Beanie Feldstein is opening up about portraying Monica Lewinsky in the highly anticipated limited series Impeachment: American Crime Story.
In a new cover story for W, the actress revealed that she was dedicated to portraying Lewinsky in a more personal light, and that she related to the former White House intern-turned-anti-bullying advocate more than she realized.
"I felt gutted by some of the things that Monica went through. My task is to be Monica's bodyguard—to put my body in front of hers," Feldstein told the magazine. "It's my job to portray her pain, because I feel so much for her."
The actress continued, "Monica and I are cut from the same cloth in so many ways. We're both Jewish girls from L.A. who listen to show tunes on the treadmill! But still, I never felt less in my comfort place than when I was playing Monica. Obviously, I'm queer, so I don't know if I'd flirt with the president, but who knows? When Clinton shined his light on you, there was no better feeling in the world."
Feldstein also said that if it were her in Lewinsky's shoes, getting personal attention from the president of the United States, she probably would have pursued the affair as well.
"It wouldn't matter if you were male, female, nonbinary, queer. When that man put his spotlight on you, the world fell away," Feldstein said. "And if I was 22 and the most powerful person in the world focused his high beams on me, I would probably do the exact same thing as Monica."
Feldstein also shared that she met Lewinsky in person ahead of preparing for production, but only once due to COVID-19 obstacles. Lewinsky serves as an executive producer on the upcoming Ryan Murphy project, and according to Feldstein, per Entertainment Weekly, Lewinsky had a say in "every word" and "every script page."
Bianca Betancourt is the culture editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com, where she covers all things film, TV, music, and more. When she's not writing, she loves impulsively baking a batch of cookies, re-listening to the same early-2000s pop playlist, and stalking Mariah Carey's Twitter feed.
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