Streetwise Drea de Matteo goes from being a Mafia girlfriend in The Sopranos (and we all know how that ended) to a hairdresser in the new Friends spinoff Joey. But don't expect the music-loving scenester to mellow. No ****ing way.
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That said, Drea loved Adriana, who was murdered in one of the last Sopranos episodes because she had been talking to the FBI. "But really" de Matteo says, "she was telling them nothing. She knew nothing. And they jumped the gun; Christopher gave her up before he even knew if she had done any harm. Adriana was really the innocent on that show, and if you ask me, they all have to go down now that they killed her. Oh, I don't mean that they have to die, but I can't imagine that there will be any 'happily ever after' for any of them after that. I think it was killing Adriana that showed how morally corrupt they are."
And one more thing--Adriana would never set foot in New York City's Lower East Side, which is where Drea, 32, has lived for years and where she is most comfortable. Sashaying up the street with her boyfriend, musician Shooter Jennings (son of Waylon), de Matteo turns heads--in part because people so adored Adriana that when she was killed a lot of them swore off the show, and in part because she's a gorgeous babe with a sexy, slinky guy on her arm.
"I love this place," de Matteo says about the restaurant on the corner of Avenue A where we snag an outside table. Shooter gives her a long, lingering kiss before taking off. She stares after him for a long while. "We love to come here to grab something to eat. But I swear, we've never been here before 4 in the morning." She peruses the menu, and then, in completely un-actressy fashion, orders a quesadilla and chicken wings. "I'm starving," she says without apology. When the food comes, she eats with gusto, grease dripping down her chin while she gesticulates to make a point.
As I write this, de Matteo is heading across the country in an RV to begin work on her new show, the Friends spinoff Joey. With her are her Great Danes, her cats, Shooter and her parents. They chose this method of travel because de Matteo can't stand the idea of putting her dogs in crates in the belly of a plane. "Besides, my father and mother have seen the whole world, but they've never seen America."
De Matteo, who likes to claim that she's from Queens, actually grew up on Manhattan's Upper East Side with her two older brothers, her grandmother and a Nicaraguan nanny she calls Monkey. All the women in her family are represented by tattoos on her arms. Her father ran a successful furniture business and her mother was a playwright who taught at the prestigious HB Studio. Growing up around actors, de Matteo says, "made me hate them," but then she wound up going to NYU to study directing. After wandering into an acting class, she was hooked.
Now the clan is heading to the house de Matteo just bought in the Hollywood Hills, a place that once belonged to David Bowie. "It has a recording studio, so Shooter can work at home," she says. Life in L.A. will include a wide assortment of people. There's Monkey (who had a heart transplant six years ago and has lived with de Matteo since). There's country singer Jessi Colter (Shooter's mom, who will stay in L.A. while she nurses her broken heart over Waylon's death). And a woman de Matteo hired to take care of the dogs and work as her assistant and driver.
"OK," de Matteo says earnestly, "I know it's crazy that I don't drive, but I don't even want to. And there was this great production assistant on The Sopranos and I convinced her to move with us to LA. I even leased her this cool little Cadillac. Then I find out that she doesn't have a license either and that she failed her driving test a few times! But I'm sure things will work out..."
De Matteo is not normally this optimistic; she tends towards self-admitted funks and panic attacks. While she's acted in a dozen mostly unforgettable films (including Swordfish, Deuces Wild and Prey for Rock & Roll), she says that she was on her way to quitting the business and producing music when she was offered Joey. "I swear to God," she says, "I don't even know how it happened. One day they asked me if I wanted to read it, then they signed me, and then I totally freaked. L.A.? Sitcom? I gotta tell you, I don't like actors, I have no actor friends and I absolutely hate this business. I am a New Yorker through and through. I hate the idea of living in California; I just can't even imagine myself there. But [ex-_Friends_ and Joey star] Matt LeBlanc has been a doll, and here I go to L.A." Her laugh is shaky at best.
On Joey, de Matteo will play Gina, Joey's hairdresser sister. Same accent as Adriana, same hair, "but more attitude, more self-knowing, tougher than Adriana ever was."
And what about the clothes--will Gina be cutting hair in Manolos? De Matteo laughs. "You know, I hate fashion. No, I like fashion, I just hate clothes. No, no, I like clothes, I just hate how it's all about who wears what. I have my own style, and I lean on that."
De Matteo is co-owner (with an ex-boyfriend) of Filth Mart, a downtown NYC store that some credit with starting the low-rise jean and retro rock T-shirt crazes. 'And as soon as I saw someone else wearing them, I hated them and wouldn't wear them anymore," she admits. Today she is in vintage Levi's bell-bottoms, vintage cowboy boots and a black lacy tank. "You know what it is? People think because Adriana was such a babe and that she cared so much about her Versace and Armani that I must be just like her. But I'm this tomboy slob who only showers when I have to. I could care less about the red carpet. I hate that shit."
Really? No beauty regime? She laughs. "OK, here it is. I hardly ever wash my makeup off and I wear a lot of it. It's just too much of an ordeal to wash it off and put it on again. Every morning, Shooter sings to me while he blow-dries my hair: 'Please Come to Boston' or 'Loving Her Was Easier.'"
'And you know how Adriana had those great tits? Well, I don't. They did it all with those chicken cutlets that push you up. But mine are flat and I don't want them to droop when I get older, so every night I wear this sleepy bra to bed. It's just this elastic thing that they say will make them stay up. Who knows?"
"C'mon, Drea," I gasp. "You just look so put together..."
"Oh, get over it," she shrieks. She does have some strong ideas about fashion, though. I don't even have to bother with the questions. "My worst fashion mistake? All these fucking tattoos that take like three hours a day to cover before I shoot a scene. The thing I feel most comfortable in? Probably something by Vivienne Westwood, because she makes clothes for women with real asses. What I wear every single day of my life? Vintage jeans. The accessory I couldn't live without? I'd have to say Shooter, because when he's with me I feel so fucking perfect.
"Did I tell you how great Shooter looks in my clothes?"
My mouth drops.
"Oh, you know these young guys [Shooter is 25], they have no hang-ups. I swear, he looks better in my suits than I do. I, of course, can't fit into his pants because his hips are narrower than mine. But he looks fabulous in my clothes. I'm wild about him."
"So, how long will you be in L.A. before you start acting like a prima donna?" I tease.
"Never, never, never. I know that if this show works out my life is going to change in ways that I can't even imagine. But I know who I am. I have my family, my friends, Shooter. I'd rather be working with music. I swear, Shooter's gonna put the 'O' back in country Wait until people hear him, they're gonna go nuts. I'm trying to get a tribute to Waylon Jennings together. I've talked with all kinds of great musicians: Kid Rock, Bob Dylan, the White Stripes, Beck, Sheryl Crow. Everyone adored the guy and they want in. I'm going to try to produce it. We'll see. But trust me--you come see me next year, I'm still going to be the same Drea. I'll be as kooky as ever."
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