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» Articles » Zap2It: Montgomery Among Those Raising Waylon (February 15, 2004; by Jay Bobbin)

For a TV star who spends week after week seeking missing people, minding a youngster for a couple of hours is a welcome change of pace.

On Sunday, Feb. 22, Poppy Montgomery moonlights from the CBS series 'Without a Trace,' to play one of two godparents attempting to bring up an orphaned boy in "Raising Waylon," an enjoyable, seriocomic new CBS movie.

"It's cute," Montgomery says of the film, "and it's so different from 'Without a Trace,' as soon as I read the script, I wanted to do it. It's not the normal thing for a movie-of-the-week. It was written like a feature; it's very dry, and that's what I think makes it funny."

Montgomery and Thomas Gibson ("Dharma & Greg") are charismatic as dissimilar, self-involved singles drawn together when their godchild, Waylon (Jeremy Bergman), has to move out of his aunt's ("Everybody Loves Raymond" Emmy winner Doris Roberts) retirement home. Ambitious photographer Julia (Montgomery) and womanizing restaurateur Reg (Gibson) shared a horrible date years earlier, and their new mission poses many challenges -- not the least of which is overcoming their mutual dislike. If they can't, others are waiting in the wings to adopt Waylon, whose name does come from country-music star Jennings as explained in the script by Neena Beber ("Daria," "How to Deal").

Having co-star Gibson as her main partner in humor was "wonderful," Montgomery adds: "He's brilliant, a really great comedian. He has great timing, and I was excited to work with him."

Young actor Bergman also added to Montgomery's good times in making "Raising Waylon." She maintains he was "like a little 40-year-old. I'm not kidding; he was more mature than Thomas and I were. He's a great kid, and he totally has his head on his shoulders about this business. He was sort of underwhelmed by everything, which is good for someone that age who's doing this."

Single and childless herself, Montgomery nevertheless was prepared for "Raising Waylon." "One of my friends adopted a little boy who's 3 now, and I adore him. Most of my friends aren't at the age for that, though ... or perhaps I've just chosen friends who don't have kids, maybe because I don't. Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who's on 'Without a Trace,' has two daughters I would say I'm close to. I'm not experienced with children, though. I'm not like a kindergarten teacher who, when I come in the room, they all flock to."

Montgomery also displayed her funny side in the short-lived mid-'90s ABC series "Relativity," and she agrees that "Raising Waylon" is "reminiscent of stuff I did when I first started acting. It's closer to who I actually am than my character on 'Without a Trace.' Frankly, the opportunity to do comedy is always enticing to me, since 'Without a Trace' is so dramatic."

The success of that show -- which recently earned Anthony LaPaglia a Golden Globe Award, and has the entire cast up for a Screen Actors Guild Award this week -- has given Montgomery many work options when she's on hiatus. "I did two movies last summer," she says. "Right before 'Raising Waylon,' I made an independent film, a romantic comedy called '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.' There are lots of things, but you're limited in terms of what you're available for. When you're on a show, the window of opportunity for other things is very small. Not only do you have to pick something you like, but also something that works with your schedule."

If those criteria are met, Australia-born Montgomery (whose native accent resurfaces in normal conversation) is happy to keep on plugging. "I hate 'down' time," she declares. "I can't stand it. I go nuts after the first two days. I have so much fun at work, that's where I'm happiest. When I shot '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,' I saw places in L.A. that I'd never seen before, so that was sort of my vacation. I really enjoyed it. I just want to work all the time."

"Without a Trace" continues to fulfill that wish for Montgomery most of the year. Now in its second season, the Thursday-night crime drama has garnered consistently high ratings since its debut, and its grim themes belie the frequent zaniness off-camera. "Since it always deals with people who have gone missing, there's always going to be the tone of something heavy," Montgomery acknowledges, "which is why we goof around so much on the set and make one another laugh, just to keep the energy level up."

CBS currently has many crime shows and more are coming, notably a third "CSI" series set in New York. Montgomery claims she never feared "Without a Trace" would get lost in the mix: "It's so funny. When you're doing a show, you don't even think about it being similar to another show, because you know it so well. I think 'Without a Trace' stands alone, but then again, I think all of them do. To me, the similarities end with many of them being from Jerry Bruckheimer (also an executive producer of the 'CSI' shows and 'Cold Case') and being on CBS."

[source: zap2it.com]

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