Emmy Rossum on Pride Over ‘Shameless’ Equal Pay Win & Cast’s Lasting Bond (Exclusive)

Emmy Rossum is dishing with "Extra" on her new series “Furious,” in which she plays an FBI agent on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating female serial killer.

Rossum has played strong characters like Fiona Gallagher in “Shameless” and Christine Daae in the 2004 film adaptation of “The Phantom of the Opera,” but her role in “Furious” is different than anything she’s ever done before.

She noted, “I really like shifting into new places that I haven’t explored before.”

Rossum explained that she "stumbled” upon the 1987 film “Black Widow,” starring Debra Winger and Theresa Russell. Rossum has a personal connection to Russell because they worked together when she was 14.

After seeing the movie, Emmy was inspired to make this new series.

She said, “Liz Meriwether wanted to come aboard and write it and then after kind of a couple of years of crafting the scripts, we got to make it.”

Emmy shared of her character, “Alice is a former detective who left because of the violence of in her life and started over at the FBI… She doesn’t believe that she can ever get justice for herself, but she very intensely and passionately wants to get justice on a larger scale for others.”

On the show, Rossum plays opposite Lola Petticrew, who takes on the role of the serial killer with a violent past of her own.

Emmy said, “She’s on a vengeance justice mission of her own… both of these characters are more similar than they are different.”

She pointed out, “It is too reductive to think of people as a good guy or a bad guy. We will kind of watch them on this collision course and realize that they are more than just that."

Emmy also spoke about famously fighting for equal pay on “Shameless."

She stressed, “I think it’s important to fight for things that you think are important and right, and certainly, having seen other women do that before me gives me courage — and standing alongside other women and men who are supportive of that — to persevere."

Staying humble, Emmy said, "Certainly, my win is just a drop in the larger bucket, but I’m happy and proud to be that drop.”

Rossum also acknowledged, "I think there's also so much more work to be done, and my story is sadly not unique. I think there are so many ways in which people are not equitably compensated for their work and it just, it's gotta change."

Bringing it back to "Furious," Emmy said, "There are two women trying to get justice, and they're really underestimated. And I think because they're underestimated, they have to go outside the usual norms of how to do things... and it kind galvanizes them to risky choices and dangerous choices."

Emmy recently appeared on Alex Cooper’s “Call Your Daddy” podcast, where she opened up on her life. She called it “nice” that people connected to her stories about childhood, motherhood, playing Fiona, and dating fails!

Rossum hasn’t played Fiona since 2018 — does she miss the iconic character like everyone does?

She answered, “Yeah, but I had 110 episodes with her. You know, and it’s interesting how the show and shows now takes on a different life online and become this kind of like vertically clipped things. There’s a much younger generation of young kids, pre-teens, who know the show from clips and seemingly really understand the character and it really resonates with them too. So I think that's very cool."

Even after all these years, Emmy keeps in touch with the “Shameless” cast, saying, “This summer, there’s gonna be a game night and Izzy [Goreshter]’s coming, and I’m going out on a boat to see some dolphins with one of my cast members and our kids. So yeah, it is nice. But I live in New York now, so I don't see them quite as much."

Rossum also discussed balancing work and mom life and how she shakes off a character at the end of the day. 

Emmy said “it’s always a balancing act," and she continually has to remind herself, “I don’t have to do too much every day."

She recalled, "There was one day on set where I woke up at 5, went to set, did my first scene, and then met them at the zoo at 9 a.m. when the zoo opened in full hair and makeup. Did the zoo, did a zip line, went back to set, did another scene, went back for bedtime and bath time, and then got on a Zoom. And I was like, 'This is not the vibe.'"

According to Emmy, it’s “really important” to disengage from her character at the end of the work day.

She shared, “Showering immediately is, I think, a really good transition point. I like to go hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold. And then, I like to sit in my sweats, in my kitchen, usually after the kids are asleep, and eat crunchy things."

She elaborated, "I like crunchy granola. I like crunchy pretzels. I like crunchy crackers. Specifically, on this show, what I found most comforting was crunchy, crunchy pretzels. There was something about the crunching that just made me calm, made me feel like me sitting in my kitchen. Sometimes dipping in some cream cheese, sometimes a pretzel, cream cheese, jelly."