Chevy Chase documentary director says SNL star was ‘so rude’ in interview

Chevy Chase's reputation for being difficult was reinforced when he insulted Marina Zenovich during their interview. Photo / Getty Images

Chevy Chase is the rudest celebrity Marina Zenovich has ever interviewed.

The I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not director admitted she was initially worried about how to approach the 82-year-old actor about his reputation for being difficult and abrasive but it was easy after he was immediately rude to her.

When Zenovich told Chevy “I’m just trying to figure you out”, he replied: “It’s not going to be easy for you. You’re not bright enough.”

She told Variety: “I’d never done an interview where someone was so rude to me. But I was so worried going into that first interview with him about how I was going to say to him, like, ‘Everyone thinks you’re an a******’. I thought if I did, he would throw me out of his house. So the minute he said that to me, I had a way in.”

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Chevy has had on-set disputes with SNL’s Terry Sweeney and the entire cast of the NBC comedy Community and Zenovich wanted to “figure out who was the real” Chevy.

She said: “I wanted to figure out who was the real person behind the conflicted, guarded and somewhat fragile man we see on camera. What was behind the surface of his slightly intimidating superstar bravado? Was there any self-awareness there? Having interviewed Chevy at length, I have to say that yes, it’s all there – and a whole lot of pain and heartache too.”

Sweeney – who made history as Saturday Night Live‘s first out gay cast member – fell out with Chase after he proposed Sweeney appear in an SNL sketch mocking the Aids epidemic.

The incident is revisited in the doco and Sweeney told The Hollywood Reporter: “… [he is just] making himself look more like the ass he is!!! It all reflects rightly horribly on him. Boohoo … poor screwed-up kid … so THAT’s why he’s so rotten!!!!!!!”