What Do You Need to Know About FOSSE/VERDON? Rockwell, Williams & More Tell All!

Hi there, I'm Katie Lynch here at the premiere of the new series Fosse Verdon

starring Michelle Williams and Sam Rockwell, premiering on FX on April 9th

and we are going to catch up with the cast and creatives and all that jazz

You have really taken on one heck of a character. Yeah, yeah, it's a lot

What was it like for you to really dig in, and what unlocked this character, Bob Fossey, for you

You know, that's a good question. It was a lot It was a big undertaking

And every day was a challenge You know Michelle said early on

We can never relax We're going to always have to stay on top of this

And she was right We could never quite relax It was always really

You couldn't like just coast You had to kind of You know step up

Which was him too Yeah I mean it was his personality It was brutal

I'd be honest with you It was intense It was challenging And is there, what's the most interesting thing that you learned

It's also four movies, you know, that's the other thing. It's essentially four independent movies

Point an undergraduate. Yeah, yeah. Your ears must be burning because everyone has been talking about you all night

And honestly, talking about Gwen Verdon and how special it is to see her story really brought to light

What was it like for you to really step into those dance shoes? Well, she was such a special woman

People that I had talked to that had known her while she was alive, The thing that I just heard over and over again

she was the kindest woman. Like that was, aside from being the greatest Broadway dancer of her time

and of any time, she also, like, the legacy that she left was of generosity

Yeah, and all of these dancers would come up to me and say, oh, Gwen taught me, oh, Gwen took me by the hand

Oh, Gwen cast me in my first job. Oh, Gwen got me a bathtub because she heard that I didn't have a bathtub

and she said, oh, all dancers should have bathtubs. So she was really like a beautiful, she was a beautiful

beautiful soul. Isn't that what we all kind of wish? Yeah, that's really the legacy that you want to leave

If you can't be the greatest Broadway dancer of all time, you should try being the most generous and kind person of all time

So, yeah, she was beautiful. Sam Watson a buddy of mine from college I used to play piano for his improv group and he wrote a book on Fosse I loved his first book on Breakfast of Tiffany and I was like oh this one bigger

Sorry, I'm making faces at all the Broadway people in line in front of me. And I just couldn't believe how beautifully he structured it

and I put it in Tommy Cale's hands, and then we were kind of really off to the races

once Nicole Fossey got involved, because she is the source of his vocabulary

The movement of this was a language that she and her mother, Gwen and Bob spoke at home

And so to have access to that kind of source meant we were off to the races

to really tell this story in a beautiful way. Well, you realize that you are also doing that for your children

What? You're also doing that for your children. Well, yeah, I mean, that's the thing, is the fact that, like, to me, these are superhero origin stories

Like, the story of Gwen Verdon, the story about Fossi, they are superheroes in our world here on 4th

45th Street outside the show in the Bell Theater. They're superheroes to us

And the world should know that. The world should know more than like Robin Williams doing it in the birdcage

You know, it's a real legacy they've left behind. You know, I think for me, the thing that really finally began to open this story up

you know, we started with Sam Watson's incredible book, Fawsey, which is just an amazing biography

But the thing that really cracked it open was Tommy Cale and I, the director, met with Nicole Fossi

Bob and Gwen's daughter, and we spent some real time with her. And in doing that, and she's here tonight, in doing that and talking to her

it's when we realized that this story had to be about the two of them, that the idea of just telling it about Bob just wasn't the full story

and actually wasn't the most interesting part of it. So that for us was like the thing that unlocked it

Before that, I think we were sort of floundering around. Really complicated relationship

They were very complicated guys, and Fosse Verdon really is Bob Fossie and Gwen Vurdon

Patty Chayevsky in this story is a large use of a friend that he uses to sort of process things with somebody who sets him straight every once in a while when he kind of loses his way but in actuality Fossi and Chayevsky they loved each other but they they could tell each other to you know F off and they could say that a piece of crap that you just made You can do better than that And they were truth tellers to each other And they also cracked each other up

So they had this really, really beautiful, honest relationship. You know, it's such an interesting story

To me, I mean, Bob Fawsey is legendary. I'm one of the few people involved that actually met Bob Fawc, except for his daughter met him

But when I just started in, like, 82, I was barely in the business

and I went up for an audition in some movie that I was not right for at all

and he spent like a half an hour talking to me and asking me questions about the nightclubs I was playing in and standing

And I thought, geez, Bob Fossy's taking the time. And then, like, later that week, I get a handwritten note he mails to me

Pleasure to meet you, wish I went, really? And I thought, I made a note

I'm going to try and be that menschie when I have a chance. Cut two, I've never written a note to anybody

However, it's still a goal, and the day is young, so I might send you a note to say thank you

What was it like stepping into these shoes, these dance shoes? Horrifying

I mean, no, I mean, amazing, the most awesome gift in the world, but horribly terrifying

I was extremely nervous, but then I realized I'm only going to fail

There is no way to be perfect at this, and that kind of gave me permission to let it all go and do my best

and I hope I did. I can't wait to see it. I have no idea. Of all the people who, these characters that you're jumping into

you probably have one of the most recognizable, Chita Rivera. To me, the most important, I feel so honored and humbled

and I have to attempt to portray her, and I have so much respect for her, so much love for Chita

And I have the good fortune to know her because of the show that brings us together

that connects us, and I reached out to her. right away and I said, so this is happening to me

And I'm trying to portray you and Faso Ferdin I need to take you out to dinner because I cannot do this without you

Well, it was fascinating because I'd never met Hale Prince. And when I read his book and made a list of 20, 25 people

who had been so closely associated with me and him it was very strange that we never run into each other And all the productions that I realized I had only seen one of his productions in my life

And when I went and met him, I confessed this, you know, to which he said, you bum

And he said, I bet you haven't seen Phantom either, have you? I said, no, I haven't

He said, that's because you're a snob, but that's all right. Gwen and Joan were so close

And I think she sort of says to Gwen the same thing about being behind the scene

and she's like, look, my relationship works because I let him be the star

And you and Bob are, he wants to be the star, but you're Gwen Verdon

And I thought that was so great. I mean, she's sort of the truth-sayer in Gwen's life

And the person that Gwen can be most herself with and not perform with. But we needed a good story to navigate us through

because if you just wanted to reach out there and grab choreography, he just touched so many things and affected so many styles

from way back in the Hollywood musical where he was dancing like Fred Astaire

to a very broken picture that might come to life in a camera edit

He kind of have accomplished everything. So luckily, we were fine-tuned with a vision

that said, just look right here right now. Don't look at these hundred things. Just look at one

And that made a big difference. Yeah. It was a privilege. It was a beast, as you say

But it was a real privilege. And we were saying before that it was also a lot of pressure

to try to pay proper homage. And we did a deep dive into research

I mean, we researched Fred Astaire, we researched Jack Cole. I mean, Jack Cole was a huge influence on Gwen

and Gwen was a huge influence on Bob. So, I mean, you look at his early choreography, and it was very Jack Cole, I think

There was a lot of it. And, you know, like, choreographers are also really inspired by music, and so we haven't been talking tonight

but music was a huge deal in his career because he picked amazing pieces of music to choreograph to

So if we live with that music, that actually teaches us a lot about him as a choreographer

I'm really excited for people who are not familiar, with the Broadway world to be introduced to it

to learn about these two, like, seminal, legendary figures and the people that they rolled with

because they rolled with a dangerous crew, bro. So I'm really excited for people to be able to learn about

the songs that they inspired and the shows that they're responsible for

I think that's really something that people are going to get a kick out of