Sometimes, people get upset when politics and entertainment merge. The instinct is natural, but it’s hard to ignore certain goings-on in the real world when you are creating a show that’s so tightly placed in our current times.
Variety details The Good Fight‘s struggle with this in their recent article with Brooke Kennedy, who produces and directs TGF (as well as its predecessor, The Good Wife). Kennedy even describes the heavy atmosphere on set as the cast and crew received news of the 2016 presidential election while working on an emotional scene. Variety notes that amid our political climate, the show’s premise (a hardworking woman is rejected from her law form and turns to working for a prominent African-American-led firm instead, focusing on civil rights and social justice issues) becomes a little more meaningful.
It’s also meaningful for the cast and crew as well. Brooke speaks about the decision to work for The Good Fight, saying, “A lot of it was wanting to keep the family together. The only question was, was there a story the Kings wanted to tell. Once your writers find that, the rest is easy. Give us a roadmap of where the gold is buried and we’ll find it.”
And Brooke carries a lot of memories and tips for the future from The Good Wife, saying, “On Good Wife it was so female-dominated at the top. Everybody’s a mother, or a grandmother, or a sister. The whole approach to problems is decidedly feminine.” Indeed, The Good Fight‘s top jobs are predominately held by women.
Even her affection for both leads of the shows are similar, as she says, “Both women are filled with grace,” referencing Julianna Margulies and Christine Baranski.
However, there’s still new material to come. “The challenge with Good Fight was to make a new show and the same show. The trademarks of (Good Wife) are all there — the humor, the way we define the characters,” says Brooke. “But the components are different. … We know there’s a very high bar set for who we are in front of the camera and who we are behind the camera. There’s a integrity level that is expected of us that we have to keep going.”
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