00:00Season 1 of The Rainmaker was kind of described as a David and Goliath story.
00:03It's even referenced as such in the premiere.
00:06How would you summarize season 2's overall plot?
00:09It's a David and Goliath story.
00:11Two Goliaths!
00:12There's two Goliaths this time for season 2.
00:14So we have two cases.
00:17Your ex-husbands and victors.
00:19I don't know how we went from a whale to two fishes, but here we are.
00:22Wait, am I a fish?
00:23We have two main cases that we follow.
00:26One of them sort of explores the plight of childhood and the juvenile detention system in America.
00:34PJ and I spend a lot of time doing that.
00:35Then we have another case you want to take over.
00:37Another case involves my ex-husband.
00:40Who I hate, by the way.
00:41Let's just clarify that.
00:42I hate him.
00:43Yes.
00:44So you guys will be on a bruiser's husband, Tom, returns.
00:47Austin Nichols.
00:48What was it like working with him?
00:49What new aspects of bruiser come to light with her husband returning to the story?
00:54Well, first of all, Austin is lovely.
00:56And I think we met when he was 19.
00:59I'm a couple years older than him.
01:00Don't you do that.
01:01But no, in a voice class.
01:04So on set, he was doing this vocal warm-up.
01:06And I was like, who's your teacher?
01:08And he told me.
01:09And I said, that was my mentor for years.
01:11Aw, I didn't know that.
01:12So I felt like we already kind of bonded on that level, which was really nice.
01:17Bruiser is definitely triggered by him.
01:21He's betrayed her, and she sort of is dealing with those feelings, those past emotions.
01:29Because he's a jerk.
01:29And contemplating whether or not, that's right, she should help him.
01:33Yeah.
01:33And she ends up helping him.
01:37Yeah.
01:37Bad decisions.
01:38Devitated.
01:40Milo, Rudy's had picked any kind of case now that he's been touted as the Rainmaker after
01:45Season 1.
01:46He's got offers from everywhere.
01:47But he narrows in on Victor Sofredi's story.
01:50This boy against the system.
01:52What kind of is the thing that pulls him in the most?
01:54Is it the cleverness of the card?
01:56Is it the bruises?
01:57I'm just curious why this kid really speaks to him.
02:00Good question.
02:01Yeah, great question.
02:01I think that it begins, I mean, like, Deck plays a huge part in that storyline.
02:06And, you know, it's really one of his closest friends realigning his moral compass with,
02:13like, true meaning.
02:14You know, I feel like after Season 1, there's a lot of scope.
02:17You know, he's bought a bar, and he has all of this clout.
02:20And actually, happiness and meaning, I think, is often characterized by the absence of things
02:25as opposed to getting more of them.
02:27And he has to get back to his roots.
02:29And then I think what I love about this season, one of the many things I love about this season,
02:34is when you're dealing with something as hard-hitting as, like, the plight of a child,
02:39it's the connection to the subject matter is so available and authentic to us as actors.
02:44I feel like the crew, the writers, everybody so really felt that story
02:49that I think naturally, Rudy, his meter for justice kicks in.
02:56And that's kind of where we, out of a taco hut, we start to attack the...
03:01What do you say, PJ?
03:02What's the...
03:03When the powerful take on the weak...
03:05With impunity.
03:06With impunity, you call us, and we'll come save you from our little taco hut.
03:10We have a special button that goes, blink.
03:12Oh, I thought we were doing a three-way pound.
03:14Oh, yeah, I'm sorry, three-way pound.
03:15Sorry, three-way pound.
03:15Guys, come on.
03:16No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
03:18no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
03:19Um, PJ, Richard Kind joins this season as Dex's dad.
03:22I mean, come on, is that great or what?
03:24It's exciting.
03:25One of my faves.
03:25How could he not be?
03:26What is it like to work with him on set?
03:29And what, you know, sort of new qualities of Dex come out when he's with his dad?
03:33I know, it's great.
03:34Well, first of all, he's Richard Kind.
03:35He's the legend.
03:36He's the funniest man in the world.
03:37He's one of our greatest living actors.
03:40And then I'm just in awe of him, obviously.
03:43So just to be on set with him is so exciting.
03:45He's an extraordinarily good actor.
03:47And then we have some very emotional moments because he plays my dad.
03:51And, you know, there's, you know, kids and their father sometimes can bang heads a bit.
03:56His dream was for me to be an accountant, to work with him, a father and son team.
04:01That doesn't work out.
04:03But I know it's just a really special relationship.
04:05And, you know, whenever you're acting with Richard Kind, it's always a special day.
04:08Yeah.
04:09Another addition to the cast is using us Merle Dandridge as Amanda Vaughn.
04:13She's scary.
04:14Like, she kind of scares me when I watch her on screen.
04:16Life?
04:17Leave's fingerprints, darling.
04:19Your colleague Brad Noonan is in prison.
04:21Your client has been indicted, followed soon after by my dear friend Leo Drummond.
04:25But you, you somehow emerge without a scratch.
04:29She's fierce.
04:30She's phenomenal.
04:30She has such a soul to her, which is, like, beautiful.
04:33In a performance like this, when she's playing somebody who is on the surface,
04:36very kind of closed off and weathered by the system, to have somebody who has access to,
04:43you know, a soulfulness is really quite poetic and lovely.
04:47But I would say this is where we have, like, incredible women in our show this season, as
04:50we did last season, but, like, you know, between you and Maddie, Libby, Mark, yeah, Karen, I mean,
04:55we have such an incredible, and it changes the energy on set in a really positive way, I think.
04:59I think it balances it better.
05:00Yeah.
05:01Merle's special, though, because, you know, she comes from Broadway.
05:03So, like, she knows how to fill a big, gigantic theater, so she can really own a courtroom.
05:09Like, it's kind of spectacular to watch her in action.
05:11She owns the well.
05:11Well, speaking of strong female characters, you know, Lana, Bruiser's a guy in the original
05:15John Gerstam novel.
05:17What did it mean for you to kind of take this very masculine role and make it your own,
05:20this, like, spicy kind of diva in a weird way?
05:23Honestly, it was an honor.
05:24I've never played a, you know, I've had the opportunity to be a part of a gender.
05:28You've never played a blue courtroom?
05:30I've never played a man before.
05:33I've always been one of the boys, though, I have to say.
05:36Like, I'm still friends with my high school boys, and that's, like, 33 years now.
05:40And I'm the only girl in the group.
05:42So I feel really comfortable with boys.
05:44And it was easy.
05:46I mean, it was easy to step into her shoes.
05:49But then also, like, being a woman brings a whole different energy.
05:53And she's very maternal with Rudy.
05:56I want to say Milo, but also Milo.
05:58Yes, yes.
05:58And then it's great with our dynamic as well, because we're very brother and sister with each other.
06:04So it was great.
06:06In fact, I can't see Bruiser as a man anymore.
06:08I mean, I know it exists on film with the Coppola film and, you know, Mickey Rourke and all.
06:13But I feel like it was the one role that you could gender bend, and it works.
06:17And Milo, for Rudy, I mean, he could just go to Nashville with the bigger clients or the bigger firm
06:22and have that partnership.
06:23Why does he want to stick with these guys in the taco pie?
06:26Because you love me.
06:26Otherwise, we would never let him go.
06:28We're not going to.
06:29How's your answer?
06:29I would dare you.
06:30Absolutely not.
06:31That's a terrible, take that question back.
06:33I know.
06:34La, la, la, la, la, la.
06:35We decide not to have that question, decider.
06:36How dare you?
06:37No, is there something that he's more compelled, you think, for this style of law?
06:41I think he, I mean, there's a lot of backstory behind kind of where he comes from.
06:47You know, he's a blue-collar guy, and, like, he's really surrounded by these are his people.
06:51And I feel like when you, you know, Rudy, if he had been able to stay at the Trent of
06:56Brent firm that he was working under Stato's character for,
07:02would not, I don't think that that wouldn't have been a successful spiritual kind of, like, journey into and of
07:07himself.
07:08Whereas in this environment, like, fundamentally, like, the heart of our show is David and Goliath.
07:15We're the underdogs, and we fight the bullies.
07:17And, you know, this is, that's kind of where he belongs, and I think he feels it.
07:20And he's such a moral character as well.
07:22He doesn't feel like he fits in one of those, like, white shoe firms.
07:25They're a bit dirty.
07:26It's also kind of fun, you know?
07:27Yeah.
07:28Like, in the grand scheme of things, like, he doesn't want to work for somebody who's telling them when to
07:32eat lunch.
07:32You know?
07:33Um, my lovely season, your character and Sarah are kind of at odds.
07:37Sarah, what are you doing here?
07:38I lost my job.
07:40I lost my boyfriend.
07:41I did not do this to hurt you.
07:43You didn't hurt me.
07:43You hurt a 12-year-old boy.
07:45Is there any hope for Sarah and Rudy?
07:47Could there be a new love interest?
07:48Can you tease anything there?
07:49I think there's always hope, you know?
07:50Michael had a, uh, something that he said to Maddie and I when we started filming season one.
07:55And he said, Rudy and Sarah are like a bird and a fish who fell in love.
07:58But where are they going to live?
07:59And that's the whole play out of their relationship in season one.
08:02And as they kind of grow and they mature, um, I'm not really sure where that metaphor goes.
08:07But I think maybe there's an opportunity in maturity for them to meet on a level playing field.
08:14But we'll have to see.
08:15Yeah, Maddie lives with me now.
08:16So that's good.
08:18Um, before I let you guys go, if there's, like, one thing that you're most excited for the fans to
08:22get into this season.
08:23Is it your kind of a storyline, a funny line of dialogue, a scene that you're, is there anything that
08:27you're chomping at the bit for them to experience?
08:31Without getting disappointed.
08:32Is it a shirt off?
08:33I mean, if it's episode seven, PJ takes a shirt off.
08:35I do a shirt off.
08:36That's a major spoiler, by the way.
08:38Major spoiler.
08:39I think it's that, like, season one is, like, we were ambitious in season one.
08:44But season two is really where we get to explore the multitudes of, uh, the backgrounds of these characters that
08:49you love.
08:49There's obviously a huge, uh, storyline for Bruiser with her ex-husband.
08:53Like, we meet you and your dad.
08:54Yeah.
08:55We meet Matt.
08:55We see a lot of Maddie's parents and, like, their family dynamic.
08:58And maybe she gets to explore why Sarah made the decisions that she made.
09:03And we've got all these new characters as well.
09:04You know, Austin's character, Merle's character, Liam O'Halla and Libby Kaye.
09:08People who are just fantastic who've come onto our show and just really, we feel, like, elevated and taking the
09:13material that Michael so fantastically provides with the writing team.
09:17And it blows up.
