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Amy Aquino on “Bosch,” kissing Rose Rollins and getting de-gayed in “Boys on the Side”

On Amazon’s drama series Bosch, Amy Aquino plays lesbian Lt. Grace Billets, commanding officer of LAPD Homicide. She works closely with the title character, Harry Bosch, to solve crimes of corruption in Los Angeles, as based on the Michael Connelly‘s series of the same name. Last season, we saw her sharing a connection (and a bathroom makeout) with a coworker, who happened to be played by Rose Rollins (The L Word).

No stranger to playing queer characters, Amy’s first lesbian role was opposite Whoopi Goldberg in the 1995 film Boys on the Side. And while most of Season 1 had Grace stuck in the office, Amy says that she finally gets out of the office in Season 2 of Bosch, premiering today on Amazon, which means more of her personal life.

We chatted with Amy about playing the HBIC on Bosch, and why she loves the vulnerability she gets to show this season.

AfterEllen.com: What did you know about your character’s trajectory going into this season?

Amy Aquino: I did not know a lot at all. I mean, they were kind of working it out until the end, and I had a little sense of what was going to maybe happen romantically. But in terms of my involvement with the story, I really wasn’t sure until I started getting the scripts. It was actually kind of great when I started getting scripts at the beginning of the season. I got out of the office!

AE: Was that exciting for you be able to get out and explore some more personal aspects?

AA: Yes, oh my gosh, yes. Both personally and professionally. Last year we touched on the personal, which was great. We kind of got a little bit of a very broad sense of who this woman was, but this season, you get to see her in action; you get to see her actually actively involved in some of the cases and you get to see her a little bit vulnerable and struggling with the personal issues a little bit more. It’s kind of setting the stage for that down the road. It’s a really nice continuation, growing the seeds that were planted in the first season and actually planting some more for, hopefully, future seasons.

AE: What did you learn about Grace this season that you didn’t know was a part of her before?

AA: The vulnerability was really-the personal vulnerability and her personal confusion and difficulties was a bit of a revelation. I always try to include that. I’ve played a lot of these characters, you know, the tough characters, but I’ve always tried to make sure it was understood they were human as well. This season really gave me a chance to give a window into that, where she is sort of struggling with this change in her life. She was married and had this kid, and now she’s kind of figuring out this new landscape for herself, and the other piece that was really interesting is where she was coming from and what her aspirations are going forward. Her position as the lieutenant of the homicide division is a step along the road typically for someone, and she can and should be looking ahead for her own career, which is something I never really thought about.

AE: Having played other tough women like her before, what was your entry point or the connection you made with her to make her different from the others?

AA: What I liked about her was that she’s super comfortable in her skin, which was important for this because it is about Bosch and the relationship she has with him. And what she’s doing as her functional role in the station is not as important as her role-her relationship with him, which is a complicated one because they did come up together, they’ve been friends forever-they started out on the force together and then they, careerwise, had taken different paths, and these paths have led her to becoming the boss of him, which makes it very, very complicated. They know each other’s vulnerability; they know each other’s kids. She’s the one who knows his secrets. He’s a very kind of private guy. It turns out she’s got her own secrets that she’s dealing with, and if anybody would know it, it’s him.

So that’s what drew me to it. I’ve never been drawn to a procedural and probably would not have done this one except for the fact of that-it’s not about the police work. It’s about this guy; it’s about the relationship with this very specific, unique individual.

AE: On other cop shows, they often have a will they/won’t they storyline between the man and woman who work together. But not on this show.

AA: Not happening, babe! [laughs]

AE: Was that part of the appeal, too?

AA: I gotta say, frankly, I’ve never been that person. I’ve never been cast as the “will they/won’t they”? Years ago-this will tell you how old I am-I was cast in Roseanne. I was so excited because I was going to be playing against Martin Mull. I thought “Oh this is cool; this is great. [My character] has a little crush on him. He doesn’t like me; we work together.” I get to the last page, and that was the episode where Martin Mull comes out of the closet. I was like, “OK, alright! That’s not gonna happen. I will not be coming back on this show.”

So what’s nice about this-it’s not like I’m missing that sexual tension in the air because that’s sort of never been a part of what I get cast for. What I’m loving is the fact that we get the past the “Goddammit, Bosch! If you do that one more time…” which I’ve done a lot of in other shows, being the administrator who is trying to control the maverick. In this case, it’s so much richer than that. That’s why I like it; that’s why I love it. That’s what drew me to it. And Eric Overmyer and Michael Connelly, two brilliant writers, are in charge of the writing. It’s like “Yeah, OK. I can do this!”

AE: Is your character also in the novels? Does the show follow the book series closely?

AA: There is a lot of it. Yeah, the fact that we had a past relationship, they had a long relationship is there and the mutual respect. The fact that she’s gay I think-I don’t know if they-I haven’t read them all. There’s 20 of them. In general, it’s there, but in terms of relationships, they’re taking free reign and doing what they feel is going to serve the show. So they’re getting inspired by the books and going where they’re going to go. It’s not wildly different than the books; it’s just richer. [Bosch] pops around a lot in the books. He goes from one division to another; then he’s kind of on his own because he steps out of line one time too many, so he’s got a lot of different bosses where in this series, I hope, we keep him in one place for a while so that he can. In one of the books, Kiz (Rose Rollins) is his partner but then she goes on, fascinatingly enough, to the Mayor’s Office. That woman was very ambitious and, you know, you gotta wonder if sleeping with her boss helped her out. [laughs]

AE: Is this the first gay role that you’ve played?

AA: I have played other gay roles.I was Whoopi Goldberg’s girlfriend in Boys on the Side. They ended up backing away from that relationship so much in the movie, once we started shooting. It started, when I read the script-it opens with the two of them writhing in bed. And then each progressive script was “Oh the two of them are sitting having a cigarette.” “Oh the two of them are in the kitchen; they’re having a cup of coffee.” And at the end, it was like “Why is that kid so mad at Whoopi Goldberg because she’s hanging around his house?” To me, it almost became impossible to distinguish. I even brought it up with the director at the last minute. I said, “It’s totally cool if we’re not romantically lovers, I just feel it would really help me to know if that’s the case.” He said, “Oh no, it’s absolutely clear.” And in fact, it wasn’t very clear at all from what I can see. That was the biggest gay role that I’ve played.

AE: Wow!

AA: See, you didn’t even know? That was the biggest gay roles I’ve played. Like I said, I’m not brought in for the sexual gals so typically not. This is kind of fun. Especially with Rose, oh my god. Did I luck out?! Jesus!

AE: Did you have to do a chemistry read?

AA: No, no. I saw her on the set and I was like, “Who is that person?” and someone said, “That’s Rose Rollins-she plays Kiz.” I went, “Oh, yes! Killed it!” I introduced myself and she was great. I called her and said, “Can we go get a mani/pedi or something?” Just to get to know–because we didn’t have very many scenes together until we had that scene at the New Year’s Eve party. It was practically no interaction so I thought “Let’s spend an hour together anyhow before we start making out in the bathroom.” We had a great time. She’s super sweet and smart and funny and, interestingly, because she had such a run on The L Word and she’s not gay.

AE: Is there anything else you want people to know about Grace on this season of Bosch?

AA: I love some of the questions they start asking in this season. You start kind of getting deeper into who she is and what she needs and what she wants in the future, and what she can be as a cop, doing her job. It’s a great season, and what I think you can look forward to, if you like the character, is you see her relationships-not just with Bosch-but you see developing relationships with her and who she is in relation to other people like the chief, etc. She’s becoming more-she has much more of a character in her own right and not just Bosch’s boss. That’s definitely groundwork I think for going forward to see more of who she is and hopefully more of her life professionally and personally.

Seasons 1 and 2 of Bosch are available on Amazon now.

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