Drea de Matteo speaks about the challenges of filming in one location for Collide, and how playing Adriana on The Sopranos became a blessing in her life.
In an Internet age where relevancy disappears in the blink of an eye, Drea de Matteo still remains as popular as ever thanks to her iconic role on The Sopranos. De Matteo starred as Adriana La Cerva, the fiery girlfriend of Christopher Moltisanti known for her ambition and unique sense of fashion. Despite being off the air for over 15 years, de Matteo is still best-known for the role that snagged her an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2004.
Now, de Matteo is making a name for herself on the indie scene as she stars in Collide, a thrilling story that intertwines the lives of three couples over the course of one night at a Los Angeles restaurant. De Matteo plays Angie, an ambitious woman who is having an affair with the restaurant’s manager. In conversation with Digital Trends, the veteran actress speaks about the challenges of filming in one location, her newfound love for villains, and how playing Adriana became a blessing in her life.
Note: This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.
Digital Trends: You read the script for Collide. What’s your initial reaction?
Drea de Matteo: Mukunda (Michael Dewil), the writer and director, wrote the most incredible script that takes place in one location. All of these post-COVID projects, people were trying to do stuff quickly for a little bit of money. All these directors have had to work during the pandemic. All these people want to get together and work no matter what. This was a great opportunity. All the projects that I did in the last couple of years all took place in one location, which is interesting.
It’s like a Broadway play.
Yeah. But also, even when you’re doing a sitcom, it’s all in that one [place]. But at least it’s pretending to change locations. This really took place in one location, and his script was so high-concept. Normally, you would think you need millions of dollars to shoot something like this because of all the excitement towards the end and all the overlapping. It’s a really great script.
Your character, Angie, is the wife of Jim Gaffigan’s character, Peter. You’re having an affair with the restaurant manager. Because it’s set in one place, there’s not a lot of backstory to each character. Did you have to make up more of a backstory for your character, or were there enough details in the script to build upon?
Well, there was some stuff in the script that I could build on that didn’t make it to the [final] cut because we were in a time crunch. We were shooting nights, not days. So Mukunda had me like dancing by the bar, trying to get attention from people. She’s in her 50s, trying to get attention, doesn’t feel like a young woman anymore. So she’s definitely feeling that midlife crisis vibe. We didn’t shoot those scenes, thank God. I might’ve had a heart attack if I had to do that [laughing].
But I gave myself the backstory that Jim took care of me. I might have been a broken young lady, and he kind of gave me my wings to fly, and I probably took advantage of him. I was like a spoiled kid in his world, to a large degree, and now I’m trying to live on the edge a little.
