Ryan McPartlin is putty in Gina Gershon's hands

Tom meets and falls for Pat, a demented social-climber played with delicious nastiness by Gina Gershon. Gershon's take on the role is bound to make her even more of a gay icon. She makes the campy, bound for cult status film. And she looks fantastic doing it, which should have straight men fantasizing, as if they aren't already.

But McPartlin said working with the actress is "like hanging out with one of the guys."

"Dude, she's great. We had the best time," he said. "We could talk about everything and anything. It was so cool."

Gershon's character might seem preposterous, but the film is based on one of Ann Rule's true-crime novels, and McPartlin says very few liberties were taken in the adaptation. As happened in Georgia in the 1970s, Pat convinces Tom to buy a huge plantation and let her decorate it. Soon he's asking his estranged father (Victor Garber) for money to get out of debt. But it's still not enough for Pat, whose greed leads to tragedy.

McPartlin knows the premise sounds overheated, to say the least, but he thinks that a lot of people have been so passionate for someone that they've done stupid things.

"I was playing like I loved her no matter what. We've all been blinded by love" he said, adding that he can see how Gershon, playing a sociopath or not, could transfix a man.

"I'm sure she's had more than her fair share of guys blinded by love," he said, laughing. "She's really easy and fun to be around, so I'm sure when she tries to turn it around on you, she has her way with men."

McPartlin was taking care of his two sons, Wyatt and Dylan, while his wife, Danielle, was out of town ("They're not napping for daddy"), but he took the time to talk more about the film and about what's coming on Season 3 of "Chuck."

ANN RULE'S EVERYTHING SHE EVER WANTED 
7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Lifetime Movie Network
Tune in or out? Destined to be a cult classic. out of four.

How was working with Gina Gershon, who is terrifically evil in this?
I kept throwing out Coughlin's Law. Remember that, from "Cocktail?" She didn't find it very amusing. It was her first movie; it's one of my favorite movies. She didn't know what the hell I was talking about when I'd bring up Coughlin's Law and the different rules, like "Never show surprise, never lose your cool."

She didn't remember?
She's like, "What are you talking about?" I said, "I'm quoting "Cocktail" to you, it's a classic." She said, "'Rosemary's Baby' is a classic." "No, 'Cocktail' is a classic. Bite your tongue woman." That's part of the reason I'm an actor. Do you have any idea? I wanted to be a bartender, throwing bottles around.

How did you come to the role?
I auditioned like everyone else does ... They didn't release all the material but I auditioned off the pages that I had read. I got a good feel. I got a phone call a week later and they said they worked out this deal and do I want to do it. ... They said, "You gotta be on a plane for Toronto tonight." I hadn't even read the rest of the script. They said, "You can read it on the plane."

Thankfully it was good. I didn't realize it was a two-night mini-series. Thank God I was able to prepare in a short amount of time. I did soaps. I'd done sitcoms. I did "Chuck" obviously. So I'm able to prepare in a short amount of time and pick up on what the director is looking for and I'm used to working fast.

It would be nice one day to have the luxury of having plenty of time. But I think that only happens onstage.

Is it nice to not have to overthink it though?
You know what, I didn't. And I had a great time. The whole Southern accent was a fun thing to do. One of my buddies here has a Southern accent and I beat him out for the part. I go, "Bud you didn't nail it like I did. I'm a method actor. I went down South and prepared for this." He's like, "Whatever."

Did you get to fulfill any kind of fantasy getting to dress like Rhett Butler?
A little bit. That day we were in a Southern looking home. We kept pushing that off because we were just coming out of winter. We finally had one nice sunny day. It just looked like we were in Georgia ... Then to put all the garb on it was a very surreal experience.