celebrity q&a
I was in there with Barry Levinson and the other producers at every casting session, trying to find the perfect people The only one I never read with was Ray (Liotta); it was a unanimous Yes from all of us when he was interested in the part. And once he stepped onto that set, our having handpicked every other person, it was magic.
Sometimes, sparks fly. Theres just a certain chemistry, and in our first scene together, Im sure he was sussing me out in his Ray Liotta kind of way. I was coming in as an open book, knowing exactly who Harlee was and how I wanted to play her … and from that moment on, we just volleyed. It was a great tennis match between the two of us.
Shades of Blue, World of Dance and your Las Vegas concert residency have occupied much of your schedule lately, so your planned live staging of Bye Bye Birdie for NBC as both a star and an executive producer has been pushed back a couple of times. Do you expect that it still will happen?
It just comes down to trying to fit it in. Producing is a funny thing. You keep pushing boulders up the hill until something just forms, and then you say, OK. Thats what were doing.
Things have to come together in the right way as well, like with the cast, the director, etc. Things have to fall into place, and were fine with that. And if Bye Bye Birdie falls into place, well definitely do it. I love it.
