By Alexandra Cheney
Poppy Montgomery calls everyone, whether or not she’s on a first name basis, mama. Her manicurist, her assist, the woman dying her hair and even the man holding open the door, to name a few.
It was a chilly spring day, one that slouched more toward winter than summer, and the wind was blowing in Long Island City, home to Silver Cup Studios, which was home to the CBS show “Unforgettable.”
The Australian-born Montgomery played Carrie Wells, the former NYPD detective with an impeccable memory who used her rare talent to solve cases. She was joined by Dylan Walsh, former love interest and current NY detective named Al Burns and Jane Curtin, who played coroner Joanne Webster.
CBS chose to cancel after only one season, but Speakeasy visited the set prior, during the last day of shooting when the show’s future was still unknown.
“You just never know. If they cancel, you move on,” said Curtin, in her severely air-conditioned room with the news on the television muted in the background. “You can’t spend your career planning your next move. You do your best, you act, and if it doesn’t work out you keep moving forward,” she added very matter-of-factly.
Shooting in a roughly 18,000-square-foot studio, the winter chill permeated the set, a stark contrast to the warmth and movement of the actors.
“This is so exciting,” said Walsh, hugging a cup of black coffee. “I did cable TV for so long, and now network is the place to be. It’s a different way of moving, of acting. It’s refreshing.”
Walsh, best known for his role as Dr. Sean McNamara on FX’s “Nip/Tuck,” had his family on set that day.
As for Montgomery, she held the set together, even though her young son, Jackson, was ill with a 103 fever. Running from her dressing room, where she would promptly take off all Carrie’s clothes and change into Ugg boots and pajamas (“I have to be me in between being her”, she said) to the makeup room and back again, her moves dictated the show’s taping progression. She blocked, joked and kept the feeling of the set light and cheery.
“We’re having marachi later, but shhhh, no one knows,” she said, shaking our hand and embracing this reporter simultaneously.
“I’ve worked so hard to get here and sincerely hope I can keep working this hard but television is unknown right now. Everyone is re-inventing everything. It’s wait and hope and see.”
