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Sorvinos performance is particularly revelatory, demonstrating an effortless comedic range and a delightful lack of pretension.
While I was reading it, I was cracking up.
I was a big fan of Lisas, and she was already attached to it.
I just thought it was really terrific.
That wasnt originally in there.
Some of which is toned down and some of which is not in the movie anymore.
They questioned Id just been nominated for an Oscar whether it was the right choice.
But I so related to these characters because I was a total nerd in high school.
But I also loved that they were two idiots who think theyre smart.
So I said yes, and its just been an amazing ride.
Id say its more popular now than its ever been.
If you go on Instagram I started following the hashtag #romyandmichele out of curiosity its crazy.
Every single day theres a ton of new entries about it.
Its a 23-year-old film!
Sometimes for Halloween, sometimes for Pride, sometimes just because.
Thats so cool, that weve become the emblem of deep friendship.
But my favorite thing is when people dothe danceat their wedding.
And thats happened several times.
Theyve re-created the choreography of our dance.
Straight couples, gay couples.
Regarding your agents fears, what gave you so much confidence in the film?
How did you know it would work?I just really believed in it.
It was just my gut.
It wasnt a tactical [choice]; I wanted to do it.
And I knew how I wanted to do her.
I heard her voice in my head.
Where did the voice come from?Romys voice is somewhat based on my sister.
Shes the John Wayne, in her head.
So it made sense to have a more masculine tenor to her.
And I wanted her physicality to feel like a football player in drag.
Like, when you see her marching to places in her high heels, it shouldnt ever look graceful.
The only time she gets to be a tiny bit graceful is during the dance.
Sort of just proud of herself.
Im doing the Snoopy dance now.
What do you remember about meeting Lisa?That she was super nice.
Lisas a really beautiful woman.
Shes got these incredible eyes.
And I was so impressed with her intelligence.
Lisa is so smart.
The medical communitys loss, our gain.
When you talk to her, its like, Oh, wise counsel, what should I do?
]Shes nothing like the ditzes shes become so successful for playing.
Shes very brilliant and kind.
And measured and thoughtful.
She does have a sarcastic humor about life.
And shes funny as she talks.
But different from the way her characters are funny.
Did you click right away or did it take time?Id say we clicked pretty much right away.
We had to spend a lot of time rehearsing.
We had to rehearse the dance for about three weeks.
All that time spent workshopping just naturally bonded us.
The idea that we had for who they were jelled right away.
And that relationship was very organic.
It really slotted me back into my own high-school best-friend relationships, so it didnt require so much tooling.
And were still good friends.
Weve been in touch a lot during COVID-19.
Ive reached out to her several times.
She lost her mother a few months ago, and that was very sad.
But shes a force.
Shes an amazing person.
Its always a joy when I get to see her or talk to her.
Was your offscreen relationship at all like theirs?
Or was it its own dynamic?I really enjoyed making her laugh.
I really enjoyed kind of being the goofball in our pair.
Each friend in your life brings out a different dynamic in you, a slightly different version of you.
And she naturally brought out my funnier side.
Because it worked for the movie.
But not with everybody am I humorous.
Some people Im very serious with.
So I think its a hidden side of me, but its my favorite mode.
Comedy is where Im the happiest.
In the more comedic scenes in Ryan MurphysHollywood, I loved when I got to be funny and improv.
In real life I dont think Im funny maybe a few moments in a day I say something funny.
But its my favorite mode of performing.
Im not really sure what they thought.
I think they enjoyed it.
But I was stressed about the sexual humor in it.
Did you get to improvise at all inRomy and Michele?Im trying to think …
The Madonna [outfit] me whacking Lisa with my hair, that was something I just started doing.
I just started swinging my ponytail around.
Stuff like that came up.
Little moments between us like taking the last chip, and her going, Do you really need that?
Although I hated the fat suit.
It was so hot.
I couldnt talk with the pieces stuffed in there.
So we took that out.
But it was like 100 degrees outside and Im wearing this synthetic fat suit.
Michele, with her kinky-wavy hair, looked a lot like my friend Elizabeth from high school.
We were always at lunch together.
Id whisper stuff to Lisa and wed actually crack up.
But its so sad when Billy Christensen comes and shes so in love with him.
And any of the dancing scenes.
What was the most difficult part of getting that main dance down?
How many times did you have to film the routine?It wasnt that difficult.
I think the choreographer used our individual strengths.
But we had to shoot it many times to get it from many different angles.
At one point they even shot us overhead.
So I think it took two and a half or three days to shoot.
What do you remember about filming theold-age scenes?I found it scary!
To do the masks, you have to breathe through a straw, as they do a cast.
I felt very claustrophobic just doing that.
The facial shape I guess my bone structure is more like hers than I realized.
It was actually scary to see myself that way.[Laughs.]
And of course, its sad that they arent friends anymore.
Crying and smiling at the same time.
Its somehow something Im called to do a lot.
Every year I would have a crush.
In fourth grade, it was Peter.
I had this crush on a boy I feel like Romy is more juvenile than even high school.
So I had a crush on a boy in third grade named John.
Maybe you have to bleep out names?
No, we dont have to.Okay.
Hed sit in a chair, and when hed get up, wed go, I got John Germs!
I got John Germs!
He found out about it and he hated me from that point on.
He absolutely hated me.
I became his arch-rival.
We ran for student-body president, and he won.
and play spin the bottle and seven minutes in heaven.
What town was I from?!
I was so not a part of that invite list.
Theyd all kind of mock me because I had this crush on John.
So I feel like he was the Billy Christensen of my youth.
But he let me hang around his group because I was in the drama group.
And the year after he graduated, my art-history teacher suggested that perhaps he was not interested inanywomen.
I was so shocked.
My eyes were like saucers.
All the guys I kissed onstage in the drama group later became openly gay.
]I dont think one of the leading guys I worked with was interested in women.
As a theater kid, I relate.
So you were nerdy but then became this Hollywood star.
They ruined my life, in a way.
I was like, Wow.
You wanted nothing to do with me when I was in high school.
But now that Im a well-known person, youre getting back in touch?
And they were so obnoxious to me.
They were like the mean girls inRomy and Michele.
They invited all of these fans, and Robin and I went and introduced it.
When I walked onstage, it was as though I were a rock star.
Ive never had this experience any other time.
Everyone was cheering and screaming, and it was about a three-minute standing ovation.
I couldnt believe it.
I cant believe how much love there is forRomy and Michele.
It blew me away.
My family and I watched the movie from the balcony, and everyone knew every line.
I turned around and she said, Im the Mary!
And I looked at her blankly.
And she was like, Imthe Mary!
And I was like, Oh my God.
Youre doingRomy and Michelelines!
Have we hit that [moment]?
Because when I was a kid everybody would doAnimal Houselines.
I couldnt believe wed reached the level where total strangers were coming up to me and saying the lines.
That was another benchmark of like,Wow, this project is different.
To realize that it and you are still beloved after all of these years?
Does it surprise you?For what we put out there to land and resonate, its really special.
It didnt surprise me then, but it surprises me now.
That was a calculated error.
We should have made it PG-13.
Goblanka sheep; goblankyour mother that was the R, right there.
So I wasnt surprised that people liked the movie.
So Im not sure at that point that it had much of an effect.
So I went in a really opposite direction and started exploring other stuff.
I do feel that having done Romy, it was like, Lets have her onWill & GraceandModern FamilyandBamboozled!
Are things on the upswing since that conversation?They have.
I actually thought it would end my career for good and Id never work again.
There havent really been whistle-blowers before that who continued to work.
If you look at people who brought these accusations forward, they were not believed and they were shunned.
Surprisingly, the [interview] gave people a new view of me and my potential.
They saw a reason for why my career had faltered, which wasnt necessarily brought on by me.
It was being blacklisted, which is a pretty potent reason.
I wasnt in a studio film for a decade and a half.
Its not like I stopped working.
But the level of the projects I was allowed access to, there was a ceiling to it.
Because we now understand.
And thats been very gratifying.
And I saw you post about it onTwitter[Laughs.]
Oh my God, I saw that.
I love my dad, but Im sorry, Minnie!
But you gotta love dad.
My family above all else.
Its a little embarrassing, but I love him for it.
