While Adrian's story slowly builds on The YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, portrayer Eyal Podell has been using his time to hit his international wedding season circuit.
Soap Opera Weekly: What can you tell us about life at Y&R?
Eyal Podell: It's been great. There's been a bit of a lull, but they've been setting up storylines. Adrian's still writing the book about Brad and somewhere in the future that's going to blow up. Then this thing with Heather could blow up things between him and Colleen. In the meantime, I've had a few months where I've been sporadically in and out. It's given me time to be home, spend time with my family, finish my script — which has been optioned! — and go to acting class. I wouldn't change it for anything.
Weekly: As a new dad, this is the ideal time for work to be slow. How is your little girl, Oren, doing?
Podell: The baby's great. She's got a birthday coming up (Oct. 11). One year! Wow. What's fun about babies is you become such a fool to get the laugh. That laugh fills you with such joy that you're willing to do almost anything to get it. We're programmed to be so logical. It's the right brain/left brain thing. You're born with infinite possibility from either side, but we nourish the logic side with school. At some point when we're about 6, they teach the fun and non-judgmentalness out of us. I'm enjoying getting to be as free as she is when we play together.
Weekly: Have you done any traveling with your slower schedule?
Podell: It's wedding season. I spent a week in July in Israel with my family and then went to a wedding in Bermuda in August, which was exciting. We took the baby to Israel, but I didn’t take the missus or the baby to Bermuda. It was too far for such a short [time]. I was working and then I got on a red-eye. Plus, it was my old fraternity brothers. It was the guys getting together and having a good time. Next I'm going to a wedding in North Carolina.
Weekly: What is it like to get recognized by fans at personal events like that?
Podell: The grandmother of the bride is Armenian and doesn't speak very good English, but she's a fan of the show. The whole weekend it was hyped: "You have to go say something to her because she's such a fan!" I finally met her and I said, "Do you want to know what happens on the show?" Someone translated and she nodded Yes. I said, "Victor dies!" She turned ashen white, like she was going to have a heart attack. She's in her late 80s, so I was like, "I’m kidding! Oh, my God." I was afraid I was going to kill the grandmother. I told her I'd save a dance for her. After we danced, the mother of the bride came over and thanked me, explaining the grandmother hadn't danced since her husband died four years ago. That was nice.
Weekly: Speaking of dance partners, what's your take on nuColleen, Tammin Sursok?
Podell: She's great. It's a totally different experience than working with Adrienne Leon, who I loved. Tammin brings a different energy. She's eager to play and is free. She came from an Australian soap (Home and Away), but they don’t shoot like we do. She wants to play with the whole set and still has that freedom of exploration. It's fun.
