In an ironic if ingenious bit of casting, current tabloid queen Lindsay Lohan plays her predecessor, legendary Elizabeth Taylor, in Lifetime's Liz & Dick, premiering Nov. 25. Throughout the 1960s and well into the 1970s, Taylor and Richard Burton kept gossip columnists employed, fascinating the world with their stormy, on-again off-again relationship. The pair loved each other passionately, yet they could barely get along. The classically trained Burton was once considered heir apparent to the great actor Laurence Olivier. But Burton willingly threw it all away for Liz, taking huge paychecks for mediocre films so he could buy her million-dollar diamonds.
The biopic recalls the intense, infuriating love affair between that era's two most famous people. Grant Bowler, who plays Burton, spoke with the B.A.R. New Zealand-born and bred, Bowers has an impressive resume on both sides of the Pacific, including a two-year run on Ugly Betty as Conner Owen. This was followed by a short run as biker-werewolf Cooter on the bisexual vampire opera True Blood.
"True Blood is my all-time favorite shooting experience," he recalled. "The show has an incredible talent pool, and HBO is committed to it 100%. There's no limit on True Blood."
The actor has also done reality television, having served as host on Amazing Race Australia. "I found it a lovely break from shooting drama," he said. "There's such a structure around drama �" this was much less structured. I enjoy that."
Richard Burton, it turns out, is one of Bowler's acting idols. "He's definitely an acting hero. He was an incredibly powerful and charismatic lead. He always commanded such respect. He was an absolute peer of the stage and a big movie star. There's always a slightly reverent tone to that degree of ability. He had seven Oscar nominations, and was one of the best Hamlets. He redefined the role. John Gielgud was in awe of Burton's Hamlet."
Bowler is also a huge fan of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), the one classic film that Burton and Taylor made together. "It's an incredible character performance. It examines the inside of a marriage that was like their own."
Bowler wasn't quite as kind to Mrs. Burton. In the 1960s, at the height of her fame, Taylor was an attention-seeking movie star. This was a far cry from the elegant, sedate hero of the AIDS crisis that she became two decades later. "I think Burton was very conscious of the fact that their relationship impeded him. She held him back, a lot went by the wayside in that relationship. He took mediocre movies in order to buy her jewelry, but that's where his heart was. Without her, he would have had less fame but more acclaim. We're all just people, and we follow our hearts."
It's been said that the obviously talented Lindsay Lohan has been throwing her career away on parties, bad relationships, and other bad choices, as Liz did during the height of her 1960s fame. Bowler had his own insight on Lohan, who reportedly is quite good in her role as Taylor. "I was thrown by the way she approaches shooting. Then I understood it, it mirrors Liz. They were both child stars, which is a different mindset. Child actors are unconscious about shooting films because it's what they've always done. This works for the movie, because it plays into what Liz was."
Bowler has a very different kind of background. "I started acting at 19. I dug ditches to pay for acting classes."
It's a career path that's worked out well for him. "I've gone from playing Jesus Christ to Richard Burton, so I'm pretty happy with the spread. I never know which roles I'm going to be good for."
Liz & Dick airs on Lifetime, Sun., Nov. 25, at 9 p.m. Rebroadcasts are scheduled for Dec. 1 & 30.