Matlock's Skye P. Marshall Says Working with Kathy Bates is Like Winning the Lottery
"Kathy [Bates] has never forgotten where she's come from. Genuinely, she does not believe that she's better than the PA or the cater waiters. She doesn't."
For Skye P. Marshall, getting the part of Olympia on CBS ' Matlock is the culmination of a lot of hard work. "Every decision I've made in my career has led me to this moment. I'm a winner." On Matlock, Marshall's Olympia is a successful attorney at a prestigious New York City law firm who suddenly must contend with Madeline "Matty" Matlock (played by Kathy Bates), who has reentered the work force later in life. "At the beginning, we're not friends, but we're not just colleagues. And then over time, you'll start to see that that really is the love story." While on the surface the two women are very different, they soon realize that the things about them that others use against them–Olympia's race, Matty's age–are actually things they can use to their advantage. "We both use it to our advantage because our need of doing good and defending the victims who cannot afford to fight for themselves." When Marshall got the part, she says, "I screamed and cried a lot. The call felt like hitting the lottery. The call felt like what I would imagine LeBron James received in 2003 when he was the number one draft pick." But after wrapping this season, with another season already greenlit by CBS, Marshall says one of the biggest takeaways from working with Bates so closely is how real Bates is. "Kathy has never forgotten where she's come from. Genuinely, she does not believe that she's better than the PA or the cater waiters. She doesn't."
Listen to more of Marshall's chat about Matlock on Newsweek's Parting Shot podcast.
Editor's Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.
What's it like to be on a show like this?
Well, Kathy Bates is a phenomenal human being. Outside of being a master class of my craft, the way she had this human connection that she makes with every single person, from the background actors up to the producers, she makes sure that everyone's seen, acknowledged, recognized, and that everyone's having a good time. And the way she sets the stage before we even hear the word action, it allows us to not act anymore, we're just having fun. And if we fumble lines, we're playing make believe, we're not curing cancer here. For us, it's extremely high stakes coming to set every day because we are working with an icon. To Kathy, we're just assigned to the same playpen. She just wants to have a good day and everybody get home to their friends and family on time. And so as Commander in Chief of the set, she definitely leads with the heart of art and the thrill of just letting your inner child play.
What was it like for you to get this call to do a show like this with Kathy Bates?
Well, I screamed and cried a lot. The call felt like hitting the lottery. The call felt like what I would imagine LeBron James received in 2003 when he was the number one draft pick. It felt like I could breathe again.
After high school, I couldn't afford college, so I went active-duty Air Force to pay for school, and once I graduated college, I worked corporate New York at a pharmaceutical marketing firm (the irony, if you know the twist). And after two years, I realized the cubicle was my own personal hell. Performing arts was always a part of my life, but I was always conditioned that it wasn't a career, it was a hobby. Just because you enjoy going to the gym doesn't mean you're going to be a personal trainer. And so it wasn't until I was 28 years old that I had the gumption to just say, 'Screw it. I dare you to go out there and just suck. I dare you to suck.' I was so great at everything I had done up until that point. I knew that I probably sucked as an actor because I wasn't formally trained, but I knew that I was gifted with a personality that drew people in and a sense of ability to embarrass myself. Going into audition rooms, I was never embarrassed, and I think that's what gets in the way of a lot of young actors. And so, because I was comfortable embarrassing myself in public quite often, I didn't care about people's opinions about me, and so that really helped in the audition process.
So, I was sitting unemployed looking on my phone, and I saw the trade, it just said, 'CBS Kathy Bates, Matlock.' All three of those things just lit me up. And so I called my manager and was like, 'Hey, do you have the Matlock script?' And then she was like, 'I'll see if I can get my hands on it.' I got the script, and I was on my phone, so I just flipped right past the front page and just dived right in. And once I got to Olympia, I felt my heart race, I felt my hands get moist, and I immediately was like, 'Oh no.' It's like discovering a new crush, where you're like, 'Oh, this is about to be unrequited love, and I feel it.' I want it so bad. I hate that I wanted it this bad. And then I'm like, 'Who wrote this incredible script?' I go back to the front page, and then I see Jennie Snyder Urman, and I'm like, 'No, someone I actually know. What do I do here?' And so I decided I was gonna send Jennie and our producer, Joanna Klein, a video. And in the video, I said, 'I know that the casting directors are going to give you a list full of big names and celebrities, as they should. They're number two to Kathy Bates, but just put me in the ring.' And I got it from there. And so I made it past each round, and the final round was a chemistry read with Kathy Bates. And they did not tell Kathy that they knew me. They genuinely wanted her to choose who she had the best chemistry with, because they all want the show to be successful. And so, we're told, you don't touch people in the audition room, right? I go in and I say hi to everybody, and then I square up with Kathy, and I said, 'Can I hug you?' And then she started walking towards me and then we hugged. In my mind, I was like, 'If she could just feel my heart beating out of my chest and know how badly I love and want this opportunity, that I will not let them down, that I'll be the best Olympia that they could even imagine. If she can just feel my energy. We're good.' And then she and I play jazz. We had so much fun in that chemistry read, and at the end, I told her, 'I've already won.' I've got a bottle waiting for me in the hotel room that I'm gonna pop because I got to be flown business class from Brooklyn to act with Kathy Bates for 15 minutes. Every decision I've made in my career has led me to this moment. I'm a winner.
It's interesting that you bring up the start of your career, and how it was a bit later than others. The same can be said of Bates, how she didn't really hit it big as a movie star until she was older. Perhaps that was a connection you two shared.
You are absolutely right, and it's wild to me that I'd never had a conversation with her around that. Because I do remember watching an interview where she spoke about how all these big names were being looked at for Annie in Misery, and the commonalities that she and I share with what I believe to be my breakout role as Olympia in Matlock. She possibly could have felt a connection to her story and someone just believing in her. And when we wrapped last week, and I spoke in front of the cast and crew, and then I narrowed in on her, I was in tears because I was just like, 'Thank you for seeing me. Thank you for choosing me. Thank you for your trust and your belief in me.' Because without that, I wouldn't be standing there. And she wholeheartedly took it in. We both were extremely emotional. It really matters when people see you, but then they also remember how they got started. Because that line can get so blurred in this industry with recognition and accolades that you forget how you started, you forget where you came from, and you forget what it's like to be someone of a certain age, just dirt under your nails, hustling, but still holding on to your morale and doing right and being a good person, doing the work and waiting for that opportunity to align with your determination. And Kathy has never forgotten where she's come from. Genuinely, she does not believe that she's better than the PA or the cater waiters. She doesn't.
And you and Kathy have scenes together where you really need to have a back and forth, there's some sparring. What is that like to sort of have that dance?
Honestly, it really comes from a true place, because if I stay loyal to my character, Olympia, then Kathy Bates playing Matty is none of my business. And at the end of the day, Olympia has worked so hard to get to where she is in the chain of command at Jacobson & Moore. She's raised by a Marine, she respects the chain of command. And this woman [Bates' Matlock] just strolls in off the street and gets a job and gets assigned to me because she's a sweet little old white lady, and what I'm supposed to do, just say, 'Hi, welcome.' Yeah, no, because if she thinks that she's been overlooked and under appreciated, be a Black woman in the legal system. And so while all the guys, Billy and Julian and Elijah and Senior, find her absolutely adorable and might be a little entertaining to put her under my watch, the only person who actually understands it is Sarah, played by Leah Lewis, who's like, 'What is this? This is not how this is supposed to work.' And so if I stay true to not just Olympia, but I have a lot of commonalities with Olympia in multiple different industries, whether it was the military, whether it was corporate New York, or whether it was pursuing acting before all the hashtags started coming out, waiting for that seat at the table. If I just stay true to who that character is acting with Kathy Bates, whether I have to snap or smile or bow bridges, it feels very authentic. And Kathy's character, being a woman of a certain age coming into the workforce, she absolutely understands it, not just because she's trying to keep up with technology in the way of the world, but because she's from another generation. She absolutely knows what I've been through, and especially if you're coming in with that Southern accent. Those are hurdles I've had to conquer, and therefore, I don't believe Olympia needs to sugar coat anything with this sweet little Southern belle.
And Bates' Matlock talks about that invisibility in certain settings, and finding ways that people might devalue you for whatever reason, and making them into ways that can be advantages for you, even though you shouldn't have to do that.
Yeah, we both use it to our advantage because our need of doing good and defending the victims who cannot afford to fight for themselves, whether that be Matty's daughter or the clients that I take on who cannot afford me. And so Olympia is wanting to show and prove that you can do good and make a lot of money at the same time. Yeah. As you'll see throughout the season, she's very particular about the clients that she takes on and why. And so both Olympia and Matty have this sense of justice and fight for those who can't fight for themselves, not up against Big Pharma, not up against big corporations. And that common interest is what draws us together. And at the beginning, we're not friends, but we're not just colleagues. And then over time, you'll start to see that that really is the love story.
