Kinnear after that, with You've Got Mail, Nurse Betty and Someone Like You. He depicted Hogan's Heroes' Bob Crame in Auto Focus and attached himself to Matt Damon in Stuck On You, playing a conjoined twin. He co-starred in Little Miss Sunshine and popped up in the hit Baby Mama before playing John F. Kennedy in The Kennedys.
He returns to TV on Fox's Rake, playing a bumbling criminal defense lawyer named Keegan Deane. The series is based on the Australian series of the same name and follows the lawyer as he battles everyone around him such as his ex-wife, judges and even the IRS.
Windy City Times participated in a conference call with the actor on the phone before the series premiered.
Q: Hi, Greg. First off, how do you relate to this character on Rake?
Greg Kinnear: We're both horrible gamblers. The most obvious connection is that I have no skills in that department and he seems to be tortured by his own lack of ability as well.
Q: Do you have similarities with Keegan?
Greg Kinnear: I don't know about similarities. The truth is I don't know that there's a lot. I think it's what really attracted me to the character when I saw the Australian show. The kind of the zone they were playing in, not only the ensemble nature of the show, but just this, Keegan himself with the inability to not get out of his own way and his kind of needs, wants, and addictions all sort of snowballing around him constantly. It's just that notion of two steps forward, three steps back seemed like a fun zone to play in, not that I don't have my own little bag of self-destructive traits. We all do. But he has them in such a flawless rate, such an ease of his ability to miscalculate and to set off little personal landmines around his life so regularly that it really seemed like a fun area to play around in.
I hadn't played an attorney before so one that was dealing with that kind of world seemed like a great plan.
Q: Did you have to study up on attorneys, then?
Greg Kinnear: Well, specifically [regarding] defense characters, there's quite a pantheon of very, very colorful types in this world, both men and women. There's an inherently despicable rap that I think defense attorneys get as the defenders of people—particularly, people that we all recognize as guilty or think are guilty. Yet they're an essential part of the balance of justice.
We'll be doing a lot with this role to champion people's perceptions of defense attorneys.
Q: That would not be a fun job.
Greg Kinnear: There is a gambling element to being somebody who is going to take on the job of constantly trying to represent and prop up people who might be somewhat shady. That notion is probably part of how they got the rap, but I think it's to try and find the balance of being colorful, being at times despicable, but also being somebody who does believe in something.
We're on episode 10 now and there have been cases where there are people who for sure the audience is going to want to not be found innocent and at times they are and at times they're not.
Q: Sounds like a fun show to work on.
Greg Kinnear: I think the real cool thing about the show is most of the people I represent are guilty and the truth is that's the way it is in the system. If you're innocent or there isn't enough seriously compelling evidence to put you up against the state, chances are it's never going to go to trial and, of course, trial is where all the fun stuff happens.
We do some cases that go to trial. But we also do cases that all are negotiated in back rooms and sort of quietly handled between people negotiating. And that's another kind of cool aspect of the show. But there are colorful characters in this world. I've seen many of them and they're a treat to watch.
I haven't seen anybody quite like this guy but I'm looking.
Q: Has your view of the court systems changed after doing the show?
Greg Kinnear: We have lawyers working on the show and just through conversations and stories that we work on, the truth is that you learn that there is not a straight through line on any of these cases, that they're all varied. Many of them never go to trial or the ones that do have a whole different expectation than the ones that don't in terms of the outcome and how they're negotiated.
So much of the process seems inconsistent to me. I don't think it's a bad thing. Maybe it's a reason that the legal world has, over the years, had so many films and television shows about it. There's just a great sort of imbalance to the process, an imbalance to the outcome and justice is not always served fairly for sure. That's been made very clear talking to a lot of the guys we have access to. We try and represent that fairly in the show, I think.
Q: How much does this version of Rake borrow from the Australian version?
Greg Kinnear: Yeah, that's a good question. Well, listen: In terms of its format, one of the most significant changes that we've had to embrace is being on a network where, I think, we have 44 minutes and the Australian show was like 59 minutes; that time change has been a real difficult sort of readjustment that has been something we're conscious of. Believe me, I wanted to do a nice tip of the hat to the Australian show because I really admired it, but the hope is for all of us to try to find our own DNA and kind of develop our own vibe here.
Q: So the [U.S. version of] Rake is its own kind of show.
Greg Kinnear: I would say a lot of it is its own thing and has kind of organically found its own place. So, I don't know what the percentage would be to give you for that, but maybe 40 percent comes from the Australian show, but I think the rest of it feels very different. I feel like the balance is good.
Q: How is it working with Sam Raimi, from Spider-Man and the Evil Dead movies?
Greg Kinnear: I worked with Sam a few years ago in a movie and I was very nervous. We were doing the show and we didn't have a director for the pilot. I was so terrified. I'm friends with Sam, but I really didn't know if that was crossing a line and my wife was the one who said, "Just ask him, all he can do is say no." I asked him, he read the script and he loved it. In fact, he has gone on and done another show for us and helped us with some other pieces along the way. He has really become an ally to Rake and I'm grateful to that because, obviously, he's my friend, but he's also a great artist. I think the show has some cool colors in it like Sam, and its early incarnation, attracted some really smart people, so I'm grateful for that.
Q: With all the projects you are offered, how do you pick which one to do?
Greg Kinnear: I'm a guy who likes to work a lot. We may have to have some debate about that. I guess I've done a lot of movies, but a lot of them aren't leads, the roles that have demanded enormous amounts of time. I guess an illusion might be that that's always the case. It's been a balance of work, for sure that I've enjoyed.
Q: Is it frustrating or annoying when people say, "It's just Greg Kinnear being Greg Kinnear?"
Greg Kinnear: Well, I can't really drill down too deep on other people's perceptions of myself. I felt like in terms of my interest on this particular role that it would be fun to play, that it would be something that could evolve and something that might be a nice starting point in an onward journey and where it will go.
I don't know what a Greg Kinnear role looks like or is. I guess if I do the role then it is that. There's at least in the starting place of who this guy is and my hope for what he can be. I was attracted to it and wanted to do it because of what I saw on the page and less about how I could define or redefine people's perception of me. That was just not the mandate here.
Q: Well, come visit us in Chicago sometime.
Greg Kinnear: Oh, I will indeed.
Rake holds court every Thursday on Fox.
