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American Morning

Interview with Bebe Neuwirth

Aired August 01, 2002 - 09:46   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: She has wowed us on Broadway with her singing and dancing, and tormented "Frasier" on the small screen. Now, Bebe Neuwirth is winning raves for her role as a 40-something woman who has a fling with a teenage boy. And some are asking, is it a case of art imitating life in some families?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Morning. Diane is good, isn't she?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Phil. Boyfriend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boyfriend?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So how long she been doing you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oscar here was saying you worked him over pretty good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He had quite a knotted muscle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: A brave woman you are. Bebe Neuwirth joins us now -- good morning.

BEBE NEUWIRTH, ACTRESS: Good morning.

ZAHN: So what are the circumstances of your ending up in bed with your best friend's stepson?

NEUWIRTH: Stepson, yes. He's a 15-year-old boy who is home for Thanksgiving from his prep school, and he has made up his mind to confess his love to his stepmother, played by Sigourney Weaver. His father is John Ritter, and wants -- he is in love with his stepmother, and through the course of events of the Thanksgiving Day party, we wind up together. And we're actually friends. You know, Diane, my character, and Oscar, Aaron's character, are actually quite good friends. And then we find ourselves in intimate circumstances.

ZAHN: And how does that change the two of you?

NEUWIRTH: You know, it's just part of her life. That's the sort of thing she does. And for him -- it's a very interesting weekend for him. It's a real growing up weekend. Not in the -- not in the sense, Oh, he has lost his virginity and now the world looks different, it's much more profound -- what he learns about love, what he learns about obsession, what he learns about himself, and all that. It's really interesting that way. It's also a very funny movie.

ZAHN: I have to confess. I haven't been able to see it yet, but it has gotten terrific reviews. I think it is also interesting...

NEUWIRTH: So they tell me.

ZAHN: Yes, you don't read your reviews, do you?

NEUWIRTH: No, I don't.

ZAHN: Tell me why you don't.

NEUWIRTH: I think -- I'm just very relieved, and it is nice to know that they're good, but I'm -- it's embarrassing, and I feel uncomfortable reading what people say about me. Even if it's really nice, which I understand it is.

ZAHN: Yes, I have got a whole stack of nice ones here. I could share them sentence by sentence with you, Bebe. Nothing to be afraid of.

What is ironic about the release of this film is that this kid that you end up in bed with, Oscar's nickname is "Tadpole." Now, as a result of the fact that an older woman sleeps with this teenaged kid, there is this new phrase that has been coined, about "tadpoling," and people look at Madonna and Guy Ritchie, and Gena Davis and her young husband.

NEUWIRTH: There is an awful lot of women who have boyfriends and husbands who are quite a bit -- you know, not minors, hopefully. But, yes, it is very common and frequent, and it's -- people are making a big deal of it. I don't really know why that is. It is not something I thought about in preparing for the role and the movie. This is a very specific, beautifully-written short story, really, which comes to life very -- you know, really in a fine way in the film. It is very satisfying, I think, for the audience because it doesn't talk down to the audience, it doesn't make, you know, there's no cheap laughs or cheap jokes. It's all the -- all the laughs are earned by the really well fleshed out characters telling the story of what happens.

ZAHN: Is it true it was shot in a two-week period?

NEUWIRTH: Yes. It was shot digitally and it only took two weeks, and they paid us in Subway tokens -- no, I'm kidding (ph).

ZAHN: That's OK. Those are getting you all over the city now on a hot summer day. NEUWIRTH: No. I use them. And yes, it's an interesting way to shoot because it is very quick, and you're -- at the same time, Gary Winick, our director, allowed the actors to have the time that they needed to do what they needed to do, and to rehearse as fully as we needed to rehearse, but it just seems like -- I don't really know enough about it technically, but it seems like the lighting setups were much faster and less involved.

ZAHN: Boy, with the success of this, it might give Hollywood a whole new inducement to try to produce films in weeks.

What did that mean for you, though? Did you do stuff over and over and over again, and you do more takes in a given day than you might on a normal production?

NEUWIRTH: I think it was sort of normal. You know, every director is different and every actor is different. There are some actors who only want to do it three times, and that's it, and there are some directors that just keep going. I don't know that being digital had anything specifically to do with the number of takes.

ZAHN: What's next for you? Still got a lot of spring left in those legs?

NEUWIRTH: I hope so.

ZAHN: She's a phenomenal dancer, for any of you who travel to New York to see her in "Chicago." What's on the docket?

NEUWIRTH: I did a tiny, tiny part in a Merchant (ph) Ivory film that I guess will be next year sometime called "Le Divorce." Don't get up for popcorn or you will miss me. And I have a little part in a movie I am working on right now called "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days." No joke.

ZAHN: Oh, great. Is there any -- like one tip you want to leave the audience with this morning? Point number A, you do this, guaranteed to get rid him.

NEUWIRTH: It's actually based on an article that was written. That's Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey and it's a really nice, funny comedy.

ZAHN: Well, congratulations.

NEUWIRTH: Thank you.

ZAHN: This film came out of nowhere to great acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival, and I'm telling you in the commercial break, I'm happy to read all the nice things they've written about your work.

NEUWIRTH: I am not going to listen.

ZAHN: I can't believe you never read reviews. Good for you. I guess you are not neurotic enough to read them, like... NEUWIRTH: A long time ago, Bob Fossey (ph) taught me not to read the reviews. He said, don't read them. And I went home from the opening night of "Sweet Charity," and I read them. And I thought, it's true. It really -- I don't remember what the reviews said, but it's just -- it's important, and it has all its reasons for being there, but for me, because of how neurotic I am and how insecure I am, I just have to think about what I'm doing and what my peers and my director and people -- if Gwen Verdon says to me, you did terrific in that.

ZAHN: That is good enough for you.

NEUWIRTH: I leave it at that.

ZAHN: Again, congratulations. Bebe Neuwirth, thanks for stopping by. She should say that she had a down parka over her about four minutes ago. We keep this studio at about 62 degrees to make sure all our guests are alert. We wanted you to do the Rockette thing to warm us so we could test out your dancing.

(CROSSTALK)

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: "How to Lose a Man in Ten Days?"

NEUWIRTH: Yes. Well, we will talk about that next time I come.

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