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| Nick Nolte and Sela Ward Photo Credit: EPIX |
This week EPIX steps into the political ring with the new series “Graves” starring Nick Nolte as a two-term Republication U.S. President who seeks to right the wrongs of his administration.
The new series full of political satire premieres on Sunday, October 16th on EPIX.
It’s been 25 years since the former President Richard Graves was in office and now he must come to terms with his wife, the former First Lady Margaret Graves (played by Sela Ward) who is launching her own career.
With the current election underway, one wonders if Nolte has any regrets like his television alter egos.
“You know, you’ve gotta look at your own life and say how old are you and do you have any regrets or not,” said Nolte. “I’m 75. I got a lot of regrets. So it doesn’t matter whether it’s president or not president or Republican or Democrat. It’s a man that is aching. He knows he’s going to die, and he’s looking back at his life, and some of the things he did earlier, he regrets the decisions of. There isn’t a president that doesn’t. But they don’t do anything about it because they’re in the public eye. We take license to be the satire and go into it. You know, I didn’t use Reagan because I didn’t think Reagan was a good president.
Which former president in history did he use as a model in shaping the character? It was a mix of all of them, the three-time OscaOscar-nominated actor admits.
“[I channeled] a lot of Johnson and some Kennedy, and you know what,” Nolte continued. I went back through my life and I’ve only know, like, eight or nine presidents, and it was a limited edition. I can start out with Eisenhower, but it wouldn’t make much sense to start there.”
In the first episode of “Graves,”, entitled, “Evil Good And Good Evil” finds the former President Richard Graves is at a crossroads. Expected to spend his retired years living quietly outside Santa Fe, NM, Graves spins out into an existential crisis when he realizes that his White House’s policies of 25 years ago have messed the country up and decides to go on a journey to right his administration’s wrongs. Graves befriends bohemian waitress Sammy and drags his uptight new assistant Isaiah along as he goes off the grid and tries for the first time in his life to live in the present moment and be authentic. Meanwhile, Olivia Graves is having a breakdown of her own, shedding her picture perfect First Daughter persona after separating from her Rockefeller husband, as her mother — the ever-composed Margaret Graves — tries to keep her family’s antics from drawing attention.
The series also stars Skylar Austin, Roger Bart, Nia Vardalos and Ernie Hudson.
“Graves” airs Monday, October 16 on EPIX.
Check out the sneak peek of the series below:
