Jennifer Tilly compares being on Real Housewives to ‘working with Martin Scorsese’

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Kelly Rissman

US News Reporter

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Oscar-nominated actor Jennifer Tilly has compared appearing on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills to working with Martin Scorsese.

Tilly, 65, was announced as a “Friend of” housewife Sutton Stracke as part of a cast shakeup for the reality show’s 14th season. She had previously appeared as a guest star.

Describing herself as a “Housewives superfan”, she told Vulture that the experience had been better than meeting Elizabeth Taylor, and akin to having a “front-row seat at the Super Bowl”.

“I never thought I’d be on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” she said. “To me, it’s like working with Martin Scorsese.”

The Chucky actor continued, “My boyfriend always says if he got $40m, he wants to go into space and experience zero gravity.

“To me, being on Housewives is experiencing zero gravity. I was more excited to meet Kyle Richards and Erika Jane and the other ladies than I was when I met Elizabeth Taylor.”

Although she had declined previous invitations to appear on the show, the Bullets over Broadway star said she “wanted to do everything different” this time.

“I thought that I was going to see a lot of people shopping on Rodeo Drive, but a lot of the filming that they do is in the Valley, in places where it’s easier to get permits,” she said of her experience filming the episodes.

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“So it’s not like you’re at the fanciest places in Beverly Hills, arguing. They’re usually arguing at some kind of non–Beverly Hills place because the really fancy, elite places don’t want Housewives screaming at each other in their dining room.”

Describing it as, “the most challenging thing I’ve ever done,” she said, “You come in without a script. It’s just sort of like they just wade in there, and they go at it.”

The franchise, which is known for its fiery arguments that have included table flips and drinks thrown in faces, is like a sporting event to Tilly.

“In real life, if you’re at a restaurant and people at the table are screaming at each other, you’re mortified like, ‘Oh my God. I can’t believe I’m with these uncouth people’. But when I am sitting at a table with Housewives, I feel like I have a front-row seat at the Super Bowl.”