After earning an Oscar nomination for her breakout big-screen role in “Bridesmaids” most cynical members of the media likely presumed Melissa McCarthy would be on the hunt for a dramatic role to find her way back to the Dolby Theater. I mean, once you get that close to Oscar’s glory it’s all about getting back, right? Now, if you were to take that decidedly negative perspective, that’s what you’d assume happened when McCarthy took the role of Lee Israel in Marielle Heller’s wonderful “Can You Ever Forgive Me?.” Of course, that’s absolutely not the case and there are two prominent reasons why.
READ MORE: Marielle Heller’s “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” is an unexpected gem of a movie [Review]
First off, Israel’s life story was in development for over a decade and at one point Ben Falcone, McCarthy’s husband, was actually cast in an earlier version of the project (he ended up playing the same cameo role in the eventual picture). When McCarthy read the script what struck her was the fact she was completely unaware of the remarkable evens in Israel’s life. Especially considering she lived in New York in the mid-90s where the film is set.
“[The movie] went away and then like every three weeks to a month I would just bring it up randomly, at every awkward time,” McCarthy admits. “Ben would be talking about one thing and I’d be like ‘What about Lee? Somebody should tell her story. It’s so good.’ He’d be like ‘That’s not what we were talking about. This is starting to get super weird’ and I kind of couldn’t let it go.”
McCarthy says that at first she wasn’t even thinking of playing the role herself. She just had an affinity for the cantankerous yet witty Israel. She continues, “And then, I started to think, ‘Well wait a minute, could I do this? And would someone let me?’ I’m very, very happy that I got the chance to do it.”
Second, you are aware McCarthy spent much of her early career in non-comedic roles, right? As she notes, “I spent ten years doing all dramatic work in New York. Three to four people saw it. So, to me, in my background and the people who know, know that I did that for so many years.”
The Illinois native is aware you might think it’s odd, but she doesn’t really see the difference between comedies and dramas anyway.