And she has a message for Sam Waterston: “He’s a hero.”
Warning: This post contains spoilers from episode 3 ofThe Thing About Pam.
Leah Askey (Judy Greer) is winning.
Judy Greer on ‘The Thing About Pam’.Skip Bolen/NBC
At least for now.
But of course, there’s more to the story.
EW spoke with Greer about embodying the real-life lawyer, those courtroom scenes, and what comes next.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Were you aware of this story before you got this project?
JUDY GREER:The podcast, yes.
It was just so unbelievable.
I think that’s what people really couldn’t wrap their minds around was how insane this case was.
You mentioned your research process.
How did you prepare?
Could you meet the real Leah?
Was that something you wanted to do?
No, I didn’t end up meeting her.
This was a take on an event.
So I felt like it would’ve been harder to play this role having met her.
We were all given access to all theDatelinereporting.
The scripts were so wonderful.
What has the reaction been to your look on this show?
It took me a moment to recognize you.
I couldn’t share pictures or what I was looking like with anyone.
Because I had this crazy look.
It was a real departure for me.
What was the filming of that like for you?
And I’m not used to legal jargon, so that was something.
I was nervous for this one.
I pretty much have the whole courtroom stuff memorized."
And this was day two.
And I was like, “F–k really?”
So he and I worked on it a lot, just getting our timing and the lines right.
I really didn’t understand how hard those types of scenes are when you’re not acting with anyone.
You’re not reacting to anyone.
You’re selling something.
And I was like, “Wow you really have to have chops for this kind of work.”
That was my goal.
And I’m like, “No, I’m an actor.”
I know we all love Jennifer Garner.
You know it’s a movie, right?
I mean, I can’t totally say that in this case, but it’s fun.
I get to play characters that have different stories and motivations.
This one was really, really fun.
It was a real departure for me.
And I just feel so lucky that I got this chance.
In real life, there was an alleged affair between Leah and one of the cops on the case.
And so anything that can’t be proven really is not there for us to necessarily convey.
There’s a lot of alleged things in the story.
And that was one of them.
But no, there was nothing that was proven.
So there wasn’t really that story to tell necessarily.
What can you say about what’s to come for the back three episodes?
We see more things unfolding in the back three episodes that are unbelievable.
People ask me, “What is it about true crime?”
I don’t have an answer.
I could also say, “Why do people slow down when there’s a car accident?”
We just can’t help ourselves.
And this is, to me, is one of the ultimate car accidents.
The Thing About Pamairs Tuesdays at 10 p.m.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
