Cybill Shepherd takes on role of Martha Stewart

BURBANK, Calif. -- Cybill Shepherd doesn't mince words.

When she was asked to play Martha Stewart for a TV movie, "My first impulse was that it was like being offered the role of Marie Antoinette," Shepherd said.

Stewart hasn't been charged with a crime and has denied any wrongdoing in an insider trading probe. But the domesticity maven has had to fend off accusations that she's been manipulative and excessively ambitious at the expense of others while her namesake company experiences double-digit losses.

Shepherd identifies.

"I've kind of been in that position myself -- being called horrible and rude and impossible on the set -- and that I was trying to destroy Christine Baranski's career," said Shepherd, bringing up the residue of gossip that surrounded the demise of "Cybill," in which Baranski co-starred.

Shepherd insists that the CBS sitcom, which ran from 1995-98, ended for reasons relating more to Hollywood business practices than the declining quality of the show.

'But I admire her'

But Shepherd acknowledges a bad patch, both personally and professionally. And she finds echoes of those experiences in the fate of the title character of "Martha Inc.: The Martha Stewart Story," airing at 8 p.m. May 19 on NBC. The movie is based on Christopher Byron's unauthorized biography.

"The fact that behind closed doors she doesn't put up with any crap and she may be difficult to work for -- I know that, but I admire her," Shepherd said. "There are some things she's done in her life I don't particularly admire, but who of us are perfect?"

Shepherd says the notion of her portraying Stewart first arose on the "Today" show when co-host Matt Lauer made a joke that Stewart was going to be played either by Shepherd, Candice Bergen or Robin Williams.

"The thing about a movie like this is you must be careful not to get too serious," said "Martha Inc." director Jason Ensler.

Ensler said he believed Shepherd would understand the "camp, fun" elements of the story, and that having a "pop icon on top of a pop icon" would work.

"I always thought Cybill and I would have a similar understanding and that we would bond and like each other," said Ensler, adding that there were no difficulties during the shooting of the TV movie.

Shepherd believes that if audiences are going to buy her as Stewart, it will be because of the "emotional truth."

The 53-year-old actress is big on truth, as she revealed in her biography, "Cybill Disobedience: How I Survived Beauty Pageants, Elvis, Sex, Bruce Willis, Lies, Marriage, Motherhood, Hollywood, and the Irrepressible Urge to Say What I Think."

Shepherd, twice divorced and the mother of three children, takes issue with the concept that a woman can have it all.

"No one has it all," she said, and when writing her book, she searched for the image to explain this to people who might think she does.

"What I came up with was the idea of a still photograph of a juggler -- me being the juggler," she explained. "For that one moment all the balls were in the air, but it's a still photo. In film you'd see 'em dropping all the time."

Once a successful model, Shepherd made her feature film debut in 1971's "The Last Picture Show." Her first television role was in the 1983 Texas ranch drama "The Yellow Rose," but small-screen fame was cemented when she starred from 1985-89 with Bruce Willis in the ABC detective comedy-drama "Moonlighting."

On May 20, Shepherd guest stars on the season finale of ABC's "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" as Katey Sagal's "snooty" sister.

Growing up in Memphis, Tenn., Shepherd was a "wild child" whose idol was Tarzan. She utters the jungle man's yell to prove it, something the executive dining room at NBC probably hasn't heard before.

"I didn't want to be Jane," she said with a laugh.

On the Net

Cybill Shepherd Web site: www.cybill.com