Michael Trucco, who played Anders on Battlestar Galactica and now plays ADA Justin Patrick on USA’s Fairly Legal, recently spoke to the press about his new role.
Fairly Legal centers on Kate Reed (Sarah Shahi), a top litigator frustrated with the endless bureaucracy and daily injustices of the system, who takes a hard left to become the ultimate anti-lawyer: a mediator. Using her knowledge of the law, along with her savvy, intuition and a whatever-it-takes approach to resolving conflict, Kate finds the middle ground for a wide variety of adversaries — from Fortune 500 corporations to bitter divorces. After the sudden death of her father, she finds herself at odds with the new boss, her stepmother Lauren Reed (Virginia Williams)…and in bed with her soon-to-be ex-husband, Justin Patrick (Trucco), a top gun in the DA’s office. Helping her keep all of this chaos at bay is her trusted, geek-chic assistant Leonardo (Baron Vaughn).
Check out the great answers to some of the questions below!
On how he got involved with the show and what drew him to the character
I guess the process was a little over a year ago. I had just finished completing work on Battlestar Galactica. You know, that series came to an end. I was looking for work and for another show and to get into another project. I liked the idea of Fairly Legal being 180° turnaround. That’s the complete departure from the tone of a show like Battlestar Galactica and that was attractive to me.
I think it’s important for an actor to look for diversity in their roles, and I like the idea of playing a human being, for one. I like the tone of the show, the light-hearted, the dramady so to speak and the character interests me. I’m a son of a police officer, and so the aspect of law and prosecution interests me greatly.
I was looking for a departure from the character of Anders. I was looking for something to do that was going to be a polar opposite. Coming off a show that was so … in popular culture and was so identifiable as Battlestar Galactica and Anders, I think it was important to do something a little different, just so I didn’t get pigeonholed into one character-type. I have absolutely no disrespect to the character of Anders and the series (Battlestar), but just as an actor, you need to look for some diversity. I’ll always hold that character dear in my heart. I just wanted to do something that was different, play a human being, play something contemporary and to have kind of a light tone to it. And this came along and it just felt like the right fit.
Jump with us to see what else Michael had to say. Continue reading
