How Rosie Perez, 60, convinced Billy Crystal to cast her in 'Before,' in a part 'written for a 30-year-old'
"My poor husband," Perez jokes of filming the intense Apple TV+ show. "I gained 20 pounds, I would have nightmares. It was crazy."
When Rosie Perez read the script for Before, Apple TV+'s new psychological thriller starring Billy Crystal, she knew the role she was meant to play. The only problem? It was written for someone half her age.
"Initially [Billy] offered me a different role and I turned it down. I was so upset," the 60-year-old actress told Yahoo Entertainment.
Before follows a child psychiatrist named Eli (Crystal), who, after losing his wife, meets a troubled young boy named Noah with a haunting connection to his past. Perez wanted to play Denise, Noah's foster mother, but said the part "was originally written for a 30-year-old." Perez immediately connected with the character as she grew up in and out of group homes and foster care. Perez detailed the physical abuse and neglect she endured in her 2014 memoir, Handbook for an Unpredictable Life.
"I said on the Zoom [audition], 'Before I go, Billy, I want you to make sure whoever you get for Denise ... that she does her homework and doesn't look down on the child, or pity the child and just offers love and guidance,'" Perez said. "A couple days later, he called and said, 'You know what, you need to play Denise.'"
Crystal told Yahoo he initially envisioned Perez playing the role of a hospital administrator.
"Rosie didn't want to do that and I totally got it," he said. "Then when we were talking, she told me about her connection in this — in the world and she was emotional when she was telling us that. So when we finished that conversation, I said to [writer Sarah Thorp], 'She's Denise.'"
When Perez got the call, she was "terrified" at first, she admits.
"Be careful what you wish for!" she joked, before praising Crystal. "Billy understood my past and he knew it would be a heavy lift for me because it hit close to home, and he was really kind and supportive the whole entire shoot."
Perez had a tough time leaving her role at work because she was involved in "so many emotional scenes."
"My poor husband, when I would get home, I was like, 'Ahhh,'" she said. "I gained 20 pounds, I would have nightmares. It was crazy."
One "difficult" scene in particular is when Eli asks Denise why she would take in Noah.
"[Denise says], 'Well I wanted to give someone everything that I never had.' And she's speaking about, not material things, but substantial things such as a home and love," Perez explained. “Because of my background, that was so hard for me to deliver that line and I kept saying, 'I'm so sorry I'm messing up, I'm so sorry.' Billy actually took me to the side and goes, 'What's going on?' And I just started crying. He just hugged me and I said, 'I'm trying to get it out without crying.' And he goes, 'Don't worry about it, if you cry, you cry. Come on, let's do it.' And bang, we got it in that take."
Perez and Crystal share many scenes together, and she credits his professionalism on set for creating their "synergy."
"It was really great working with him. I have a pet peeve of actors not coming prepared. It just really bothers me," she explained. "We are so fortunate to do this and you have the nerve not to come prepared and waste everybody's time — especially mine! I felt that Billy and I had that synergy and the way we approach our work, so we clicked."
Before starts streaming Oct. 25 on Apple TV+.