Greg Kinnear is a ‘Rake’ of a lawyer in new Fox drama

By Jay Bobbin © Zap2it

Television largely gave Greg Kinnear his start, and as he returns to it, he’s doing something different — yet something he’s been doing a long time.

Staking his claim to fame as a talk show host on NBC’s “Later,” then on E! Entertainment Television’s satirical “Talk Soup” set Kinnear up for an acting career that began in earnest with the 1995 movie remake of “Sabrina.” He’s kept at that ever since, from his Oscar-nominated turn in “As Good as It Gets” and his Emmy bid for playing JFK in the miniseries “The Kennedys” to his current role as Ron Burgundy’s rival in love in the comedy “Anchorman

2: The Legend Continues.”

Kinnear remains an actor in tackling TV on a steady basis again. Premiering Thursday, Jan. 23, the Fox drama “Rake” adapts an Australian show by casting him as Los Angeles defense attorney Keegan Deane. When he’s not standing up for clients, he’s usually trying to defend himself, given his practices that include gambling and obsessing over a prostitute (Bojana Novakovic) he fancies as a potential girlfriend.

Also an executive producer of the Americanized “Rake,” the genial Kinnear says “the title is very indicative of what the backbone of the show is. I saw the Australian version and thought that Peter Duncan — who I’d actually met years ago, funnily enough when I was down there doing press for a movie — created this little gem of a show that had kind of a cool vibe to it.

“It was kind of a great mix of comedy and drama, and he’d developed an actual community of people in a city the size of Sydney, which I thought was quite impressive. The hope was to try to do the same thing in L.A. It’s been fun ... also a lot of work, but it’s been an interesting journey.”

Duncan also is an executive producer of the new “Rake,” as is co-creator Richard Roxburgh, who plays Kinnear’s part in the ongoing original version.

Flawed characters largely have been Kinnear’s calling cards, and he agrees Deane fits that pattern.

“I played a pastor right before this (in the forthcoming film ‘Heaven Is for Real’),” he says, “so it was the devil and the angel in one year. I guess with this particular guy, it was the notion of playing a character without a governor, without any social inhibitions in a world where more and more of us are working for fewer and fewer people.

“With this notion of having to go in and punch a card for ‘the man,’ there’s a sense of individuality with this guy that I kind of spark to. I don’t want to try to make it more than it is; I just thought it could be fun with him not taking himself too seriously, and also in dealing with some really talented actors I get to work with on a regular basis. Unlike a movie, I don’t have to say goodbye to them at wrap.”

Across

1. One of the kids on “The Cosby Show”

5. Lead role on “JAG”

9. Clever

10. ”__ Justice” (1990-91)

12. Sushi bar offering

13. Actor Robert __

16. Letter from Greece

17. Initials for Bogart’s love

18. “__ of Interest”

20. Dolly Parton’s state of birth: abbr.

21. “A __ in Her Ear”; 1968 Rex Harrison movie

23. Workplace safety agcy.

25. “Con __”; 1997 film for Nicolas Cage

26. Fish eggs

27. So-so grade

28. “Cannery __”; 1982 Nick Nolte movie

29. “__ Deep”; 1989 film for John Ritter

30. Peruvian Indian

32. “__’ Blue Eyes”

Down

1. James Spader series (2)

2. Linden, for one

3. Series for Deezer D, once

4. Mayberry resident

5. “The __”; 2013 reality series

6. Actor Quinn’s initials

7. Ms. McClanahan

8. “Chicago Fire” role (2)

9. Word before conscious or confident

11. __ Turner

14. Initials for singer Rawls

15. Ending for wash or wish

18. “The __ ’Hood” (1995-99)

19. Actor Chuck

22. Start of the “Old MacDonald” refrain

24. “Get Well __”; 2001 Courteney Cox movie

29. Role on “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”

31. Not quite closed

34. “The __ Breed”; 1966 James Stewart film

35. Peggy Bundy’s hubby

36. “Star Wars: Episode __ – Return of the Jedi”

37. “Whose Line __ __ Anyway?”

40. __-fi; film genre

42. Actress __ B. Davis

44. “Pan __”; short-lived 2011-12 series

46. “Deal or __ Deal”

33. Randy or Nancy Money

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