From Michael Logan:

Now this is high praise! Recently on the top Canadian chat show The Hour, Oscar-nominated Precious director Lee Daniels was asked which star he'd most like to work with next. His response? "I'd work with Susan Lucci from All My Children," Daniels told the program's host. "You know who Susan Lucci is? I've met everybody from Meryl Streep to Daniel Day-Lewis. I'd be really, like, blown away to meet Susan Lucci. She's sort of hot! She's sort of hot!" (You can see the segment on YouTube.) Daniels' pick has been all the buzz—especially in Soapland—but no one's heard from Lucci herself. We tracked her down in Tampa, Florida, where she'd been so busy doing three back-to-back days on HSN, selling her hot butt off (beauty products, jewelry, her Malibu Pilates workout machine), that she was the last to know about Daniels' compliment.

This is so wild! How's it feel? What are your thoughts?

I had no idea about this until just today! I'm so thrilled and flattered, and I'm glad it's on YouTube so I can check it out. Lee Daniels! Wow. This man has done such magnificent work and I'll certainly be watching him on the Oscars. It's funny. People always ask me who I'd like to work with—meaning actors, of course—but my mind always goes to great directors. To work with Mr. Daniels, to have the luxury of that man's talent, is a very exciting thought. And to mention me in the same breath as Meryl Streep and Daniel Day-Lewis—two of the actors I most admire—is, well… I just don't know what to say. I'm very honored.

This is not only a big validation for you but for daytime drama as well. We're all getting a kick out of this. It's just the coolest thing.

I know what you're saying. I see it the same way. And, really, you know how it is in the [mainstream] press. People don't really talk much about daytime. So it's very brave of Mr. Daniels to acknowledge All My Children in this way. How wonderful that he says what he really thinks.

Because a lot of people don't. There are a lot of closet soap fans out there.

Exactly! They say they don't watch but then you meet them in person and they're surprisingly well-versed in the storylines. It's a guilty pleasure. To have a man of Lee Daniels' caliber say right out, "I'm watching," is just fantastic.

So then we'll expect to see you in a couple of years at the Oscars—nominated!

From your lips…

Just don't take another 19 tries to win the damn thing!

[Laughs] Oh, God, I don't think I have 19 tries left in me!

Daniels is known for stripping down his actresses to get to the real deal. Are you ready to pull a Mariah Carey and act with no makeup, bad hair and a unibrow?

Hey, listen, if the part calls for it, I will go the distance. I'm there!

Edited February 21, 201015 yr by Sylph

Great interview! Lucci rocks

Great interview! Lucci rocks

It sure is and she sure does. She is definitely not the greatest actress to have walked the Earth, but there is such joy of life and positivity about her, it's contagious!

Yeah there is. She truly seems like such a genuine person. It's why she's lasted so long on AMC IMO

Yeah there is. She truly seems like such a genuine person. It's why she's lasted so long on AMC IMO

Yes, charisma must have been a quite relevant factor. She never found the genre beneath her, defended it and treated her fans they way one should.

Sylph and Angie getting along. How touching!

Don't count SuLu out just yet. Isn't this the same woman who tried to dance hip-hop on DWTS? I believe that SL would be perfectly willing to throw caution to the wind for the right opportunity. What would she have to lose? Should she have a lead role? No. But an uncredited supporting role in the picture? She'd tear it up.

Great to hear La Lucci's reaction. Even if nothing comes of this, I'm sure she's happy to know that Lee Daniels is a fan.

Don't count SuLu out just yet. Isn't this the same woman who tried to dance hip-hop on DWTS? I believe that SL would be perfectly willing to throw caution to the wind for the right opportunity. What would she have to lose? Should she have a lead role? No. But an uncredited supporting role in the picture? She'd tear it up.

I was watching that on YouTube just yesterday! I STILL had to cover my eyes and peak through my fingers. Just wowwww... that, her thinking she won her second Emmy, and being punk'd on Bloopers and Practical Jokes (still haven't seen that one!) are her trifecta of worst public moments.

I'm not disagreeing with you, Mary Tyler Moore and Grant Tinker were brilliant in business...what I'm saying is that, as a passive viewer, I wouldn't have seen Mary Tyler Moore as a serious actress and yet she certainly was. The same could be true of Lucci. And with Lee Daniels, it isn't as if she'd be working within Hollywood, he's more on the periphary, which is the future of the business in my opinion.

That could all change though--he's being spoken about as director of a big budget film of that classic over the top Euro-Mega-Musical Miss Saigon. (and I don't see ANY role for Susan there LOL)

I was watching that on YouTube just yesterday! I STILL had to cover my eyes and peak through my fingers. Just wowwww... that, her thinking she won her second Emmy, and being punk'd on Bloopers and Practical Jokes (still haven't seen that one!) are her trifecta of worst public moments.

She was punked? I wanna see!

Dancing with the Stars was so disappointing for me as a huge fan of her. You could tell she was trying her hardest but she was so stiff for most of it--she was thinking WAY too much. She should have approached the dances as Erica Kane or something.

Is this the video, Eric?

Edited February 22, 201015 yr by bellcurve

Someone, I forget who and I'd love to give them credit, described on here how she was pranked on B&PJ. I don't know if you got it in Canada, but it was Punk'd before Punk'd and hosted by Dick Clark and Ed McMahon. Anyway, the prank was that Susan was scheduled to appear on GMA/The Today Show and she was "late" so the producers had a lookalike go on in her stead, I think in a hat and sunglasses. Well Susan flipped and apparently she was cussing up a storm because they had to bleep her and cut to long shots so you couldn't read her lips. Helmut was in on it. Would LOVE to see that...

Is this the video, Eric?

I will NEVER forget that, my mom and I were like, "OHHH myyy GAHHHHHHD..."

I will NEVER forget that, my mom and I were like, "OHHH myyy GAHHHHHHD..."

HaHa! I watched with my mom, too, and we had the EXACT same reaction. I remember covering my eyes with one of the throw pillows on the sofa.

Edited February 22, 201015 yr by Pine Charles