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Who wouldve thought of Paddy Chayefsky, the writer behind searing films likeNetwork, as a goofy uncle?
And I got to hear firsthand about what that relationship was like.
Paddy Chayefsky has been on my radar since I was 18 years old, I think.
I auditioned for my BFA at acting school with a monologue fromMarty.
Id just opened a monologue book.
Right away, that writing even as a kid from the Midwest, I saw something in the writing.
So I think it was just a name that was always in my mind.
You know, people throw around the wordgeniusa lot.
And they both were so seduced by talent in any form.
They saw the talent in each other, and they shared a no-bullshit, sardonic sensibility.
He lived the real life of the mind.
I think that Fosses innate physicality, his apparatus, just mustve really been fascinating to Chayefsky.
Fosse always believed that the writer was really the greatest contributor on any project.
And so I think he really wished he was more book smart or had more education.
Chayefsky was really well educated by all accounts, a voracious reader.
They completed each other.
The other thing about the relationship and the series doesnt get into this but they were both bastards.
They were really, really, really tough personalities.
They fought with each other, and it got bad.
So youll hear me call her Pickle a few times in the series.
Just stuff like that.
An actor would never think to use that word.
A writer wouldnt know that.
Thats a small example, but it was stuff like that that just was really invaluable to me.
I did not feel the pressure that Sam [Rockwell] and Michelle [Williams] felt.
Theres actually very little video and audio of Paddy Chayefsky.
Paddy Chayefsky is always one of those people where people like, Oh my God, he wrote that?
Oh my God, he wrote that?
Its sort of that youre surprised at how much he contributed to film, theater, all these things.
Having said that, Nicole did provide us with really great family audiotapes.
Im from the Midwest, and Paddy Chayefsky was born and raised in the Bronx.
As someone said on set, he was a professional Jew, you know?
He was the real deal.
It was very Bernie Sanders.
Youve talked about inspeechesandinterviewsabout being concerned with the way TV typically portrays violence against women and abuse of women.
That did attract me about the piece.
Kind of boys-club thing.
Theres no words for it.
Its not even an idea yet.
So thats what I like about the show.
It shouldnt be portrayed as casual sexism or emotional or psychological abuse or anything like that.
Its like youre seeing pre-woke male energy in its most native form.
I think thats valuable for an audience to see in 2019.
But I think its so strong because look how subverted it was just relatively recently.
It was a seismic shift in my consciousness after singing.
That was my first introduction to Fosse.
Its deeply moving to me, the soul of the Broadway dancer.
For these actors to go, Im not worthy, it was really amazing.
I mean, talk about talent.
Shes an incredible actress herself.
Shes a beautiful dancer.
Shes gonna take over the world, I think.
I would just go ahead and play it myself if I could.
If they would let me.
A younger version of me.
I couldnt even, I couldnt even say, you got me.
Yeah, thatd be fun.
