Patti LuPone Insists She's Nothing Like 'Ball-busting' Women She Often Plays (Exclusive)

The Tony Award-winning actress -- celebrated for her Broadway work in shows including Evita, Company and Gypsy, as well as last year's MCU series Agatha All Along -- is back as a take no prisoners businesswoman and socialite in the new season of Palm Royale, a project she proactively went after, before meeting the show-runner for drinks at a local bar and sealing the deal.

LuPone makes her big debut on this week's new episode of the Apple TV series, playing a fictionalized version of real life Post cereal heiress -- and original owner of Mar-a-Lago -- Marjorie Merriweather Post.  

"I play these big ball-buster women, but that's not who I am. I'm pretty shy, I'm pretty intimidated," LuPone, 76, told TooFab's Brian Particelli in a recent interview, adding that the one other time she's proactively reached out about a role on a TV show was Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. "Because I thought that Rachel Bloom is incredible."

"It's the only other time I did it, where I called my manager and I said, 'Please find the show-runner and tell them I want to be on the show,'" she explained. "And that's how this happened. I fell in love with the show and I wanted to be on it. And perhaps, I should've done it sooner and do more shows. I'm glad I did it with those two!"

Showrunner Abe Sylvia told TooFab that Patti was his "dream" choice for the role, as it was being written. Then, came an email he didn't expect.

"Patti LuPone has been my personal movie star since I was probably 12 years old, and as Season 1 was airing we were already writing Season 2 and this idea that, 'Wouldn't it be great, if we could get Patti?'" he explained. "And I got an email one day, from Patti’s manager saying that she loves the show and I wrote back to the manager, 'Well, you know, she doesn't know this but she is my neighbor, she lives a couple miles down from me in Connecticut.'"

"That Friday we went and we got beers at the local pub and made friends and now she is our Marjorie Merriweather Post, that was what that process was," added the ecstatic creator.

In LuPone's first episode, Kirsten Wiig's Maxine Dellacorte-Simmons and the rest of the cast -- including Allison Janney, Leslie Bibb and Ricky Martin -- head to Post's estate for a massive hoedown at Mar-a-Lago. It provides quite the entrance for LuPone, who is seen as both a gun-slinging smuggler and showtune-singing socialite in the span of an hour.

"It was a lot of work and it was a lot of fun," LuPone told TooFab of her big number, which was filmed in an old theater in downtown Los Angeles. "Watching these dancers and this choreographer, who was able to choreograph for camera, I was blown away. Completely blown away by it. "

"I think the party at Mar-a-lago is something to behold," added Sylvia.

But while LuPone is the center of attention at Post's bash, she again insisted that's not the case for her in the real world.

"I have felt on the outside of a lot of parties that I've gone to. I'm not really great at ... I just went to a luncheon for a friend and I wrote to them before and I went, 'Who's there? I'm really clumsy in crowds,'" she shared. "And I am, I'm clumsy in crowds. I'm not terribly social or outgoing in real life even though you may think of me as something else on stage."

Star Leslie Bibb, who shares a few scenes with LuPone on her first episode, called it a "f--king dream" to be able to work opposite against the legend -- and was very excited to share how Patti is saved in her phone.

"Everybody should be so lucky. She was a perfect addition to this show. She’s such a pro and she is so game, and we have a similar work ethic," said Bibb. "So much fun, working with her is probably my highlight of the ten episodes, because she is Patti. I have her on my phone as 'Patti F--king LuPone.'"

See Patti F--king LuPone in action on Palm Royale, streaming now on Apple TV.