Interview: Oscar Winner Timothy Hutton, Gina Bellman on TNT’s New ‘Leverage’ Series

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“I was in the theatre department in school [only] because I had to take some elective classes. My sister was in theatre and she seemed to be enjoying it. Theatre was right next to the music department. I was a drummer and piano player. Theatre just seemed natural. But when I was in high school, I had no interest in pursuing it as a career. It was just a class to take,” Hutton said.

Bellman then interjected: “Hot girls, too.” Hutton responded with some of Bellman’s energy: “Absolutely. Everyone always says that, but it’s true.” This interviewer then interjected: “Good food, too.” Hutton concurred.

He continued about his career evolution: “I got asked to do a play that an agent was at and the agent recommended me for a TV movie. The TV movie paid a few thousand dollars. I had no money. It was fantastic and fun. But even after filming ‘Ordinary People,’ I wasn’t convinced that this was what I was going to be doing. I never watched movies when I was young.”

By contrast, Bellman started in the business young.

Christian Kane (center) in TNT’s “Leverage”.
Photo credit: TNT

“I was a teenage actor, but for me, it was pure escapism. I didn’t really examine the idea of being an actor until much later,” Bellman said. “I was raised in New Zealand and got bullied when I came to England for having a foreign accent. I went to elocution lessons and then drama lessons. I grew up in wide-open spaces in New Zealand, and when I moved to England, I lived in the suburbs and felt very trapped and caged.”

She added: “Acting for me was all about joining the circus and getting away. I really wanted to join the circus, travel, see the world and get away from the suburbs. That was my motivation. My parents weren’t initially very supportive.”

As for the show’s timing and how it’ll compete with the sea of TV while scoring for itself a second season, Bellman pegs the allure as real-world therapy and topics that hit home.

“It’s perfectly suited to what’s going on right now. Some of the episodes are very domestic. They’re dealing with issues people can relate to and may have been personally affected by such as losing their home, health insurance claims or the one that touched me very much was about a child adoption agency,” Bellman said. “There are also more fantastical issues that are topical in the news and you’re not going to be able to relate to.”

While “fun” isn’t exactly Hutton’s middle name, it is Bellman’s calling card and pleasure chest.

“We’re bringing a different dimension to this,” she said. “We’re not taking ourselves too seriously. We’re camping it up and playing lots of characters. We’re doing funny voices, stunts, explosions and car chases. It’s hopefully going to address the feeling people are feeling right now about being exploited or disappointed in a way that’s humorous, relaxed, refreshing and tongue in cheek.”

She added: “You mentioned ‘The A-Team’ and I have a funness for that type of drama from the 1970s. That whole ‘Charlie’s Angels’ era was fun. Our show is very modern and contemporary, but we’ve adopted that kind of fun element that a lot of drama shows these days have been lacking.”

RELATED READING More “Leverage” reading. More writing from critic Adam Fendelman.

Hutton interjected: “It has a lot of high-tech elements to it, but also a lot of low-tech when we have to go to plan ‘B’. Those are the parts in the show that are the most fun. It’s when the perfect scenario doesn’t go right and we have to go back to the old-fashioned way of breaking in somewhere.”

Hutton also says the show hits home with today’s economy and the U.S. recession.

“Another thing that makes the show topical right now is that a lot of people are struggling. We’re in service for a very select group of people – not necessarily the masses – and people will watch us and get a vicarious thrill of seeing some of these snakes get chopped up.”

By ADAM FENDELMAN Editor-in-Chief HollywoodChicago.com adam@hollywoodchicago.com