2 hours ago
7
Calista Flockhart, played Ally McBeal
I was doing a play in New York, Three Sisters by Chekhov. We regularly got scripts sent to us. One going around was written by David E Kelley. I flew out to Los Angeles to screen test, and I got the part right in the moment. It was a difficult transition as I felt very much settled and happy in New York and I had only been to LA briefly, to shoot The Birdcage. I was such a bad driver that I didn’t get on the freeway in LA for a year. I was afraid of it.
Playing Ally McBeal was exciting and I was up for the challenge, but it was daunting. It was also very collaborative. Everybody fed each other and we all worked it out together. We started shooting in July and were on air in September, so there was this beautiful brief time when it was just ours. I remember that very well. Then, very quickly, it became popular.
David is a genius. What I love about his writing is his imagination – there’s no ceiling on it. At first, I thought the dancing baby was really weird. David was so excited about it but I really did not get it. Then, of course, I realised it was quite brilliant. Ally’s biological clock is ticking, and she’s being haunted by some weird, spooky dancing baby. It’s awesome. By nature, I’m a little on the shy side, so I had to find a place in myself to forget about being embarrassed. I just danced crazy and wild because it was sort of reflective of Ally’s inner life.
In one episode – Seeing Green – I was having hallucinations of Al Green. He guest-starred and I had the good fortune of dancing with him. It was filmed very late at night, with rain on the street, and it was so magical. He showed Ally the moves and I tried to do them. Then he flew away and Ally was left standing there alone. It was beautifully written. He is such a kind, sweet soul.
In terms of the music, I wouldn’t even say that it was part of the show – the music was the show. The minute you heard Searchin’ My Soul, you wanted to live in this life. I really identified with Vonda Shepard’s music and it was very reflective of what Ally was feeling. It was a way for characters to communicate with each other.
At the end of most days shooting, I was emotionally raw – I was pretty much there all day, every day. I was just so totally spent from the rollercoaster of Ally McBeal’s life and where I had to go to get there. In the end, after five seasons, it had sort of run its course and done what it set out to do, but my whole identity was wrapped up in Ally McBeal for five years. My son was about one then and I was really happy to have the time with him, but it was sad to say goodbye to everybody. There’s such a strong bond between us that will never go, even though our lives have gone in many, many different directions.
Sometimes at a restaurant or on the street, people come up to me and say: “I became a lawyer because of you.” Then I say: “No, you became a lawyer because of David Kelley.” It had nothing to do with me. I just went to work and said the lines. He had the hard job.
Vonda Shepard, musician
I had made two albums, but then I got dropped. I was struggling. I was lugging my keyboard to gigs in the rain, playing in tiny clubs. I have been friends with Michelle Pfeiffer since I was 18, before she was married to David Kelley. The two of them came to see me play one evening, which turned out to be the turning point of my life.
About a week later, I got a call from David. The songs that I was playing were from my album It’s Good, Eve and they resonated with the character he was writing about, he told me. David wanted me to sing Tell Him by the Exciters as the theme song, but my manager and I really wanted one of my own songs. So, we played them five of them, including Searchin’ My Soul, and David said: “If you can squeeze that song into one minute, that can be the theme song.” So, we just sped it up and they loved it.
Overnight, I went from playing for 30 people to 5,000 people. We won a Golden Globe, we won an Emmy. It changed my life. But I don’t care about being famous – I just want to be able to play music for people who like it and share that with them, and the show gave me that gift.
I went on to produce more than 500 songs during its five years. It was more like a musical. It was very fulfilling, watching the music come together. When I was 16, one of my favourite albums was The Belle Album by Al Green. At the end of one track, he laughs. It’s so solidly locked into my memory. We were in the studio with him recording his vocals for an episode and all of a sudden, Al Green sings a take, and he does the laugh. I thought, “Oh, my God, I’ve really made it.”
Searchin’ My Soul had the struggle and the challenge and then the breakthrough of the positive ending, the uplifting side of it. The show was a magical experience. I think back on it with such appreciation. You feel that connection and emotion, and it’s genuine.
