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Small Screen: TV role a chance for Viola Davis to shine

Don’t judge Viola Davis for conducting a phone interview from her Jacuzzi. She’s earned her bubbles.
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Viola Davis stars in How to Get Away With Murder.

Don’t judge Viola Davis for conducting a phone interview from her Jacuzzi. She’s earned her bubbles.

The actor plays an ultra-intimidating professor and defence lawyer in ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder, the most-watched new show among women and second only to Gotham as measured by positive buzz on social media.

“It feels good,” she said last week with smooth jazz playing in the background and her husband, actor Julius Tennon, coaching her on answers. “I’ve had the other. It’s much better to be on this side of the fence.”

What’s most remarkable about Davis’s success is that it didn’t happen earlier.

The 49-year-old actor may have two Tony awards and a pair of Oscar nominations, but she had never been No. 1 on the call list, a Hollywood term that means you’re the biggest star on the set. Even her critically acclaimed performance in 2011’s The Help took second billing to Emma Stone, and her heartbreaking turn in 2008’s Doubt lasted only seven minutes.

“Usually I’m only on a movie set for eight days at the most and am not given characters where I can use my full potential,” she said. “That made it really easy to come to TV.”

It’s a doozy of a role.

Davis plays an instructor who would have fit right into John Houseman’s staff on The Paper Chase, the movie and TV series that scared legions of young people out of applying to law school. She recruits her best students to apprentice on top cases while finding time for after-school delight with lovers in her office. Oh, and she may or may not have had a hand in the death of a major character.

“She’s a character you can’t quite put your finger on and she’s got a sexuality. In upcoming episodes, the layers peel away and you’ll see where that hardness comes from,” Davis said. “I haven’t had that opportunity in film. Yet.”

Give ample credit to executive producer Shonda Rhimes, who with the debut of Murder now oversees all three hours of ABC’s Thursday night lineup, an unprecedented achievement. Rhimes may not have created Murder — that credit goes to protegé Peter Norwalk — but her fingerprints are all over the crisp dialogue, complicated characters and the kind of ridiculous drama associated with daytime soaps.

However, Rhimes’ legacy will have more to do with her colourblind casting. Her shows Scandal and Murder are the first dramas to revolve around black women in almost 40 years.

“The one thing you can say about Shonda is that she casts people who don’t necessarily fit the mould. She’s just thinking in terms of talent,” Davis said. “Her women are all very strong, very messy and unorthodox. As somebody once said, a well-behaved woman never makes history.”

Davis knew she had landed the ideal boss after signing off on the role. Rhimes invited her and Tennon to her office for a congratulatory glass of wine.

“I remember saying, ‘Yeah, Shonda, when I do publicity for this, I think I’m going to wear my real hair,’ and she said great. Then I said, ‘Well, maybe I’ll wear a wig,’ and she said, ‘I love the wigs, too,’ ” Davis said. “It was very evident from the beginning that she accepts who I am. She sees my beauty, my talent, my womanhood, and she acknowledges that and makes sure the writers write to that. I love it.”

One of her biggest cheerleaders is Meryl Streep, her co-star in Doubt. In 2012 she and Davis competed for the best actress Oscar (Davis for The Help, Streep for The Iron Lady). Streep ended up winning, but she publicly campaigned for her friend in the press.

“I love her and think she’s amazing,” Streep told England’s The Sun. “She deserves [the Oscar] and should be at the forefront of our business.”