Edie Falco recalls the moment she thought Hillary Clinton was 'pissed off' she played her in “American Crime Story”
Falco portrayed Clinton in the "Impeachment" season of the FX hit but admits she's "never met her" in person.
Edie Falco thought she was the target of the Hillary Clinton War Room after receiving what she initially thought was an alarming email from the political icon before playing her in FX's Impeachment: American Crime Story.
The Emmy-winning Sopranos star told Andy Cohen on Wednesday's episode of Watch What Happens Live that she once received a digital communication from Clinton while in production on the anthology drama, in which she played Clinton in the show's dramatic re-enactment of the President Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair scandal that rocked America's political landscape throughout the late 1990s.
"I did campaigning work for Hillary, I've never met her. I was a nervous wreck about doing the show, by playing her," Falco told Cohen of playing the part.
She continued, admitting that she received what she initially interpreted as a concerning message from Clinton's team during production of the 2021 series.
"I got a mass email while I was shooting it saying, 'Hey, Edie, it's Hillary. Listen, blah blah blah.' I thought she had outed me, she knew I was playing her, that she was pissed off, or, you know, [that] I was totally wrong," Falco admitted. "It was a fundraising thing. Literally, my heart was racing."
Adapted from Jeffrey Toobin's book A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President, the third season of American Crime Story starred Beanie Feldstein as a young Lewinsky, with Sarah Paulson portraying Linda Tripp and Clive Owen portraying President Clinton.
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Though the Clintons didn't formally comment on the show in a significant capacity during its release, Disney's entertainment chairman Dana Walden said producers of the project heavily vetted the show's writing.
“Bill and Hillary have both spoken and written books about this time in their lives, and they’ve had the opportunity to weigh in meaningfully and thoroughly with their feelings,” Walden told The Hollywood Reporter. "I also think that it’s fair and it’s right for there to be an opportunity for the women who were involved in this scandal to be able to have their truth told, beginning with Monica."
Watch What Happens Live airs weeknights on Bravo. Watch Falco discuss playing Clinton above.
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