# BONUS: Mira Sorvino

An episode of [Drama Queens](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1571792783), 20 Mar 2026, 14 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/e53aefd3-699f-4685-9a84-aed700f383fa/012d8481-794a-4338-9d13-b411006bc137/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=cf2e6477-1a1d-4442-8b33-ae320005bb63

Bonus time with Mira Sorvino as she shares exclusive insights into her most beloved work—from the improvisation and wild fan devotion surrounding "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion" to the complex, unfiltered character she created in her latest film, "Signing Tony Raymond." It’s a lively, insider look at the instincts, risks, and unexpected moments that turn a performance into something audiences never forget. Stream Mira's new movie "Signing Tony Raymond" here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to work in progress. Welcome
[0:15] Speaker 1: back to part two with the incredible Mira Sorvino friends.
[0:20] Speaker 1: You know, while while I wait for her to get here,
[0:23] Speaker 1: I'm a little early shocker to no one who knows me.
[0:26] Speaker 1: I really was thinking, after the beginning portion of our conversation,
[0:30] Speaker 1: hearing our story, how cool it is that so many
[0:33] Speaker 1: of us who wind up doing this, you know, crazy
[0:36] Speaker 1: job being performers in the circuits, If you will wind
[0:39] Speaker 1: up finding our way to telling other people's stories by
[0:45] Speaker 1: experiencing people's lives, you know, by by being impacted by
[0:51] Speaker 1: a historical event or a place you know, where you
[0:54] Speaker 1: get to know a whole new reality, like she did
[0:57] Speaker 1: studying in China. I think about how following my passion
[1:03] Speaker 1: for history and world events led me into doing the
[1:09] Speaker 1: play that changed my life as a senior in high school, Denial,
[1:13] Speaker 1: a play centering on rights of people's free speech and
[1:21] Speaker 1: some of the historical atrocities from World War two and
[1:25] Speaker 1: the modern day ACLU and all of these things that
[1:29] Speaker 1: kind of came to a head in such a complicated
[1:33] Speaker 1: fashion and made every character in the play have to
[1:35] Speaker 1: examine what they believe and why and who they were
[1:40] Speaker 1: going to stand up for. And it's crazy to think
[1:43] Speaker 1: about this as an adult who spends so much of
[1:45] Speaker 1: my time in advocacy, because I realize how early in
[1:51] Speaker 1: my exploration of what I wanted my career to be,
[1:54] Speaker 1: the advocacy and the storytelling were so intertwined. And to
[1:58] Speaker 1: hear that from her in her own way, I don't know,
[2:02] Speaker 1: it gives me some sort of of a kismet or
[2:06] Speaker 1: a shared something even deeper than well, we both tell stories, Oh,
[2:11] Speaker 1: we're both actors, you know. It really reminds me of,
[2:17] Speaker 1: I guess, the specialness under all of it. And Yeah,
[2:21] Speaker 1: I realized how cool that was. She made me think
[2:23] Speaker 1: about some things I hadn't thought about in a while.
[2:25] Speaker 1: So I wanted to share that with you all, just
[2:29] Speaker 1: for a little bit deeper context on Yeah, on why
[2:34] Speaker 1: I love and feel so lucky to be a storyteller.
[2:37] Speaker 1: So cool that someone I've literally looked up to for
[2:40] Speaker 1: my whole career has a version of that story too. Okay,
[2:44] Speaker 1: I'm going to stop geeking out about this and bring
[2:47] Speaker 1: her back into the interview room because I think I'm
[2:51] Speaker 1: too bashful to tell you this part of the story
[2:53] Speaker 1: to her face, but she'll.
[2:56] Speaker 2: Hear the episode one of these days. All right, let's
[2:59] Speaker 2: dive back in with Mira.
[3:10] Speaker 1: We talked about this a little bit in the last episode,
[3:12] Speaker 1: but when you won your Academy Award for Mighty ephor Diety,
[3:15] Speaker 1: you said something that really sticks with me that you
[3:18] Speaker 1: wanted to be an actor to make people see something
[3:21] Speaker 1: about the human spirit.
[3:22] Speaker 2: You know, my dad did do a movie called Dummy
[3:25] Speaker 2: when I was a kid. That was really my inspiration
[3:27] Speaker 2: for wanting to be an actor. So he played a
[3:30] Speaker 2: deaf lawyer who was defending a deaf mute young man
[3:34] Speaker 2: played by LeVar Burton, who had been accused of rape
[3:36] Speaker 2: and murder. And it was based on a real person.
[3:40] Speaker 2: And Dad did so much research on deaf speech, and
[3:44] Speaker 2: he worked with these kids at the Lexington School for
[3:47] Speaker 2: the Deaf for three weeks and he developed three different
[3:49] Speaker 2: stages of death speech. And then he had the opportunity
[3:51] Speaker 2: to go and interview the real Lowell Myers, the real lawyer,
[3:55] Speaker 2: and he realized he had a different voice than he
[3:57] Speaker 2: would have imagined, like his the tone of his voice
[4:00] Speaker 2: was lower, so he brought his voice down like an octave,
[4:04] Speaker 2: and then you know, the movie is very heartbreaking because
[4:08] Speaker 2: it's sort of how the social just how the justice
[4:12] Speaker 2: system treats marginalized people, the criminal justice system. And LeVar
[4:17] Speaker 2: Burton just does an incredible job as this young man
[4:20] Speaker 2: who is really abused by the system. And Dad gave
[4:26] Speaker 2: such a performance that was so moving, and as the
[4:29] Speaker 2: story progressed twenty years into it, he could barely speak
[4:34] Speaker 2: understandably because he had gone profoundly deaf at twelve, and
[4:38] Speaker 2: over the years lost all the consonants and the plosives,
[4:41] Speaker 2: and it just sounded more and more distorted. And yet
[4:44] Speaker 2: he gives this like stunning, you know, summation speech in
[4:47] Speaker 2: the courtroom, and I was just so in awe of it,
[4:50] Speaker 2: and I was like, there's something noble about this craft.
[4:52] Speaker 2: There's something When it's at its best, it can combine
[4:56] Speaker 2: art and truth telling in a way that is meaningful
[5:01] Speaker 2: to a larger society. It can always be meaningful on
[5:04] Speaker 2: the human level, like you can see yourself in the
[5:06] Speaker 2: characters being portrayed or in the story. But sometimes when
[5:10] Speaker 2: it has bigger themes and it's really beautifully articulated and executed,
[5:15] Speaker 2: you can have an effect that might go beyond that moment.
[5:18] Speaker 2: When people are.
[5:19] Speaker 1: Watching yeah, and it takes these stories, you know, these
[5:24] Speaker 1: these people and their journeys out of the bucket of
[5:28] Speaker 1: ideas and it makes them real to us in such
[5:31] Speaker 1: a way. You know, someone who watches that film is
[5:34] Speaker 1: going to be affected in a way that just reading
[5:36] Speaker 1: an article about how marginalized people are mistreated in the
[5:39] Speaker 1: justice system, it isn't isn't going to break.
[5:44] Speaker 2: Yeah, their heart's break, and yeah, both Dad and LeVar
[5:48] Speaker 2: put their hearts out there for everybody to see. And
[5:51] Speaker 2: I think when you're authentically acting, you know, I note
[5:54] Speaker 2: that there is a British philosophy that if you cry,
[5:57] Speaker 2: the audience won't. But I kind of feel the opposite
[5:59] Speaker 2: is true, that when you're really feeling something truly inside
[6:03] Speaker 2: yourself and you're living truthfully under imaginary circumstances, but your
[6:07] Speaker 2: own heart is really broken or vulnerable or whatever, that
[6:11] Speaker 2: the instinct in people for empathy clicks in and they
[6:16] Speaker 2: are autonomously like moved by you because they're seeing another
[6:19] Speaker 2: being in pain, you know, and they connect that it's real.
[6:24] Speaker 2: And I think when you're using the artifice of like
[6:27] Speaker 2: a certain handjester and a certain you know, way of
[6:30] Speaker 2: saying a line and faking tears and using like you know,
[6:33] Speaker 2: the plowers of the Glitterer and tears, which I have
[6:36] Speaker 2: never done because my father was like, the day I
[6:39] Speaker 2: use the glacier and tears is the day I walk
[6:41] Speaker 2: out of the business. And it was so adamant about
[6:44] Speaker 2: it that I cannot.
[6:46] Speaker 1: Your character, Sandra, you know you lovingly call her Sandy
[6:51] Speaker 1: in your latest movie, Signing Tony Raymond, has a lot
[6:55] Speaker 1: of spirit, i'd say, a lot of gumption. How much
[6:59] Speaker 1: of her was on the page and made you immediately
[7:02] Speaker 1: want to say yes? And what did you decide to
[7:05] Speaker 1: bring into her as you were workshopping your prep for
[7:09] Speaker 1: this movie.
[7:10] Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think Sandy is a lot of
[7:15] Speaker 2: it was on the page, but I think I turned
[7:17] Speaker 2: it up to eleven. You know, I saw an opportunity
[7:22] Speaker 2: in her to be very mercurial, to go from you know,
[7:28] Speaker 2: extreme defiance to sort of contemplative talk with the coach
[7:32] Speaker 2: when she's saying, I just want what was best for
[7:33] Speaker 2: my boy, and then fueled by the extra vodka that
[7:37] Speaker 2: she goes to get in the kitchen, and then all
[7:38] Speaker 2: of a sudden she's trying to seduce him on the
[7:39] Speaker 2: kitchen table in this wild way as though she's like
[7:43] Speaker 2: in an eighties hair metal car video, like climbing on
[7:48] Speaker 2: the table and coming, you know, sprinkling herself with like
[7:50] Speaker 2: season stuff. It's crazy, right, And so I just had
[7:55] Speaker 2: so much fun with that. I really love playing these
[7:58] Speaker 2: characters that have both heart and like a little bit
[8:01] Speaker 2: of insanity to their behavior, Like they're just a little
[8:04] Speaker 2: bit of like whatever they think comes out. There's no
[8:08] Speaker 2: socialization that stops them, no filter. Yeah, yeah, I mean
[8:13] Speaker 2: later there is a moment where she's like, I'm sorry,
[8:15] Speaker 2: I shouldn't have tried to stace you. That really would
[8:18] Speaker 2: have ruined our friendship, wouldn't it. Him? And she's like, also,
[8:21] Speaker 2: you know, like I love Otis, you know, I couldn't
[8:24] Speaker 2: really be with anybody else. So after the fact, after
[8:27] Speaker 2: she's come down out of her sort of impulse driven moment,
[8:31] Speaker 2: then she can think about it. But at the time
[8:34] Speaker 2: she's like, she is not regulated. She is not someone
[8:38] Speaker 2: who's been through therapy that brings herself down. It takes
[8:41] Speaker 2: a time out and takes some deep breath and recognizes
[8:44] Speaker 2: and speaks in you know, like eye phrases. Now she's
[8:48] Speaker 2: just you know, out for blood, you know, because she
[8:50] Speaker 2: gets triggered, I think, into feeling like she's being judged
[8:54] Speaker 2: or sought stupid, like because these coaches come out here
[8:59] Speaker 2: and they're trying to to flip some dollars in front
[9:03] Speaker 2: of them and be like, we're gonna take care of
[9:05] Speaker 2: your boy. But they're just playing them, and so she
[9:08] Speaker 2: and Otis start playing the coaches instead, you know, and
[9:10] Speaker 2: they're just She's just like, we're not stupid, and don't
[9:13] Speaker 2: you think we are? But you know, so when she
[9:17] Speaker 2: gets that sort of judgment from them, like like they
[9:21] Speaker 2: don't matter, Like they're like, we're not real, you know,
[9:24] Speaker 2: to them, we're insignificant. Only our son is important because
[9:27] Speaker 2: of his talent. You know, just something ignites and she's
[9:30] Speaker 2: just very you know. And I think some of what
[9:33] Speaker 2: happens once I've done the prep. Once I worked on
[9:36] Speaker 2: the accent. Obviously, I'm not from the South, so I
[9:39] Speaker 2: worked very hard, and the director would correct me when
[9:41] Speaker 2: I would make little mistakes, and we'd do it again
[9:43] Speaker 2: and do it again. But you know, he found me
[9:47] Speaker 2: some women to base the voice off of, and I
[9:49] Speaker 2: picked them one and I felt was closest to the character.
[9:51] Speaker 2: But half of it is unconscious. I feel like in
[9:55] Speaker 2: comedy like that where you're also improving, and I love
[9:59] Speaker 2: him having it's going to be my question. I love Yeah,
[10:01] Speaker 2: some of it is improved. Yeah as ok, some of
[10:03] Speaker 2: my diaphordity, as is some of romy and Michelle as is.
[10:06] Speaker 2: You know a lot of comedy stuff that I've done.
[10:10] Speaker 2: I did this wonderful movie by Nancy Siboka called Union
[10:14] Speaker 2: Square that no one has seen, and I really hope
[10:16] Speaker 2: it gets like a life on streaming at some point.
[10:17] Speaker 2: But it was very improvy. All my best comedy has
[10:21] Speaker 2: improv in it, and and I think in those improv moments,
[10:25] Speaker 2: like your subconscious is blurting out whatever is the character
[10:31] Speaker 2: in that moment, And if you've made the character intrinsically funny,
[10:34] Speaker 2: then that's going to be funny. You know, she's gonna
[10:36] Speaker 2: say something bizarrow or like like what Yeah. But it's
[10:42] Speaker 2: not like I'm planning it. Like once in a while,
[10:44] Speaker 2: like the night before, like I'll be like this is
[10:47] Speaker 2: missing something here, and so I'll write some lines and
[10:50] Speaker 2: then I'll show them to the director next day. It's like,
[10:52] Speaker 2: is it okay if I actually add this here or
[10:56] Speaker 2: swamp this out here? I promise I won't make the
[10:58] Speaker 2: scene too long. But try this, and you know, usually
[11:02] Speaker 2: they'll say yes, and then usually some part of that,
[11:04] Speaker 2: not all of it, but some part of it and
[11:05] Speaker 2: makes it that Yeah.
[11:07] Speaker 1: Yeah, Oh that's so much fun. I was wondering because
[11:11] Speaker 1: someone who is so as you said, mercurial or reactive
[11:15] Speaker 1: screams an improv opportunity to me. So I was wondering
[11:20] Speaker 1: how much of that you got to do.
[11:22] Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, you brought up.
[11:24] Speaker 1: Romeo Michelle, which if I was not on a zoom screen,
[11:28] Speaker 1: I'd be bowing down. It's such a cultural touchstone. It's
[11:35] Speaker 1: I know what it is for me sentimentally and in
[11:37] Speaker 1: my memories with my friends. It is a version of
[11:40] Speaker 1: that for so many people. I'm really curious for you.
[11:45] Speaker 1: It looked like the most fun movie to make. And
[11:47] Speaker 1: I know recently you went to a fan screening and
[11:51] Speaker 1: a Q and A. Was it such a trip to
[11:54] Speaker 1: watch all these people watch it and get to re
[11:57] Speaker 1: experience it.
[11:59] Speaker 2: From from this stage of your life. Yeah, I mean
[12:03] Speaker 2: it's evergreen, you know, like uh, Robin Schiff and I
[12:06] Speaker 2: did a screening of it a couple of years ago,
[12:09] Speaker 2: and I think it was Hollywood forever. I think it
[12:13] Speaker 2: was it No where was it. It was It was
[12:15] Speaker 2: sin yes, sin Espia, yes, yes yeah. And this part though,
[12:22] Speaker 2: was in a theater. This was not outside, so it
[12:23] Speaker 2: was in a theater and we walk on the stage
[12:27] Speaker 2: and we got like a five minute standing ovation like
[12:30] Speaker 2: Robin the writer and myself, and I was like, this
[12:33] Speaker 2: is what it feels like to be a rock star,
[12:35] Speaker 2: Like what is happening? Like I am not Eddie Vedder,
[12:39] Speaker 2: I'm not you know, like what is happening? And it
[12:42] Speaker 2: was like I did not, you know, I'm continuously amazed
[12:46] Speaker 2: at how much this movie has meant to people in
[12:48] Speaker 2: their lives. And that is I was at like a
[12:51] Speaker 2: comic con and somebody had me sign their arm as
[12:55] Speaker 2: romy and then they came back half an hour later
[12:59] Speaker 2: with it like bleeding yeah, oh my god, tattooed. And
[13:02] Speaker 2: I was like, oh my gosh, tattoos And it's pretty crazy. Yeah.
[13:07] Speaker 2: Now a lot of people do the dance and their
[13:09] Speaker 2: wedding like they really weirdly at their own wedding, they
[13:13] Speaker 2: have a third party, the Alan coming or the Romey
[13:16] Speaker 2: or the Michelle, and they all do the dance like
[13:18] Speaker 2: it's it's so great. Yeah, yeah, you are such a joy.
[13:22] Speaker 2: And and I just am so thrilled about this.
[13:26] Speaker 1: For our friends at home, obviously, I know you'll be
[13:29] Speaker 1: rewatching romy and Michelle this week, but make sure you
[13:32] Speaker 1: also tune in to see Signing Tony Raymond. It's available
[13:36] Speaker 1: now on Amazon Prime and Apple TV, so you have
[13:40] Speaker 1: multiple avenues upon which you can watch Mira's brilliant The
[13:45] Speaker 1: movies just so fantastic and as are you. Thank you
[13:48] Speaker 1: for coming today.
[13:49] Speaker 2: Thank you, Sophia, this was a joy. Thank you so much.

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