Chris Noth wasn’t exactly thinking of Eliot Spitzer as inspiration when he joined the cast of “The Good Wife” as adulterous politician Peter Florrick. In today’s world, he had his choice of scoundrels.
“There are plenty of those to draw from. But there are many second and third acts in politics,” he says. “John Edwards you can’t excuse. But Spitzer will have another political life. There’s extreme hypocrisy about sex in our country. We’ve had a lot of moral prudes who don’t have sex but f–k the country.”
The actor has many opinions as blunt as that one but his outspoken nature has not affected his career. Noth, 55, works constantly, from “Law & Order” and “Sex and the City,” and on “The Good Wife,” has found one of his best roles. As Florrick, he is equal parts manipulative, contrite, earnest and charmingly insincere. In short, the perfect politician.
His presence is so strong it may come as a surprise to learn Noth is not a cast regular.
“I’m basically a recurring guest cause I want to pursue other things. Having spent a lot of time on other shows, I want the freedom,” he says.
Even so, show creators Robert and Michelle King (and CBS executives) wanted no other actor for the part. “He is a political junkie so it’s fun for him, too,” says Robert King. “He is interested in the question, how do you come back from the lowest point? We talk about the same archetypes. Bill Clinton. Spitzer. Mark Sanford.”
Noth says after playing Mr. Big, he wasn’t looking for another career-changing role. “I don’t anymore look at jobs to redefine my career. I’m beyond wondering analyze how am I going to be perceived,” he says. “Now I realize it’s a series of happy accidents. You do your job as best you can.”
Well, if he doesn’t consider the role on “The Good Wife” as pivotal, Noth certainly did change his look for the show. The actor reveals that when he reported for work on the sequel to “Sex and the City,” creator Michael Patrick King told him pointedly, “We’re not calling you Mr. Big because you have a big gut.”
Noth went to a spa called The Island Experience in Brazil where he worked out for 10 days and, back home, he did cross-country skiing training at Canyon Ranch.
“I like staying in shape,” he says. “But all my friends like to hang out and drink and eat late. New York is a very tough place to be good.”
Noth “Sex and the City” sequel, which opens May 27, is a better film than the first one.
“These girls have this extraordinary adventure. It’s a real exploration of what happens to people when they go from living together to being in a marriage,” he says.
So the movie will be about more than the shoes in Carrie’s closet?
“That’s one thing you will never change,” Noth says. “I’ve had people come up to me on the street and say, ‘My wife had me build a closet like that. I said, ‘You fool.’”
As his years with Sarah Jessica Parker attest, Noth doesn’t mind playing a secondary role to a strong female character. “This is Julianna’s show, not mine. She’s the centerpiece of this world and she does it with great poise,” he says.
He first worked with Margulies when she did a guest spot as Lt. Ruth Mendoza on “Law & Order” in 1993. “She played a Navy officer. Jerry Orbach knew right away. He said, ‘You’re gonna have your own show.’ The camera just loves her,” Noth says. “She’s one of those actors who doesn’t have to do anything. Her face is so expressive. I think she’s got some interesting ambiguities.”
As the “Good Wife” concludes its first season, Florrick is under house arrest and waiting for his retrial to begin. The charges against him include influence peddling and sexual misconduct.
“We need to get past this story line,” Noth says. “I didn’t envision to much domestic stuff. I’m hoping to get out of the apartment so much more.”
He has discussed Peter Florrick’s story arc with King. “I thought we could look at Kennedy and Nixon. One was very charismatic, the other not. But Kennedy had to do some things that were ethically questionable,” he says. And he still has his eye on Spitzer. “I’m watching him very closely to see how he gets back in the game.”
But, in a reference to former Idaho Republican congressman Larry Craig, who was arrested for soliciting sex with an undercover officer in an airport bathroom, Noth says, “There won’t be a scene of guy in a latrine with his hands motioning under the stall. That’s just grotesque.”