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A ‘terrified’ Kathy Bates recounts how she gets ready for her ‘scary’ Matlock role

Kathy Bates at the Emmys
Kathy Bates recounts how “terrified” she was ahead of playing Matlock. Pic credit: ©ImageCollect.com/Admedia

Matlock is back in a brand new show, but it would not be the breakout hit it is without the indomitable Kathy Bates in the lead.

As Monsters and Critics have reported, Matlock is such a hit that it is renewed for Season 2, and Kathy has much to do with its success.

One of Matlock’s premises is that older women are invisible, and that is precisely how Kathy’s character, Madeline Matlock, operates so well as a lawyer on the show.

In an interview with Newsweek, Kathy shared that she relates to her character in many ways and describes how they fit in together: “So many of the things that Matty goes through, I’ve been through, or I’m thinking about, it’s just been absolutely incredible.”

Playing an older lawyer may seem easy for Kathy since she is excellent in any role, from Molly Brown in Titanic to Annie Wilkes in Misery, but she has described it differently.

Kathy has shared that she has been “terrified” and “scared” to play Madeline Matlock, but she does something before acting out the role that helps her prepare.

Kathy fights her terror by reciting a specific quote

Kathy has been open about feeling terrified of playing Madeline Matlock. She said, “I just was absolutely terrified,” as she described seeing her face on billboards everywhere.

The show’s rapid renewal was equally daunting for Kathy, who was ready to retire before this role came across her lap.

Kathy told the outlet, “It was kind of scary, you know? It’s like, wow, we’re climbing so high, we’re climbing so fast, what is going to happen?” The fear of failure after becoming so popular so quickly scared Kathy.

Kathy has a trick that helps to tamp down her terror before she plays Madeline Matlock, and she shared it with Stephen Colbert on his late show.

Kathy is a big fan of Dune, a book by Frank Herbert that has been turned into several movies. One of the quotes has inspired Kathy so much that she printed it and put it in a binder. She puts this in front of each script and reads it before she acts each day.

The quote begins, “Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me.” In the movie Kathy referenced, the character who recites it is a faceless Bene Gesserit, somewhat akin to a nun.

Kathy said it resonated with her since her character in Matlock is an invisible older woman. The quote helps her overcome her fears of playing the role.

Matlock’s next episode looks to be as good as the first three

The next episode of Matlock is titled The Rabbit and the Hawk, and the name could stem from an old folktale.

The Rabbit and the Hawk comes from the old American folktale where a rabbit gets stuck in a hawk’s talons and has to find a way out.

The rabbit tells the hawk that if he lets him go, he will eat a lot of food and grow plump. As the hawk begins to dream of a giant fat rabbit as a meal, he forgets to hold on tight, and the rabbit slips away to freedom.

If the title for the next Matlock episode follows the folktale, it will be interesting to see who the rabbit and the hawk are in the storyline.

Matlock airs on CBS on Thursdays at 10/9c.

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