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Holly Hunter relishes her role as the extremist ‘Grace’ on TNT

If you’ve ever noticed that the media rarely writes a bad story about Holly Hunter, there’s a reason. We love her. Or rather, we love the role she played in 1987’s “Broadcast News.”

“Everybody in journalism felt like that movie was about them,” Hunter says, in her distinctively crisp Georgia drawl. “Everyone in journalism and in television could totally relate to her. It was like their personal story.”

It’s true. A drunken Hunter could drive a Hummer over a crate of newborn puppies and reporters would probably look the other way. She is essentially on a lifetime pass.

“It is the greatest relationship with the press,” she admits. “It was such a beautifully written role. Except for maybe the clothes, I don’t think anything is dated about that movie.”

In “Broadcast News,” she played a focused and neurotic news producer with a strong sense of integrity. It’s nothing like her role on TV’s “Saving Grace.” Grace is neurotic, too, but integrity? That’s another story.

“It’s fun to play to someone who is such an extremist,” Hunter says. “Whether it’s good or bad, there’s a youthfulness to that kind of behavior.”

Grace is a promiscuous cop who smokes and drinks too much. In the show’s first episode, she even kills a pedestrian during a drunken binge. It’s definitely not Jane from “Broadcast News,” though it could be her screwed-up Oklahoma cousin.

As the show returns for its third season On March 2 on TNT, the character of Grace seems to have progressed somewhat. Well, not too much — it is series television, after all.

“I think a lot of the ways in which she has evolved have been very subtle,” Hunter says. “She’s probably more aware of the consequences of her actions, but I don’t think that takes away her actions. She’s a person who acts very much on impulse.”

Hunter fully inhabits the role of Grace, but she’s quick to give credit to show creator Nancy Miller.

“Grace comes from my experience and my imagination, but she’s especially from the imagination of Nancy,” Hunter says. “It’s a very collaborative thing that we’ve got going on. I can say, ‘Hey, I’d love to see us explore this.’ I may have an image in my mind I’d like to see. But for the most part, the writers and Nancy have these ideas that I am kind of guided by.”

For Hunter, the success of the very unconventional is rewarding. It also means that a risk paid off. Prior to “Saving Grace,” she was best known as a big-screen actress who had an Oscar for “The Piano.” This is her first regular starring gig on a TV show.

“I’m really grateful that this found an audience,” she says. “Grace is a full-blown human being. She stumbles, she celebrates, she pursues, and she retreats. She’s kind of capable of everything, and I’m happy that audiences have found her.”