David E. Kelley on Why James Spader Almost didn't Star in "Boston Legal"

[JamesG]

David E. Kelley Reveals Why James Spader Almost didn't Star in "Boston Legal"
by Kate Stanhope
Oct. 27, 2017


James Spader won three Emmys for his role as Alan Shore on David E. Kelley's law drama "Boston Legal", but the longtime writer-producer behind "Ally McBeal" and "The Practice" said he received pushback from the powers that be when he first tried to cast Spader in the role.

"I was told that no one would ever welcome James Spader into their living room," Kelley recalled Thursday at a TV Game Changers panel presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. "People will watch him in the movies, but they will never let him in their own home."




"Boston Legal" marked Spader's first major small screen role after decades of film work in Pretty in Pink, Sex, Lies and Videotape and Less Than Zero, among many others.

Spader initially started as a series regular on the eighth and final season on "The Practice" before he and William Shatner moved to headline their own series, "Boston Legal", which ran for five seasons on ABC. Since then, Spader has gone on to star in NBC's "The Blacklist", which is currently in its fifth season.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/liv...-legal-1052384