Edie Falco Breaks Down 'The Sopranos,' 'Nurse Jackie,' & More | Building Character | Harper's BAZAAR - video Dailymotion

Harper's Bazaar

Edie Falco has played some of TV’s toughest, most unforgettable women, and she’s not slowing down. From her breakout part on ‘Oz’ to the unforgettable role of Carmela Soprano, the multi-Emmy Award winner reflects on the grit, humor, and heart behind every role. She also opens up about the tremendous responsibility she felt playing ‘Nurse Jackie,' finding her footing on ‘30 Rock,’ and her latest project ‘Mayor of Kingstown,’ proving that no role is too bold or too complex for her.  Stream season 4 of ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ exclusively on Paramount+.  #EdieFalco #TheSopranos #MayorofKingstown #BuildingCharacter #BAZAAR

Transcript

00:00There was a line that A.J. says, I forget what it was, but something, and he says,

00:05what, no f***ing ziti? People out of, you know, out of the blue come up to me and say that. I'm

00:09like, what? Hello, I am Edie Falco, and today I will be breaking down some of my most iconic

00:15characters. This is Building Character. I'm Diane Whittlesey. This is Joe Mineo.

00:23Don't be late again. This is Officer Diane Whittlesey from Oz. Tom Fontanner,

00:28the creator of the show, had seen a movie I had done and offered me the part, sight unseen,

00:35which was a shocking thing to happen at that young an age for me. I could not believe my good fortune.

00:41So all we had was real. You felt me for a moment. To talk about Diane Whittlesey's style, I'm trying

00:49to think if you ever saw her in, like, civilian clothing, but the uniform was hectic. There were

00:54a lot of parts to it and pieces to it, and the belt was really heavy, and I knew that I had

00:58to act as if it wasn't heavy because she was wearing this every day. It was not the most

01:03comfortable fabric, if I recall. I must say, I felt pretty tough having it on, and also to be

01:08working opposite mostly men. It felt like it sort of gave me more of a sense of camaraderie,

01:13community, part of something bigger than myself. So it was a little easier to be less afraid

01:18because she's dressed like all these other badass guys.

01:22Something I gotta confess.

01:26What are you doing?

01:27Getting my wine in position to throw in your damn face.

01:29This is Carmela Soprano from Sopranos. I did an audition at the Mayflower Hotel. I was acting

01:35opposite Johnny Ventimiglia, who ended up playing Artie Bucco. He was playing Tony Soprano. For the

01:42auditions, I was deeply confident that I would not get this role because I didn't think I looked

01:48Italian enough. So I went in there knowing that I knew exactly who I thought this woman was and

01:53knowing that I wouldn't get it.

01:54You had the best Italian Jersey accent. What went into the pairing for that?

02:01That was called Growing Up on Long Island. I did four years in a conservatory acting program

02:06to get rid of that accent and then two weeks to put it back on. I'm sorry you're under a lot of

02:12pressure, Meadow. But it's still no excuse. I have to say the fittings for Carmela Soprano were

02:17some of the funner ones I've ever been at. Like me and Juliet Polska, who designed the costumes,

02:22did a lot of laughing as we tried stuff on, knowing it was absolutely perfect for her and just what fun

02:28it was to put that stuff on my body. A lot of gold, a lot of a lot of jewelry, a lot of blingy kind of

02:35things. She liked a lot of patterns. We called it melon or coral, but that was a color that she

02:42wore a lot of. Bright colors and lots of bling. It says with pulp. You like it with pulp? Not this

02:50much. I like the one that says some pulp. The fuck was that for? I'll write you up a list.

02:58The truth is I wasn't very close to Jim Gandolfini. I mean, I adored him, but I didn't know it. We

03:04didn't socialize. We had very different outside lives and I didn't know much about his. He

03:09didn't know much about mine. We didn't socialize together. So basically when I looked at that

03:13man, what I saw was my husband. The characters between Carmela and Tony were very easy because

03:19of that. What do fans of the show quote to you the most? Oh gosh. There was a line that AJ

03:27says, I forget what it was, but something and he says, what? No fucking ziti? So what? No fucking

03:33ziti now? Hey! People out of, you know, out of the blue come up to me and say that. I'm like,

03:38what? But for some reason people thought that was funny. I did too. Jack, this is your executive

03:44dining room. Are you trying to get me killed? This is Cece from 30 Rock. Do you remember how this

03:49role came to you? I got a call. My agents said they, you know, wanted me to do this part on 30 Rock,

03:56which of course I was thrilled to do, though I don't do that kind of show. I don't know how to do

04:01that kind of show, which is why I couldn't wait to get to it. Being on the set of 30 Rock was really,

04:06really hard for me because I didn't know how to do it. And I wanted to see, can I just sort of step

04:11into this and figure it out? I felt like the answer was no. I watched these masters, you know,

04:17Alec and Tina Fey. Look at what they're doing. It's like speaking another language. And I just

04:23never felt like I found my footing. I remember I had to sing. I think I had to sing something for

04:29the life of me. I can't remember. I feel like I dreamt it, because how does that make sense?

04:32Anyway, I thought to myself, I wish I had like three months on this job, because I think I could

04:44do this. I think I could end up feeling a little more capable. I didn't have that luxury, but I

04:49did the best I could. Oh, I see. Is this part of the new image? The top 25 New York fucking douchebag

04:53doctors? Please don't be such a Boy Scout coop. You know that if this guy lived in a different state,

04:58he'd be able to get a prescription for medical marijuana so he could at least try it.

05:01This is Jackie Payton from Nurse Jackie. Jackie was no nonsense, hardworking, morally ambiguous,

05:09her behavior when it came to getting things done, but really was, I think, a good-hearted person.

05:15And if you tell anybody this, I will deny it and string you up and bleed you out. I think

05:20you are a good doctor. I, on a personal level, have a great deal of experience with addiction,

05:30addiction, with loving addicted people, with the ramifications of addiction, trying to get free

05:36from addiction. So I wasn't wandering into territory I didn't know about. And because of that, I felt a

05:42tremendous amount of responsibility to treat it respectfully and with as much truth as I knew

05:48there to be. I wanted the Nurse Jackie audience to walk away with the understanding that if you are an

05:55addict and you do not put your sobriety and your recovery first, you will lose it. Frankly, it's risky

06:03to put you on the stand. You make any mistake, no matter how small, they're going to drag out those

06:07tapes. Even your comment about the yellow sweater could be enough to turn the jury against you.

06:11This is Leslie Abramson from Law and Order, True Crime, The Menendez Murders.

06:17How did this role come about? Did your agent call?

06:19No, that's not what happened. Dick Wolf took me to lunch. And what he said to me was,

06:25I know you don't do network television. I was like, I don't. I never said that. I'll do whatever

06:30comes my way. But he said, I think you should do this and this is why. And he explained it to me

06:35and he really kind of pushed for it. And so I was like, yeah, sure. I got to say, it's not my

06:41favorite thing to play a character based on a real person because it's not about trying to bring the

06:47truth of an individual to a story. It's about accurately portraying someone who actually

06:52existed or exists. Very different work. The perm, although I think her hair was legitimately curly

06:59like that, but it was a perm I desperately wanted. It was a look I wanted in that time. And my mother had

07:04it too. My mom had the really little curls. In fact, my high school yearbook photo was after I had

07:10had my hair permed like that, but my hair was too short to be permed like that. So yeah, there's that.

07:17We were open with you before we even started this campaign. It was not easy, but we told you about

07:25Bill's past. This is Hillary Clinton from Impeachment American Crime Story. I originally took the job

07:32out of a sense of protectiveness for her. I said when I spoke to Ryan Murphy early on was that if

07:38this is a hit job on the Clintons, that I'm not interested in that. I mean, if it's about honestly

07:43portraying what that period of time was like in their lives without, you know, judging it, I would

07:49like to do it. There was intense pressure leading up to shooting for me, self-imposed. Clive Owen played

07:56Bill Clinton. And on the first day we met, he said to me, well, I mean, at least nobody knows who

08:02these people are. So I thought to myself, we're going to do just fine. And Clive and I worked in

08:08very different ways. Like he really sounded like Bill. He listened to a lot of tapes. He had to do

08:15a speech on camera that existed on video. And it was verbatim. And I really didn't want it to be about

08:24that for me. I didn't want it to be about, well, she doesn't look like that. Or, you know, she

08:28wouldn't have walked like that. Or I kind of wanted to have it be less that and more about who she was

08:33and who she married and what her belief system was. All of this is conjecture. Nobody knows what her

08:39life felt like during that time, but her. This is my castle now. Do we understand each other? This is

08:46Nina Hobbs from the mayor of Kingstown. If I could tell you how many times my agents called me and said,

08:51well, it's a part written for a man. With Nina Hobbs, I think she has a job that is oftentimes

08:57held by a man. It's a very powerful person in a very tense, aggressive, dangerous place.

09:04You know, I was a tomboy. I grew up a tomboy. My friends were always boys. I was always barefoot

09:10and, you know, beating up the neighborhood boys. I'm not proud of that. But I actually, yeah,

09:16I actually sent a kid to the hospital. We were wild. It's not like parenting in the

09:212000s. You know what I mean? I liked the confidence that she has without like showboating.

09:26I don't think she's proud that she's as good at her job as she is. And she just is. And there

09:31was something about the isness of her place in that world that was appealing to me. I kind of felt

09:36early on that I knew who this woman was, that I knew what she would feel like. And it was pretty

09:41true to that. I mean, who knows where she might go from this point on? Because a lot happens during the

09:46course of the season. But for most of the season, she just had a job to do and she was going to get

09:51it done. Period. Come hell or high water.

09:54Thank you for watching. Please be sure to check out Mayor of Kingstown on Paramount Plus.

Edie Falco Breaks Down 'The Sopranos,' 'Nurse Jackie,' & More | Building Character | Harper's BAZAAR

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