Ryan Murphy talks Cory Monteith, Lea Michele, continuing 'Glee'
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After Cory Monteith's tragic death, Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy has found it difficult to find the right way to move forward.
Murphy spoke with The Hollywood Reporter, addressing the death of the beloved Canadian cast member, whom he described as an "older son". Murphy states that he and his fellow producers, in addition to co-star Lea Michele, who was Monteith’s off-screen girlfriend, have discussed their options.
“When you’re faced with something so sad and so shocking, what do you do? Do we cancel the show? Do we start shooting in January? What do we do?” says Murphy. “Ultimately, we decided the best thing for everyone is to get back to work and be around people who knew him and loved him so that everyone can grieve together.”
FOX officially announced on Friday that Glee's fifth-season premiere date would be pushed back a week, and will now debut on Sept. 26, with production beginning in August instead of late July.
In the interview, Murphy praises Michele’s strength in the wake of the tragedy, stating that he and his producers intend to take their cues from her. After Monteith's passing, Murphy let Michele know that it would be fine by him if she decided that the show, or her role in it, should not continue. However, Murphy says that Michele "bravely" declared that such a move wasn't an option.
Yet the question remains regarding how the show will address Monteith's absence. Murphy states that the current plan is to pay tribute to Monteith in the season's third episode, following the two-episode Beatles tribute that will kick off the season. However, Murphy states this will only happen if he and his team "can get it perfect." Murphy intends to take a long hiatus after this, in order to recharge his batteries and figure out what to do with the show, and how to come back. As for now, the first two episodes of season five will have to be tweaked due to Monteith's absence. What has not been decided yet is how Monteith’s absence on the show will be addressed.
In an unsurprising announcement, Murphy confirmed that the show would not recast Monteith's role as Finn Hudson. "The right thing to do for the show, at least at this point, is to have that character pass. When we do the tribute episode to that character, we'll have to do it in a way where the castmembers will not have to re-create feelings of grief that they’ve had this week -- but do it in an upbeat way," he says. "If we can do this responsibly and help young people through these feelings, that’s the best that we can hope for." Murphy states that they do not intend to do the tribute episode until after Monteith's memorial, as emotions are still raw among the cast and crew.
“It’s always sad and shocking when somebody so young dies, but one of the things that made it even more upsetting is that so many of us who knew and loved him were actively involved in trying to get him better,” Murphy says, recalling the intervention he had with Monteith in his office on the Paramount lot in March.
Monteith had initially been resistant to seeking treatment, saying that he wanted to finish the two remaining episodes of the program's fourth season. Murphy told Monteith that his life was “more important than two episodes of some stupid f---ing TV show,” and promised there would be a job waiting for the actor when he returned. Monteith agreed to treatment, and stated that he wanted to get better. His rehab was arranged by the show, while producers wrote his character out of the subsequent remaining episodes of the season.
Murphy would go on to describe the following months as “rocky,” recalling Monteith's visit to the set of Murphy's HBO movie The Normal Heart. Monteith claimed that he was clean and ready to get back to work, but it wasn't long after that visit that the actor was found dead in a Vancouver hotel room on July 13. The autopsy performed by the British Columbia Coroner's Service stated that the actor died of "mixed-drug toxicity, involving heroin and alcohol."
The memorial is set for later this week. In addition, grief counselors will be on hand on the set of Glee for several weeks once the series resumes production in August. Even if the show continues past this coming season, it's unlikely to ever be the same again.
"Once you met Cory, you just sort of instantly fell in love with him because he was both an angel and a devil," says Murphy, adding: "He was someone that you just instinctively wanted to protect because you felt like he was a fatherless child, and after a very hard childhood he felt adrift in the world."