Jason Olive Makes a COMEBACK
Soap Opera Weekly: Do you keep in touch with anyone from ALL MY CHILDREN?
Jason Olive: I speak to J. Eddie Peck (ex-Jake) every once in a while. His son is starting to play volleyball pretty competitively so I try to give them some advice on where he should play and how he should go about it. I see Galen Gering (Luis) from PASSIONS playing out on the beach fairly often.
Weekly: What is the biggest difference between prime time and daytime?
Olive: Drama and melodrama are two completely different animals with different rules and different expectations. It’s like a shopping cart and a wheelbarrow. Same basic parts and principles but nothing alike.
Weekly: What has been your favorite experience on THE COMEBACK so far?
Olive: Having Lisa Kudrow and MPK (co-executive producer Michael Patrick King) trust me enough to let me go off a bit and do some improv. You really don’t know what anyone is going to do. I mean, yes, there is a script, but you have to stay on your toes.
Weekly: Are you enjoying working with Lisa Kudrow?
Olive: Tremendously. She is such an actor’s actor. She is always working very hard to find that sweet spot of the scene. I am always struck by how completely receptive she is. Nothing goes by her. She is extremely acute.
Weekly: Tell us a little about Jesse.
Olive: He’s teaching me a lot lately. He is very comfortable in his own skin and he knows exactly what he wants out of the business. He has high standards and hates the idea of anything making the sitcom cheesier than it already is. He is a little full of himself at times but that can be a good thing. Not always but sometimes…
Weekly: How would you compare him to Frankie?
Olive: Frankie took things to heart a lot more. He was always trying to help someone. Jesse doesn’t let other people’s problems affect him.
Weekly: Do you prefer comedy or drama?
Olive: I really love both. That is why THE COMEBACK is so enjoyable for me to work on. It is perfect. You get to do two shows in one. And the challenge makes it so much more enjoyable.
Weekly: Do you find one more difficult than the other?
Olive: Not really. It depends on the writing really. If you are talking about melodrama — the soaps — it has always been very hard for me to understand. Guys like Michael E. Knight (Tad, AMC) who make it look so easy always impress me. Some people think there is like a hierarchy to acting, like comedy is the hardest and is on top, then drama, then melodrama. I don’t look at it like that. As an actor, I want to be able to do everything. I even want to do musicals and I can’t carry a note to the corner store and back. So, I still have a lot to learn and work on.
THE COMEBACK airs Sundays at 10:30 EDT on HBO. For more information, visit www.hbo.com/comeback.
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