Ryan Murphy gets candid about navigating through Cory Monteith’s death
by Ana Walia | Wed, 09 Nov 2022 19:09:50 GMT
Cory Monteith as Finn Hudson on Glee. Image Source: The Daily Beast 

Ryan Murphy gets candid about navigating through Cory Monteith’s death.

Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy appeared on the Glee-rewatch podcast "And That’s What You REALLY Missed" and shared about how the cast of Glee navigated through actor Cory Monteith’s death. Staff at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel discovered the actor's body after he failed to check out on time.

Earlier podcast co-host Jenna Ushkowitz said that she feels like when Cory Monteith passed away, the show died with him in many ways as it became very different coming back on set after his sudden passing. She said that it was really hard to do and It was never the same for her at least. She further mentioned that Cory was the heart of the show, his character Fin was the heart was the show and it never remained the same when he was gone. 

Cory Monteith, who played the character of Finn Hudson on the show, passed away at the age of 31 in July 2013 due to a heroin and alcohol overdose, and the show went on to pay tribute to the actor in the episode titled "The Quarterback." Ryan said during the podcast with Glee alums Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz that he would not have done that show now; he just would not have done it.

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Ryan Murphy expanded on this in the episode The Quarterback. He felt it was far too raw and far too soon, describing that Cory Monteith had died and that the months leading up to his death had been difficult and emotional, and that it is difficult to love someone and be unaware that he had a drug problem. Ryan admitted to being naive because he didn't know what to do or say, and he was the one who had to lead the intervention, not recognizing what to do or say, and mentioning that he was just desperate to live.

The co-creator stated that after the actor died, they had to decide whether one should cancel or keep going to the show and that it was a difficult decision to make. Ryan Murphy stated that he asked actress Lea Michele, who was dating the late actor at the time, what she wanted to do. He went on to say that it was a big corporate choice to make, and after a couple of weeks of, well, there's a crew here that's been with them since day one, there are many jobs on the line, the show is still doing well, do you keep it going or cancel it?

Ryan went on to say that, of course, there is no correct solution and that he didn't know what to do, and that he spoke with some of the cast and crew members as well as studio heads, but nobody knew how to address Cory Monteith's death on the show. He noted that after many discussions and many opinions, they decided to, well, keep it going. And how do they address what happened if they want to keep it going and keep these jobs? What do you do now that the show's male lead has died? Do they just pretend that it never happened? They knew they couldn't do it, he said. Did he die off-screen?

That did not seem right to him, and he just presumed that after many conversations, they opted to pay homage to him, and he remembers thinking even then, "OK, if they're going to accomplish this, individuals are going to have lots of feelings." Ryan stated that Cory's untimely death was very unforeseen, so the tribute episode was decided upon.

He recalls that the one thing he desired was the presence of a grief counselor on set, who might be contacted at any time (people were just not doing that back then, to his knowledge), he also recounts that not a single individual spoke to that grief counselor. Nobody was particularly interested in sharing how they were feeling about his passing away. 

Kevin McHale went on to say that the cast did not discuss their grief when they were all going through it and that when someone is in the middle of it, it's just that they are barely hanging on, but they keep it together, being professional, and just keep their head down. He explained that when actress and co-star Naya Rivera died in 2020, the cast members began to talk openly about their grief and how they were feeling.

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If he could do it all over again, knowing what they know, the show's co-creator said he would have asked everyone to take a year off and check in every six months to see how everyone is doing. He mentioned that after he died, everyone took time off; he recalls that they continued to move the shooting date, but the world was a different place back then, and everyone who was their boss had great empathy.

Ryan Murphy went on to say that neither of them knows what to do. None of them knew what to do. None of them knew what to say in his honor. None of them knew what to do about the business, but we all knew that when that happened, their hearts all broke and we were all done.

Glee debuted in 2009 and ran for six seasons, with the final season airing in 2015, just a year after Cory Monteith's death.



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