TELEVISION: Good writing brought Close to 'The Shield'; Actress says she's never been reluctant to take good television roles

* Actress says she's never been reluctant to take good televisionroles

By MATT HURWITZ

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES - To filmgoers, she's known as the woman who scaredthe pants back on Michael Douglas in 1987's "Fatal Attraction." Nowit's the drug dealers of urban Los Angeles on "The Shield" who areworried.

"She has an agenda, and she can't wait to start," Glenn Close saysof her character, Monica Rawling, who took over as captain of thecorrupt and dysfunctional Farmington precinct at the beginning of theshow's fourth season.

Rawling has returned to her roots, having walked the beat in thefictitious district earlier in her career. So, in a sense, has Close,who returned to television after a fruitful - and continuing - careerin feature films.

"I've always tried not to be snobbish about it," says the 58-year-old actress, who's done made-for-TV movies (including "SomethingAbout Amelia" and "Sarah, Plain and Tall") as well as feature films("The World According to Garp," "The Big Chill," "The Natural" and"Reversal of Fortune" among many others). "To me, the bottom line iswhat's on the page. And the writing on this show is greatstorytelling," she adds during a break in filming the FX series.

"Having her here raises the whole bar," notes star MichaelChiklis, who plays corrupt-but-effective cop Vic Mackey. "Glenn doesphenomenal work, and it just brings a new, fresh excitement to thewhole process, particularly now that we're in our fourth season."

Sharing "starring" credit with another big name was actuallysomething Chiklis, now one of the show's producers, had hoped forsince the end of the first season.

"I felt even then that the respect for the show was extremely highin the industry, and we could definitely get high-caliber people,"says the actor, who won an Emmy in 2002.

Chiklis' appearance in Fox's upcoming "The Fantastic Four" delayedthe start of this season's production by three months, allowing theshow's writers time to develop a new character.

"We came up with Rawling's character and realized pretty quicklyit was going to be a very significant role," says "The Shield"creator and executive producer Shawn Ryan. "Casting-wise, we knew weneeded someone who could stand up with Michael Chiklis."

The writers played an "if we could get anyone, who would we tryfor?" game, and came up with Close, a five-time Academy Award nomineewho, to their surprise, accepted the role.

"Prior to Glenn, they were very interested in having veryincognito actors," notes veteran actress CCH Pounder, who playsDetective Claudette Wims. "That's helped the show ring more ofreality, as opposed to, 'Hey, Richard Burton is playing the cop!'"

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