It was, sadly, at the end of January that TV and film fans learned of the passing of comedy legend Catherine O’Hara, who lit up the screen in innumerable movie and television projects across five decades. One of those TV shows could be said to have helped bring her talents to a far wider audience in her later years, and that’s the record-breaking Emmy winning comedy, Schitt’s Creek. However, she wasn’t initially interested in doing the series, but we know how creators Dan and Eugene Levy (who also co-starred with her) changed her mind.
How Dan And Eugene Levy Convinced Catherine O’Hara To Star In Schitt’s Creek
Seeing as how we know how difficult it can be for many actors to maintain steady work, it always seems a bit odd whenever we hear that someone turned down not just a job, but one that went on to become one of their most beloved roles in an overall hilarious show. But, that’s the case with Catherine O’Hara and Moira Rose, the self-obsessed former soap opera star that O’Hara portrayed on Schitt’s Creek for six seasons.
In a series that was filled to the brim with funny characters, O’Hara made sure that Moira stood out in the pack, and because of it fans are left with some of the most laugh-inducing episodes of TV ever made. This nearly wasn’t the case, though, and creators/co-stars/father-and-son duo Eugene and Dan Levy detailed to CBC Gem the story of how they convinced the Home Alone star to take the leap and join them in that wacky little fictional town. Dan said:
My dad had asked Catherine to be part of the presentation pilot. She had said yes, conditionally, and then the show got bought and we had to go back to her and say, ‘Remember that show that we shot, that was 14 minutes? Do you want to do that, now, for 13 episodes?’
So, the Levys had approached O’Hara and were able to get her to take on the project because she was only supposed to appear in the short that was going to be used to attempt to sell the show to a network. Clearly, having Levy’s “first choice” co-star from the mockumentaries he penned with Christopher Guest (For Your Consideration, A Mighty Wind, Best in Show, and Waiting for Guffman) worked out, because the show was picked up.
This meant that Dan and his father had to attempt to coax O’Hara into the cast for the full series, but she said no and the pressure was on to get her to change her mind. He continued:
I said [to Dad], ‘Call her back. Tell her let’s just look at one year. We’ll go one year at a time, and if it’s not gonna work, it’s not gonna work.’ He called her, and she said yes! And the rest is history.
History indeed! The final season of Schitt’s Creek netted nominations in the seven major categories for a comedy series, with it also winning in every category, including an award for O’Hara for her wig-loving lead character. As she said in the same CBC Gem interview, “How stupid would I have been not to have done it?” Luckily, she was convinced, and TV comedy history was made.