Jason Merritt/Getty ImagesIt may one of the hardest things they've ever done, but the cast of Glee is continuing its work this week on the show's upcoming tribute episode in honor of Cory Monteith.
"We're in the middle of filming it, and it's incredibly hard," Matthew Morrison told me yesterday at Comedy Central's James Franco roast. "We've mourned Cory, but now we're mourning Finn. So it's kind of like two people in that one person.
"It's incredibly hard and we're staying strong together and I have to say Lea [Michele] has been the most strongest of all of us," he added.
Morrison said the tragedy has made the already tight cast and crew even tighter. "I think we all knew we were very close but I think this just kind of solidified it like we are a rock for each other right now," he said. "It's quite a beautiful thing."
It sure is.
"It's the worst thing that's ever happened to me," Naya Rivera said at last night's MTV Video Music Awards. "It is the hardest thing to do. It's been the worst week ever."
"It's tough to shoot," Darren Criss added. "It's something that needs to happen for the fans. I don't know; it's going to be tough. But it will be very poignant and hopefully very moving, and just that: a tribute. Hopefully it will be a good tribute to Cory."
Monteith died over an overdose on July 13 in a Vancouver hotel room.
"Just read Cory Monteith memorial episode," Jane Lynch tweeted on Wednesday. "Most beautiful thing. Thank you, @MrRPMurphy @BFalchuk Ian Brennan."
Glee creator Ryan Murphy has already revealed they will not include Finn's cause of death in the tribute episode.
"At one point, we were going to have his character die after an accidental drug overdose—that was something we had considered," he said. "But we have decided that we're not going to have him pass from that."
"Basically, what we're doing in the episode is we are not telling you yet, or maybe not at all, how that character died," Murphy explained. "The idea being, how somebody died is interesting and maybe morbid, but we say very early on in the episode, 'This episode is about a celebration of that character's life.' That might be weird for some people, but it felt really exploitative to do it any other way."
In much lighter news, Morrison revealed that Demi Lovato's guest stint may not be happening at McKinley.
He said, "I think she is going to be in the New York aspect of the show so I don't think she's going to be in my classroom."