Title: Body of Proof
Small new interview in Parade.
Dana Delany is known for playing strong women on screens big and small. From her time on Desperate Housewives to her new role as Dr. Megan Hunt on ABC’s Body of Proof, Delany knows how important it is for young girls to have positive women to look up to.
Delany, who is a spokesperson for Caltrate’s Women Who Move The World nitiative to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure, talked to Parade.com about the upcoming season of Body of Proof and whether fans can expect to see her back on Wisteria Lane.
On being an unexpected role model for young girls.
“I find strong women interesting because they tend to be complicated. I have a strong following of young girls who I give advice to, especially on Twitter, which I never expected. I didn’t realize how hungry they were for a female role model. There are girls who want to know that it’s ok not to get married and it’s ok not to have children. We all have these stereotypes of what’s expected, and I think it’s been helpful for them to hear about somebody who went their own way. I feel like I’ve forged my own path”On her new role on Body of Proof.
“I was sort of the new guy on the block with Desperate Housewives and they very nicely took me in. But I’ve been part of Body of Proof from the beginning, so there’s more responsibility. It’s all about creating a new show. We’re a very close-knit group. Having been on several shows, I take a lot of responsibility for being the captain of the ship and making sure everybody’s happy.”
On the unique challenges of doing a medical show.
“The main one is having to say all those words and act like you know what you’re talking about. Most of the words make no sense at all to me. Having an iPad really helps because I can look it up the night before while I’m reading the script and see a picture of what I’m talking about and I can make sense of it. But it has gotten easier with each episode.”On her upcoming big screen role opposite 50 Cent in Freelancers.
“All my scenes were with 50 Cent and it was a blast. I was very impressed with him. He’s an entrepreneur, and he’s a producer on the film. He made it happen. He really wants to be taken seriously as an actor and I think he’s really good. He’s got a lot of charisma.”On the possibility of returning to Desperate Housewives.
“I would love that. I would really love to go back for the final season for a little visit as Katherine because I’d like to resolve her storyline. I would like to know that she and her girlfriend Robin were living happily ever after. It would be nice if they ended up together or she at least found some happiness in her life.”On the importance of finding “me” time despite her busy schedule.
“It’s been a bit tough this year because I do work five days a week and 12-15 hour days. I think one of the things that women need to learn is to say ‘no.’ It’s ok to say no once in awhile.”
The August issue of Ladies’ Home Journal is out and we have the article here! As well as one of the photos.
Forget the makeup, the blowouts, the Jimmy Choos. These TV stars know that when it comes to looking good, it’s how you feel on the inside that matters most.
Dana Delany, Age 55
Her character on Body of Proof was written for a 35-year-old. But it was Delany, 55, who got the job. How did she defy Hollywood’s ageism? By liking who she is.
Real beauty is…
Being quiet. That’s what I do. I remind myself to just sit and be still. The older I get, the more I find beauty in stillness. I’ll sit by my window for a half hour and look out at the world around me. There’s too much talking and too many electronics vying for our attention. It really helps to remove yourself from the noise.
How I nurture myself…
I eat lots of fish and vegetables. I go to yoga every morning, so that sets the tone for my day. I’ve also learned it’s good to have a support system of women friends. When I was younger I wouldn’t want to bother anybody. I would be too embarrassed to ask for help. Now I’ve learned that people really do want to help you and they’re honored if you call them up. It’s okay to rely on people, so I have a group of friends I can call at any hour of the day or night and say, “Could I just complain for a second?”
Feeling good in my 50s…
I’m so happy I’m this age because when I was in my 20s I would have worried for months about having my photo taken for the cover of a magazine; I would have dieted and worked out. I would have been miserable. Now I look how I look. It is what it is and I just accept it. The idea that wisdom comes with age is true. Aging is all about harnessing that self-love. I’ll see pictures of myself when I was in my 30s and remember how hard I was on myself at that time. I feel for that girl. Now I think, “You looked fine! What were you worried about?” I also find that the less I focus on the external, the more attractive I am. When you stop thinking about what you look like you naturally look better.
The downside of beauty…
I’ve never been a bombshell. I’ve always been sort of natural, all-American. Whenever I’ve tried to mess with nature or fix something cosmetically, it always backfired. Years ago I had never heard of Botox. My dermatologist said, “You should try it.” He injected my forehead, hit a nerve and created a huge hematoma. The nerve has been dead ever since. It affected the muscles in my right eye, so my eye droops a bit. I’ve taken it as a sign that I should just leave well enough alone and be grateful. I don’t judge people for having plastic surgery because the end goal is to feel better about yourself. But for me I feel like God has His own plan. I don’t mean that in a religious way, but if you go to a plastic surgeon, you’re ultimately going to look like his image of what you should look like. I have this fear that if I did something like that, I’d look in the mirror and go, “That’s not me!”
I feel beautiful when…
I’m in nature, with bare feet, no makeup and being at one with the elements. Sometimes that means just sitting in my backyard looking up at the palm trees. That’s heaven to me.
Enjoy!
I have been trying to upload this for the last 2 days, and it’s been giving a problem each time I tried until now. So here’s Dana’s GMA interview from Monday!
Dana Delany has left the world of “Desperate Housewives” to strike out as the lead in her own series, “Body of Proof,” premiering Tuesday (March 29) on ABC.The series follows the messed-up life of Delany’s character, the socially awkward neurologist Megan Hunt — a workaholic, who has lost her husband and daughter to her career. Then, she loses her career after a car accident impaired her ability to operate. When we meet her, she’s a medical examiner who works with the police to solve mysterious deaths.Though she may have accepted the role under dubious circumstances, Delany has come to appreciate its complexity.“I think by taking on this job as a medical examiner,” Delany tells Zap2it of her character. “She’s really helping these souls cross over to the other side. And I think she sees that as her own redemption as a human being.”We spoke to the Emmy-winner about the new character, how it compares to her character on “China Beach,” and what it takes to play a convincing neurosurgeon.In recent interviews you’ve emphasized your character will be more vulnerable as the season progresses. Why do you feel it’s important to get that out there?Well, I think in the pilot, we were going for a sort of sassy, snarky thing and I felt the show was deeper than that. I enjoy the humor, I think it’s great, and I enjoy the side aspects of that, but I feel like there’s a bigger picture here where this character really suffered a loss in her life and is in major transition and needs to redeem herself.You’ve said this character feels closer to your “China Beach” days. Can you explain how?Colleen McMurphy was also a complicated character like Megan Hunt. She had a lot of demons, didn’t get along with her mother. I think there’s a deep streak of sadness in her and alcohol problems. I think she was a champion of underdogs, the same thing that Megan is of these people, she’s their champion and fighting for the person who can’t stand up for themselves – literally, they’re dead [laughs].Did you find a difference between playing a nurse and a doctor?Yes. I did a little nod to nurses in one episode, because neurosurgeons are classically arrogant. They have to be, because they’re basically playing God, you know. Every day in an operating room, it’s a life and death situation. So, there’s a reason why they’re arrogant. They need that self-confidence. You know, classically, doctors treat nurses really badly. So, there’s a moment in one episode where I go to a hospital to interview some witnesses and I’m very short with a nurse. [Laughs] And I did that on purpose.Whenever we speak to actors who play nurses, they tend to be very empathetic to them.My heart will always be with the nurses first. I think that is the hardest job in the world.We’ve read you’ve witnessed autopsies in preparation for the role. What other kind of special research have you done?I read a few books, but I have to say witnessing the autopsies and by the end they actually let me participate — that was the best thing you can do. It’s right there and there’s a system to the autopsy, which I find fascinating. It’s almost like a pilot with a check list that you have to do before you take off. And there’s something very systematic about it that I find satisfying. And once you’ve held a brain in your hand, it’s pretty amazing… I’ve only seen four autopsies that were all men, so now I’d like to see a female body, because I want to see what I look like inside.“Body of Proof” premieres Tuesday (March 29) at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
Dana Delany is returning to ABC with Body of Proof, where she works on dead people. After a car accident hinders her ability to operate, Dr. Megan Hunt is forced to start a new career as a coroner. Delany dishes on the new medical series, which felt like home for the China Beach alum. Plus, find out if Nathan Fillion will make his way to her new show.
Check out photos of Body of Proof
5. What makes this series stand out?
Delany: We do have the mystery every week, which is something people like. We have a bit more character going on. We’ve got the office politics, which can be very humorous. I think Geoffrey Arend and Windell Middlebrooks are like Abbott and Costello together, or Laurel and Hardy. They’ve very funny together. There’s also a lot of tension with my boss, played by Jeri Ryan.4. Your character comes off as a stoic, strong female. Is there a softer side to her?
Delany: I feel like, underneath it all, she’s in great pain. People say, “Well, why is she so combative?” I think she doesn’t really know how to behave with people. Her whole life has been about going to school and being a success. Now she’s having to be in the world of human beings, oddly surrounded by dead people. She’s learning, from these dead people, to have respect for the living.3. Can she find love around so much death?
Delany: People have asked whether Peter Dunlop (played by Nicholas Bishop), my medical investigator, and I will get together. At first, I was like, “Why? Why can’t they just be friends?” My best friend is a guy, so I don’t understand always wanting to hook people up, but I know people like that tension. We do have a very dashing FBI agent coming on for the end of the season, played by Cliff Curtis, and he’s going to be a love interest for me. He’s an old friend, so I wanted him for the role.Will you be watching the Body of Proof series premiere? Tell us here
2. As the promos say, Hunt lost her daughter to her job and then she lost her job. What will we see from that?
Delany: Joanna Cassidy is coming in as my mother, so you’re going to see these three generations of strong women who don’t really give each other an inch. I think you’ll understand where Megan comes from once you meet her mother.1. You have previous medical roles, having played a nurse on China Beach, so was it easy to pick it all up again?
Delany: I do like the medical roles, but I like the whole life-and-death aspect to it. But this one in particular was tough because I went and observed the autopsies and I certainly got that down. But it was the terminology that was the hardest. You have 10-syllable words that make no sense to you whatsoever. There’s a phenomenon that happens when you get on camera: You know the words, you know what it means, you know how to pronounce it, but the minute the camera starts rolling on you, you cannot remember a thing. It’s like white noise.Bonus Round: You have worked with Nathan Fillion three times (He played her husband on Desperate Housewives, her lover in Pasadena, and Richard Castle against her FBI agent Jordan Shaw on Castle.) Might he appear on your show?
Delany: I would love it. I suggested it on Twitter that Mr. Castle should come to our coroner’s office to investigate something; maybe he’s writing a book about a medical investigator. I think that would be really fun!We’re off to start our “Reunite Fillion and Delany” campaign. Hit the comments with your thoughts on Body of Proof.
I just added scans of four magazines, some are newer and others older, including the scans of what probably got started the Kathree ship back in 2008 (boy, time flies).
Television veteran Dana Delany makes no apologies for her polarizing character on the upcoming ABC drama Body of Proof. In fact, she loves the fact that the “psychically tortured” former neurosurgeon-turned-medical-examiner she plays, Dr. Megan Hunt, is intelligent and flawed. At least, Dr. Hunt’s life certainly is flawed: She gets divorced from her husband, loses her daughter in a custody battle, and gets into a life-altering car accident. It will hopefully make for character-driven TV on a should-have-been “CBS-type” procedural, she says.In a chat with EW, Delany talks more about her new show’s initial expectations, the undeniable House and Bones similarities, and its eventual evolution into something she hopes will resonate with TV viewers when it premieres March 29 at 10 p.m. on ABC.
After three years of doing domestic battle with five other female leads on Desperate Housewives, Dana Delany is taking the lead in Body of Proof. Delany plays Megan Hunt, a brilliant neurosurgeon who turns to forensics after a car accident impairs the use of her hands.How did this project come to you?
It kind of came out of the blue. I was very happily on Desperate Housewives and I got a call from the head of ABC saying, “We’ve enjoyed having you on the show, on Housewives. We don’t know how much longer you’re going to be on the show.” And then he said, “But we have this other show we’d like you to think about.” And I was kind of taken aback, but I’m not stupid. I saw the handwriting on the wall, so I thought, “All right. Why not? Why not try it?”Is it true you have a strange connection to your character on this show?
I had a car accident right before we started shooting that was almost exactly like the show. It was a week before we started shooting. I was hit by a bus, and I had a concussion, and I broke two fingers. The bus driver asked me for my autograph after she hit me.Did you give it to her?
No. (laughs) This is what she said. She said, “Didn’t you see me coming?” I said, “Yeah, I saw you coming. You’re a bus. I thought you were stopping.” And she said, “I know who you are. Could I have your autograph?” (laughs)How else do you relate to your character?
In terms of being driven and work-oriented, I kind of relate to that. I mean, my whole life, I’ve loved to act. That’s pretty much all I’ve done. I’ve never been married. I think it’s really hard to have a balance there. And so I can certainly relate to that role of the character. And I was exhausted by the time we got home at night, so yeah.You met with a real female neurosurgeon for research. What was her impression of the show?
She said it was really spot-on, because to be a female neurosurgeon at my age would have been almost impossible. You could not really have a life except for that. And she said she could not get into any medical school because she wanted to be a neurosurgeon. They said, “But you’re going to want to get married and have kids, and you’re not going to follow through. So we’re not going to take you in,” until finally she got one guy to write her a recommendation saying, “OK, she’s smart. She’s passed everything. I’ll write it, but she is a woman.” You know, it’s all this “but she is a woman” kind of thing.Speaking of being a woman: Do you miss the costumes on Desperate Housewives?
I’ve got to say I actually get better costumes on this show. Because there’s so many women on Housewives, I don’t know how Cate Adair, the costume designer, does it because she is a miracle worker to have six women, sometimes five, but six at that time, and everybody looked different. You know, everybody looked completely different. All I got to wear was vintage. I wore a lot of vintage dresses. That was my little niche. So now I get to wear all the Prada and Dolce Gabbana. Marcia [Cross] got to wear the Dolce and Gabbana.
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