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nbc_mediumThis week's TV Guide has an article about "Medium." I'll post it under a cut for those of you who don't get TV Guide.
Allison DuBois is a suburban working mom who has violent vision of murders and routine chats with the dead. But that's not what's most unusual about her. What's really weird is that the lead character on NBC's hit show Medium is the most realistic woman on TV.
DuBois is neither a Pliates-lean, dressed-to-kill Wisteria Lane housewife nor an immaculately coiffed crime scene investigator. As Patricia Arquette, the actress who portrays her, puts it, "She's a psychic soccer mom."
The soccer moms relate. So do the other women of America who make up over 60 percent of the 15-million-strong audience turning into Medium every Monday night.
Yes, the character of Allison DuBois is based on an actual housewife with the same name. She's also psychic, lives in Phoenix, and uses her powers to help crack criminal cases. However, Arquette chose not to go the imitation route. You won't see her sporting the real DuBois' dramatic two-tone hair or channeling her animated personality - that this season at least. She has her own ideas about how she wanted to represent the character.
"I wanted to play a woman who looks really normal," says Arquette, 36, as she strolls across the Medium set in a funky blue bathrobe your mom might wear. "Her body shape is regular. Her makeup is very minimal."
And why are those details so important? Because it's how her character - a happily married, working mother of three - should look. "It would say a lot about her parenting skills if she took a ton of time to get herself ready in the morning," Arquette declares. "And that's part of what people respond to. They know I didn't take four hours to train with someone and three hours to put on makeup."
While Medium is essentially a crime drama, NBC picked the series up last fall because it felt viewers would be attracted to Allison DuBois' ordinariness. And Medium creator Glenn Gordon Caron cast Arquette in the lead role because he knew he'd be getting an actress unafraid of her imperfections. Watching Arquette's characterization, he says, "You don't sense this is a person who spends a lot of time looking in the mirror. There is a modesty in the performance, in the way she dresses, that seems to give the character some weight."
Arquette is a rare thing in Hollywood today: an actress over 35 whose face hasn't been Botoxed into submission, and who is willing to trade ego for authenticity. "It's important for me to be real," says Arquette, who has even refused to have her crooked teeth straightened although, throughout her career, many people have suggested she should. "People are imperfect," she says. It's incredibly important to have an alternative to what you already see."
Arquette keeps it real with her wardrobe, too. At 5-foot-1, she may be diminutive but, with her womanly curves, she's no size 0. Her DuBois wears mall-bought clothes - American Eagle khakis, Halogen separates from Nordstrom - that are affordable and sensible. "The character should look believable," says Medium costume designer Barbara Chennault. "She always on the go. She's functioning as a mom."
Medium many fans appreciate the attention to detail. "Women come up to me and say, 'I'm so glad your clothing is real,'" says Arquette, with more than a little pride.
The real Allison DuBois is more partial to designer suits, but she has no complaints about her TV alter ego. "I think the women watching can relate more to [my tv personal] than to me in the sense that I may come off as a little bit over the top," she says. She's also hapy with how the show depicts both her qualms about her psychic powers - "[the character] is where I was five years ago in my life," she explains - and her home life, especially her marriage. Husband Joe, played by British actor Jake Weber, really is a great, supportive guy, though she can get grouchy and he can get fed up with all those dead people who drop by like univited in-laws. "My husband is the only person who can ground me sometimes," DuBois says.
Weber admires the DuBois' marriage as it's depicted in the series: "The have a foundation of respect and fondness." And Arquette, who lives with actor Thomas Jane, their 2-year-old daughter and her 16-year old son, confessess that she is inpsired by the couple's dynamic. "What's really amazing about the show is the relationship," she says. "Here's a healthy model where people are partners. You can be a strong male and take care of your kids wihtout some woman saying, 'Can't you pick up your kids?'
"I wanted to show a committed sexual marriage," she continues, "where the woman isn't obsessed with [her appearance] and yet her husband is turned on by her." If that doesn't turn the Hollywood myth on its head, nothing ever will.
*****************
Apologies for any typos.
Allison DuBois is a suburban working mom who has violent vision of murders and routine chats with the dead. But that's not what's most unusual about her. What's really weird is that the lead character on NBC's hit show Medium is the most realistic woman on TV.
DuBois is neither a Pliates-lean, dressed-to-kill Wisteria Lane housewife nor an immaculately coiffed crime scene investigator. As Patricia Arquette, the actress who portrays her, puts it, "She's a psychic soccer mom."
The soccer moms relate. So do the other women of America who make up over 60 percent of the 15-million-strong audience turning into Medium every Monday night.
Yes, the character of Allison DuBois is based on an actual housewife with the same name. She's also psychic, lives in Phoenix, and uses her powers to help crack criminal cases. However, Arquette chose not to go the imitation route. You won't see her sporting the real DuBois' dramatic two-tone hair or channeling her animated personality - that this season at least. She has her own ideas about how she wanted to represent the character.
"I wanted to play a woman who looks really normal," says Arquette, 36, as she strolls across the Medium set in a funky blue bathrobe your mom might wear. "Her body shape is regular. Her makeup is very minimal."
And why are those details so important? Because it's how her character - a happily married, working mother of three - should look. "It would say a lot about her parenting skills if she took a ton of time to get herself ready in the morning," Arquette declares. "And that's part of what people respond to. They know I didn't take four hours to train with someone and three hours to put on makeup."
While Medium is essentially a crime drama, NBC picked the series up last fall because it felt viewers would be attracted to Allison DuBois' ordinariness. And Medium creator Glenn Gordon Caron cast Arquette in the lead role because he knew he'd be getting an actress unafraid of her imperfections. Watching Arquette's characterization, he says, "You don't sense this is a person who spends a lot of time looking in the mirror. There is a modesty in the performance, in the way she dresses, that seems to give the character some weight."
Arquette is a rare thing in Hollywood today: an actress over 35 whose face hasn't been Botoxed into submission, and who is willing to trade ego for authenticity. "It's important for me to be real," says Arquette, who has even refused to have her crooked teeth straightened although, throughout her career, many people have suggested she should. "People are imperfect," she says. It's incredibly important to have an alternative to what you already see."
Arquette keeps it real with her wardrobe, too. At 5-foot-1, she may be diminutive but, with her womanly curves, she's no size 0. Her DuBois wears mall-bought clothes - American Eagle khakis, Halogen separates from Nordstrom - that are affordable and sensible. "The character should look believable," says Medium costume designer Barbara Chennault. "She always on the go. She's functioning as a mom."
Medium many fans appreciate the attention to detail. "Women come up to me and say, 'I'm so glad your clothing is real,'" says Arquette, with more than a little pride.
The real Allison DuBois is more partial to designer suits, but she has no complaints about her TV alter ego. "I think the women watching can relate more to [my tv personal] than to me in the sense that I may come off as a little bit over the top," she says. She's also hapy with how the show depicts both her qualms about her psychic powers - "[the character] is where I was five years ago in my life," she explains - and her home life, especially her marriage. Husband Joe, played by British actor Jake Weber, really is a great, supportive guy, though she can get grouchy and he can get fed up with all those dead people who drop by like univited in-laws. "My husband is the only person who can ground me sometimes," DuBois says.
Weber admires the DuBois' marriage as it's depicted in the series: "The have a foundation of respect and fondness." And Arquette, who lives with actor Thomas Jane, their 2-year-old daughter and her 16-year old son, confessess that she is inpsired by the couple's dynamic. "What's really amazing about the show is the relationship," she says. "Here's a healthy model where people are partners. You can be a strong male and take care of your kids wihtout some woman saying, 'Can't you pick up your kids?'
"I wanted to show a committed sexual marriage," she continues, "where the woman isn't obsessed with [her appearance] and yet her husband is turned on by her." If that doesn't turn the Hollywood myth on its head, nothing ever will.
*****************
Apologies for any typos.
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Date: 2005-03-23 12:35 am (UTC)Here are the pictures.
Date: 2005-03-23 01:00 am (UTC)Cover (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ordinarywaste/livegreatest/P3220015_1.jpg) - Jake, Sophia & Patricia (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ordinarywaste/livegreatest/P3220013.jpg) - Patricia with Allison DuBois (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ordinarywaste/livegreatest/P3220014.jpg)
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Date: 2005-03-23 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-23 01:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-23 06:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-23 08:05 pm (UTC)