'Terriers' star Donal Logue interview, viva los women!

By April MacIntyre Sep 8, 2010, 23:58 GMT

New FX Original Series, Terriers. Premieres Wednesday, September 8 at 10PM ET/PT only on FX.

FX dramas are never dull affairs, and the latest to follow season three's "Sons of Anarchy" is a tightly wound tale of intrigue metered with comedic moments, set in a seaside Ocean Beach. 

The show premieres September 8, Wednesday night on FX.  

Donal Logue's dry wit is fully flexed as he portrays a humbled man trying to piece his career and personal life back together in new-found sobriety, unaware of larger malevolent forces that would like him to keep taking the fall. 

Logue is part of a small cadre of accomplished actors who can simply shoot a look and convey to the audience a page worth's of dialogue and intent for the viewer.  "Terriers," is fertile ground for Logue to show this talent with a well-matched cast who all bring something special to their respective characters, especially Hank Dolworth's (Logue) partner Britt (Michael Raymond-James) who like his partner is resistant to growing up and being a responsible man. The men are well served scene after scene by a supporting cast including Jamie Denbo (Maggie), Kimberly Quinn (Gretchen), Karina Logue (Steph), Laura Allen (Katie) and Rockmond Dunbar (Det. Mark Gustafson).

Jamie Denbo plays Maggie, Hank's attorney

"My character was a small time non-violent type of a criminal, and Hank (Logue) was kicked off the force for an incident and his drinking," shared Raymond-James, on set when M&C went down to San Diego to check out the production.

"I'd describe the series as a 'Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid' set in modern day San Diego," added Michael, who shared he and Donal shared a beach house during production to further cement the chemistry of their two characters.

The location is as much a character to the ensemble as the cast, led by Donal, and lends a melancholic feel - as many seaside towns seem to do - to the action that is unraveled like a sticky boardwalk funnel cake.

Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow, The Shield) directed the pilot episode.

Kimberly Quinn plays Gretchen, Hank's ex

And for the dog lovers, the title "Terriers' would suggest the tenacious "ratter" nature of the two PI's, who pick the threads of a murder investigation and unravel a whole mess of trouble. The real pooch is a clever Bulldog named Winston used as a decoy for our two investigators to gain entrance into a locked domicile in one scene.

Hank's personal life is the backdrop as his ex, Gretchen (Kimberly Quinn), a woman he is clearly still in love with, tired of his inability to be responsible and sober and is trying to extricate herself from Hank's world and move on.

Laura Allen plays Katie, Britt's girl

The two episodes seen so far introduce us to the main players and set the stage for Hank's recovery and reclaiming of his professional reputation. The pairing of Logue and Raymond-James works perfectly as the two intuitively communicate in a genuinely funny short-hand.

"Terriers" premieres on September 8, a strong M&C recommend.

Monsters and Critics spoke to Donal the other day about this new series.

Monsters & Critics:  I watched five episodes and I have to tell you, you guys definitely have that chemistry,  but what I really appreciate is your sister’s performance, and Jamie’s.  The women in this particular series are so brilliant and so, I love how “Hank” relies and trusts this inner circle of women.

Donal Logue That’s a really interesting point.  First of all, the women are fantastic across the board.  I’ve worked with Jamie before.  There’s a reason Laura and Kimberly were cast because they’re brilliant.  And Karina, my sister, I think she’s a genius... 

What I have to say is—and what I love about Ted and Shawn too in this, and I think it kind of migrated in this direction—is I have three sisters.  I don’t have brothers.  I’ve always been very close to women in that regard.  My sisters are all incredible women, really bright. 

I think it’s always false when you see these shows where guys … and you know what?  There might be guys like this, but we’re not those guys: Donal, Michael, “Britt,” or “Hank,” where I can’t talk to women.  It’s like this weird pagan.  When emotions come up, it just gets so ….  It’s like men and women can talk to each other and can rely on each other and can have, and these guys have intelligent and kind of poignant conversations with women.

Do Michael and I have good chemistry?  Do I love doing stuff with Michael?  There’s no doubt.  That’s kind of like a slam-dunk.  But my favorite individual scenes are always with the women in the show.  There’s always something kind of unique and special, and a completely different side to my character that gets to come out and it’s different with each one of the women.  So I love that about the show.

M&C:  There’s a scene you have with Kimberly Quinn (“Gretchen”).  She’s your ex-wife, and you say to her—and your timing was perfect—“I still love you.”  I’m just wondering if “Gretchen” is going to be a continuing—if your ex is going to be a continuing player—and if you could also talk about your sister.  I hope that she continues in the series.

D. Logue Absolutely, both of them.  As we leave it at the end of the first season, everybody is still around and still kind of in play in those worlds, and it’s an incredibly selfish thing to do sometimes is to throw that kind of a grenade on someone’s lap.  When she says, “I don’t know what to do with that,” I mean, I think I say, “I don’t either,” but I think I would have said, “I don’t care what you do with it.  I just have to throw that grenade in your lap.”  But they are really special kind of actors, and it was a real joy to be able to do these scenes with all of them. 

I have whatever bag of actor tricks that everybody carries with them to what they do.  I would say I’m not or I don’t try to be particularly indulgent in the way I talk about it.  There were some scenes I had with my sister that were almost too emotionally difficult to do to get through.  It was kind of a thrilling experience to be so overtaken by 100% real emotion that it was really difficult to get through some scenes.