Kelsey Grammer in new role as mayor of Chicago
Kelsey Grammer’s new show “Boss” will debut Friday night and the show, and his performance, are already garnering lots of attention.
AP reports that Grammer is making it clear that his performance is not meant to be a derivation of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. Grammer said, “We were writing a show that is a derivative of Shakespeare (and) he’s got 400 years on the Daleys.” Grammer, who plays Mayor Tom Kane, even talked to Daley in person and “tried to reassure him that we had absolutely no intention of taking pot shots at him and his father.”
“There’s such a colorful backdrop to tell this story that just exists in Chicago, so the city itself becomes kind of a character,” Grammer said. “We’re borrowing Chicago as a kind of magic kingdom (in which) you can believe is full of intrigue, betrayal, plot twists, secret documents and all kinds of things.”
Grammer and his crew spent the summer filming the show in Chicago’s Loop and River North areas as well as other neighborhoods. “We went into neighborhoods that only people in Chicago know about,” said the show’s production designer, Dan Clancy.
“The requirement for this guy really is a person who understands what it’s like to be famous and I think in some ways that made me perfectly suited to play this guy,” said Grammer. “You need to understand a lifetime spent in the public consciousness, much of it negative, a lot of it positive. That sort of came along for the ride with me as an actor playing a mayor who is a very well-known guy.”
Grammer is best known for his role as Frasier Crane on “Cheers” and “Frasier.”
The betrayal starts Friday at 10 p.m. EDT on Starz. Read more about Kelsey Grammer here.
