Tessa Ferrer says the new ‘Catch-22’ series provides a "completely different" portrayal of the story’s female characters.
The 33-year-old actress plays Nurse Duckett in Channel 4’s new satirical miniseries and she insists George Clooney’s take on the story "deepens" the women in the story, who "all objectified" and "very one dimensional" in Joseph Heller’s original novel of the same name and in Mike Nicholls’ 1970 film adaptation.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz at the ‘Catch-22’ UK premiere at the Vue cinema in Westfield, London, the ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ star said: "There was lots of pressure although thankfully for me, not true for every character, Nurse Duckett in our television series is completely different from the novel and from Mike Nichols’ film. So I was not comparing my role to those two characters ever, not once. She was very different, she’s very grounded, moral, she’s really the through line of sanity in the show."
When asked what made her audition for the role knowing the female characters were very one dimensional in the original novel, she added: "I got to read the script and Luke Davies and David Michod did an extraordinary job of really deepening all of the female characters – who are very one dimensional in the book.
"And there are many more in the book who are all objectified and in this series you really get a very clear point of view of three dimensional deep women."
The upcoming series also stars Christopher Abbott as John Yossarian – Duckett’s love interest in the novel and film – as well as Kyle Chandler, Hugh Laurie and Clooney, who also directed and produced the project, who appears as Lieutenant Scheisskopf.
Tessa Ferrer: Catch-22 series expands female characters
