‘Sopranos’ Star & Breast Cancer Survivor Edie Falco, 61, On Having a ‘Tremendously Good Time’ Making New Film ‘The Parenting’

An Overview of Breast Cancer Treatment  

Speaking to Variety about the filming the new movie, she praised her fellow cast members, including Lisa Kudrow, Parker Posey, Nik Dodani, Brandon Flynn and Dean Norris as “laugh-out-loud people, even off camera.”

She recounted, “We had a ridiculously good time. That kind of thing where it’s late and you’re working long hours and you start getting giddy, and it’s outta your control at that point.

“There’s no coming back from laughing your head off.”

Falco continued, “You’d be well beyond the point where you really want to stop. That happened a couple of times because it was such silliness, and we were all in for the game.”

Falco plays a women named Sharon, a retired psychologist, in the new film.

IMBD describes “The Parenting” movie as follows, “A couple rents a countryside house for a weekend with their parents and then discover it’s inhabited by a 400-year-old poltergeist.”

Referencing the character she plays, Falco added, “She can’t help herself … Every time I read the script, I’m like, ‘All right, I guess I’m doing this!’ I was very happy because it’s not normally the kind of thing I would get called for. I mean, actors hope for this, that casting people or whoever it is that ends up making these decisions will have a creative state of mind when they are looking to cast things.

“It was so out of my wheelhouse.”

Noting how some scenes in the film may seem “ridiculous,” Falco was delighted to try something new in her acting career, which entailing used a harness and a life, not a stunt double.

She told Variety, “I got a chance to do some of that fun stuff too. I was like, holy crap! I’m in the midst of doing it, and I’m like, ‘Wait a second, nobody’s gonna buy this because it looks sort of ridiculous’ because we’re looking under the hood, as it were.

“But when they put the thing together, you’ve got artisans on every level of these projects. It was very impressive.”

Finding Joy After Cancer Turns Your Life Upside-Down

She described that film as “silly” and potentially a jump scare.

There’s a lot of moments that I myself was surprised are jarring. We really had a tremendously good time making it. And we hope that reads,” she concluded.

Falco’s Cancer Journey

Eddie Falco learned of her breast cancer diagnosis on the same day she was involved with filming an episode of “The Sopranos.”

“I had to be at work at 1 o’clock to shoot a scene in which Tony and Carmela were sitting at a table. I think it was after they had separated, and Tony said something like, ‘I’m going to take you for every cent you’re worth,” Falco previously  told the Television Academy Foundation during an interview.

“I couldn’t remember my lines. It was a real out-of-body experience. I couldn’t express the news I had just gotten, and I hadn’t really told anyone but the executive producer.”

The actress” castmates did notice some subtle clues that something was amiss. Falco ultimately shared her diagnosis with them when she was ready. However, she told Tamron Hall in an earlier interview that her cancer diagnosis was somewhat robbed.

“I’m a private person,” Falco told Hall.

Falco said she had only told her close family and friends she was battling cancer. However, a writer on the show leaked the sensitive information, and word made its way back to Falco.

“Somebody found out and contacted my agent, and they said, ‘We’re going to print this, so you either tell us details or we’re going to just tell what we think we know,” Falco explained.

After Falco’s diagnosis became public knowledge, she said people approached her kindly about it. However, the award-winning actress said everyone knew of her cancer diagnosis “made it harder.”

Falco said that years later, she encountered the publisher of the news article in which she revealed her diagnosis. While confronting the unnamed publisher, Falco explained how sharing her diagnosis affected her.

“I walked up to her—I was shaking—and she was at a table full of people, and I said everything I needed to say. I needed to go through this my own way, but she needed to be the first person to print the story, and you don’t do that,” Falco said to studio applause.

Falco underwent a lumpectomy, a procedure to remove the cancer and other abnormal tissue from the breast, and decided to get a second opinion for what further treatment would be best. She eventually agreed with her doctors that chemotherapy and radiation therapy were the right choices for the path ahead.

WATCH: Should I have a lumpectomy or a mastectomy?

“Both doctors said it was a very aggressive cancer and that that particular course of treatment was going to be the best way to fight it,” Falco explained to health resource outlet Patient Resource. “So that’s how it went. I think you go out and find who’s best, and then you trust them.”

Falco went through eight months of treatment and impressively never stopped working. Thankfully, the limited number of “The Sopranos” crew members she told about her condition were more than willing to make accommodations for Falco when needed.

Thriving After Cancer: Finding Vitality and the ‘Pathway’ to Resilience

Psychiatrist Dr. Samantha Boardman suggests that people working on their mental health practice positive psychology. Positive psychology focuses on encouraging patients to feel positive and finding what brings a sense of vitality to their lives, like Falco enjoys her acting career.

Dr. Boardman explains them as “pathways to embrace your everyday resilience.” In other words, these are tools people who may be struggling with mental health issues can embrace to help maintain a certain sense of positivity. And those positive feelings can go a long way when people are facing a health challenge like a cancer diagnosis.

According to Dr. Boardman, these three wellsprings of vitality are:

• Connecting. This involves how you’re connecting with others and having meaningful interactions. It involves being a good listener and being engaged with the people around you who you care about.
• Contribution. How are you adding value to the people around you? Are you helping them in ways that feel meaningful to them? This entails contributing/engaging with others in a meaningful way.
• Feeling challenged. Being “positively challenged” could involve learning something new (perhaps by taking a new class or reading an interesting book) and expanding your mind in some way.
  “Those are the cores of vitality and the core pathways to enhance your everyday resilience,” Dr. Boardman said.

Finding Joy During & After Cancer

When faced with a cancer battle, whether you’re an adult or a child, it can be difficult to focus on life outside of your disease. However, it’s important to remember that your mental state can actually impact your success as a patient.

“I’m pretty good at telling what kind of patients are going to still have this attitude and probably going to live the longest, even with bad, bad disease,” Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colorectal surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet. “And those are patients who, they have gratitude in life.”

Dr. Dana Chase, a gynecologic oncologist at Arizona Oncology, also advocates for cancer warriors to prioritize their mental health. She noted that emotional well-being has been studied as a factor in patient outcomes.

“We know from good studies that emotional health is associated with survival, meaning better quality of life is associated with better outcomes,” Dr. Chase told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview.

“So, working on your emotional health, your physical well-being, your social environment [and] your emotional well-being are important and can impact your survival. If that’s related to what activities you do that bring you joy, then you should try to do more of those activities.”

According to Dr. Chase says doing things that bring you joy is important, and there’s no right or wrong ways to do so. Paying attention to your emotional health could look like spending time with friends and dancing. Others might turn to painting, writing, watching movies, or playing sports.

Dr. Chase recommends writing down ten things that make you happy and intentionally making the time to do those activities throughout the day.

What Still Brings You Joy? Your Emotional Health is So Important to Living with Ovarian Cancer

“Sometimes I will talk to a patient about making [a] list of the top ten things that bring them joy,” Chase says. “And trying to do those ten things, to make at least 50 percent of their experiences positive throughout the day.”

“Sometimes I will talk to a patient about making [a] list of the top ten things that bring them joy,” she continues. “And trying to do those ten things, to make at least 50 percent of their experiences positive throughout the day.”

What to Know About Screening For Breast Cancer

The medical community has a consensus that women between 45 and 54 have annual mammograms. However, an independent panel of experts called the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is saying that women should start getting mammograms every other year at the age of 40, suggesting that this lowered the age for breast cancer screening could save 19% more lives.

WATCH: Screening for Breast Cancer

For women aged 55 and older, the American Cancer Society recommends getting a mammogram every other year. However, women in this age group who want added reassurance can still get annual mammograms.

Women who have a strong family history of breast cancer, have dense breasts, have a genetic mutation known to increase the risk of breast cancer, such as a BRCA gene mutation, or a medical history, including chest radiation therapy before age 30, are considered at higher risk for breast cancer.

Experiencing menstruation at an early age (before 12) or having dense breasts can also put you into a high-risk category. If you are at a higher risk for developing breast cancer, you should begin screening earlier.

Breast density is determined through mammograms. However, women with dense breasts are at a higher risk for developing breast cancer because dense breast tissue can mask potential cancer during screening. 3D mammograms, breast ultrasound, breast MRI, and molecular breast imaging are options for women with dense breasts for a more precise screening. It is important to ask your doctor about your breast density and cancer risk.

Although breast cancer can happen to anyone, certain factors can increase a person’s risk of getting the disease. The known risk factors for breast cancer include:

• Older age
• Having a gene mutation such as the BRCA1 or BRCA2
• Added exposure to estrogen
• Having children after the age of 30
• Exposure to radiation early in life
• Family history of the disease

About ten percent of breast cancers are hereditary, says Dr. Ophira Ginsburg, Director of the High-Risk Cancer Program at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center.

“We encourage only those who have a family history to really get [genetic testing],” Dr. Ginsburg previously told SurvivorNet.

“I would say that if you have anyone in your family who was diagnosed with a very rare cancer. Or if you have a strong family history of one or two kinds of cancer, particularly breast and ovarian, but also colon, rectal, uterine, and ovarian cancer, that goes together in another cancer syndrome called the Lynch Syndrome,” Dr. Ginsburg adds.

Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

---