'SKY'S' THE LIMIT

Chicago Tribune, By Allan Johnson, October 7, 1999

Gary Cole can thank his pal William Petersen for his latest television role.

"Billy badgered the producers into hiring me," Cole cracks.

The Steppenwolf alum co-stars with fellow Chicago-bred thespian in "Kiss the Sky," which premieres at 8 p.m. Saturday on the Movie Channel.

The taut drama is about two men in their 40s who travel to the Philippines to shake their midlife crises. Petersen, who got the script for the piece while making "12 Angry Men" for TMC's sister channel, Showtime, knew that Cole would be perfect for the part of his friend.

Cole has had some experience in that role, it seems.

"He knew that it would only enhance the material, that you wanted two guys that were close and had been through some of the same stuff together, which would hopefully bring out the best in the material," says Cole, 43, who was raised in Rolling Meadows.

Petersen was presented with a series of co-stars -- and "resisting everybody else that they brought him, and convincing them that I could do it," Cole says.

Cole, who has starred in TV shows "Midnight Caller," "American Gothic" and "Crusade," also makes television history -- for him, anyway: He's showing his bare tush for the first time.

"I believe that's a first," Cole says.

Again, it was Petersen who stepped up, with an idea to make the experience easier to deal with, Cole says. He got the three actors together to talk and choreograph how they wanted to be, uh, positioned.

"We wanted to be really soft; we didn't want it to look like a bad '70s porno move," Cole says.

And as for his being shot in the raw, it was no big deal.

"I was naked onstage in Chicago in front of three people. It's not really all that traumatic to me.