Anjelica Huston doesn’t quite regret starring in fan favorite, albeit short lived, NBC musical series “Smash,” but she is detailing her dismay while making the series. Huston told People while promoting BritBox limited series “Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero” that she didn’t “feel very prized” in her “Smash” role as fictional Broadway producer Eileen Rand.
“I wasn’t very happy when I was on that show,” Huston said (To note, “Smash” infamously misspelled Huston’s name in the opening credits during the series finale). “I was living in New York and I wasn’t very happy living in New York for the obvious reasons. It was a cold winter, and I didn’t feel very prized in that role. I was a bit depressed by it. It was hard really; I didn’t really have a good time making it.”
“Smash” starred Katherine McPhee and Megan Hilty as two actresses vying to portray Marilyn Monroe in a fictional stage musical called “Bombshell.” Debra Messing and Jack Davenport co-starred along with Huston. Uma Thurman, Jesse L. Martin, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jennifer Hudson, Nick Jonas, Bernadette Peters, and Liza Minnelli also appeared in the series.
“Smash” won a Critics Choice Television Award, a GLAAD Media Award, and received five Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, winning for Outstanding Choreography. The series also received both Golden Globe and Grammy Award nominations. The show was cancelled in 2013 after two seasons, but is now getting a (real life) Broadway adaptation.
The “John Wick” actress also revealed that she was diagnosed with cancer in 2019; while she is “in the clear” now, the illness impacted her approach to her career.
“It’s not something that came lightly,” Huston said of her diagnosis. “It came as a big shock, but it made me conscious of what I shouldn’t do, of places I shouldn’t go. One of those places was taking life too seriously. So now when the opportunity arises, I laugh, and I try not to make a big deal out of things.”
She added, “Life is tenuous and wonderful. It also gives you the idea that the world is big and you can somehow match up to it. That you’re ready for whatever happens.”
