Rosie's life
Rosie O'Donnell - entertainer, actor, children's advocate, and provocative TV host - is starring in a new Lifetime original movie called "America." Airing tomorrow at 9 p.m., the movie is based on a book of the same name by novelist and social worker E.R. Frank, though O'Donnell co-wrote the screenplay and is executive producer. She plays the therapist of an angry and traumatized 16-year-old boy who spent much of his life in foster care, a subject close to her heart since she has been a foster parent herself and has four adopted children.
Q. What drew you to this project?
A. I read the book when I was on my way to LA for the weekend. I'd finished the script by the time I got back to New York; I wrote it in, like, five days. The writer was a woman named Emily and I told her I'd love to make it into a film. I knew it was an accurate [portrayal] of any kid who has ever been in a situation where they've had to survive so many tough things. There are so many kids who are lost in the system and found by a counselor or teacher.
Q. Could you relate to it personally?
A. That was my teacher. That was my story. My mother died when I was young. I was in a tough situation with my dad. I had a teacher named Pat Maravel, a public-school math teacher on Long Island. She really became a parent in ways that so many schoolteachers do and don't get credit for.
Q. How did you prepare for the therapist's role?
A. My 14-year-old son saw it recently and said, "Gee, Mom, you were just being yourself." I was, except in nicer clothes.
Q. They were nice clothes.
A. Eileen Fisher. She's the answer to all the world's problems. The queen of fashion who saved my life. XL on the bottom, 2X on the overjacket.
Q. Was it a difficult role for you to play?
A. The whole thing was quite emotional and quite true and real for me. I found it very draining. I found it very sad, like picking a scab off a never-healed wound.
Q. How did you find Philip Johnson, the boy who played America?
A. It was really important the lead actor was a real kid, not someone affected. We read about a hundred kids for the role, but a lot of them were acting; they didn't seem real. Three days before the photography was supposed to start [in Detroit], the producer and I stopped at a tapas restaurant called Small Plates. There was only one other table, with a boy and his two uncles, father, and two sisters. I said to the producer, "Do you see that kid? He looks like America."
Q. You found him in a restaurant?
A. I was looking at him, and one of the uncles said to me, "Are you Roseanne Barr?" I said, "Close enough." I explained to the dad what we were doing, and asked the boy - he was an engineering student - if he'd ever acted. No. Any interest in it? No. So I told him what we were doing, and I said if he didn't do it, we'd have to put the movie on turnaround, on hold. He was the last one we put on tape, and after the reading, everyone was like, "Oh my God." He was kind of perfect. It was kind of difficult to convince Lifetime and
Q. Do you think it was fate?
A. I don't think there any accidents. It was meant to be. 