In her role in the news CBS drama “Tommy,” actress Edie Falco plays the first female chief of police in Los Angeles, but the native New Yorker found a way to shoot the show in her hometown.
The Emmy-award winning actress known best for her roles in “The Sopranos” and “Nurse Jackie” was drawn to the part but wanted to work near the Manhattan home she shares with her two children, who are 11 and 15. Producers worked with her to film most of her scenes in and around New York, even if that meant driving a truck around with palm trees to insert into exterior shots.
She spoke recently to The Associated Press about how “Tommy” deals with serious issues plaguing many U.S. cities, portraying complicated women, and being a self-proclaimed “homebody.”
HOLD FOR STORY Edie Falco is seen at Edie Falco portrait session at AP Studios on Tuesday, February 4, 2020, in New York. (Photo by Brian AchInvisionAP)
AP: This show shines a light on some serious issues in LA, including sex trafficking, immigration and wildfires. Is it important to you to do work that has a message?
FALCO: If I'm lucky enough to be in the public eye in any way, on a television show that people are watching, it starts to really matter what I'm putting out there. You know, it's more than just entertainment at this point. It's got to be something that I share the vision of or there's gonna be a reason I want to be saying whatever it is the show might be saying to an audience. It does start to matter what I'm putting out there, and this show appealed to me in that way.
AP: This character is also mother to an adult daughter in a complicated relationship. Does having your own kids now change how you play certain roles?
Edie Falco is seen at Edie Falco portrait session at AP Studios on Tuesday, February 4, 2020, in New York. (Photo by Brian AchInvisionAP)
FALCO: I remember when doing “Sopranos,” I was very nervous that people weren’t going to buy me as a mother because I wasn't sure I believed myself in the role of a mother. It just seemed so far beyond my own experience. It definitely changes everything to know what child raising really is like and how difficult and complicated it can be, especially once they start to grow into humans and they start to have their own selves. ... So here she finds herself with her grown daughter, who has a daughter of her own. And they haven't had a great relationship. And you find them as adults trying to figure out where they are.
AP: You’ve played this and other characters who are damaged in some way. Is that something you look for?
FALCO: I think there seems to be more of an appetite in audiences now to see people who are complicated, that perhaps more easily represent people that they know and love, or themselves. You know, it's very hard sometimes when you see a lot of perfect people on television, they look perfect. They act, they wear the right clothes, they have a great apartment. And I think people are ready to see people, to hear stories that might be closer to their own. So all across media right now, I think we're representing more complicated people with complicated problems. It doesn't mean that they can't also be chief of police.
Edie Falco is seen at Edie Falco portrait session at AP Studios on Tuesday, February 4, 2020, in New York. (Photo by Brian AchInvisionAP)
AP: Why shoot a show about LA in New York?
FALCO: I'm a bit of a homebody, first of all. And also, I have two children who are in school here in New York. Being able to go home, to your home at the end of a workday is very meaningful for me. There was a time when I loved packing a bag and going off and being immersed in that world. Those days are gone. I like my house. (laughs) I like my bed and my dogs and my kids, and that matters to me. I recharge in a very meaningful way and that makes me more ready for the next workday. So for me, it's more about being able to live at home while I work long and difficult hours. My kids come by the set and hang out after school. They’re as familiar with my dressing room as they are with their own rooms at this point.
AP: You work a lot. How do you unwind?
FALCO: I have a studio in my house where I'm sort of crafty. I like to sew. I'm always like watching TV and sewing. That's kind of what I do. I fix clothing, I make clothing. I reupholster things in my house. I pick up scraps of fabric that I love that I think are beautiful and I make little things out of them. I don't know, it brings me great joy.
AP: Do you feel any pressure as the lead and carrying this show?
FALCO: If there is any added pressure, I don't feel it. I just, I love to work and I love the work I get to do, this particular type of work. I still have to pinch myself. Truly. I spent a lot of years not even daring to imagine that my life would look like this. So now I'm in it and I'm in it. I'm in it! Whole hog.
After more than 13 years at the helm of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down from the “Star Wars” factory founded by George Lucas.
The Walt Disney Co. announced Thursday that it will now turn to Dave Filoni to steer “Star Wars,” as president and chief creative officer, into its sixth decade and beyond. Filoni, who served as the chief commercial officer of Lucasfilm, will inherit the mantle of one of the movies marquee franchises, alongside Lynwen Brennan, president and general manager of Lucasfilm’s businesses, who will serve as co-president.
“When George Lucas asked me to take over Lucasfilm upon his retirement, I couldn’t have imagined what lay ahead,” said Kennedy. “It has been a true privilege to spend more than a decade working alongside the extraordinary talent at Lucasfilm."
Kennedy, Lucas’ handpicked successor, had presided over the ever-expanding science-fiction world of “Star Wars” since Disney acquired it in 2012. In announcing Thursday's news, Bob Iger, chief executive officer of the Walt Disney Co. called her “a visionary filmmaker.”
Kennedy oversaw a highly lucrative but often contentious period in “Star Wars” history that yielded a blockbuster trilogy and acclaimed streaming spinoffs such as “The Mandalorian” and “Andor,” yet found increasing frustration from longtime fans.
Under Kennedy’s stewardship, Lucasfilm amassed more than $5.6 billion in box office and helped establish Disney+ as a streaming destination — achievements that easily validated the $4.05 billion Disney plunked down for the company. But Kennedy also struggled to deliver the big-screen magic that Lucas captured in the original trilogy from the late 1970s and early 1980s, and her relationship with “Star Wars” loyalists became a saga of its own.
Filoni has established himself almost entirely on the small screen, entering the franchise with the animated series “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and creating the tepidly received Disney+ series “Ahsoka.” Filoni, who first collaborated with Lucas on “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” has also been an executive producer on “The Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett” and “Skeleton Crew.”
Both will report to Alan Bergman, Disney Entertainment co-chairman.
“From Rey to Grogu, Kathy has overseen the greatest expansion in Star Wars storytelling on-screen that we have ever seen,” said Filoni. “I am incredibly grateful to Kathy, George, Bob Iger, and Alan Bergman for their trust and the opportunity to lead Lucasfilm in this new role, doing a job I truly love. May the Force be with you.”
Before joining Lucasfilm, Kennedy was one of Hollywood’s most successful producers ever. In 1981, she co-founded Amblin Entertainment with Steven Spielberg and her eventual husband, Frank Marshall. She produced “E.T.,” “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” “Jurassic Park” and the “Back to the Future” trilogy.
At Lucasfilm, her biggest hit came at the start, with 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” The J.J. Abrams-directed film grossed more than $2 billion worldwide. But the subsequent installment, Rian Johnson’s “The Last Jedi” (2017), was bitterly divisive. The third film, Abrams’ “The Rise of Skywalker” (2019), was widely panned by critics and fans, alike.
After “The Rise of Skywalker,” “Star Wars” went dark on the big screen despite a litany of announced projects. The dry spell is set to be broken in May by Jon Favreau’s “The Mandalorian & Grogu.” The intervening years have been marked by streaming successes in “The Mandalorian” and “Andor,” but the future of “Star Wars” has felt increasingly uncertain.
Struggles over tone and vision have been frequent. The 2018 Han Solo spinoff “Solo: A Star Wars Story” saw its directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, fired during production and replaced by Ron Howard. Most found the mixed-and-matched result blandly disappointing.
More recently, Adam Driver, who played Kylo Ren/Ben Solo in the most recent “Star Wars” trilogy,” divulged to The Associated Press last year that he and Steven Soderbergh had developed a Ben Solo film with Kennedy and Lucasfilm’s support for two years before Disney chief Bob Iger nixed it. Fans were so irate that a plane was flown over Disney’s Burbank studios with a banner reading “Save ‘The Hunt for Ben Solo.’”
Instead, the only “Star Wars” movie of Kennedy’s stewardship to win widespread and prevailing approval from fans was arguably 2016’s “Rogue One.” Gareth Edwards’ spinoff was also a troubled production, leading to Tony Gilroy, eventual creator of “Andor,” overseeing reshoots. Yet despite that, “Rogue One” — taking place within “Star Wars” but outside of the main Jedi storyline — might be the only film of Kennedy’s “Star Wars” reign that managed to both stay true to the space odyssey’s tone and to break new ground.
Kennedy's fingerprints will be on many of coming “Star Wars” projects for years to come. That includes Shawn Levy's “Star Wars: Starfighter,” with Ryan Gosling, due out in May 2027, and a fleet of other projects in various stages of development.
FILE - Producer Kathleen Kennedy poses upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' June 26, 2023, in London. (Scott Garfitt/Invision/AP, File)
Actor Keri Russell, left, and producer Kathleen Kennedy pose together at the AFI Awards at the Four Seasons in Los Angeles, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
FILE - Film producer Kathleen Kennedy, left, and director Dave Filoni are welcomed by R2-D2 and C-3PO, right, as they appear on stage during a fan convention called the Star Wars Celebration in Chiba, near Tokyo, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)
FILE - Kathleen Kennedy, winner of the BAFTA Fellowship, poses with her award backstage at the BAFTA Film Awards in central London, Feb. 2, 2020. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP, File)
