SAVANNAH – Kyra Sedgwick knows what she wants. The longtime actor best known for her roles on TNT’s “The Closer,” “Something To Talk About,” “Phenomenon” and, most recently, “The Edge of Seventeen” had revelation while making her directorial debut on “Story of a Girl” which aired in Lifetime in July. Sitting down to record an episode of the 4 Quadrant podcast (which you can listen to below or on iTunes) at the 2017 Savannah Film Festival, Sedgwick made it clear if she had the choice she’d just direct. She absolutely loves it. That being said…
“I’ve avidly been breaking down every door and I haven’t gotten any offers and everyone keeps telling me how its the best time in the business to be a female director,” Sedgwick says. “That hasn’t’ been my experience yet. And I am dogged and I have been everywhere. I certainly expect it to change because I’m not going anywhere.”
Sedgwick was honored at the festival (the first she can recall) and it may have been perfectly timed for embarking on a potential new career path. She was also very blunt on her frustration over ABC’s decision to stop airing her series “Ten Days In The Valley” on Sunday night’s at 10 PM and to start airing the remaining episodes in December. She notes, “What they are doing is a disaster. I’m not happy about it.”
“Ten Days,” which Sedgwick executive produced, earned OK ratings, but shows get pulled and brought back all the time. What made her so upset was the fact as a serial narrative fans were left hanging with no notice it would be pulled.
“I don’t know what the idea was but it’s unfortunate because its absolutely a serialized mystery and you’ve interrupted it with these people who were totally into it,” Sedgwick explains. “It’s only 10 episodes and the people that are watching are really avid about it and there’s no announcement, no nothing. They go to watch it at 10 PM on Sunday and if I had to stay up to watch it at 10 PM on Sunday [and it wasn’t there] I’d be upset. Suddenly it was gone. Actually I don’t know how anybody would have known about it because it was only in the trades. And then it won’t get picked up until December to finish it. I’m not happy.”
She adds, “They didn’t even tweet it. I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if they just say Dear fans, we’re excited about putting it on Saturday in December.'”
Sedgwick also commented on the growing number of women in the industry speaking out about sexual harassment.
“I think the best part of it is that if someone is young and coming up and gets treated poorly and asks to do things they are not comfortable doing [they] will have much more condition in saying ‘Fuck off! And don’t even fucking thing about it.’ And I think it’s great that it’s coming out,” Sedgwick says. “The devastating and sad truth is that people with great power often use it irresponsibly. And there is a lot of sickness out there. And a lot of abuse happening constantly. I don’t think we have more abuse in the entertainment industry just like I don’t think we have more divorce in the entertainment industry. I think when it comes out it’s just in public. I think people who are in power just use it very poorly. It’s sad, but I’m really glad it’s coming out. I say, ‘Lance that boil.'”
Look for upcoming podcast episodes featuring “Darkest Hour” screenwriter Anthony McCraten and two-time Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz, among others. And check out previous episodes with “Thor: Ragnarok’s” Taika Waititi, “The Florida Project’s” Sean Baker, “Detroit’s” John Boyega, get behind the scenes T with “RuPaul’s Drag Race” producers and more on Soundcloud or on iTunes.
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