Rosie Perez worked with Alex Trebek on the 1992 movie White Men Can’t Jump which starred Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson.
And on Tuesday the 56-year-old actress told Drew Barrymore that she was so nervous to meet the Jeopardy host that her speech impediment flared up.
But Alex, who died at age 80 in November after a cancer battle, made her feel comfortable, even ad-libbing the scene to gloss over her gaffe.
A fan” Rosie Perez worked with Alex Trebek on the 1992 movie White Men Can’t Jump. And on Tuesday the 56-year-old actress told Drew Barrymore that she was so nervous to meet the Jeopardy host that her speech impediment flared up
A sad loss: Alex died at age 80 in November after a cancer battle; seen here during his pre-taped Thanksgiving address
Rosie wore a magenta shirt with her dark hair down as she relayed the story to host Drew.
‘It was an honor and I was beyond thrilled,’ began the veteran actress.
‘I’m a nerd and a geek and I love game shows and I always watched Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune with my Aunt, and I couldn’t believe I was going to be in a scene with this man and we had no pre-rehearsal with Alex.’
She got a bit nervous.
‘So when we went to shoot he walks out on the stage, and we were on the actual Jeopardy stage and my heart just went up in my throat,’ added the Brooklyn native.
He helped her out: Trebek made her feel comfortable, even ad-libbing the scene to gloss over her gaffe, Rosie told Drew
‘If you see in the scene my shoulders are like this because I was so nervous and I knew my lines but my speech impediment came out and instead of saying the word correctly I said Mount Suvias and I paused and I’m thinking to myself, “Holy crap, I just messed up,’ and he goes, “That’s not correct but we will check with the Judges. The Judges say okay, okay.”‘
Alex saved her.
‘And that was all ad-libbed on Alex’s part. He was so smooth and everything…I just hugged him and I remember smearing all of my makeup on his clothes,’ said Perez.
On his show almost a decade ago: Alex is seen here on the set in 2011 in New York
Her turn on the show: Perez is seen middle as contestant Gloria on Jeopardy on the film White Men Can’t Jump in 1992
‘He was just wonderful, not just a national treasure, a worldwide treasure and a great loss. What he has given us we will always have and that’s a wonderful thing.’
She also talked about turning down her role in The Flight Attendant at first.
‘It was a great experience, I had a ball on the show. I’m not surprised by the response because when they offered me the role, Oh my God, Drew can you believe I turned down the role when they first offered it to me,’ said Rosie.
The hit film: The cast included Rosie, Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson and Tyra Ferrell
‘Yes, because I’m scared to fly, I hate the whole thing. And I was so stupid.
‘Then my manager called me back and said, “Kaley Cuoco is not accepting no for an answer she wants to meet with you,” and I go, “Oh God.”‘
She added, ‘They said she’s going to meet with you around the corner in your neighborhood. I was like, “Wow, she’s going to come to my neighborhood in Brooklyn. That’s cool.” We met and she goes, “Why don’t you want to do this role?” and I said, “Well I don’t like to fly.” And she goes, “You do know it’s called The Flight Attendant and we will be flying.” ‘I said, “I know but what can I do?”
Happy to work with the host: Rosie wore a magenta shirt with her dark hair down as she relayed the story to host Drew. ‘It was an honor and I was beyond thrilled,’ began the veteran actress
They both thought that was funny.
‘And we both started cracking up, we were high fiving. It was supposed to be a 10-15 minute coffee chat and it turned into over an hour,’ she said.
‘She had me at hello but I kept her waiting for two weeks to give my final answer of yes. As soon as I walked in the door I knew I wanted to work with this young lady, this is her project she put it together, she was the boss.
She didn’t know how to calm down: ‘I’m a nerd and a geek and I love game shows and I always watched Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune with my Aunt, and I couldn’t believe I was going to be in a scene with this man and we had no pre-rehearsal with Alex,’ she said
‘She ran things and you never felt like she was heavy-handed. She allowed every single body on that set to play their position and just didn’t really interfere in a really bad way, in a bossy way. So I’m really happy for her because it’s tough in this business, especially for women. The entire cast is fabulous, we had so much fun it’s disgusting.’
Her Drew interview takes places after Perez revealed she caught the virus back in December.
The star was flying to Bangkok, Thailand to film her new HBO Max series The Flight Attendant, when she caught the virus, she revealed in a new interview for Uproxx.
She said the whole experience was ‘terrifying,’ and recalled even telling her manager, ‘don’t let me die in Bangkok.’
She said no at first: She also talked about turning down her role in The Flight Attendant at first. ‘It was a great experience, I had a ball on the show. I’m not surprised by the response because when they offered me the role, Oh my God, Drew can you believe I turned down the role when they first offered it to me,’ said Rosie
They work well together: Rosie is seen here with co-star Kaley Cuoco
HBO shut down production in March, with in the middle of the show’s sixth episode (of eight).
‘I had contracted COVID when we flew to Bangkok. And at that time, they were saying it’s a new respiratory tract infection. It’s a virus that’s going around. We don’t really know what it is and what it does, but it attacks the respiratory system first and then travels to other parts of your body,’ Perez began.
‘And I was like, “Oh my God.” It was terrifying. I remember my manager was with me, and I said, “Tarik, don’t let me die in Bangkok.” And he goes, “Oh my God, you’re scaring me.”
Contracted: ‘I had contracted COVID when we flew to Bangkok. And at that time, they were saying it’s a new respiratory tract infection. It’s a virus that’s going around. We don’t really know what it is and what it does, but it attacks the respiratory system first and then travels to other parts of your body,’ Perez began; seen in 2018
She added the ‘head of the ICU told them, “You should be scared, sir. This is serious. We’re going to have to put her in a separate room.” Because it was new. [This] was in December.’
Perez added that the doctor’s warning about wearing a mask every time you go outside is something she never forgot.
‘I remember the doctor saying to me, “The mask that you have on, the mask that I have on, every time you go outside, every time you meet someone wear that mask — not just for you, but to protect them too.” And I haven’t forgotten it,’ she said.
Mask: ‘I remember the doctor saying to me, “The mask that you have on, the mask that I have on, every time you go outside, every time you meet someone wear that mask — not just for you, but to protect them too.” And I haven’t forgotten it,’ she said; seen in February
Perez added that shutting down the show was ‘tough’ because, ‘it was a good gig for a lot of hard-working people.’
‘The only person who remained steadfast was Kaley. She kept saying, “Just relax, Rose. We’re going to go back. I know HBO believes in this, just relax,”‘ Perez said.
Perez also joked that she usually takes a week off to celebrate her birthday, though Cuoco said, ‘I think you should hold off on that because I think we might go back,’ and that was, ‘exactly when we went back.
She added that she was ‘nervous’ going back to the set after contracting COVID-19, though she quickly learned, ‘everything was run so efficiently.’ ‘They took every precaution possible. They were really professional about it, real champs, and put everyone at ease,’ Perez added.
HBO Max debuted the first three episodes of The Flight Attendant on Thursday, with the fourth and fifth episodes arriving