Judith Light on a ‘Who’s the Boss?’ Reboot, Working With Billy Crystal in the Spooky Apple TV+ Series ‘Before,’ and More

Brent Lang

3 November 2024 at 12:19 pm·4-min read

Judith Light doesn’t have any answers about what happens to us when we die (who does?), but she hopes that “Before,” a spooky new thriller in which she plays a ghost, will at least inspire viewers to ask questions about an afterlife. And yes, Light knows how that sounds, but she appreciates that the Apple TV+ series treats the subject with seriousness and sensitivity.

“A lot of people don’t talk about it because they feel uncomfortable, or they think it’s woo woo or silly,” Light says during a recent Zoom call. “We always talk about these things in terms of science and facts. But there’s all this energy that you’re expending while you’re alive. When you die, what happens to that energy afterwards? What happens between lives? Is there such a thing as reincarnation? Other religions and cultures treat that as a possibility. I’m just interested in raising these questions.”

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Light notes that in the theater, a medium where she has found great success over the years, there are often reports of spectral sightings. Actors and crew members frequently feel a presence or sense an eerie connection to the artists who performed in those venues generations ago before they exited the stage permanently.

“It’s definitely something I’m open to,” she says. “I’ve talked to so many people who have had those kind of encounters.”

“Before,” which debuted last month, wasn’t just a chance for Light to get all existential. It was an opportunity to work with Billy Crystal, a friend of several decades. They connected when he and Robin Williams visited Light backstage after she appeared in the 1999 Off-Broadway production of “Wit.” Light’s best friend also happens to be married to Crystal’s manager, which drew them closer together. They drew on their relationship to play a married couple in the show — Crystal, in a departure from his comedic work, plays a psychiatrist whose encounter with a young patient leads him to reevaluate his troubled past. Light co-stars as his dead wife, routinely visiting him from beyond the grave.

“Somebody once said that a soulmate isn’t just someone who completes you,” Light says. “A soulmate is someone who encourages you to complete yourself. And that’s my function in this story.”

In the show, the 75-year-old Light and the 76-year-old Crystal also got to play much younger versions of themselves thanks to de-aging technology. Because both performers have been in front of the cameras for decades, the special effects team was able to utilize their past work to accurately portray them in their late 20s and early 30s.

“It was astonishing to see it,” Light says. “I have memories of what I was like at that age and photographs, but to have that time come to life on screen was just stunning and emotional. It’s probably the best use of AI, other than for medical purposes, that there could be. We have to be careful about it, but this was a beautiful use of the technology.”

“Before” drops episodes on a weekly basis, instead of premiering in one binge-able bounty. That’s how Light likes it.

“It’s the way we used to watch television,” she says. “There’s something about waiting and longing for the next episode of a show you love that’s special.”

Light has a busy few months ahead. November brings “Out of My Mind,” an adaptation of a YA novel about a sixth grader with cerebral palsy that will debut on Disney+. “I hope that it leads to more empathy,” Light says of the film.

Then she’s signed on for the third season of the horror anthology, “The Terror.” She’s tight-lipped about what’s in store, beyond saying it takes place at a psychiatric hospital. “It’s all very psychological,” she says. “But it’s also very moving.”

There had been some chatter about a possible reboot of “Who’s the Boss?,” the popular sitcom that featured Light as a career woman who hires a former baseball player to be her housekeeper. However, attempts to set the show up at Amazon Freevee reportedly stalled. Does Light hope they get revived at a different streamer or network?

“I would be delighted,” Light says. “But in terms of where I am and the workload that I have right now, I don’t know what my availability would be. When I started my career, I said I’d never do a soap opera and I’d never do a sitcom. Well, I did both those things. Then I said I would never marry an actor. And I did just that. So, I learned to never say never.”

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