When choosing a role, there are many factors that come into play. For instance, it could be the filming location, an actor's familiarity with the writers and crew, among many more things. One of the main factors is the character.

Most actors won't play specific roles they deem degrading; some only focus on meaningful roles, and others love to test their limits. Holly Hunter, the star of Saving Grace, took one look at the pilot episode script and knew she had to be involved.

"Just in those 52 pages of the pilot, I got this glimpse of a whole life," Hunter told The Associated Press in 2007. According to the article, she was hooked just after reading the first 15 pages. "The fact that the series gets to explore this character as a police officer, as a sibling, as a daughter, as a lover...that three-dimensionality of the character has been a real treat for me. I haven't gotten that kind of three-course meal in a long time."

Hunter's character, Grace Hanadarko, drew comparisons to Kyra Sedgwick's Brenda Leigh Johnson just after one season on air. Before turning her life around, Grace Hanadarko was living in the fast line. The character was drunk driving one night and hit a pedestrian, and a greasy-haired guy named Earl was trying to help, but he was met with anger.

"He is an adversary, you know. But she's also wrestling with the predatory nature of her community, which are the bad guys. She's (also) wrestling with lovers. She's one gigantic manifestation of a fight, and I think people can relate to that, because so are we all," the actress added. 

Creator Nancy Miller, who also gave the world Any Day Now and The Closer, knew Hunter would be the perfect fit for the role. She said, "There's a fearlessness to Holly, and Grace would not have been as fearless if it wasn't for Holly. Just the truth she brings to each moment. It blows my mind every day."