(Read Part 1 of our interview with Catherine Zeta-Jones here)
Two days before she turned 57 on Sept 25, Oscar winner Catherine Zeta-Jones sat down with StarLifestyle for an exclusive interview over Zoom from London, where she talked about being No.1 on the call sheet for her new series Kill Jackie, honouring fellow Welsh star Bonnie Tyler and her fondest memories of Malaysia.
The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Over the past few years, you’ve starred in a number of TV shows, Feud: Bette And Joan, National Treasure: Edge Of History, Wednesday and, now, Kill Jackie. What is it about television that appeals to you? Is there something this medium offers you as an actor that film doesn’t?
Well, years ago, there used to be this terrible thing that you were either a television actress or a film actress.
But now, some of the best filmmakers are working on great projects on television. For example, the great Tim Burton on Wednesday.
The quality of work, the quality of the writing and the cinematography and all that is like a movie.
As an actor, you get a longer journey, a longer path to kind of really find your character.
Also, television has that immediacy.
You know, for movies, it is a longer process – to finance them, to get them made. And then you need to pick a (release) slot that is great. It could be two years from when you’ve completed it.
It’s still a long process to make this kind of high-end television series, but there’s an immediacy.
It goes out all over the world and it doesn’t open in different territories at different times.
I like that about it.
In the show, there are elements of drama, action and comedy, and you do them all. Which aspect did you enjoy the most, and which did you find the most challenging?
Good question. I think I enjoyed the comedic part of Jackie.
I get to play her in my own accent, which is a Welsh accent, and that frees me up as an actress because I’m not thinking about (putting on another) accent and I get to push out my humour, my very Welsh humour, a bit more. So I think that was the most enjoyable.
And the toughest was probably, for me being in the show so much, being the lead character and the workload that comes with it.
Our schedules are tight and you’re in every day and you’ve got, you know, pages and pages of dialogue.
Which brings me to this question: You’ve been in this industry for more than 30 years, so I was wondering, since you are No.1 on the call sheet, was there still a little part of you that felt nervous knowing that the whole series was resting on your shoulders?
Not really. You know, I was an executive producer on it too. So, I was more concerned about all the different numbers below me.
And with great actors coming in, I wanted them to feel happy, be in a good place to work well, do long hours.
I think you set a tone when you’re No.1 on the call sheet.
If you turn up and bring your A-game, everybody else seems to, you know, come up to that level.
I think I felt more pressure when I was working on the scripts because I had the ability to contribute so much, and I wanted to get that right.
There’s a lovely Welsh connection in Kill Jackie, with Bonnie Tyler’s track Here She Comes featured in Episode Five. Given that Bonnie was such a personal part of your life, and she even performed at your wedding, what was it like hearing her voice in a show that was filmed in Wales?
It was an honour to be able to get Here She Comes by Bonnie Tyler (featured on the show). Because, first of all, it’s a beautiful song and her lyrics and her vocals are so amazing on it.
And it comes at the very end of a very poignant episode where (Jackie) goes back to her roots and she finds out some secrets.
It actually brings a tear to my eye when I see it because I was very fond of her.
Also, we featured (other Welsh artistes like) the great Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey.
I think one of the great additions to Kill Jackie that was not written in the script was its incredible soundtrack. We have Talking Heads, we have Blondie, we have some original scores as well.
But I was really happy that we used one of Bonnie Tyler’s songs.
You visited and filmed in Kuala Lumpur 28 years ago. What is your fondest memory of Malaysia? And have you been back?
I did.
I went out there to do a commercial with orangutans. Go figure.
But my time with Sean (Connery to shoot Entrapment) in Malaysia was wonderful.
First of all, I was welcomed. We both were welcomed and treated so well. And we had great food.
I remember we were using the spa at the hotel a lot. Every (free) minute that we had, we did great spa treatments.
But I think my fondest memories were the people, the diversity, and how kind everyone was to us.
New episodes of Kill Jackie premiere Saturdays on BBC First (Unifi TV Ch 481) and BBC Player.
