Marcia was in a different role when we made the change. "We needed the character to have a history of experience and pain, a sense of gravitas and credibility. "Ultimately, she was too young," said Seitzman (Grace is 31). "It's authenticity with specific intent, to show the humanity behind the chaos," said McGarry.Īs rehearsals went on with Grace in the lead, the producers said they felt they needed to make a change.
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The series has bloody and graphic moments - one life-saving procedure in the pilot may be tough for some viewers to watch. Actual trauma nurses work alongside the actors on and off camera and often give instructions during the frantic treatment scenes. Seitzman and McGarry said "Code Black" will be distinct from other medical dramas because of its realism and attention to detail where the proceedings can be messy and turbulent. The cast includes Luis Guzman ("We're the Millers"), Bonnie Somerville ("NYPD Blue"), Raza Jaffrey ("Smash") and William Allen Young ("Moesha"). McGarry is an executive producer of "Code Black," working with show runner and executive producer Michael Seitzman (CBS' "Intelligence"). The term "code black" refers to the moment when the influx of patients is so great that it overwhelms the hospital staff and not everyone can be treated properly. The series was inspired by an award-winning documentary from physician Ryan McGarry exploring the life-and-death chaos of the country's busiest emergency department at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. The cast is fantastic, and the writing is sublime." "This is some of the hardest and most interesting work I've ever done. It's a true ensemble of people working together."Īnd though she has done only a handful of episodes, Harden is already calling "Code Black" a career highlight. I feel if it's not a circle, I don't want to be in it. But I talked it over with them and they said, 'Go for it, Mom.' I also don't think of me being the star. "I'm a single mother, and I have three kids.
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She was dressed in her show uniform - blue scrubs - and her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail. "I was really nervous, being the lead of a medical drama," Harden, 56, said recently during a break on the set of the drama at Walt Disney Studios.
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Leanne Rorish, the residency director of a relentlessly busy hospital emergency room in Los Angeles.īeing first on the call sheet has taken some getting used to. And Harden is now heading the "Code Black" ensemble of veterans and newcomers, taking on the role of Dr. 30.īut when producers realized that the original lead of the show, Maggie Grace ("Taken"), was not working out, they made a change. It's a pattern that almost repeated itself when she was originally cast in CBS' new medical drama, "Code Black," premi�ring Sept. She has injected her blend of warmth and smooth toughness to recent films ("Grandma") and vehicles such as HBO's "The Newsroom," ABC's "How to Get Away With Murder" and NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." She scored a Tony Award in 2009 for lead actress in a play for "God of Carnage" and last year played Christian Grey's mother in the hit film version of "Fifty Shades of Grey."įor all her accomplishments, Harden, who costarred in ABC's short-lived "Trophy Wife" in 2013-2014, has rarely found herself in the leading role.
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Those drawbacks seem to have had minimal impact on Harden during the last few years, as she's ridden a steady flow of featured roles in several high-profile projects on stage and screen.
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"It's disastrous on a professional level," the actress said in 2003, a few years after winning a supporting actress Oscar for her portrayal of artist Lee Krasner, the wife of troubled painter Jackson Pollock, in Ed Harris' "Pollock." "Suddenly the parts you're offered and the money become smaller. LOS ANGELES - Marcia Gay Harden once described winning an Oscar as a double-edged sword: Although it is a wonderful honour, it does have its pitfalls.