Actresses liked ‘Big Love’ from the start

"Polygamy is just the backdrop," explains Goodwin, noting the Henricksons' overwhelmingly righteous lifestyle in their three adjoining suburban tract homes. The fact is, "Big Love" seldom turns out to be what you expect.

"I think it's funny how there are a thousand shows out there, and a thousand movies, that are glorifying (extramarital) affairs, while this man is being completely honest with his wives," says Goodwin. (Well, not quite honest: Spicing up his round-robin bedroom regimen, he and Barb have been sneaking around on the others.) "And all his wives love each other."

"We're all married to each other," Tripplehorn agrees. "But I did have a problem in the very beginning with Barb, with bringing dimension to her, because she is so generous in spirit. As we went along, I found subtleties — Barb is selfish in her own way — but at first I felt like she was so saint-like and boring, while Margene and Nicki were so beautifully defined."

"Margene is 23 going on, like, 10," Goodwin says. "She has a way of creating utter chaos, and still finds a way of making none of it her fault.

"But I can only define her now that I have some distance. When we were shooting, I felt messy, while, watching you," she says to Tripplehorn, "I felt like YOU were so specific."

The show was in production from last April through September, "and by the end," says Sevigny, "I was so sick of being a bitch! I thought, `Audiences are gonna hate this character.'"

True, Nicki is a snoop, a shopaholic and often a sourpuss. "But I think she is a very sympathetic character," Sevigny declares. "I fell SO in love with her! It's the greatest part I've ever had."

"I was always telling Chloe how much I wanted that role," says Tripplehorn with a smile.

"When we were shooting one of the final episodes," Sevigny reminds her, "Barb was still a saint and Nicki was still a bitch, and I was sort of freaking out. I said, 'We should trade. Just once.'"

Tripplehorn laughs. "I really wanted us ALL to gang up on Bill."

"Oh, good call!" cackles Goodwin.

"We SHOULD have," Sevigny says slyly, "in a big way. Really get him on something!"

They mean the character Bill Henrickson, who, by God's grace, has maintained a mediating, loving grip on his trio of mates.

In playing him, veteran actor Bill Paxton exhibits similar finesse, the three women report with amusement.

"When I shoot a scene with Bill," says Tripplehorn, "he just talks to me and makes me feel like I'm the MOST important person. About halfway through, I say, 'Bill, I KNOW you say that to the other actresses, too.'"

"He stays really relaxed," says Sevigny. And apparently has a knack for keeping everybody else relaxed, too.

"I don't know if he picked up on the fact that I was nervous about our love scenes," says Goodwin, "but sometimes, beforehand, he would dance around for the whole crew in his underwear."

Just chalk it up as more evidence that, often, the most surprising thing about "Big Love" is what you don't see.

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