WEBVTT - Drea de Matteo 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.800 I remember sitting in my honeywagon and a lot of 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.040 people don't know what a honeywagon is. The trailer you 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:09.520 see where all the trailers are parked that have the 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:12.520 tiniest little rooms ever, so you know, like the main 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:15.120 actors are not in the honeywag. There were rooms with 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:17.400 toilets with a pillow on the toilet, so you can 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:19.680 sit on your toilet while you're waiting to be called up. 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:22.479 That's a honey wagon. So I would be sitting on 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:24.320 my in my Honeywag, and every time I got a 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:27.240 script because they kept bringing me that in my episode 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:30.319 twelve man, I'm sitting on my toilet and I was 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.040 in twelve scenes and I lost my ship and I 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:35.479 ran to a pay phone with my script and I 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:39.240 called my mom collect and I said, mow, you won't 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:46.360 well it it twelve scenes come. That was it. I 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:55.000 was on my way to becoming series regular. Hi am 0:00:55.040 --> 0:01:09.480 Dred and Mateo from Brian's favorite show. I there, everybody, 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:13.480 and welcome back to another episode of Off the Beat. 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:17.520 I am your host Brian baum Gartner today, I'm your 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:20.920 happy host. Why well, if you know me at all, 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:25.480 you know what a fan I am of The Sopranos, 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:30.399 and today I am bringing on Emmy winner Drea the 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:36.280 Matteo Adrianna from The Sopranos. Let me listen. Just listen 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:41.520 to her say Christopher, Christopher, just one time, and you 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:45.120 will be instantly transported back into the world of the 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:48.960 New Jersey Mob. There's some spoilers in this one spoiler alert, 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:53.320 but it's twenty years since The Sopranos, so if you 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:57.560 haven't watched it, I guess you're not going to um. 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:01.720 This is an amaze is in conversation about both The 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:04.960 Office and The Sopranos. I hope you enjoy it as 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:09.040 much as I did. You're gonna hear from Drea about 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:12.919 how Adriana was one of her earliest roles and how 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:18.000 heartbroken she was leaving the show. But since then she's 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:20.519 gone on to be on one of my other favorite shows, 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:25.120 Sons of Anarchy, Joey, Desperate Housewives, Shades of Blue, the list, 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:28.520 it goes on and on. Talking to her today, this 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:33.120 was even better than I expected, and I expected a lot, 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:35.720 so I think we should just dive right in. You 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:41.440 should hear from the woman herself, Drea the Matteo. Everyone 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:52.840 bubble and squeak. I love it, Bubble and squeak, Bubble 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:56.720 and squeaker, cooking it every month, left over from the 0:02:56.840 --> 0:03:11.520 nut before. What's up? Hi? How you doing? I'm so sorry, man, 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:14.320 I could not get it together. Everything in my house 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:18.640 is misplaced, this wasn't plugged in. I was just like, so, 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:20.639 I'm sorry. It took me a minute to get it 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:25.040 all together here. Please don't apologize at all. I'm so 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:28.120 happy that you agreed to come and talk to me. 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:33.640 I have we ever met? We haven't really. I mean, 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:37.160 I know, we haven't really Allwood style meeting. You know 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:41.040 how we all just know each other. Yes, you know, 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:43.360 we just don't kind of know each other. But you know, 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:48.480 I have a confession to make. I've never watched The Office. 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:52.920 Well does that seem to me? Because it's right at 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:55.960 my first of all, well that's okay because we're not 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:59.920 going to really talk about that today. Well, I mean, 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:03.120 it's so weird and what what years did it run from? 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:11.280 So it was on the air two thousand five two? Yeah, 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:14.520 that's why. Because I was busy having babies and watching 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:18.680 like baby shows non stuff, and that was it. And 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:22.240 I don't I don't haven't seen anything that has come out. 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:27.880 I would say since two thousand seven, Like I completely 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:31.760 stopped watching television completely except for cartoons Mickey Mouse, Clubhouse 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:35.920 and ship like that. Well, I'm kind of in the 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:40.560 same boat. I have a little one to so little ones. Yeah, 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:44.159 it's that can be. Do you watch Blueye is Blue? 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:47.360 On the on the radar? Well, now my kids are big, 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:52.120 but for a year now we watched Naruto and um 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:55.520 and Stranger Things. And now I got them into that 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:58.599 you're gonna crack up. But now I've gotten them to 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:06.000 watch The Righteous Jim Stones. Really that's great. My daughter 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:09.960 is like what you know, when the when the sister 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:16.680 is like, yeah, Daddy, I would shave my asshole. I'm 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:21.920 going to kill you. M Yeah, just Gemstones. That's where 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:25.800 we've graduated to. She's fourteen. Now, there you go. That's 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:32.200 the funniest man alive, the funniest. My son is. Yeah, 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:34.640 they would probably love The Office. I need to watch 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:37.960 the Office with them, and that's what we're gonna do. Yeah, 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:40.960 all right, well let's do that. I mean, luckily, for 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:46.039 this conversation, I've seen everything that you've done, I think, 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:49.719 so that'll make things go a little smoother. But I 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:53.520 want to start back before then. You you grew up 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:57.360 in New York, right in Queens. Yeah, I was born 0:05:57.360 --> 0:05:59.960 in Queen's Um. I went to school in Queen's maybe 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:04.599 for like a year, and then mom realized, yeah, maybe 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:09.080 this person shouldn't be raised here in the armpit of America. 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:12.560 Maybe we get her into the other armpit of American Manhattan. 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:17.799 I went to school Manhattan for years, but we also 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:20.320 got we have We lived with my grandmother and Queen's 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:23.280 but then we had apartments in the city all the time, 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:26.360 so we were back and forth a lot. And your 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:29.560 mom was a playwright, is that right? Yes, she taught 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:33.479 playwriting at HB Studios three years. She was herb Bergof's 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:37.279 protege um and he would direct all her plays and 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:40.440 udhah Hagen would star in them. And then when Uda 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.200 got sick, my mom was the healthcare proxy, so she 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:45.400 was dealing with the studio a lot. So she really 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:47.599 took care of that place for a lot of years. 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:51.520 But now she has dementia, which is crazy when like 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:56.520 one of these brilliant, brilliant minds just couldn't disappears. So 0:06:56.960 --> 0:06:59.480 bizarre to go from being the smartest lady in the 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:03.320 room to that. Um, but it was Yeah. I grew 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:07.560 up watching all of them playing house on stage. I 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:10.600 was like, get me out of here. He's adults are crazy. 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:16.200 I was playing an house. So you would go to 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.600 rehearsals a lot and you would watch Is that that's 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:23.160 how you spent your childhood? Every birthday? Every birthday was 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:25.360 a play opening of hers and she thought it would 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:27.200 be cute doing it on my birthday. I was like, cute, 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:30.440 I am fucking ten years old. I had no appreciation 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:35.920 for any of you people right now. I despise you all. Um. Yeah, 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:39.040 I hated it. I hated going to rehearsals. I you know, 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:41.920 I started to like it when I was I would 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:43.720 say it was thirteen. She did a play of a 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:47.520 bunch of teenage boys with Patrick Dempsey Jerry O'Connell, Like 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:50.520 all these kids were in the play, and I fell 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:54.920 in love with Patrick Dempsey. Okay at that time, you 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:58.040 know he was a teenager and he had to leave 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:01.200 the play to go do can't by any love. I'll 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:04.080 never forget that. And then Jerry O'Connell had to go 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:08.840 and do stand behind me. Um, yeah, that was pretty cool. 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:11.560 You know, because we were just my family. My mom, 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:15.040 you know, was small town Queen's people. You know, she 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:19.320 was raised in a mafia family and not you know, 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:21.680 if you if she she wanted to become an actor 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:25.240 and her father was like, only horse become actors. So 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:27.440 she ended becoming a play right later on in life. 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:31.400 So that was it's a big deal for her. You 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:33.839 know that those guys were nobody back then. They were 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:36.800 just little kids. But yeah, she she did do it. 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:39.480 And you know, nobody from Queens as a playwright, you 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:43.720 know in those days. That's so so it was really 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:47.000 about getting a crushes on boys that started to like 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:50.360 make you interested. Uda Hagen didn't didn't do it for you. 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:53.720 I still wasn't interested even then. I know, I was 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:56.040 fine sitting there while I had to wait for her 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:58.480 to come home and sit at the theater because I 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.280 was going to school uptown. But I know I was 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:05.200 I I only started acting. I would also say that 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:07.040 I was just telling my boyfriend this the other day. 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:11.040 Every one of my boyfriends in high school, they were 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:13.880 very ambitious, all of them, and they all wanted to 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:17.600 be actors, and they didn't. They eventually they would leave 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:21.000 me or cheat or do whatever because I wasn't ambitious 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:24.400 enough because I'd sit around smoking weed, you know, partying, 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:28.440 just being a hippie, living my best teenage life. And 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.480 they wanted to become these big time actors. And they 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:34.560 were just like you're going nowhere, We're going somewhere and goodbye. 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:37.160 And I was like, okay, I'll see you later, man. 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:46.960 I was like accepting my award. Why so I went 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:49.800 to n y U film school. I wanted to make movies. 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:56.320 I had no interest. I loved Weird German Inde film 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:58.720 when I was a kid. That was had become sort 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:01.520 of my obsession. So I went to film school in Too, 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:04.560 n y U and I was going for filmmaking. And 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.840 then I would jump in front of the camera for 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:11.200 all my all my own student films because I was 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:14.520 too busy partying. So I never was prepared with my projects. 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:17.120 So I have to be in my own movies doing 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:19.280 a one man show, which she probably relates to. It 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:23.560 is probably commedian. Um. I was like, I don't even 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:25.360 know what I'm doing. All my friends were like, you know, 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:30.640 you should probably just do that you're good at, not this, 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:32.320 And I was like I could do it. I do 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:34.960 it all, and I think that part of me felt 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:37.960 like filmmaking was just too giant a task at that time. 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:40.839 And I was good at the acting, and I started 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:43.600 taking all these acting classes for directors, so I never 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:45.640 had to feel like there was any pressure on me 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:49.200 to be an actor. But I really enjoyed it. I 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:52.680 really really really enjoyed it. I think I enjoyed just 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:56.720 not being myself because I was this kid growing up 0:10:56.760 --> 0:11:00.080 in the theater that hated my life because of it. 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:04.640 And now I realized these people didn't have to be themselves, 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:09.600 So this is what's going on. This is great. But 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:11.600 then as I got older, liked being myself and I 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:15.839 stopped acting as much as I used meeting myself now, 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:18.040 so who I don't really need to act that much, 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:21.839 but it is funny. So yeah, that was really how 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:24.960 it started. That's so interesting to me. It was a 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:29.080 revenge job. I did it out of revenge. Brian, you 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:32.440 did like from your childhood, from your mom or is 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:34.720 that what you mean? No? I think with all the 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:37.880 guys that were like, you're working with my actors, and 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:41.439 I was heartbroken, you know, even though in your stone 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:44.520 that was still heartbroken. I was like yeah, I was 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:47.439 like non fucking guys, and they were dating all these 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:51.000 like supermodels and one of the actresses and all this stuff, 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:53.000 and I'm like, but I don't want to be an actress. 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:55.880 Like all these girls are waiting tables and then at 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:59.280 nightclubs every night, like fuck this. I mean, I was 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:01.480 bar attending, so I should really speak, but I wasn't 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:03.760 pretending that I was. Who is it trying to be 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:09.240 anything other than Bartenden. But I also had a manager 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:12.480 that somebody stuck me with when I first started acting, 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:15.480 and I took a high. I left her because I 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:17.120 was like, I gotta get my life together. I'm kind 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:19.320 of smoking too much weed and doing too much of everything. 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:21.360 I'm gonna get my ship together and come back to you. 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.720 And when I came back to her, she said, you 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:27.840 need voice classes because your voice is in atrocity and 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:30.839 you will never work in Hollywood. And I was like, okay, 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:32.880 but I want to work in New York, so I'm good. 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:35.920 She's like, I'm sorry, I'm not going to represent you 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:39.000 until you've had a year's worth of voice classes. I 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:41.120 thought that was really drastic, but I went and I 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:43.440 started up for voice classes and I told her that 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:45.679 I was, you know, those classes are pretty common, you know, 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:49.480 littre gonna project you know, speech whatever it was. And 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:52.560 she said, no, not that kind of voice class. Not 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:56.040 not for addiction or projection or accent. She said, you 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:59.440 need to take opera classes because your voice is really, 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:03.160 really awful. I used to have such a gravelly voice 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:06.880 that I sounded like a guy because I smoked so much. Um, 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:10.840 and I really sounded crazy. But whatever, it was unique, 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:14.240 I guess any gravelly voice. I was like, come on, 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:16.720 let me in and I could play this game. But anyway, 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:19.040 she didn't want me. And then a week later I 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:24.280 got The Sopranos. Wow, so that really, Um, I thought 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:27.480 that was I thought it was very like Serendipitous said 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:31.400 it would be called The Sopranos and I was kicked 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:34.160 to the curb because I needed to take what was 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:38.920 so unbelievable to me opera lessons. So yeah, it was. 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:42.200 It felt very and it wasn't. I was a day player. 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:44.560 It wasn't like I got I scored some huge role 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:48.920 on anything. Um, it still felt very you know, looking 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:51.240 back on it, I always tell the story like, yep, 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:56.720 who's singing now, bitch? You know I'm saying, I know. Um, 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.360 it's like okay with this voice of mine that you 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:03.319 thought was genitrosity. So yes, I feel like my entree 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:12.040 into the world of it all began with revenge, not love, 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:15.280 not a love of no, because my father would say 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:17.680 to me, don't do this unless you can't do anything else. 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:20.720 This is the most heartbreaking thing you'll ever do. But 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.520 once I started doing it, I then realized this is 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:25.240 the only thing I ever want to do, because I 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:27.640 did fall in love with the craft of it all. 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:30.720 I fell in love with scoring a script. I love 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:32.720 the score a script when I was when I was 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:36.080 younger from a directorial standpoint, you mean score script No, 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:38.200 as an actor, I did when I was doing theater 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:41.160 when I was younger. I loved breaking a script down 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:45.440 as an actor, really having the journey in there and 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:50.520 scoring it with the right actions. I guess, yeah, you're 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:53.880 through line and action. So really it was like a 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:57.960 math problem for me. Yes, So this is so fascinating 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:01.280 to me because like the master of all scoring of 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:07.880 scripts is Uda Hagan, who as a child, Yes, you 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:10.720 never read her book No, and she used to. She 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:13.040 used to watch me act because I took place at 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:15.400 HB and she she gave me one of the best 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:17.560 compliments I've ever gotten in my life. And she was 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:21.960 not easy, man, No, she's not. No. But like the 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:26.280 greatest book, in my opinion, on acting ever written, Respect 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:30.960 for Acting by Udhah Hagan, Like that's where like that's 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:36.120 where I from, I don't know, four thousand miles away 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:41.440 or whatever, Like that's where I started learning how to 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:43.680 score a script. I mean in terms of through line 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:47.000 and action and objectives and all of that stuff. That's 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:49.720 so interesting. This is something that you love to do. 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:54.360 Yet the perspective, this perspective is just interesting. As a kid, 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:57.720 You're sitting there while your mom is playing make believe 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:00.120 with a bunch of people on stage, Like that is 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:04.240 the crazy, crazy thing. Well, you know, I think I 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:08.240 learned how to act watching my mom teach honestly, to 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:10.760 watch her teacher. She was really known in the in 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:13.920 the underground theater world. The way she taught that class 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:18.160 was was magic. And I would even send my friends 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:21.560 that were having emotional problems to sit in her class 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:26.040 because the way she would explain action in your life, 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:29.320 like how you affect people cause and effect that you're never. 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:31.720 You have to stay active all the time. The moment 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:34.880 you become stagnant, everything just sort of falls apart. There's 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:37.840 no you know, states of being. You always have to 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:41.040 be in a state of doing something otherwise the script 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:42.360 is going to fall flat. I mean, look, there are 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:45.480 a lot of great tableau sort of style films, but 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:47.240 it doesn't work in TV land, you know what I mean. 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:49.920 It doesn't work on stage either. I feel like TV 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:53.280 and stage are very similar. And the fact that the 0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:56.480 writer is the king, the director is you know, they 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:59.280 can be interchanged, which they are every week. Um, the 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.400 writing team the usually the writing team, and they are 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:05.280 psychotic about their words. I mean, I don't want sopranos. 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:07.240 I was not allowed to change. Even I could, I 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:10.680 kept saying with David's please, I don't want to say Christopher. 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:13.680 I hate saying it because I can't. My accents sounds 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:18.359 so stupid. Um the Christmas fla, I felt like it 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.880 sounded so fake. I said, can I just call him Christie? 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:24.640 He's sitting up and Jesus Christ, That's what I've known 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:26.919 for now. I walked down the streets. Can you just 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:37.080 say Christopher? Christoph? The writers king? Yeah, well you know 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:40.399 going back slightly, because I when you had this manager, 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:42.400 so I thought the manager was going to be brilliant. 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:44.399 Now it turns out I think I think not. But 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:47.719 I think what's so interesting to me about you and 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:51.440 your work, starting with the Sopranos, is that I think 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:58.040 of you your physicality and voice being connected. So see, 0:17:58.080 --> 0:17:59.960 I thought when she was talking to you about having 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:05.040 voice lessons, she was feeling like you weren't connected to 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:08.080 your voice in some way, um, which I think you 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.640 always are, If that makes sense. That's why people want 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:16.640 to hear you say that because your intention, your needs, 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:21.239 objectives seem always tied in with your physicality and your 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:24.680 voice is yourself physically. Is that something that you think 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:29.679 about as you're creating a character. Yes, it's yeah. I 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:31.879 have like hang ups. I have certain hang ups with 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:37.320 certain characters, especially with the character like Adriana. Um that 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:40.320 was very specific for me. I have things like shoes, 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:42.639 like the right shoes, like if I'm not if I 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:45.080 could never take my shoes off, even if I was 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:49.000 off camera and playing the scene with somebody, because Adriana 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:52.239 wouldn't be not in those high heeled shoes. Like they 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:53.719 would't even say to me, Hey, you're gonna be off 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:55.960 camera all day. Don't put on your nails. We're not 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:57.720 going to do your hair. You know, we're just gonna 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:00.840 because we'll take four hours to get me ready sometime. Um. 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:03.359 And I was like, no, man, And I was younger, 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:05.320 so obviously it was a lot more precious about we 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:07.600 know now that we when we're older that you know, 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:09.040 you kind of kind of just show up and do 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:12.439 things and still be awesome at it. But when you're younger, 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:14.800 you don't know, you don't have that confidence, you know, 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:18.479 so you hanging on all of the the outside stuff 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:21.800 to grab onto. Um. Some people call that method. Some 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:24.280 people call that being a diva. Some people call that 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:27.960 being painting. Ask Um, I don't know. I needed it. 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:31.439 I definitely needed it to come alive as that character. 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:34.680 I couldn't have the accident without all of that stuff. 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:37.240 Like there's you know, me in a bathrobe with my 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:40.639 hair wet, and I had such a hard time being 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:43.720 her without makeup. One I was like, who am I? 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:48.080 So I guess it's that was a little superficial of 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:52.000 me to a degree, because everything should be right in here, guys, 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:54.520 those of you who can't see well the way you see, right, 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:57.919 this is not a visual Now, it's gotta be inside 0:19:57.920 --> 0:19:59.760 your heart, you know what I'm saying, inside your body. 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:04.320 But yeah, it's a it's a weird thing. Yeah, it's 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.440 interesting to the accent. That's my favorite thing to do, 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:10.640 is that accent. And when I was younger, I didn't 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:14.720 want to be stereotyped in that world because it's really 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:17.320 hard to come back from that. And I, you know, 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:19.560 I'm being Italian. I had another manager who wanted me 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:22.440 to change my name to make it not sound Italian, 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:25.040 and my father got so fucking mad at me. I 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:27.360 was like, all right, we'll just leave that. He's Aboutineer 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:33.840 or about chin On. I was like a paragraphic didn't say, now, 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:37.360 I only want to play with Americans. Now you do, 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:40.440 that's what you want. I would do anything to get 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:43.920 back into that realm again, where I'm playing a real 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:47.119 New Yorker, like a heavy accent to New Yorker. You know. 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:49.560 I did like She's blue j Low and stuff like that, 0:20:49.560 --> 0:20:54.320 But that wasn't me getting to play that. I loved Adrian, 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:57.160 you know, And it took me a lot of years 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:00.640 later to recognize that that it would have been okay, 0:21:00.840 --> 0:21:03.600 but I just kept doing that for the rest of 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:24.680 my life. Right, let's talk about it a little bit. 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:28.399 Pretty early in your career, you get an audition for 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:30.520 The Sopranos. By the way, you talked about the voice 0:21:30.520 --> 0:21:33.800 thing earlier, Jamie lenn Siegler talked to me about I've 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:36.080 known for a long time she was a singer, and 0:21:36.119 --> 0:21:38.040 she kept waiting for David Chase to ask her to 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:40.639 sing a song because it was called the Sopranos, and 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:44.200 she came and prepared a song. I thought it was 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:47.320 about singers. When I got there too, I wore no makeup, 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:50.960 with my hair in a bun and pull back slipped 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:54.120 back because they say, just be a blank canvas for them, 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:56.200 and I said sure, and I show up like that, 0:21:56.800 --> 0:21:59.800 and now they want me to play the saucy you 0:21:59.840 --> 0:22:01.639 know what, would be a queen's girl. And I was like, 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:04.640 Jesus Christ, I know how to do that, but I'm 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:07.359 not prepared because I don't have the hair or the 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:10.240 makeup and I can't put on that accent without it. 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:14.480 And I didn't get the part. I put the auditioned 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:16.520 from Michael's girlfriend and I couldn't. I didn't get the part, 0:22:16.680 --> 0:22:18.800 but he liked me, and he made me read for 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:23.400 every other side character. I read for the Russian girls, 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:27.199 I read forum, Oh god, I can't remember. There were 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:29.440 like four roles that I read for in that script 0:22:29.480 --> 0:22:31.800 and I got none of them. And then they finally 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:34.840 called my agent at that time and said, she seems 0:22:34.880 --> 0:22:38.440 like a snooty Connecticut girl. Would she be okay playing 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:42.399 um the hostess in the restaurant who turns down Lorraine Brocko? 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:44.760 And I was like, you have me learned brock all either? 0:22:45.640 --> 0:22:48.520 And I couldn't say my lines because I was so nervous. 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:52.199 I was with Karen, Karen for fucking good bells. I 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:55.240 couldn't saying my line at all. I was dying. It 0:22:55.359 --> 0:22:58.240 was hurt. It was she and Jim, and I didn't 0:22:58.240 --> 0:23:01.000 know Jim, and nobody knew Jim yet really right um? 0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:03.400 So I didn't care about him, but I definitely cared 0:23:03.400 --> 0:23:05.680 about her. And I couldn't say any of my lines. 0:23:05.720 --> 0:23:09.000 And then a year later they would call me back 0:23:09.560 --> 0:23:14.320 to play Michael's girlfriend again, his date, just a date, Like, 0:23:14.400 --> 0:23:15.920 why are they calling me back? I messed up? So 0:23:15.920 --> 0:23:17.800 I don't think they knew that I was the same girl. 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:20.600 I don't think they knew. Maybe they did. I don't 0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:21.920 even know. I don't know if I ever even asked 0:23:21.960 --> 0:23:25.359 that question. But according to Eileen, one of the producers, 0:23:25.440 --> 0:23:28.160 I got the part as his girl, as a day 0:23:28.160 --> 0:23:30.600 player role, and another day player part on the show 0:23:31.280 --> 0:23:32.919 because of the way I said the word out. I 0:23:32.960 --> 0:23:35.320