Ray Romano talks Vinyl with Variety
Ray Romano is happy to be trying something new with Vinyl
The first season of HBO’s Vinyl wasn’t a hit by any means. It was unfocused, and a shoe-horned murder plot did it no favor. It did, however, feature excellent musical performances by actors portraying music stars of the 70’s. The original showrunner left after creative differences with HBO, and that’s where we are now.
Ray Romano, one of the stars of Vinyl, sat down with Variety for a talk about his career post Everybody Loves Raymond. It turns out that it’s difficult to avoid being typecast after nine years as a sitcom dad. The interview is a treat for Romano fans, and there are interesting tidbits about his role on Vinyl as well. You know, like the fact that Martin Scorsese had never heard of him:
"“Scorsese had never heard of me before. He’d never seen “Raymond.” I put myself on tape and sent in a video. He told his casting director he’d never heard of me — not that he’d never seen “Raymond” before, but he’d never even heard of me. It was the best backhanded compliment I ever got…He didn’t have to overcome Ray Barone when he watched me.”"
Watch Ray Romano on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon:
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It’s a funny thought that Scorsese had never heard of Romano before, but it is perhaps what helped him get over the typecasting issue. Martin Scorsese is so huge of a director that he hasn’t even heard of Everybody Loves Raymond. Romano also talks about the difficulties of playing a character like Zak Yankovich. For those that haven’t seen the first season of Vinyl yet, consider this a spoiler warning. Romano had trouble not only having Zak contemplate suicide, but also with the threesome scene:
"“I had to be naked, which was terrifying for me. And I had to do it in a scene with Bobby Cannavale…I had to be drunk in that episode, too. For me as an actor, the two scariest things are being drunk and naked.”"
Next: The White Walkers don't matter.
Romano was a bright spot in Vinyl’s first season. We need more of that in season two for this show to fully reach its potential.