How long have you known that Ryan is Esme’s father? “When I shot Esme’s first visit to Spring Ridge, where she has scenes with Alexis talking about Ryan’s condition, I remember reading those scripts — and I had no context for anything, this was within my first 10 episodes of the show — and going, ‘I kind of feel like this guy is my dad!’ I believe it was Gary [Tomlin] who was directing that day, and when we were blocking, I was like, ‘Hey, is he my dad?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know, I’ll get back to you on that.’ So, he tried to find me before rehearsal but it didn’t work out, so literally right before taping, he goes, ‘Oh, Avery, by the way, yeah, that is your dad.’ So I was like, ‘Okay!’ Those scenes were really fun to do, but I was kind of flying by the seat of my pants! I was like, ‘Okay, that changes things!’ ”
The actual reveal scenes got quite a reaction online, as I’m sure you saw. There were some, shall we say, interesting overtones to them! How did you approach working on those scenes with Jon Lindstrom (Ryan)? “The biggest thing Jon and I wanted to do was make the audience second-guess everything — and I think we’re doing okay with that! I did end up watching them, and I was like, ‘Oh. Wow.’ Jon was fantastic, and before [we shot them] we got some information on what our characters’ history was because I felt it was beneficial for us to be on the same page. On set, it was very interesting to do. I heard the director go, ‘Avery, can you, like, caress his hand a little more?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, sure,’ and at one point, Jon and I were like, ‘Okay, everybody, we need to get it out of the way, so on 3, we’re going to say, “1, 2, 3. Ewwww.” ’ I was literally sweating while I was filming them! They are naturally make-your-skin-crawl scenes, and we switched some things around so that you got the reveal that he could walk at the end of the scene, which I think really added to the moment of him saying, ‘My beautiful, gifted daughter.’ And Jon is just hysterical, so every scene with him, I kind of have to try not to laugh. He’s a super-nice dude, and I think we made those scenes as comfortable as we could, but they were very interesting things to have to film, and a very questionable relationship to portray — to say the least!”
Do you know who her mother is? “Not a clue!”
Esme has sunk to her lowest low yet by taping Joss and Cameron’s first time, releasing the footage and framing Trina. Why does she think she can get away with it? “I think Esme has spent so much time trying to convince people that she didn’t do it that she’s started to believe it herself. It’s like selective memory loss for her.”
Esme is the kind of character designed to be hated by the audience, and you seem to have such a good attitude about the fan response to her. “I’m not going to lie; there have been a few comments I’ve read that are like, ‘Oh, that one stung a bit.’ But at the end of the day, my job is to help tell a story and to entertain people, and if people are entertained by the fact that they love to loathe me, then I guess my job is done! I really have enjoyed all the creative names people have come up with on Twitter for Esme — Escargot, Escalator. The list goes on! It’s all in fun.”
What’s your favorite of her Twitter nicknames? “Etch A Sketch and Embarassment. I think those are quite hysterical!”
