Monica Lewinsky (left) and Beanie Feldstein.Photo: Bennett Raglin/Getty; George Pimentel/WireImage
Monica Lewinskyis sharing how she helped prepareBeanie Feldsteinto play her in the upcoming FX series,Impeachment: American Crime Story.
In a new joint interview withThe Hollywood Reporter,the anti-bullying activist and Feldstein, 28, reflected on the making ofImpeachment,sharing that they became a “we” in the process.
TheBooksmartstar said she kept the book in her backpack “every single day” of shooting and would frequently refer to it, in addition to watching Lewinsky’s past interviews and listening to thesecretly recorded tapesthat helped impeach Clinton.
Beanie Feldstein as Monica Lewinsky.fx networks/ youtube
“I don’t know if I’ve ever said this to you, but I found them extremely difficult to listen to, as someone who cares very deeply for you,” Feldstein told Lewinsky of the tapes. “I also knew that I had to. There was no way I could play this role without listening to them.”
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Lewinsky went on to share that the pair also sent videos to each other, texted and spent “several hours on Zoom” going through her family pictures.
“I just thought, I’m not going to sit down with Beanie like a new therapist, ‘OK, let me tell you the story of my life,’ and this way she’d get to understand my world in a more organic way since we couldn’t hang out [due to COVID-19],” she said. “But I haven’t done any of this before, and it was hard for me — I’m a total control freak.”
“But you’ve been so giving with me,” Feldstein chimed in. “You never asked me to do something a certain way or you never said, ‘How were you planning to do this or that?’ You let me find my own you in a very beautiful way — and you’ve been very open with all of us throughout this whole process. And yeah, there were times where I’d text her, like, ‘So, what nail polish color were you wearing here?'”
Earlier in the interview, Feldstein said she had no hesitation when she was asked to play Lewinsky.
Lewinsky noted that the process of making the show was challenging for her, given that the show is based on her actual experiences.
“For me, it was challenging to come to the script process and the dramaturgical process not only having had my own experiences but particularly because I did testify so many times and had to talk to the FBI and do so many interviews over and over and over again, it’s all hammered into my brain,” she said.
fx networks/ youtube
She continued, “And so it was this process of me going, ‘Well, how can you leave this out?’ or ‘But it didn’t happen that way.’ It was really about me coming to understand that this is about ‘emotional truth,’ and there’s emotional truth in every scene that I’m in — or Beanie’s in, playing me …”
“We’re a ‘we’ at this point,” Feldstein added.
In terms of weighing in on scenes, Lewinsky said there was one part of the show she steered clear of giving notes on.
Impeachment: American Crime Storypremieres Sept. 7 on FX.
source: people.com
