 Patricia
Heaton, who won
two Emmys for
her role on
"Everybody Loves
Raymond," poses
for a photo on
Nov. 2, 2005, in
Beverly Hills,
Calif.
(AP Photo/Kevork
Djansezian) |
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November 21, 2005
Associated Press
Author: Bridget Byrne
Her nine years playing a
no-nonsense wife on the CBS
hit sitcom "Everybody Loves
Raymond" proved to Patricia
Heaton that family strife
has universal appeal.
"Everyone related to
'Raymond,'" says the
two-time Emmy winner,
because "family emotions are
a big deal." No surprise,
then, that the actress, in
her first big post-"Raymond"
role, is starring in TNT's
"The Engagement Ring," which
she describes as a "sort of
comic opera of grand
emotions."
Premiering Nov. 28 at 8 p.m.
Eastern, "The Engagement
Ring' is a romantic story
about the interwoven family
lives of rival vintners of
Italian heritage in
California's Napa Valley
(though most of the film was
shot around Victoria,
British Columbia).
Heaton, who is also the
film's executive producer,
plays Sara Anselmi, whose
desire to merge the two
vineyards in order to create
a new vintage heightens
long-simmering resentments.
Heaton's husband, David
Hunt, plays Sara's
cold-hearted,
business-minded fiance, his
ear constantly pressed to a
cell phone. Vincent Spano is
Tony Di Cenzo, a member of
the rival family, whose very
different freeform attitude
toward life and love stirs
Sara's untapped emotions.
The senior generation in the
families experience equally
complex romantic
entanglements, marked by
fate and choice.
"In a way I'm the love
interest" exclaims Lainie
Kazan, 65, who plays Sara's
mother, Alicia. Despite a
girlhood romance with Tony's
uncle (Tony Lo Bianco),
Alicia married Sara's father
(Chuck Shamata).
Kazan says she responded
instantly to the script's
"visceral emotions" because,
"I have those feelings, big
feelings."
Heaton, who had nurtured the
film project for several
years, says she was
attracted to the script's
exploration of "true love,
and what it is, and how do
you know what it is. Is it
just chemistry, or is it
years and years of
commitment and being
together and hanging in
there building a history?
And how do you find both?"
As the mother of four sons,
ranging in age from 6 to 12,
Heaton knows quite a bit
about finding such a balance
in life. Snatching time for
a quick lunch at a coffee
shop near her Los Angeles
home, the 47-year-old
actress exudes the air of
someone who can cope.
But she explains that it was
probably a little easier to
organize her life when she
was locked into the
comfortable routine of
sitcom production, where
"the schedule gave a lot of
time to be with the kids, be
home, make good money, and
have fun. And really what
more could you ask for!"
Heaton and her husband run a
production company, Four
Boys Films, and she's in the
"early, early" stages of
developing a possible sitcom
for herself. She'll play
someone, she says, "fairly
close to who I am."
Other projects from Four
Boys, which produced "Ring,"
include a documentary
feature called "The
Bituminous Coal Queens of
Pennsylvania," a portrait of
small town America, and
"Amazing Grace," a feature
film, to be directed by
Michael Apted, about William
Wilberforce, an 18th century
English anti-slavery
activist.
Heaton says she and her
husband like to seek out
stories that "are fairly
uplifting," and that their
goal is to "explore humanity
without being either
sentimental or nihilistic."
As she moves on, she does so
with no regrets about
"Everybody Loves Raymond"
ending. "It was a wonderful
nine years, but I think it
was really time to go."
Is she bothered at all by
the fame and relentless
recognition that "Raymond"
brought?
"Bothered? Me? You're
kidding! All my life I've
waited for that moment.
People say, 'Oh, you must
get so tired of it.' I say,
'I didn't work in
restaurants and hotels all
those years in New York so
people would ignore me!' I'm
really at a point where I
really enjoy it."
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