Re: Without A Trace
Interview with Poppy Montgomery "spoilers".
What's Next for Trace's Samantha?
by Mary Murphy
Poppy Montgomery
Why is Poppy Montgomery smiling? For starters, Without a Trace is
now in its fourth season (Thursdays at 10 pm/ET on CBS) and
consistently placing in the Top 5 on the ratings chart. But that's
far from the only exciting thing going on in her life. TV Guide
spoke with the cheeky Australian beauty about her on-screen loves,
her real-life romance and her hot holiday movie, Snow Wonder.
TV Guide: What's happening this season with Samantha Spade and the
men in her life?
Poppy Montgomery: We haven't resolved the situation with Samantha
and Martin (Eric Close) or Samantha and Jack (Anthony LaPaglia). But
things are going to heat up since Jack will have a romance with Mary
Elizabeth Mastrantonio's character.
TV Guide: Will Samantha be jealous?
Montgomery: She will get absolutely furious. She's going to be
completely territorial because she loves Jack.
TV Guide: Still? That seemed to be over.
Montgomery: She's always loved Jack. I think they should get married
in the last episode of the series — live happily ever after.
TV Guide: What about Martin?
Montgomery: I think that chapter is closed.
TV Guide: What advice would you give Samantha?
Montgomery: Go for Jack. Don't let him get involved with anybody
else. Even though she loves Martin, she always thinks about Jack —
he's the complicated one. But then Martin is so cute. [Laughs] You
know, I'd tell her to keep both of them.
TV Guide: How has Roselyn Sanchez, who plays new agent Elena
Delgado, fit into the team?
Montgomery: She's sweet, gorgeous... she's the best. She's added
such a kick to the show. Everyone's thrilled to have her on.
TV Guide: Is Elena going to spark competition among the other
characters?
Montgomery: No, [Roselyn and I] actually talked with the writers and
said, "Instead of the stereotypical, 'Oh, now they're feuding,' why
can't they become friends — two women who are on each other's side?"
And the writers thought that was great.
TV Guide: You're starring in a holiday TV-movie, CBS' Snow Wonder
[airing Nov. 20 at 9 pm]. What drew you to the project?
Montgomery: Mary Tyler Moore is in it, and anything she is in I want
to be a part of. Even though I don't get to work with her.
TV Guide: Why is that?
Montgomery: It's a series of vignettes that are tied together by the
snow element. I work with David Sutcliffe (Gilmore Girls) and Julie
Ann Emery (Commander in Chief). She plays my best friend, who is
getting married. I am secretly in love with her fiancé. And then
strange things start to happen. It was supposed to be in Mississippi
in the winter, so we're dressed in winter clothes. But we shot it in
New Orleans and it was about 150 degrees.
TV Guide: When were you there?
Montgomery: I left a month before Hurricane Katrina hit. I love New
Orleans. It was a city that I've always had a special feeling for. I
did one of my first jobs there: a TV-movie, Jake Lassiter: Justice
on the Bayou.
TV Guide: Snow Wonder is something different for you — a romantic
comedy. How was it?
Montgomery: I have enormous respect for people like Debra Messing
and the cast of Friends. Comedy looks easy, but it isn't. It was a
good departure, since Trace is so dark.
TV Guide: On a lighter note, are you still dating actor Adam Kaufman?
Montgomery: We're going home to Australia for Christmas.
TV Guide: So it's serious?
Montgomery: Anyone who's going to go all that way to meet my family,
it's got to be serious. It's a 14-hour flight.
TV Guide: Does Samantha have any major cases coming up?
Montgomery: She takes on a big case in the Dec. 8 episode and gets
really involved in it. It's about a girl in her early 20s who gets
amnesia and reminds Samantha of herself. You know Samantha has all
these issues about living in a trailer park when she was young. She
takes on this girl because she doesn't want her to be lost anymore.
And that seems to be Samantha's cause — outside of wanting to have
affairs with everyone in the office, she's always trying to work out
her demons through the cases she gets.
TV Guide: Three years into Trace, is it still fun?
Montgomery: I love being on the set. I had a week off recently and I
went bonkers. I got bronchitis and sat around and went crazy. I was
like, "I never, ever, ever want time off from work again."