Ryan Murphy Talks ‘Glee’ – The Hottest New Show Of The Season

Not only is ‘Glee‘ one of the most buzzed about new series of the TV season, but it’s also got a plum spot on the Fox schedule, premiering Tuesday May 19th at 9pm ET right after the season finale of ‘American Idol.’ This special one-hour preview will whet fans’ appetites for the Fall when it’s expected to be a part of the regular schedule. From the mind of ‘Nip/Tuck‘ creator Ryan Murphy, ‘Glee’ tells the tale of the school misfits that bond together to form a Glee club and shows the power of song, hope and having fun. Fancast got on a press call recently with Murphy to discuss the show’s musical numbers, the expectations for the series, and even talk of a ‘Glee’ movie already?

How are you picking the songs for the show? Is there a magic formula at all?

All the episodes, we’re writing them thematically. Obviously you don’t do that for a pilot because a pilot is just sort of an origins tale, but it really just comes down to stuff that I like and stuff that I think fits the characters and moves the story along. And also, with every episode, we do between five and eight music numbers, and my goal is to really try and give the audience something for everybody. We have a hip-hop. We have an R&B. We have a top 40. We have country.

But as for the Sopranos thing, I mean everybody knows that that song was used on the show, but to me it transcends anything. It’s always been an anthem. I think it’s the number one most popular song in the history of iTunes or something like that. And it just seemed, I liked the idea of six ten-year-old kids interpreting that song, seeing what somebody that age would do with it, so that was always the jumping off point. Steve Perry has been incredible about licensing the song for us. He’s been and seen the pilot and loves it, and is very supportive. We’re hoping for him to make some sort of promotional appearances or do something with the show just because he’s been so great, and we all love him.

Is there anything that you can tease music wise that’s coming up in terms of…?

I would prefer not to do that just because there are so many great things, and I was asked not to. But I’ll just say that there’s something for everyone, but we’re doing big, classic rock, ’70s songs. The key to the music is to do stuff for the most part that people know, which is why I think so many people love American Idol because it’s musical comfort food in some way.

People who have been following your series from Popular to Nip/Tuck know that a lot of your actors seem to transition from show-to-show. You bring them back in guest roles. Can we expect with, besides Jessalyn, to see any familiar faces on Glee, as we move forward?

It’s funny that you said that because, with this show, I sort of have decided not to do that because the approach that we had, you know, pretty much did the casting of this pilot was to sort of use a lot of singers and dancers and Broadway people, so I really sort of want fresh voices and fresh faces in this one, so I don’t think I’ll be doing that sort of cross-pollination that I did.

Deep down, these kids, they’re still going to be the geeks of the school. They’re not going to magically going to become the popular kid are they?

No. No, I mean the show really is about underdogs, and I think the key to the tone and the heart of the show is that people will love them because they are underdogs, so I didn’t want to do a show where they were all sort of super glossing and fantastic. The show it also set in the Midwest where I’m from, so we’re trying to keep it very authentic to that.

Can we expect a soundtrack of the show?

Yes. We’re sort of in the midst of dealing with a soundtrack, and the great thing about it is musically the show is really, really been supported wildly by Fox network and studios. We do between six to eight songs per episode, and it takes a long time to produce and to get all those songs ready, so what we’re doing is to make sure that the production value is wildly as high as the pilot. Fox has been so gracious as to give us a sort of scheduled music hiatus where we can take a couple days and catch up and produce the demos and have the kids come in and record them and do the choreography. That being said, one of the reasons why we’re doing that is because there’s going to be a series of albums where I think we’ll probably put out an album every couple of months because we will have so much material.

Then also, we’re going to have all of the songs, when you watch the show, available that night immediately on iTunes, so if you like something, you can go buy it. But the music part is obviously the most challenging, but also the most exciting and the soundtrack was bid on by seven different companies, so we’ve had a lot of luck with that, and that’s something that I’m really interested in. I’m glad that the network and the studio continue to support it in the manner that they have.

Has there been any pressure from Fox to dumb this show down?

Actually, I’ve always been hesitant to do a network show. I’ve never had much luck with it just because I think my voice is pretty specific and a little bit subversive. And I told Kevin Reilly when I pitched it that if I was going to do it, I wanted to do it in a very specific way, and Kevin was the person who bought ‘Nip/Tuck’ in the room, so he kind of got my sensibility.

And to my surprise and utter pleasure, Fox has really kept their word. In fact, they’re pushing me to make it much more in the vein of the pilot, and they’ve never once tried to take anything out because they thought it was too sort of nuts, but I’ve also been very conscious that I think the key to the show is to – it’s a show with a lot of heart, and it’s a show about underdogs, and you want it to have a certain kindness to it. But it also does have weird elements, but they’ve been very supportive of those knowing that that’s my tone, and that’s what keeps me interested, so I’ve been surprised, and it’s been a really great give and take so far.

But also, I want to do a show that appeals to everybody. I’ve done a cable show and that to me was a big challenge. I’ve done sort of eight years of darkness and really adult stuff, and I was like, OK, I want to try something different. I want to do a show that has a bigger heart and is kinder, but make no mistake. It still has an edge, and they’ve been supportive of that.

I wanted to ask just a little bit about your reaction when you found out the plan for scheduling the premiere – coming on after American Idol – and then oh, but wait, the rest of it is going to come out in the fall.

It was an interesting thing where they called me up and they proposed it, and I was sort of hesitant because I said, well, I like that you believe in it so much, and I like the support that you want to put behind it. But it does bother me that it would be off the air for four months, like you would think that – or three months. But as Kevin explained it to me, this is really just a great – it’s a preview. That’s what they’re calling it. It is a preview. And I keep saying it’s like having a movie trailer before the movie Titanic.

It’s just a great way to get as many eyeballs to sample your show as possible, and the thing that sold me with it is that it’s airing after the penultimate episode of ‘American Idol,’ but then it’s immediately going to be made all available to people all summer long. You can buy it and download it off the Internet, the pilot episode, and also we’re going to be, throughout the summer, not only can you get it, and I think if people get it, I will love that, renting it and buying it. But also we’re going to have music available starting in August. We’re going to be teasing some big numbers that we have coming up in the show.

To me, it also seemed very brave and like nothing that had ever been done on network television, and I think it’s a really big night of television. We’re up against some great, classic shows. It’s not necessarily about popping a number. It’s just about slowly getting people to be aware of the show in a way that I think is very original, and I like it because there’s no other fall show that will have that. They’re spending a lot of time and money on marketing it in May for one night only and then selling it all summer, and slowly teasing stuff out before it comes in the fall, so I think it’s a really good idea.

How did you go about the casting process, and was there somebody who you found right away where you were like, I’ve got to get this person. I can build around this person.

Well, it was the great thing about when they picked up the pilot. Was very clear that I wanted to cast it in a specific way. We were offered a lot of stars, and I said no because I wanted to get real – a lot of Broadway people in there, and that’s what we did. And we cast it for a really long time. I think we cast for three months, which, in television time, is like a year. Fox was very supportive about sending us on trips all across the country, particularly to New York to sort of really get into that Broadway community and meet people.

But everybody who was cast, even if you don’t sing or dance in the pilot, you kind of had to do so in the room. You had to come in. You had to act, and you had to have an audition song. And I feel that everybody who got these parts really earned them, and it was just really fun for me.

Also, through that process, you sort of really learned a lot about the actors you did cast, and then you can write towards them and what their gifts are. Like Matthew Morrison, who plays the lead, for instance, his audition was he came into the room with a ukulele and sang, I think, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, which is a very odd but funny sweet choice, so low and behold we’ll be doing that on the show. It was just sort of moments like that.

And the only person I really had my eye on earlier than later was Lea Michele just because she was a friend of mine, because I’m friends with Jonathan Groff who did Spring Awakening, and I got to know her through that, and also Jane Lynch. She’s a friend of mine, so those were kind of the two I had my eyes on and were writing towards early, but I made it clear to Lea that, look, to get this part, you have to come into the room, and you have to earn it. And you will have competition. And she did. She just blew everybody away, but it was fun. It was fun. It was long.

What do you think the key is to keeping people engaged in a show?

For me, I think the key for this show was – I was interested in doing a musical, but I wanted to do sort of a post-modern musical. That was always how I sold it, so I said, look; it’s not going to be – they were not interested in, as Fox, and neither was I, doing a show where people suddenly burst into song. That’s not how what I wanted to do. I said, look; if they’re going to sing, there’s going to be three rules. It will be done where they’re on stage rehearsing or performing or whether they’re in the rehearsal room, or it will sort of be in that sort of fantasy that has been routed on the stage, and you realize that they were performing it in their head or performing out to the auditorium the entire time. I think that, for me, gave it some sort of life and structure, and I think that makes it more accessible to people.

I think that one of the reasons why I think ‘Chicago,’ for instance, was such a brilliant movie and was so successful was because I think it had rules. The rules were very clear and it made sense. I think when you start mixing stuff is when people get confused, but also I was very inspired by the ‘American Idol’ idea just because I think the key is to do songs that people know and interpret them in a different an unusual way, and I think that’s what that show has done, and I think that’s why that show is such a hit.

So people always say, are you nervous about doing a musical on television on television? I always say, well, not really because the most successful TV show in the history of television is a musical, and the most successful TV show on right now is a musical, and that’s ‘American Idol,’ and I think that we’ve sort of learned some lessons from why that show works, and hopefully adopted them to sort of the post-modern thing that we’re doing.

I was wondering if you were ever involved in musical theater in high school and everything, if that’s how you are getting the tone and all that for the stories.

Yes, I was. There was three writers, and two of us were, and one of us wasn’t. What I like about that is sort of the one that wasn’t is always like, wait, this really happens? We were like, yes. He’s like, well, nobody will believe that, so it is through the prism of, for the most part, the writer’s experience. What I love – you know, what I remember about that time when I was doing all those shows and stuff is that I grew up in Indiana. But when you do get the lead in something or you’re performing, you sort of feel that the world is suddenly available to you, and you have so much optimism about what you can become, and it doesn’t even have to be about being a performer. It’s just about a belief in yourself, and I remember that feeling, and it was very important to me. And that’s what I wanted the show to be about, so I do sort of draw on that experience that I had.

My question is about Jane Lynch. Could you just talk about the decision to up her to series regular and then her and the cheerleaders’ role as foils to Mr. Schuester and the Glee club?

I love her, and I’ve worked with Jane before. I’ve always loved working with her, and she’s very, very funny. The funny thing about that role was, it was a very, very small role when we did the pilot, and it was put in the pilot just to give Will a foil, like somebody to sort of butt against, and I just loved the idea of different kinds of performing in high school. I think that performing now in high school can be cheerleading. It can be athletics. It could be a bunch of different things. It’s not just glee club or drama, so I wanted to get that point across, and I loved that sort of character for Jane because I think she does it really well, so we wrote it for her, and we offered it to her, and she jumped at the chance.

Then what happened was we did the pilot, and she sort of sewed that character … leapt off the screen, I thought, and people loved her so much that we said to her, would you like to enlarge the part and be a series regular, and she loved that idea, so we did. But it really just came from shooting it and seeing it and seeing how good she was in the part. It sort of grew.

There’s been rumors that the pilot that was sent around a couple of – like a month ago – wasn’t the final pilot, and there have been some tweaks to it since then. I was wondering if that was true and, if so, what have you guys tweaked?

No, we didn’t tweak anything. Basically what happened is there’s going to be two versions of the pilot. That pilot was incredibly long. That pilot I think that you guys saw I think was 47 something, and to have that ‘American Idol’ slot, you have to be to the second. You can’t go over, which is the typical hour, so basically nothing has changed, except I’ve lifted – I think I’ve lifted two or three scenes from the pilot. But then what’s going to happen in September, they’re going to call it the director’s cut, and that’s everything will be sort of reinstated because then we can have the time to go longer. So that version will be seen in September, and also that will be the version that will be, I think, sold online.

How did you came up with the idea of the show and was it brought on by the success of ‘American Idol’ and ‘High School Musical?’

No. It wasn’t because of that. Basically, for me, I had sort of been doing ‘Nip/Tuck’ for many, many years, and when I got this overall deal at Fox, one of the first things I said to them was I want to do something that’s very different – that’s completely the opposite of that because if you have success in one genre, they want you to keep doing it over and over again, and I didn’t want to do something dark again, although ironically my next thing will be dark.

I said, I kind of want to do a musical, but I don’t know what that would be. And they said, well, we’ve been wanting to do a musical forever, and we can’t figure out how to crack it. I said, give me some time. We’ll think about it, and then literally like two days later I was approached by Mike Novak, who is a producer on the pilot, and he said, I had this idea. A friend of mine wrote something that I think is a great movie that we want you to produce. I read it, and I said, well, I don’t think this is a movie for me, but I love the title, and I love the idea. Let’s just do that, and maybe we can turn that into a TV show, so we threw sort of the script away. Then Ian, who wrote it, and myself and Brad sort of sat in a room and came up with what you see in the pilot. We went and pitched it. Shockingly, they said yes, and we wrote it, and they picked it up the day we turned it in. So it happened very, very quickly, as sometimes good things do.

But I have never seen ‘High School Musical.’ I know the conceit of it, and I know kind of what it’s about. I certainly know the cast, but I’ve never watched it. But I admire it. I think that what they’ve done is fantastic, but we were never sort of, you know, trying to do anything like that. I was trying to do something that was much more like a musical version of just sort of movies that I loved that were a little bit sort of high school is the metaphor. High school is not actually what it’s about, if that makes any sense.

I wanted it to be snarky, and I wanted it to have attitude, and I also wanted it to have heart, and I wanted the musical numbers to be spectacular, and that’s the great thing about their belief in it is they’re giving us the money to continue to do these extravaganzas, which are really, really fun to do, and hard. It takes a long time to do even one musical number, let alone five to eight per show, but they’ve kept supporting that, and that’s been fun.

It’s probably a long way down the line, but you’ve had these TV shows that have spun off and turned themselves into movies. Since the idea was kind of based on a movie, would you ever consider turning the show into a movie at some future point?

It’s so funny to me about the life that this thing already has. I already have an offer to turn it into a movie, and there’s somebody who already wants to turn it into a Broadway show, and also there’s somebody who wants to turn it into an ice-skating show before it’s even aired, so all those things, I keep saying, well, that’s very kind and wonderful, but let’s get it on the air first, you know.

In the episodes that follow the pilot, are there any new cast members? Are there any changes to the basic structure of the show, or are there interesting guest stars or something that we could talk about?

What happens after you see the pilot is there are 6 kids who are in glee club, and what you find out is that you need 12 to go to regionals and sectionals. The first five episodes particularly are about the teachers’ hunt to find those kids from all different walks of life in the school. So six new characters do come onboard from all different walks of life. Then at the end, I think in episode 4, you have your core group of 12.

Then Kristin Chenoweth’s character is introduced in the fourth or fifth episode, and she hopefully will be recurring, and she’ll be back again because we loved her and she was so great. We’re just now sort of getting ready to shoot the 8th episode of 13, and I’ve been careful that I haven’t wanted to do stunt casting because I think you want the world to feel very authentic and spend that time on your existing characters as opposed to new ones, so I haven’t done a lot of that yet. I think I will. I get offered people all the time, but I want to make sure that it’s right for the show and its tone is correct.

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