Anne Heche on her 'drop-dead gorgeous' new fashion-centric drama

Anne Heche — who co-created and produced 2014’s Bad Judge — is returning to the TV world as an executive producer on Icon, a potential NBC drama about modeling in the late ’70s and early ’80s, alongside husband James Tupper and Cindy Crawford — and she can’t wait to give viewers a peek into that world.

“The war was over, feminism was booming, women were embracing their beauty, and it was the first time there were supermodels,” Heche told EW Thursday. “It just seems like such an alive, exciting time in the world.”

Heche and Tupper first got The Hunger Games producer Robin Bissell on board to write, and Crawford joined next. Now, the four are in the early stages of writing and hope to begin shooting this fall.

Read EW’s interview with Heche below to see more about why she was drawn to that time period, whether or not she’ll make a cameo, and what kind of past she has with Crawford.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So first of all, how’d you get involved with Icon?

ANNE HECHE: James, my husband, and I came up with the idea. We really started thinking about how fun it would be to do a show about the modeling world in the ’70s. So many things were going on. The war was over, feminism was booming, women were embracing their beauty, and it was the first time there were supermodels. It just seems like such an alive, exciting time in the world — and the music was extraordinary, fashion was amazing. So we just started developing the idea. And we went to a writer that we love, Robin Bissell, and asked him if he would be interested in collaborating with us. Then we started fantasizing about who, since we were doing a show about supermodels and that time, who would be the No. 1 most incredible person to bring on as our partner to make everything completely genuine. [Laughs] And so we approached Cindy Crawford, and fortunately, she said yes.

Did you know Cindy before this?

I met her a couple of times, and we’ve always had a nice time. I think we saw a U2 concert together. We’ve seen each other socially a little bit, but have never collaborated.

Is the show going to focus more on the ’70s or ’80s?

It starts in the late ’70s and will journey into the ’80s. This isn’t a story about Cindy’s life, but it’s about the time in Cindy’s life when she became a supermodel. Hopefully if our show continues, and everybody is as excited about watching as we are making it, we’ll come through to the ’90s and keep going. Going through the decades will be so much fun to not only watch, but to put in on screen — from decorating the sets to the clothing to the designers to how they all changed to the shifts in fashion to how it reflected not only on women, but how it changes the world. It changes women, it changes the way we look. So it’s a super fun world. That’s why we wanted to do it.

Will you make a cameo at any point?

I’m not young enough or tall enough to be a supermodel. [Laughs] No, I don’t know. Right now, we plan to be the producers only, but I’m sure if my husband talked me into it, I might make an appearance at some point.

What about producing appeals to you?

I love telling stories. When you’re an actor, you get to be a part of someone else’s story and that story flows through that particular character within that drama or comedy or whatever it is, but as a producer, you get to create the story and create the world. And talk about the things you want to talk about and give talent an opportunity to shine, which is always something that I’ve loved to do. Watching other people embrace the characters that we’ve developed for Icon is going to be — it just tickles me. I just absolutely adore it. And it’s fun to be in charge! [Laughs] It’s fun to be the boss.

And finally, what three words would you use to describe Icon?

Drop-dead gorgeous.

•Cindy Crawford is developing NBC series about fashion in the ’80s