Jim O'Heir says James Spader stood up for him on “Boston Legal” set: 'Dude is so intense'

Lead actors on network series wield a considerable amount of power, and if they so choose, they can use that power for good.

Take James Spader, who stood up for Parks and Recreation's Jim O'Heir in a big way when the latter guest starred on an episode of Boston Legal. Spader's act of generosity occurred while filming a "heartfelt scene toward the end of the episode," O'Heir recalled in his book Welcome to Pawnee: Stories of Friendship, Waffles, and Parks and Recreation.

"We did the first take, which was okay. Not great... but okay," O'Heir wrote. "I knew I could do better. After the second take, the director said, 'Great. What do you guys think?' I took that as his saying that it was good enough and that we could wrap this thing up. I knew I wasn’t fully content with my performance, but I also knew that everybody wanted out."

O'Heir was painfully aware of his position in the pecking order and remembered, "This was Spader’s show, and nobody moved on until he was happy." The director, Jeannot Szwarc, asked O'Heir if he was happy again, and he noticed members of the crew already breaking down the shot.

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"Spader looked at me, then leaned in tight. 'What do you think, Jim? Were you happy with the take?' 'It was okay,' I said. I couldn’t lie to James Spader. Dude is so intense, in the best way," O'Heir wrote. Finally Spader asked, "'Want to do it again?'"

O'Heir continued: "'I would, but we’re kinda under the gun here, no?' The director heard me say this; his eyes widened. 'Yes, yes, yes we are,' they told me... Spader must’ve had eyes behind his head, because he turned to the director and, without hesitation, said: 'Respectfully, we’re going to do this again. And then again. And then maybe another time after that.' 'Dayum,' O'Heir thought. "The director snapped awake. The crew got into place. Action was called."

And just like that, O'Heir got his extra take.

Boston Legal was created by future Big Little Lies mastermind David E. Kelley as a spinoff of his popular procedural The Practice. Spader's ambitious and (usually) moralistic lawyer Alan Shore was the connective tissue between the series, which yielded the star significant power in situations where cast and crew may be at odds.

O'Heir's Boston Legal episode was called "Loose Lips," and on it, he played a man named Gil Furnald, a mall Santa fired from his post after his employer finds out he wears women's clothes in his private time. O'Heir saw the scene as critical in allowing audience to see the character sympathetically and didn't want to rush through it.

Related: Jim O'Heir didn't like Newt Gingrich's cameo on Parks and Rec: 'Remind me to throw up'

"There’s a heartfelt scene toward the end of the episode where my Gil and Spader’s Alan Shore are sitting in a bar," he elaborated. "I should say that this was one of the last scenes we shot after a grueling 10-day schedule. As it was, we were already behind. But now, we had a big scene to shoot — perhaps the biggest scene — and we were again running late. By the time the cameras were ready to roll, it was 'golden time,' which refers to work that goes beyond the planned shooting schedule at which point cast and crew need to be paid extra. Adding to the anxiety permeating the room was the fact that the scene centers on Gil and Shore sharing a personal, reflective conversation."

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O'Heir explained that "in the scene, Gil explains how tough life has been because of his being both gay and a cross-dresser." If he flubbed this one, the rest of the episode might sink along with it. To add to the pressure, O'Heir had already felt that Boston Legal's other big name star, William Shatner, viewed his character with "disgust." All of that added up to a feeling that "the tone had to be just right," or else "the episode would fall apart," he wrote.

"Loose Lips" was only the eighth episode of Boston Legal's first season. It proved key in announcing the legal procedural's unflinching courage when addressing controversial subject matter. The show went on to a five-season run, bringing Spader's full tenure as Alan Shore, including The Practice, to 13 seasons.

Related: 15 things we learned about Parks and Recreation from Jim O'Heir's Welcome to Pawnee memoir

O'Heir never returned to the series after his single-episode spot, but less than a year after the series aired its final episode, O'Heir got the call for a part on a little NBC sitcom going by the working title "Untitled Amy Poehler project."

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