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“Mollywood” Episode 104, The Starter Wife. Pictured from left, Brielle Barbusca as Jaden Kagan, Hart Bochner as Zach, Debra Messing as Molly Kagan — USA Network Photo: Jaimie Trueblood.
Playing the role of a successful screenwriter Zach Phillips, the love interest for Debra Messing’s character Molly Kagan, Hart Bochner is looking forward to the premiere of The Starter Wife series on the USA Network.
Bochner talked about the upcoming show, scheduled to debut on Friday, October 10 at 9/8 CST, during a recent teleconference.
Bochner’s character Zach will meet Molly while leading a writers’ workshop. Zach has worked his way up to the top of the writing world first as a young journalist who won a Pulitzer in his late 20s and then became an overnight success in Hollywood with his first screenplay, which was nominated for an Oscar. Feeling slightly blocked creatively while trying to write his first novel, Zach decides to lead a writers’ workshop as a way of giving back to his fellow writers.
Molly will be one of the half-dozen authors who will come to his place once a week to discuss their projects, though she’s not seen as a “legitimate” published author as the others are for her children’s pop-up book.
With Zach’s help, Molly will discover her own voice with the journal she is writing.
“It’s quirky and idiosyncratic, and under my guidance, she writes a screenplay, which gains a certain amount of momentum,” Bochner explains about his character. “And by virtue of what she reveals in herself through her writing, my character, Zach, becomes intrigued by her. We’re sort of kindred spirits in the fact that we’ve come out very difficult marriages.”
Both Zach and Molly both had high-profile marriages that ended in divorce. He has a 7-year-old daughter with his ex-wife, who was extremely bossy, making him gun shy of new relationships.
The Starter Wife series is basically a new beginning for the recently-divorced Molly, for those who followed the award-winning mini series.
“This picks up really from an entirely new place, which is Molly trying to find her sea legs and declaring herself and finding a career for herself,” Bochner said. “So as far as I’m concerned, it’s not like, I didn’t take over for another actor. It’s a new character. It’s a brand new relationship for Molly.”
Bochner, who is in all 10 episodes of The Starter Wife, describes Messing as the Lucille Ball of her generation.
“She’s also brilliant dramatically. She can turn that on a dime,” he added.
So what does Bochner like best about his character?
“I think the fact that the character has a complexity which makes him not just the romantic interest per se,” Bochner said. “He’s flawed. I think all the characters in this show, as funny as the show is and as quirky as it is, I think what makes the show compelling is, is that everybody is a bit neurotic and flawed.”
Bochner also said he enjoyed the show’s fantasy sequences, noting they’ve already done scenes from Body Heat, A Few Good Men, Hello Dolly and Basic Instinct. Hmmm, sounds interesting!
Bochner is not new to acting. He made his acting debut portraying George C. Scott’s son in Ernest Hemingway’s Islands in the Stream and gained notice for his Academy Award-winning role in Breaking Away.
But it was his small role in Bruce Willis’ Die Hard that earned him pop culture status.
It’s hard to believe that the guy that would play the love interest for Debra Messing could be the same guy who portrayed the sleazy co-worker Harry (“Hans, Buby!”) in Die Hard, but he is!
Other films to his credit include Anywhere But Here, Rich and Famous, Apartment Zero opposite Colin Firth and The Innocent.
In real life, Bochner is a director and screenwriter — having wrote and directed the recently released Just Add Water with Danny DeVito, Jona Hill, Justin Long and Dyland Walsh. He also is writing a script with Campbell Scott and another on his own.
“Mollywood” Episode 104, The Starter Wife. Hart Bochner as Zach and Debra Messing as Molly Kagan — USA Network Photo: Jaimie Trueblood.
I think this is the thing to do—–talk it up big time1