With Desperate Housewives, Body Of Proof and many more credits to her name, Dana Delany is one of the most recognisable faces on television across the world.
Dana Delany at the UK Hand Of God premiere / Credit: Amazon
Now she's starring in a brand new series exclusively airing on Amazon Prime Video - Hand Of God - which has just been released in full to Prime customers.
We got the opportunity to chat to Dana all about the show, her role as Crystal Harris and much more in a new and exclusive interview - read on to find out what she had to say.
What was it about Hand Of God that initially drew you to the series?
Well I was really interested in working with Amazon. I'd already done network TV and I knew that that [streaming] was the future of television, so I wanted to see what that was like and, when I signed on it was still sort of in the beginning. Transparent had not become the success that it is yet, so I was sort of an early adapter. And then, to work with Marc Forster [Director] because he had never done TV before, so that was interesting to me. And Ron [Perlman] who I knew, but we'd never worked together, and then I met with Ben Watkins and I just thought; 'My God, this guy's got a crazy mind! This will be an interesting ride.'
What was that experience like working with Amazon?
Well at first I was excited that there was a certain amount of freedom which we continue to have. Amazon really has been great about not interfering with the creative process which they said was their mandate, and they've been true to that.
As an actor it was fun to be able to swear and smoke pot and do weird, dark things. But after a while you realise it's still just about telling a good story and doing it well, so it's kind of the same in the end.
Hand Of God is an incredibly unique show - how best would you describe the series for those who haven't yet seen the pilot?
That's hard isn't it? I have a hard time with that one! I'd just say that it's a dark and twisted tale about this judge who's possibly hearing voices from God about avenging his son's suicide and, we don't know whether he really is or isn't.
You play Crystal Harris in the show, can you tell us a little bit about her?
Well, she's the wife of the judge but she seems to be the woman behind the man, and slowly things become more and more revealed about her and her own agenda. What's great about the show is every character on the show has their own agenda, there's nobody who's really just a background person, we all have our things going on and our own point of view.
Crystal I have said is a lot like her name in that she shines bright, but she's not everything that she seems...
How would you describe her relationship with her husband Pernell? It seems a little strained in episode one...
Yeah, what I like about the relationship is that it's a very adult one. These people have been married for 20 years and it's something you don't get to see a lot on television - they like each other, they respect each other, they're not always in love with each other, they each have separate lives, they probably know each other have affairs but it's not discussed, and in the end they're partners.
Crystal is a woman not afraid to get her hands dirty to get what she wants - was she a lot of fun to play?
She was fun. Yeah, she was. I mean to me, because she could be so tough at times, the moments that really surprised me, especially working with Ron Perlman is, sometimes I would be surprised how much love I felt for Pernell, and you realise, 'oh my God, these people do love each other and there's a certain amount of tenderness there despite everything.'
The family is going through a really tough patch with their son's attempted suicide - how does Crystal get through that?
Yeah, it's interesting. I feel because she's somebody who comes from a poor background and has really had to work to get where she is, I think that she's a survivor. So for her she's a realist, and her son is in a coma, he's tried to kill himself, as far as she's concerned he's dead, she needs to move on, because if she starts believing that he can survive she's just gonna fall apart, it's too painful, so I think that she can't listen to her husband and she needs to make this decision and move on and keep things going.
There's a hugely emotional scene towards the end of the pilot episode in the hospital, were moments like this hard to film?
No, as an actor I love those moments. The more difficult the better, I go home at night feeling cleansed! (laughs) I love it.
Whether or not Pernell really is touched by God is questioned throughout the pilot episode and especially with the big ending - is that a theme that runs through the series?
Yes. I mean we do take twists and turns and by the tenth episode I think it's gonna be very satisfying for people, because it takes a whole other twist that even I didn't expect. When we got to the last episode and we did the table reading, I looked at Ben Watkins our showrunner and I said; 'Wow! OK! (laughs) I didn't see that coming!' (laughs)
The pilot episode was really well-received by fans which is why the series got the greenlight for a full first season - how did that feel?
It was good! It's a whole new process with people voting online whether they like it, which is unusual! It's a little bit Survivor for television! (laughs) I think it's smart on Amazon's part because they always say 'the customer's first'. I don't know about you but when I go on Amazon I do read those reviews, I wanna know whether I should buy something or not. And for Amazon it's kind of like free research for them. I think ultimately they make their own decision but they do pay attention to it.
What should those fans expect from the rest of the series?
I think just, hang on because it's gonna be a wild ride. You won't know what's coming next, let's just say that.
How was the chemistry on-set with your Hand Of God co-stars?
It was great, we're a very close-knit group and I think that's to Marc Forster and Ben's credit for the casting. Everybody's very much their own person and nice - I hate to say 'nice' because that sounds boring! - but on this European tour, let's just say we've been out every night! (laughs) We do like to have a good time!
Can you tell us a little bit about a typical day on the set of Hand Of God?
You know it's true what they say, that when you're shooting a show that's dramatic and dark you tend to have a lot of fun on the sets.
One thing that's unusual is that we shoot on film, because of that the show looks great - most shows are shot digitally now - but because it's film you don't really wanna waste a lot of time wasting film, so we're very prepared, we move fast, and we shoot all over LA which is also unusual, to get to shoot in LA. So there's a lot of strange locations, places that I never knew about - I think it'll have a different look.
Finally what's next for you?
Well, we'll see whether the show continues for a second season, which I hope it does, and I'm going to Paris next because I did this mini-series in France there and that premieres in September in France on TF1, it's called No Second Chance, Une chance de trop. I'd like to work more in France, so I have a French tutor now!
You can catch Dana Delany as the incredible Crystal Harris now, as Season one of Amazon original series Hand of God is available on Prime Video.