The Big C: hereafter brings Cathy Jamison’s journey of the past three years in The Big C to its final conclusion.
With the help of her no-nonsense therapist, played by guest star Kathy Najimy, Cathy (Laura Linney) faces the challenges ahead, including reuniting with her estranged father played by Tony® Award-winner Brian Dennehy. Fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi appears in several episodes as himself, playing a mentor to Andrea (Gabourey Sidibe) who will start fashion design school.
The limited event series is produced by Sony Pictures Television and was created by Darlene Hunt, who also serves as executive producer, along with showrunner/executive producer Jenny Bicks. Laura Linney, Michael Engler, Richard Heus, Vivian Cannon and Neal H. Moritz are also executive producers.
The Big C: hereafter, premieres Monday April 29th at 10 p.m. ET on Super Channel.
Q&A with Darlene Hunt, Creator/Executive Producer &
Jenny Bicks, Executive Producer/Showrunner
What do you want viewers to take away from The Big C? What about for those with or affected by cancer who identify with Cathy?
DH: My personal agenda has always been to talk about the subject of death in a loud and proud way. Cathy has cancer specifically but we’re all dying by the fact that we’re living. My fear of death has lessened a bit since writing the show. So hey, it might be a big dream, but I hope people, after watching the show, will talk about death more and fear it less. It’s harder for me to talk about the cancer element in particular. But I have always tried to write characters that people can identify with. I think there’s such comfort in seeing an aspect of one’s own life portrayed on screen in some way. So I hope people affected by cancer who watch the show will simply enjoy it.
JB: All of us are going to die. What are you going to do to make your life worth it?
For those affected by cancer, I would want them to look at Cathy and see that it is okay to be human, to make mistakes. Just because you are sick, you do not have to be a hero. I would hope, too, that they can look to Cathy and respect her strength and her willingness to challenge herself and her family.
What do guest stars Isaac Mizrahi, Kathy Najimy, Alan Alda and Brian Dennehy bring to these episodes?
DH: We’ve always been able to get great guest actors. Who doesn’t want to work with Laura Linney? Isaac, Kathy, Alan and Brian in particular all seemed so honoured to be a part of Cathy’s final journey. They realized that we were trying to do something we felt was so important. And they seemed to agree. So of course they all brought their ‘A’ game.
JB: Isaac is a sparkly cupcake of fun for our episodes. He and Gabby (Sidibe) made a great pair. He plays himself as Andrea’s teacher and mentor and challenges her to find the brightness in Cathy’s bleak situation.
Kathy is Cathy’s down-to-earth shrink. We had avoided giving Cathy a shrink until this final season. But we really felt like, with everything happening with her health and her marriage, she would seek out someone to talk to. But we wanted that person to be as unlike the typical shrink as possible. Kathy plays a shrink who talks back. She is our dream of what you want in a listener and a friend.
Alan Alda makes the perfect foil for Cathy. As Dr. Sherman, he is no-nonsense to a fault, whereas Cathy is always looking for a connection, an emotional response. But they respect each other, and in the end, there is love between them, I think.
Brian Dennehy plays Cathy’s dad this season. You couldn’t ask for someone more perfect. He has that tough exterior, and you really get where Cathy would feel like her dad just wasn’t there for her. Brian, himself, was a doll. As a side note, I had written a line in the final episode where Sean accuses their dad of still wearing ‘Army pajamas’. Brian corrected me -they are called ‘skivvies.’ He was a Marine and wanted to get it right. I loved that he did that. And that he was still so proud of serving.
Why did you feel the need to have Cathy’s doctor become a patient?
DH: We talked to a lot of doctors while doing research for the show. I remember one doctor saying he didn’t know if his perspective on treating cancer would change if he were the patient. So we wanted to show that role-reversal and how it affects Cathy’s doctor.
JB: When I was sick, I remember thinking, ‘Oh God, please don’t let anything happen to my doctor.’ When you put your life in someone else’s hands, you really start to see them as God-like and completely in charge of whether you live or die. We wanted to explode this myth. Doctors are human, and they get sick, too. We wanted to put Cathy off-balance and this did that.
How will Cathy’s journey end?
DH: Peacefully.
JB: The way it is supposed to.
Any final thoughts?
DH: It’s an amazing thing to create a character in your head and then have her be breathed to life by an incredible actress and then tell her story to the world. I’ve learned so much and been so humbled by The Big C. I’m just grateful to have gotten to bring this subject matter to TV. I hope people watch the final season. I hope they laugh and cry and want to talk about it with their friends. I’m sure some of them will say something nasty about it on Facebook but that’s okay too. That’s part of the “humbling.”
JB: Enjoy the final season. We are very proud of it. And do something fun today. Cathy would want that.
