Angelyne star Emmy Rossum canceled her pitch meeting with NBC last minute — then showed up in full character

"I wanted to give them the experience."

By
Jessica Wang
Jessica Wang

Jessica is a staff writer at Entertainment Weekly, where she covers TV, movies, and pop culture. Her work has appeared in Bustle, NYLON, Cosmopolitan, InStyle, and more. She lives in California with her dog.

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Published on May 11, 2022 02:00PM EDT

Emmy Rossum takes her craft very seriously.

The star of Peacock's upcoming drama series Angelyne, based on the life and times of the bleach-blonde Los Angeles icon of the same name, showed up to a business meeting with NBC executives in full character.

As she explained in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Rossum had informed collaborators at the last minute that she would not be able to attend the big meeting — one of the final obstacles before the team could begin to film.

Emmy Rossum in 'Angelyne'
Emmy Rossum in 'Angelyne'. Isabella Vosmikova/Peacock

The Shameless alum then rocked up to the conference room in the billboard fixture's pink lamé minidress, stilettos, platinum-blonde wig, and leopard-print arm warmers, where she proceeded to pass out rose quartz crystals, "tickle faces and necks" with a peacock feather (in a nod to the streaming platform), and bless the miniseries with "good juju."

"She was utterly transformed," Alex Sepiol, a drama executive at NBCUniversal, told THR. "To give this kind of performance in a business meeting, no one does that. But that's Emmy — she's fearless and bold and just a trouper."

Rossum explained, "As my acting coach likes to tell me, intensity is not something I struggle with. I wanted to give them the experience."

Out May 19, the miniseries will chronicle the pop culture phenomenon's rise to fame in 1980s Hollywood. A story of stardom, identity, and survival, Angelyne is based on the 2017 Hollywood Reporter feature by Gary Baum that peeled back the layers of the elusive figure — considered the original influencer. It also stars Molly Ephraim, Jefferson Hall, Lukas Gage, and Martin Freeman.

ANGELYNE
Charlie Rowe, Emmy Rossum, Maurice Freeman, and Tonatiuh in 'Angelyne'. Isabella Vosmikova/Peacock

Rossum recounted meeting the real Angelyne two years after the series was announced. "I showed up an hour early, over-prepared as usual," Rossum told THR, describing her rendezvous with her in a private room at the Hollywood Roosevelt. "I could see from the window that her car pulled up on time, but she ended up almost an hour late because she was selling merch out of the trunk."

When she arrived, Rossum said, Angelyne introduced herself by way of question: "So why do you have such a hard-on to play me?"

Rossum then gave Angelyne a box of pink macarons, and received a pink crystal in return.

While it seemed like the icon would participate in some capacity, she bowed out by the time production resumed after pandemic delays. Still, Angelyne was paid a "handsome fee" for production to secure the rights to her life and work.

"She got to decide how she wanted to be a part of it," Rossum said, "and I respect that."

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