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» Articles » Zap2It: A Woman in a Man's World (December 30, 2002; by Kat O'Hare)

The press materials for CBS' FBI drama "Without a Trace," airing Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET, describe FBI Agent Samantha Spade as "an agent who doesn't let her good looks get in the way of being tough."

"Yeah, right," says Australian actress Poppy Montgomery, who plays Sam. "I can't believe they put that in there. All it does is draw attention to looks."

And it's not like her male co-stars -- Eric Close, as Agent Martin Fitzgerald; Enrique Murciano, as Agent Danny Taylor; and Anthony LaPaglia, as squad leader Jack Malone -- are slouches in the pretty department either.

"Isn't Eric gorgeous?" Montgomery asks. "But Enrique's pretty damn gorgeous too. And Tony, sexy guy."

However, Montgomery is grateful that Sam isn't written differently from her male cohorts. "Thank God," she says. "Basically, what intrigues me about the show is that the characters are really subject to interpretation, because it's more about the procedural side of things. I said to the writers, 'Write me like I'm a guy, and I'll take care of the girl part. I can do the girl part.'"

"The women in the FBI that I interviewed and talked with, they are like the men when it comes to their job. They're just as aggressive and just as fearless, if not more so, in many ways, because they have more to prove. It's harder for men to write women in the FBI."

"Without a Trace" airs right after "CSI," which is also from Jerry Bruckheimer Television (as is "CSI: Miami"), and has held its own despite stiff competition from perennial favorite "ER." Using some of the visual techniques showcased on "CSI," it follows the New York-based agents (the show actually shoots in Los Angeles) as they hunt for missing persons, both by tracking the victims' movements and profiling their lives.

The show also stars British actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Agent Vivian Johnson, which gives Montgomery a chance for female bonding on and off the screen.

"Here's the way we figure it," she says. "We don't have any time to do anything else together other than work. But Marianne and I, we knit together. We're both knitting sweaters and scarves. We watch movies in her trailer or my trailer. That translates on-screen. There's just an ease. It's not like they're solid friends on-screen, but there's a rapport that they have that's apparent."

Playing Sam has been quite a change for Montgomery, who usually gets cast in more romantic roles, such as playing Marilyn Monroe in the miniseries "Blonde." For one, she wears a suit a lot of the time.

"It's a change for me, I'll tell ya," Montgomery says. "I'm more used to the Marilyn Monroe, busty-dresses kind of thing, but it's fun."

At least Sam won't be chasing bad guys in flat shoes anytime soon; it's high heels all the way. "Damn straight," Montgomery says. "I choose to chase bad guys in high heels -- Marianne and I both. We're like, 'Forget it.' Let me tell you something: There's reality, and then there's 'How do I look on television?' And if you don't have heels on, it don't look as good."

"Look at 'Alias.' She's leaping over fences and jumping buildings in Jimmy Choo shoes, and I'm like, 'You go girl.' I think it's great. I can run like you wouldn't believe in four-inch heels. I wore them for two-and-a-half months while I was shooting 'Blonde.' They were these '50s, sex-goddess heels, and I wore them all the time."

"I have more trouble walking well without heels than I do with. The minute I put on a pair of heels, my walk becomes a lot more ladylike. When I'm in sneakers, I'm schlumpy. You put on a pair of heels, everything straightens up, shoulders back."

Because "Without a Trace" is more about the case than the characters, there isn't much time for character background or interaction, let alone romance. But with all these people working in close proximity, one wonders who might be eyeing whom across the squad room.

"There have been hints of it," Montgomery says. "Frankly, I'm not sure who my character is going to wind up with, because she seems to like everybody. There have been a couple of scenes with Anthony, a couple with Eric. We don't know. I'm like, 'I wonder who I'll wind up with? Perhaps Marianne's character.' But that would be HBO."

Asked who she thinks Sam might be happiest with, Montgomery says, "I have a distinct feeling that Sam isn't really great in relationships. She's work-oriented. I don't know if she'd be happy with any of them."

One thing Montgomery would like to see is a few cracks in Sam's defenses. "That's the way you have to be when you do that for a living. I was going for reality-based, where it's your job, you do it every day, and you can't let everything affect you. You have to have armor, to all intents, because you're seeing such brutal things all the time."

"I think what I've realized is it might be interesting for her to be more affected and struggle with that."

For now, it remains all about the mystery. "I love reading the scripts," Montgomery says. "It's like reading a murder mystery. I'm like, 'What happens?' I don't jump to the end, either. I let myself wait. It's like a short story. We all eagerly await the next script."

Of course, there are practical considerations in each script as well. Says Montgomery, "We all wonder, 'Do I wind up in ICU, on life support?'"

[source: zap2it.com]

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