ATWT's Alexandra Chando(Maddie) and Zach Roerig (Casey) told Weekly what makes them click in our Aug. 8 issue. Oakdale's craziest kids dished out even more than what's fit to print, however, so here is more, from A to Z.
Soap Opera Weekly: Which do you like to play more, drama or comedy?
Alexandra Chando: I like doing the comedy. When I filmed Maddie's condom-buying scenes I had such a blast. But it does get to be like, "Give me something that I can sink my teeth into." I'm really enjoying this dramatic storyline now, but I get frustrated with myself. I have a really hard time getting emotional, and for a lot of this stuff I have to get emotional. With comedy, I don’t have to worry, "Am I going to be able to cry today?" The comedy comes easier with me. It's less of a challenge.
Zach Roerig: Comedy's more fun. We're all friends and we're already generally goofing around. But the drama's cool, too — to actually sit down and figure out [motivation]. It's not just, "Okay, I know my line: 'Blah, blah, blah...ha-ha,'" like comedy is. But sometimes drama on the show can be (laughs)...soapy.
Weekly: Who’s the bigger joker on the set?
Roerig: Honestly, me.
Chando: He makes me laugh a lot. I'm more like a silly, geeky jokester, and he's more of a dry humor — kind of clever.
Roerig: Clever? You said I was clever?
Chando: Yeah, you're clever.
Weekly: How similar are you to Maddie and Casey?
Roerig: There are some similarities, but I'm playing Casey's choices a lot differently than I would play in my own life.
Chando: Maddie's gone off the deep end, so she's a little crazy, but she still has personality traits [like me]. I try to be there for my friends as much as I can, and Maddie's all about her friends and family. She's 'out there' and funny.
Weekly: Do you model Maddie after Henry (Trent Dawson) at all, since he's such a wacky character?
Chando: Not really, because Henry's ambiguous. He's weird. They're very similar, but they're also very different. [Maddie and Henry] have a lot of the same humor, but I haven't really thought about it. If you mean was I developing the character and said, “Okay, I'm going to take some of Henry's traits,” I didn't do that.
Weekly: Zach, the Hughes family is such an Oakdale force. Do you feel any pressure as the next generation?
Roerig: Nah. It's not that I've become complacent or anything, but I know everyone there is behind me. I guess you still get pressure when you have a big scene coming up, but it's a good work environment. I'm not going to lie, I like being a Hughes. They've been on the show forever. I love the people who play my parents, Scott (Holmes, Tom) and Ellen (Dolan, Margo).
Weekly: Do either of you frequent the message boards and Web sites for ATWT?
Roerig: Morning, night, at work.... Alex is one of the fans on the Web site.
Chando: No, I'm not! I post on one of the fan boards that they have for me.
Roerig: You do?
Chando: I told you that. Every once in a while I stop by and say, "Hi."
Roerig: (gasps in mock horror) Stop talking to me! I had no idea!
Chando: I'm nice. And I said I was going to stop once my storyline started.
Roerig: She's got a MySpace. "I'm Alexandra Chando. I'm on ATWT." Just kidding!
Chando: Someone started a MySpace page for me, though.
Roerig: Me, too. My friends were responding to it like, "Oh, my God. How are you doing? I haven't talked to you in forever." Do you think I'd really make a MySpace?
Chando: You wouldn't even know how to begin to make a MySpace. He calls me, like, "I need you to come over. You have to teach me how to use my computer."
Weekly: Brandon Routh (ex-Seth, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) made a big splash in Superman Returns. If you could play a superhero, who would it be?
Chando: I played poker with Brandon Routh once. I sat next to him. He was so sweet.
Roerig: You know who I wish would have gotten that part and would have been a cool Superman? Justin Bruening (Jamie) of ALL MY CHILDREN. He's a good friend of mine. I think he's got a good Superman look.
Chando: Brandon looks like Christopher Reeve (ex-Ben, LOVE OF LIFE). Who would I play? She-Ra?
Roerig: I always wanted to be Wolverine [from X-MEN] as a kid. I could never do as good a job as Hugh Jackman. I think he's an amazing actor. I saw him do stage, and I thought he was awesome in The Boy From Oz [on Broadway].
Roerig: Now ask me a really direct question. Shoot me with an arrow, and I'll bleed.
Weekly: Direct, like
'boxers or briefs?' or like Barbara Walters?
Roerig: I don't actually wear underwear.
Chando: He just steals them from the show!
