LOS ANGELES — Rosie O’Donnell has been a talk show host, starred in movies and made numerous guest starring appearances on television series. It wasn’t until her agent showed her the short films made by Frankie Shaw that O’Donnell knew she wanted to have a major part in the new Showtime series being made by the Boston filmmaker.
Shaw’s SMILF (a single MILF) is based on her short film of the same name, which won the Short Film Jury Prize for Fiction at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. It looks at the life of Bridgette Bird (Shaw), a determined and independent single mom trying to deal with her extremely unconventional family. Bird’s struggles to make ends meet often result in immature decisions but those are always based on wanting to make a better life for her son.
Shaw serves as the executive producer of the series, which will take on such topics as motherhood, co-parenting and female sexuality. In keeping with Shaw’s feminist roots, each episode is helmed by a female director.
O’Donnell got the major role she wanted playing Tutu, a tough, opinionated and narcissistic mother who’s resistant to change of any kind, especially when it comes to her neighbourhood. Tutu struggles with manic depression and has a volatile relationship with almost everyone in her life, especially her daughter (Shaw).
“My agent sent me the short films that Frankie did, and I was blown away by both of them,” O’Donnell says. “My agent said very meekly on the phone: ‘This is not really an offer. You have to talk to her on FaceTime.’ I was like: ‘Get that woman on FaceTime. Let’s see what we can do.’
“And I was just absolutely shocked by her talent and the message and the kind of feminist perspective that she had in a very universal way. … It was like a dream come true. I said: ‘I’ll do anything that she needs or wants if she’ll have me.’ And, she said yes.”
Because the series is loosely based on Shaw’s life, O’Donnell wanted to make sure she was doing justice to the series creator’s mother. O’Donnell got the information she needed to play the characters after splitting a couple of bottles of wine with Shaw’s mother.
“We were lucky. We got to hang out a lot. I spent [last U.S.] Thanksgiving with Frankie and her family and all of the mother siblings, the aunts and uncles. I don’t have a mom. My mom died when I was 10, so to see what would have been my mother’s life in Frankie’s mother was kind of a beautiful and healing thing for me,” O’Donnell says.
“You know, it’s working-class Irish people, and that’s who I was growing up, and that’s who you remain. It felt familiar, loving and authentic.
“I liked her very much. I saw her vulnerability. I saw her self-doubt, and I also saw her pride in her daughter, whether or not she’s able to express it. And that will be an interesting challenge as an actress to play a mother who sometimes chooses to disassociate what she’s afraid of, the intimacy.”
