Katharine McPhee has said that she was not intimidated by auditioning for Steven Spielberg for Smash.
The actress, who plays aspiring Broadway star Karen on the new NBC musical drama, revealed that she had a "simple" audition for the role and finds the director and producer to be a wonderful man.
"I did have to audition for this. It was actually one of the more simple auditions I've been through. I auditioned, put myself on tape, flew to New York the next week, was testing for it," McPhee told MTV News.
"I waited two days for Mr Spielberg to watch the tape and I got the part... Mr Spielberg, when you meet him, he is not intimidating at all. He's the most lovely, wonderful, gentle man."
McPhee went on to say that she feels a strong connection with Karen as she personifies Smash's message about "dreaming big".
"My character, Karen, is the biggest dreamer of them all, she dreams big... She has a big heart, she has a lot of drive and she's very determined about what she wants in her career and what she wants out of it and how she's gonna go about doing it, and keeping a real strong moral code," she explained.
"I think she is a little green when you first meet her. She's not quite sure how things go and how things are worked in the business, [and] she learns a lot throughout the course of the first season."
Smash premieres on Monday, February 6 at 10/9c on NBC. It will air on Sky Atlantic in the UK.
