Before Kathy Bates agreed to lead CBS’ “Matlock”, she had two requests for
creator Jennie Snyder Urman: “Don’t change a word” of the script and
“Don’t abandon me.”
“Many times when we work on projects, you get the job, and then you don’t
have a relationship with the creator or the producers. And I hate that,”
Bates said, adding that she had thought about going into “semi-retirement”
prior to reading the script. “I’ve always said I felt like a little capsule out in
space in my pod and the people behind the video screen, they’re in their
own bubble. And it makes me feel alone. It makes me feel like a child.”
With Urman’s assurances, Bates sealed the deal to star in the reimagining
of the 1980s Andy Griffith drama as Madeline “Matty” Matlock, a lawyer in
her 70s who infiltrates a prestigious law firm to expose wrongdoing. Little
did the Oscar-winning actress know at the time that she would find kinship
with her costar Skye P. Marshall, who plays Olympia, the tough-to-crack
senior attorney for whom Matty works. When the they popped up on Zoom
to do one of their first joint interviews for the series, they greeted each
other warmly. “I was so excited that we’re doing this together,” Bates said,
smiling.
For Marshall, who can be seen on CBS’ “Good Sam,” the CW’s “Black
Lightning” and “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” the prospect of working
opposite a legend like Bates was initially intimidating, though it ended up
being what she called “the easiest acting” she’s ever done. “All I had to do
is look into her eyes and listen to her because when she delivers the line, it
comes from such a true place that if I allow myself to just feel it from an
equally truthful place, I’m going to react, I’m going to respond,” Marshall
said.
Portraying a senior woman reentering the workforce and a Black senior
attorney, respectively, both Bates and Marshall portray characters who are
historically underestimated. Matty even uses stereotypes of harmless older
women as a weapon to get ahead as she attempts to avenge the death of her
daughter. Matty resonated with Bates as she reflected on her own mother’s
journey of having Bates as an unplanned child later in life. “She gave to me
the things that I needed to grow into the woman that I wish she could have
been,” she said.
Likewise, Marshall notes Olympia isn’t “awarded the luxury to be
average”— a challenge she herself has felt tenfold across her career, which,
in addition to acting, has included active duty in the Air Force as well as
positions in the medical industry and a corporate pharmaceutical company.
“I have always had to stretch myself further to be seen, to be recognized
like Olympia,” Marshall said. “She is a warrior and sometimes she’s a mess.
It didn’t come easy and the fight’s not over, and I feel like Olympia and
Matty both hold on to that fight, hold on to that gumption that is required to
rise above.”
Any chatter about Matlock being Bates’ final project is a “misunderstanding,” according to the actress, who has no plan to slow down any time soon, especially now that “Matlock” scored an early Season 2 renewal at CBS after just two episodes. After joking that she’ll have to hire Swarovski to craft a “gorgeous walker,” she added, “I’m in really good health now. I’ve been in this business for a long time. I had talent, but it took me a long time to develop it. And I’m still developing it.”
A version of this story first appeared in the SAG Preview issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. Read more from the SAG issue here.
