COME As You Are

TV Guide 2011/02/02

過年大家放假，不過暴風雪沒放假，女王的宣傳行程雖然部份取消，但TCC新聞跟訪談還是如山排海捲來，已經多到魚要半夜加班，沒啦！只是習慣性整理JB的消息，Lu最近的Twitter就請大家先自己看了(跟前任吃飯吃到掉渣)。

2011/02/04 FOX亞特蘭大地方台剛出爐的電視訪問，因為暴風雪緣故，女王取消了兩個在LA的電視脫口秀節目，不過她在芝加哥也沒閒著，開記者會還上了連線節目：Actress Jennifer Beals of The Chicago Code Updated: Friday, 04 Feb 2011, 8:48 AM EST

Actress Jennifer Beals of The Chicago Code: MyFoxATLANTA.com

2011/02/04 citybest.com的訪問：Jennifer Beals Talks 'Chicago Code,' Windy City Pride Feb 4th 2011 12:23PM / by Erin Chan Ding

這也是剛火熱出爐的採訪：She made a ripped gray sweatshirt iconic in "Flashdance." She gave emotional complexity to Bette Porter on "The L Word." The latest role in the three-decade acting career of Jennifer Beals brings her back to Chicago, where she was born on the South Side in 1963. In "The Chicago Code," which premieres at 8 pm Monday on Fox, Beals stars as Teresa Colvin, the Chicago Police Department's first female superintendent. As the blizzard pounded the city this week, Beals, who noted that she was actually born during a Chicago snowstorm, chatted with Erin Chan Ding about her gutsy new character, what's intrinsic to Chicagoans, and why "there's no way in hell" she would ever go on "Dancing with the Stars."

How does being a native Chicagoan inform your role on the show?
For me, I've always had a real feeling of pride in my city that I think all Chicagoans do. It's very fierce, and you don't want to mess with it, for sure. Playing the police superintendent, it's part of my job to have that.

How would you describe your your character, Teresa Colvin?
She's dedicated to keeping her job and the city safe, to cleaning up the city. She's a bit of a badass, and she's sacrificing her life for the job.

A lot of the characters you play have a sense of strength about them. What draws you to certain roles?
I'm interested when people will stand up for themselves. I'm always interested in that moment when someone decides it's not good enough, and even though it's painful, they're willing to make a change.

So, I'm curious, how often do people ask you about "Flashdance," and what's your reaction? When Illinois Governor Pat Quinn visited the set, he brought it up, too.
You know what's funny? Other than Governor Quinn, the other people that bring up "Flashdance" are journalists. Other people have seen me on "The L Word" or younger audiences have in "Catch that Kid"....But it was a catalyst and a tremendous change in my life. It was a fascinating experience.

Another '80s dance icon, Jennifer Grey, just killed it on "Dancing with the Stars." Would you ever consider it?
They actually asked me to do it when I came to cheer on Marlee Matlin. But there's not a chance in hell, there's not enough money in the world that would make me do it. It's too scary, too terrifying. I walked into the audience -- it's so loud -- and nearly started crying.

You probably get this a lot, but you don't look like you've aged in the last three decades. Do you have some sort of beauty secret?
You know, I never really smoked. I don't drink...I have maybe five glasses of wine a year. I go to the acupunturist. I meditate when I can. In "The Chicago Code," I did some boxing. It makes you stand differently when you know you can punch someone out.

Jennifer's Chicago Favorites:

Casual Eatery: Market
1113 W. Randolph; 312-929-4787

Family outing (her daughter is five): Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum
Shedd: 1200 South Lake Shore Drive; 312-939-2438
Field: 1400 Sout Lake Shore Drive; 312-922-9410

Charity: Chicago Police Memorial Foundation
1407 Washington Blvd.; 312-499-8899

2011/02/04 Toronto Sun的訪問：Beals the top cop in 'Chicago Code' By BILL HARRIS, QMI Agency Last Updated: February 4, 2011 10:59am

原文如下：

When you first hear about the new series The Chicago Code, you might say to yourself, “Jennifer Beals as the top cop in the Windy City? Really?”

The thing is, that reflex incredulity is a big part of the plot in The Chicago Code, which premieres Monday, Feb. 7 on Fox and Global.

Beals plays Teresa Colvin, Chicago’s first female police superintendent, now in charge of a largely male, 10,000-member force.

“What’s interesting for me is what it takes to lead 10,000 men - I think in the Chicago Police Department only 25% are women - and to find that balance between, what is feminine leadership and what is masculine leadership?” Beals said.

“How do you get 10,000 men to follow you? What does that leadership look like? We’re constantly playing with that.

“Is she a transformational leader? Is she more of a ... I don’t know ... I don’t want to say ball-buster, but I’m going to say ball-buster.”

Just to be clear, though, sexism is an element of The Chicago Code, but it’s far from the only one.

Teresa was fast-tracked to her lofty position largely due to her skill, but party because certain influential people - including menacing local politician Ronin Gibbons (played by the conveniently menacing Delroy Lindo) - assumed she would be something of a puppet. But now that Teresa is cutting those strings, she and her ex-partner Jarek Wysocki (Jason Clarke) have placed themselves in the crosshairs.

Back before Beals burst onto the entertainment scene with her role in the 1983 movie Flashdance, she grew up in Chicago, so in some ways she is uniquely qualified for this role.

“When I was a kid, I didn’t think that much about politics, to be honest,” recalled Beals, 47. “I was just aware that Jane Byrne (Chicago’s mayor from 1979 to 1983) was able to remove snow from the street and therefore was elected.

“There was this incredible dichotomy in the city where you would go downtown or really anywhere and see the most amazing architecture, and yet you’re also aware that you cannot cross over that avenue because you could get beaten up because you look a certain way.

“So the city, to me, is like this incredible prize-fighter who has an astute sense of what is beautiful and an astute sense of architecture, but if you look the wrong way, that fighter will take you out for the slightest reason.”

That doesn’t sound so great, actually. But big cities are tough to police, and Chicago is no exception.

"We all did ride-alongs with different police officers and it was just astounding to see what they go through every day, it just blew my mind," Beals said. “I wouldn’t last on the street for 30 seconds. I would hide in the car.

“But I have to say, now, when I’m in Chicago and I see a cop car go by, I’m like, ‘There are my boys, those are my girls.’ I know this sounds so corny, but I feel really proud of them, because they work so hard to keep us safe.”

2011/02/04 紐約每日新聞：'Chicago Code' has Jennifer Beals back in force, in the city she calls home BY David Hinckley DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Friday, February 4th 2011, 4:00 AM

原文如下：

Jennifer Beals is running a little late to talk about her new cop show, Fox's "The Chicago Code," because she lives in Chicago and it just got buried by the latest of this winter's endless snowstorms.

"I was behind a woman whose car was stuck," explains Beals. "So I stopped, and she said she was waiting for a man to help her push the car clear. I told her if she was waiting for a man it might be a long time, so why didn't we just figure out how to do it ourselves. And we did. So that's why I'm late."

That kind of neighborly gesture is exactly what Chicagoans expect from each other, says Beals, who grew up on the South Side. "It's a great city. I love it."

Chicagoans also expect other things, though, including corruption and backroom deals among elected officials and sometimes the police.

"The Chicago Code," which premieres Monday at 9 p.m., focuses on that part of town. As Police Superintendent Teresa Colvin, Beals sits squarely in the middle of it.

Placed in the job by Alderman Ronin Givens (Delroy Lindo) because he figures he can control her, Teresa quickly shows him he miscalculated.

But taking on the police-political machine also brings a crushing burden, which is part of what drew Beals to the role.

"There's a feeling in our whole culture today that something is wrong," she says. "It's not just corruption, it can be something in our own behavior. We want to fix it, but we aren't sure how.

"Teresa is trying to make things right. That makes her an interesting character."

Not to mention a troubled one.

"We see the enormous cost to her," says Beals, 47, who became a star in 1983 with "Flashdance" and more recently starred in the Showtime drama "The L Word." "She is completely dedicated to her job at the expense of her personal life."

Prepping for the role, Beals says, involved ride-alongs with real Chicago cops, and she didn't end up just being a spectator. At the scene of one shooting, she helped scour the street for shell casings.

But that wasn't the part that startled her about a cop's life.

"I've seen shell casings," she says. "I've even seen people shot. What shocked me is seeing all these people gathered around the guy who was shot, knowing some of them had information on who did it, and yet no one would say anything.

"It shocked me to see young girls jump-roping in the street at 2 in the morning, one block from where gangs were operating."

One question the show asks, she says, is "why someone stays in a job like being a police officer - how you can keep doing it every day."

Liberating a car from a Chicago snowbank is easy, she suggests, compared to figuring that one out.

2011/02/04 根據JBC的消息，女王又有個訪談節目了：Jennifer will be on the Tavis Smiley Late Night Show this Monday 7th on PBS http://www.pbs.org/
 

2011/02/04 TCC官網大改版，還送了女王的螢幕桌布，JB還有一段搞笑問答，我實在太愛她的coding：

官網：http://www.fox.com/chicagocode/

JB螢幕桌布的劇照：http://www.fox.com/chicagocode/extras/

JB的Bio：http://www.fox.com/chicagocode/bios/jennifer-beals/

JB的Q&A一定要貼上來：

2011/02/04 JBC網站網友提供的本期TV Guide雜誌內頁，感謝啦！就是最上面那張： http://www.jennifer-beals.com/media/press/tvguide2011.html

2011/02/04 女王的Live Interview，不知是廣播還是電視？消息來源：edieeverson Live interview with actress Jennifer Beals this morning in the 8am hour of Good Morning Memphis. I get to talk in her ear. ha! about 11 hours ago via web

2011/02/03 Anca網友寫的JB Bio，這就是TLW粉絲的熱情ㄚ：Jennifer Beals - A Short Bio of the Woman, Actress and Activist Feb 3, 2011 by Anca Dumitru (還沒細看內容，改天再全文轉過來好了。)

2011/02/03 女王NFL超級杯比賽前有個紅毯秀(?)：On Thursday 3rd February 2011, @Sera188 said:

Jennifer Beals (amongst other celebs) scheduled to take part in red carpet segments of Super Bowl pregame show. - The TV Guy – Orlando Sentinel: http://bit.ly/hS3bqL

2011/02/03 HitFix上的訪問：Interview: 'The Chicago Code' star Jennifer Beals By Alan Sepinwall - A Chicago native gets to play Chicago's top cop Thursday, Feb 3, 2011 2:32 PM

原文如下：On FOX's excellent new cop drama "The Chicago Code" (which premieres Monday at 9 p.m.), Jennifer Beals plays the newly-installed superintendent of the Chicago PD, Teresa Colvin. Colvin is relatively young for the job, and a woman - a woman who looks like Jennifer Beals, no less - and so she gets very little respect from certain corners of the rank-and-file, and from some of the crooked politicians she's trying to get rid of. But they underestimate this tough, smart, reform-minded woman at their own peril.

Similarly, if you're still thinking of Beals as the 19-year-old in the off-the-shoulder sweatshirt from "Flashdance" (still by far her highest-profile role), you may be surprised by just how good she is at the center of this ambitious drama, which comes from "The Shield" creator Shawn Ryan.

At press tour, I talked with Beals about her research for the role, and about her own view of the Chicago PD as a girl growing up in that city.  

The first thing I’m curious about is the accent.  Did you ever have one?

I didn’t. I worked really hard not to have one. So trying to acquire one was a very interesting task.  And the good thing was that I had certain sounds in my head already, though the accent that I chose was not one that I was that familiar with.  It’s more an area of town that I certainly didn’t grow up in.  But it was interesting.  It was a really interesting challenge.  And then certainly a great entrée into the character and the rhythm and the way of thinking and behaving.

Why choose that area as opposed to where you were raised?

Because I don’t think the Superintendent would have come from Lincoln Park. There are certain areas of the city really that produce more police officers.  It’s a fascinating thing. And when you ride with different cops, there is a similar sound that arises.  Not everywhere of course but every single area where we did our ride-alongs, you heard this kind of voice.

What were those like?  How many ride-alongs did you go on?

I went on several.  I had to balance my research between what I would have done as a cop on the street with what I needed to do as an administrator.  So, you know, not only did I spend time on the street but then I spent time trying to interview different deputy superintendents and trying to work out exactly logistically, what do I do during the day?  You know, I’m in charge of 4 different bureaus.  What does my day look like?  How is my day organized?  Who are the people around me who help me accomplish this task and what is the order of reporting?

And when you were out on the street, were there any particular memorable incidents, or did you happen to wind up on some fairly quiet tours?

My first one was very quiet but my last one wasn't. I was concerned about the first one because the night before there had been several murders, and my husband was very worried about me, and I’m sure in the back of my mind I was worried about me.  But then by the time I got to the last one it just felt very normal.  Like all of it had been normalized.  And John (the Chicago cop who took her on the ride-alongs) and I were the first to respond to a guy who had been shot, and he was basically starting to bleed to the state of being unconscious on someone’s stoop.  So I got to watch them set up the crime scene from the very beginning and trace the trail of blood to try to figure out exactly where he had been shot and where the shooter would have been and trying to locate the shell casings.  And I said to them, "Look, I can do this, because on New Year’s Eve, my dad and other people in our neighborhood would shoot their guns off at midnight.  So in the morning the big game was for the kids to go out in the neighborhood and find shell casings."  So this was like a very familiar thing.  We didn’t have Easter egg hunts, we had, "Go look for the shell casings.  Isn’t that fun?"  And so I said, "I can do this. Just give me a flashlight."  So I helped them on the crime scene.  

But it was interesting how my feelings had changed and how I wasn’t afraid at all, for better or for worse, and just being able to take in the people around me and take in what was happening and take in how the police officers were dealing with people and dealing with each other.  And there’s a lot of gallows humor that goes on, you know, to keep them sane.  And it was really, really interesting and crucial.  And I miss the ride-alongs, quite frankly.  Like, I would text John and say "I think I need another ride-along," just because I was jonesing to go be on the street, even though my job wouldn’t necessarily take me on the street as often as say, you know, Jarek Wysocki.

Do you think Teresa misses that?

I think so to a certain degree.  I think she probably misses the simplicity of it.  She misses the very clear camaraderie.  "If I have your back, then you’re in, you’re okay."  And the clear simplicity of how you deal with the street as opposed to how you deal with politics.

There’s that scene in the re-shot version of the pilot where you’re at Grant Park walking up to Jarek and you’ve got this big smile on your face like, "Gosh, I just love being at a crime scene," as opposed to dealing with the other things.

Yeah.  And trying to connect the two and trying to help him see that things are connected. These things are all connected.  

Now, you’ve played a lot of strong women and you had access to some police administrators but there has not been a female superintendent on the Chicago Police Department before.

No.

Where, if anywhere, have you drawn inspiration from?

Well, a lot of things you just have to make up, you know?  So mostly from my imagination, and doing interviews with female police officers and as high up as I could get where there are women but then making up things.  And the name just jumped out of my head because I’m very tired but there is a woman who was the President of Chile who first started out as the Secretary of Defense.  (After the interview, Beals remembered it was Michelle Bachelet.) And then she became President and was a fantastic President.  And I had the opportunity to meet her in Washington when the U.N. Foundation invited me to a seminar.  And it was really interesting to watch her because she was very clear minded, very determined and yet still very feminine.  And the thought that she would be supported as first the Secretary of Defense and then as President was really interesting to me.

Well, how much of the push back against Teresa do you think is related to her gender, as opposed to her youth or just her trying to change things?

I think it’s a combination. Being a woman certainly informs a lot of how she’s treated and especially how’s she’s treated when she makes a mistake.  But there’s also the newness of the job and I think primarily what she’s trying to accomplish.  Like, "How dare you with that combination of things you have going on? You try not only to clean up corruption in politics and clean up corruption in the street, but how dare you take on the Chicago Police Department?  Corruption within the department itself. Was this the way that things are done? And how dare you try to change that?"

In the press conference, you talked about your own take of growing up in Chicago and the (political) machine and the corruption. Was that something that you or your family was exposed to directly at any point?

No, not at all.  Not that I’m aware of certainly, no.  But you just sort of take it for granted that’s how the city runs, you know?  You take it for granted and in a perverse way, there’s a certain amount of pride that goes on in the city. That that means there’s a certain amount of cunning that’s involved.  And Chicago is a very complicated place.  Cunning is revered and integrity is revered. And beauty is revered and a certain brazenness is revered.  So there’s all these sort of dualities that are going on within the same city in ways that I’m not familiar with in other cities.  

Have you ever played a cop before?  I’m trying to think from your filmography.

No I don’t think so, gosh.

So obviously you did the ride-alongs, and you had these Chicago cops around on the set...

Yeah, and you’re also having to filter the information they give you. The riding on the street is very clear.  I know that the cops I rode with toned down their language around me and were very respectful around me, because I know the stories Jason came back with were hilariously different than some of my stories.  But you get to the truth by watching their behavior in moments that are adrenalized.  And when you’re talking to a bureaucrat, you’re having to filter through that information.  When you ask point blank, if there’s any sexual abuse within their ranks - particularly when there’s only 25% of women - and how do you handle that when somebody looks you in the eye and says there is none?  You just know that that’s not possible.  You know whenever there are 10,000 people, no matter what the job is, there’s going to be some kind of crime especially involving women.  When the women only comprise 25%, of course something is going to happen. So you’re just having to go, "Okay, I’m not going to get that answer.  We’re just going to have to know it and move on."  So it’s interesting trying to get to the truth.

And you come with a higher degree of recognizability than Jason or Matt do at this point.  I’m wondering if that at any point in these ride-alongs that came up, like, "What is she doing here?"

It hasn’t.  You dress as a cop when you’re there.  You pull your hair back. It’s regulation.  You have your hat on and your vest on and people are focused on other things.  They’re not there looking at who you are.  I mean, maybe if Oprah rode up, it might be a different situation.  But people are worried that their son is going to bleed to death on the porch because he’s been shot.  Other people are worried if they're going to identify the shooter. Other people have their own real visceral worries and concerns at that moment that don’t really have to do with your identity.  

And given that you are from Chicago, do you feel either any sense of pride or  any sense of pressure that the show has Chicago in the title?  

I don’t feel any pressure because, you know, my Chicago will be different from Shawn’s Chicago.  It’ll be different from Tim (Minear)’s Chicago, and it’s their story.  I’m just there to help serve their story and I do feel a tremendous amount of pride being from Chicago and I always have.  And I think in some ways that informs my character - that she really loves the city and she wants to do a good job and help the city, because the city is like the only child she ever has or ever will have.  That is her family.  Those are her people.

2011/02/03 Time Out上的訪問：Jennifer Beals returns to 312 in Fox’s new series. By Novid Parsi

原文如下：

2011/02/03 女王有個press conference，有三位記者在Twitter上直播：@JimHalterman @TVTango @Thnx4thegum，大家可看他們在2011/02/03的Twitter內容，感謝JBFn跟JBC的轉播。

2011/02/02 Examiner.com的報導：Jennifer Beals is Ready to Make a Splash as Tough Teresa Colvin on FOX by Ken Webb, February 2nd, 2011 10:05 pm ET

原文如下：

TCC Review(只列日期跟連結，關於TCC的詳細相關報導，就請大家自行前往Facebook上的粉絲專頁查閱：http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Chicago-Code-FOX-TV-Series-Fans/160974057270061?v=wall)：

2011/02/03 http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/02/03/chicago-code-fox/

2011/02/03 http://www.tvfanatic.com/2011/02/thats-rich-watch-the-chicago-code/

2011/02/02 http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/entertainment/51144864-81/chicago-code-cop-beals.html.csp

2011/02/02 http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Chicago-Code-Review-Fox-Cop-Drama-Worth-Your-Time-29806.html

2011/02/02 http://www.screenjunkies.com/tv/tv-news/we-grill-the-chicago-code-boys/

2011/02/01 http://www.examiner.com/tv-in-washington-dc/what-will-set-the-chicago-code-apart-from-the-cop-drama-multitude

2011/02/01 http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/more/s_720806.html#ixzz1Cjp0BB9g

2011/02/01 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/chicago-code-traffic-light-95222

Teresa Colvin (Jennifer Beals), is now the city’s first female superintendent. She got the job largely because of Gibbons’ influence — he thought she’d be content with the title — but now she’s got a zeal for reform that alienates a lot of people around her. That’s why she gets Wysocki and Caleb Evers (Matt Lauria) to work an unofficial team to bring down Gibbons.

Getting used to Beals as the emotionally distant ball-buster takes time. She doesn’t immediately seem to have the gravitas, but soon enough her Type A drive begins to demand respect.(粗體字是我標注的)