The former anchor spoke with Andrew Goldman, host of the podcast “The Originals” for Los Angeles magazine, and discussed a wide variety of topics, including guest stars on HBO’s “The Undoing,” her time with CBS Evening News and ABC News.
While talking about her scene in “ The Undoing, ” opposite Hugh Grant, where she portrays a journalist interviewing Grant’s character about a murder investigation, she said she had given Grant some tips.
“When Hugh Grant sat down, he looked all crumpled,” she said. “He’s one of those British crumpled guys. And his tie was crooked, and I’m very OCD. So I said, ‘Hugh, straighten your tie. And he’s going to fix it. And then there was a collar outside his suit … And I said, “Hugh, fix that.” And then he looked like Rodney Dangerfield. It should be on the back of, like in ‘Broadcast News’, on the back of your jacket so it’s neat and tidy. ‘
She also said she believes she has heard but not seen much in her scene as she rewrote parts of the dialogue.
In 1993 Chung became the co-anchor of the “CBS Evening News”
with Dan Rather. She only had the job for two years and says of her collaboration with Rather, “When I turned around, I felt like I was in the shower in a scene of ‘Psycho’,” suggesting that she should always keep an eye out for her. -anchor, noting that she was forced to do tabloid-style interviews that others didn’t want to do.
She went to work on the ABC News magazine show “20/20”.
During the podcast interview, she said that the atmosphere on the network, where she worked with fellow journalists Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer, was competitive and compared it to the bitter rivalry between figure skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding.
“[W]When I came to ABC, Diane and Barbara were both in the same kind of arena getting these big interviews. So when I tried to go after them I was told I couldn’t. That Barbara and Diane were the only ones who could run for the interview and that I had to resign. And I said, “Really?” ”
Chung worked briefly at CNN, where in 2002 he hosted a show called “Connie Chung Tonight”.
CNN has contacted representatives for Chung, Walters, Sawyer and Rather for comment.