“I mean, one foot was out the door of the airplane.
I couldn’t conceive of finally making the move.”
“Because of my relationship with CBS, they were very interested in me,” says the actress.
Christine Baranski and Julianna Margulies on ‘The Good Wife’.CBS via Getty Images
They’ll wait for you.'
I think the car never stopped running.
Little did I know that it would change my fate for years."
Josh Charles and Christine Baranski in ‘The Good Wife’.David M. Russell/CBS via Getty Images
Thirteen years to be exact.
Baranski, too, experienced a plenitude of milestone moments while playing her signature role.
They live in your heart forever.'
Christine Baranski and Audra McDonald in ‘The Good Fight’.Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+
I was just so proud of what we had achieved."
In a way, Christine Baranski willed Diane Lockhart into existence.
“I didn’t want to play someone’s aunt or grandmother or mother.
Christine Baranski and Delroy Lindo on ‘The Good Fight’.CBS
Dresses like a million bucks.
The top litigator at the firm, and in town.”
“She was someone who definitely seemed like a boss,” he says.
A blissed out Diane imagines Dr. Lyle (John Slattery) in her marital bed with her and husband Kurt (Gary Cole) in ‘The Good Fight’.Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+
What we got with Christine is someone who does suggest that kind of intimidation."
“I did not want her to fall into the stereotypical bitch boss [category].”
“I first met Christine at a rehearsal forThe Good Wifepilot,” recalls Josh Charles via email.
Christine Baranski in ‘The Gilded Age’.Alison Rosa/HBO
CB cut me off and made a good-natured (slightly naughty) joke about my ambidextrous self.
We all laughed, and that was the exact moment my love for Christine Baranski began."
“Within the first season, our understanding of Diane Lockhart changed,” says Robert.
From left: Justice, the disobedient dog, Diane Lockhart, Hillary Clinton.CBS
But Christine just by the nature of her personality and how she was playing the role was just fun.
That was one where the actor did change the creators' conception of the role."
“The dog was not obeying,” explains Baranski in her unmistakable Mid-Atlantic drawl.
“The dog only responded to beeps [from a machine the trainer used].
But I had a mouthful of dialogue about what Alicia was going to be doing.
They said, ‘Oh, don’t worry.
We’ll remove the beeps.’
The dog was short-lived.
Fortunately, I got Gary Cole instead.”
Still, “My heart was with the Kings.”
Only then does she discover that all her money is gone mon dieu!
lost in a wide-ranging financial scam.
Midway through the production on the pilot, however, voters called for a rewrite.
“In between setups, we learned that Donald Trump had won the presidency,” says Baranski.
“It was one of Diane’s gifts she kind of dug men,” says Baranski.
The same is true for the woman who played her.
“There was such humor, intimacy, and trust between Will and Diane.
We would talk football all the time and her love for all things Bills.”
Whether or at work or at home, Diane “loved real guys,” says Baranski.
“I mean, look who she married!
A cowboy, a gun-slinging ballistic expert.
She was turned on.
She preferred that to some fancy, slick lawyer.”
And that palpable, opposites-attract chemistry between Diane and Kurt wasn’t a stretch for Baranski to play.
“He reminded me of Lawrence of Arabia,” she says.
“He had that shock of blonde hair and he’d go on the motorcycle and go camping.
And I thought, ‘What kind of guy goes down to look for a temple?’
Not your typical kind of metrosexual, that’s for sure.”
When she married Cowles in 1983, he whisked her away after the ceremony on a motorcycle named Lucifer.
“I have no social media accounts.
I teared up,” remembers Baranski.
I didn’t even know about the meme with what’s-his-name, the billionaire.
I had no idea until my daughter told me."
“Oh, where do I get that?”
“I can send that to my friends when they’re in trouble.
I could say, ‘I have your back’ and I’ll send that.”
“That would require something of an egocentric response,” she muses.
“I’m deeply grateful to all of the people who love my work.
I’ve been lucky enough to play characters who are high-spirited.
I’m really not very good at playing the victim.
The idea of playing a victim just doesn’t appeal to me.
My characters, dare I say it, have been fun characters.
Those waves will become a tsunami in season six.
No one knows for sure, but the violence outside continues to get louder and closer.
“Roe v. Wade.
Voting rights,” she frets in the season premiere.
“Like the last 50 years never happened.”
Adds Robert King, “I think Christine’s acting is pulled out even more by handsome men.
Well sure, it’s all fun and games until an actual civil war breaks out.
“The lead up to the series finale is quite dramatic,” warns the star.
It’s an impassioned speech given to Neil Gross, the billionaire played byJohn Benjamin Hickey.
There’s a lot of really rich work near the end.”
(You voted for her six years in a row duringThe Good Wife, people.)
And yet, that’s the case with Christine.”
Though it’s been weeks sinceThe Good Fightwrapped, Baranski still hasn’t processed that the show is over.
She’s been too busy with herotherfull-time TV job.
“MyGood Fightseries wrap was on a Wednesday.
“AndThe Gilded Agewas three big scenes all day Friday, and then the following week.
She can see a break on the horizon, whenGildedfinishes season 2.
I want to get away from that.”
I loved the crew, and I loved the people involved.
I loved working with the Kings.
I loved my fittings with [costume designer] Dan Lawson and all the beautiful clothes.
I loved the producers.
I loved my cameramen.
I loved the family that we were.”
Sorry, can we backtrack to the clothes for a minute?
Even post-financial crisis, Diane Lockhart hada wardrobe full of sparkling couture.
Now that the show is over, whither the Fendi, Gucci, Armani, and Dolce?
“I did bring a few jackets home that I plan to wear for publicity,” says Baranski.
But she won’t be adding any of Diane’s looks to her personal collection.
“A lot of her stuff was just too fancy for my style.
I’m not likely to wear some dazzling brocade,” she explains.
“I called them Elton John jackets I needed a piano in front of me.”
“Give it to the next generation,” says Baranski.
“We can be the supporting players and show up occasionally.
They have a hell of a job to do.
If there’s any spin-off, it should be a spin-off of young women fighting the good fight.”
