'Damages' Dishes Up Blood and Backstabbing

Oct. 1, 2007 — -- "I was seduced by them, frankly."

On a break between shooting scenes, Glenn Close, the five-time Academy Award nominated actress, explained her decision to jump from the big screen to cable TV.

"It's brilliant writing," she told ABCNEWS.com. "I took on the show having just read the pilot, I only had one script to go on, but I thought it was as good as some of the movie scripts I've read."

She was talking about her role as ice-cold trial lawyer Patty Hewes, the focal point of "Damages," currently in its first season on FX. Patty makes "The Devil Wears Prada's" Miranda Priestly look like Mary Poppins. Her smile could curdle blood; she can turn from complacent to menacing faster than a judge can bang a gavel.

She's one of the few powerful female leads on television, a fact the 60-year-old Close doesn't take for granted. And to prepare for her most meaty role in years, Close met with Patty's real-life New York City counterparts.

"I did talk to a lot of powerful women lawyers in the city. There were certain aspects of Patty that I got from talking to a lot of these women, but still, you have to remember that she's an individual just like anybody else," Close said. "I think older women are complex, fascinating powerful creatures and the world will always try to figure out how to deal with them."

Of the many legal dramas on television, most share the same format: There's a crime, there's a chase to understand it, there's a grand court room showdown. Case closed.

But "Damages" is not the typical legal drama.

Want to make six figures, dominate the boardroom, own a house in the Hamptons and come home to a loving family? In the world of "Damages," that's just not possible -- unless you're willing to spill some blood.

The series centers on the case of Arthur Frobisher, a billionaire businessman who pumped money into his company and then dumped his shares, snatching away the pensions of his 5,000 employees. Patty and her firm, Hewes & Associates, will stop at nothing to bring him to trial. He's hired a slew of sleazeballs to bribe, capture and kill everyone in his way to make sure that doesn't happen.