Rosie O’Donnell ‘Didn’t Love’ American Gigolo, Describes Difficulties Working With Jon Bernthal

Perhaps it was all for the best that Showtime’s American Gigolo series only lasted one season. Based on the 1980 film by director Paul Schrader, the TV series adaptation premiered on Showtime last fall. Months later, it was revealed that the show had been canceled after one season, and given the rather rotten reviews, the news was not the surprise of the century.

In the show, Jon Bernthal plays Julian “Johnny” Kaye, a man who seeks employment as a sex worker after his release from prison, having served 15 years for a murder he was wrongfully accused of. One of his co-stars was Rosie O’Donnell, who played Detective Joan Sunday. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, O’Donnell admitted how she “didn’t love” the series, agreeing with the critics’ consensus. She also shared how it wasn’t a fun set to be on either, claiming that it was “difficult’ to work with Bernthal given his obvious disdain for playing a gigolo. As O’Donnell says:

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“I didn’t love it either, and I questioned at first why you would take a movie set in the mores of the early ’80s and try to remake it without having the seismic cultural shifts that have occurred since then incorporated. One review wrote, ‘It’s almost as though Rosie’s in a different show,’ and in a way, it was. Jon Bernthal was not happy with the show, and it was very clear. It’s difficult to work that way on a set. He was never happy that he was playing a gigolo. And I’m like, ‘Well, it’s called American Gigolo.’ Listen, it was heavy on the gigolo.”

Related: Paul Schrader Thinks American Gigolo Adaptation is a ‘Terrible Idea’

Original American Gigolo Director Paul Schrader Wasn’t on Board

Showtime

Original American Gigolo writer and director Paul Schrader previously revealed how he turned down getting involved with the series, feeling from the start that it wasn’t a good idea. After the trailer for the Showtime series was released online, Schrader took to Facebook to clarify that he wasn’t involved in any way.

“Some years ago I received a call from Paramount asking about remaking American Gigolo as a series,” the filmmaker said. “I replied that I thought it was a terrible idea–times had changed, internet porn had redefined male sex work, viruses, etc. I couldn’t imagine Julian Kaye working a Hen Party. (Scorsese and I had fought off similar attempts to redo Taxi Driver for years.) I thought that was the end of it.”

Still offering well wishes for the cast, he added, “I’m a great fan of [Jon] Bernthal and wish Gretchen Mol the best (also wish I could have done a better job with the film I wrote and directed for her [Forever Mine]–sorry for that, Gretch).”

David Hollander developed the American Gigolo TV series adaptation for the Showtime network. Along with Bernthal, O’Donnell, and Mol, the series starred Gabriel LaBelle, Lizzie Brochere, Harlow Happy Hxum, Wayne Brady, Sandrine Holt, and Leland Orser. The show spanned eight total episodes.

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