Krysta Rodriguez on 'Living and Breathing' Liza Minnelli on Netflix 'Halston'

One of the reveals of "Halston," Ryan Murphy's Netflix bio-series about the fashion icon, is his closeness to Liza Minnelli. Not that this is a shock to anyone – their relationship was chronicled in two documentaries: 2010's "Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston" and 2019's "Halston" – but those watching the series might be surprised at just how close they were. In the show, Ewan McGregor plays Halston (aka Roy Halston Frowick) with Krysta Rodriguez as Minnelli. "To its credit, the show's scripts have a sophisticated understanding of, say, the dynamic between Halston and Liza Minnelli (Krysta Rodriguez), the star who to Halston is everything; she views him as a wonderful pal," Variety wrote in its review of the miniseries.

But just what was that dynamic?

"When I met Halston, I just remember him talking and me listening ... he'd say, 'Alright, I got it.' He put [a design] on you," recalled Minnelli in 2019's Halston documentary. "And it danced with you. His clothes danced with you. We were joined at the hip from then on."

For Minnelli, Vanity Fair's Julie Miller writes that her relationship with Halston was akin to the one she had with her father, film director Vincente Minnelli, the closeted Hollywood Golden Era director behind such classics as "An American in Paris" and "The Bad and the Beautiful."

"He was like my dad in a way because, when I was a little girl, my father would give me five costumes every year," Minnelli explained. "It was a dress from 'An American in Paris,' and perfectly made...and I guess I got into appreciating how clothes changed the way you felt."

There's a symbiotic relationship with Halston designing virtually everything Minnelli wore (including the red halter mini-dress she famously wore in "Liza With a Z" that is recreated in the series) and Minnelli supporting him with performances at his runway shows over the years, including a famous one in 1978 in which she sang "New York, New York" and gave Elizabeth Taylor a rose at its conclusion. "Even 18 years after Halston's death, when Halston's brand was revived for a 2008 show in New York, Minnelli sat front row, cheered on the designs, and raved about her late friend to press. Acknowledging the Halston design she was wearing, she told the New York Times. "It's Halston vintage, 1975 – and I think it is great to celebrate the first designer who put American fashion on the map."

Minnelli remained steadfast in defending her friend's image, so much so that Ewan McGregor reached out to her for a private interview prior to the filming of "Halston."

"He got to meet her and tell her that her best friend was in good hands," Rodriguez told Vanity Fair. "He had a really special meeting and bond with Liza herself and brought that to our rehearsals. When we started rehearsing, that was already in his heart, and I could recognize that."

Rodriguez said that the show's creators, along with McGregor, saw the Halston-Minnelli relationship as the show's "love story [...] these were each other's soulmates." And while she had been a lifelong Minnelli fan, she was surprised to learn how deep their relationship was.

"I don't think I ever really knew that everything she wore was Halston, all the costumes [...] Halston is uncredited as a costumer for 'Cabaret' because she called him and was like, 'I hate all my costumes.' And he redesigned the entire wardrobe for her," said Rodriguez. "They sharpened each other as friends and collaborators, and ultimately were each other's greatest love."

When she got the role, she recalled to Variety in an interview: "'If I get this part, I will do nothing but this part for the next two months. I will live and breathe and sleep Liza.' And then I did get it and every morning was consuming her: reading about her, studying it, walking like her, doing all the things that I could do to get in that mindset."

Rodriguez, who was featured on the cult TV series "Smash," also starred in the sitcom "Trial & Error," ABC's "Quantico," and Netflix's "Daybreak," as well as Broadway productions of "Spring Awakening" and "A Chorus Line."

Coming from a theater background, she addressed Minnelli's iconic status: "I'm in a musical theater world, she is our queen. But I don't know that I ever felt like a kindred connection with her before. But the more I was auditioning and the more we were working on the pieces, I just really felt [one]. There's a physical resemblance, although I'd never really noticed it until we started working on it as much, but it is pretty uncanny sometimes. And there's some alignment in our upbringings and the fact that we both do theater and all of that. But where I really felt connected with her was this vulnerability that she had. She was actually on the forefront of something that I think we're all still trying to find now, which is this ability to be open and vulnerable and completely raw with an audience with almost zero self-criticism while it's happening."

During a 2018 tribute to Halston at Lincoln Center, Minnelli remembered him as "tender always, courageous always, challenging always, daring me to be better than I ever thought I could be. I'll miss him always." Looking up toward the sky, Minnelli said, "Thanks, pal. It was a joy. We just wanted to let you know we were thinking of you."

Rodriguez also told Vanity Fair she hoped Minnelli was happy with her and McGregor's representation of the friendship. "I obviously hope she loves the show," said the actor, "and I hope that she feels like we honored her best friend and their relationship in a way that she can be happy with."

Watch the trailer to "Halston" below: