Sonja Flemming/CBS
Well, Colleen, we last spoke when you’d only been on screen for a few minutes. But now I can tell you what a great job I think you’re doing! “The response has been kind of crazy. It’s wonderful.”
Speaking of crazy, that character of yours is crazy in the most delicious way! “Oh, she’s out of her mind. Just ridiculous. She does evilness with such ease.“
She’s pretty much a textbook sociopath. “And yet, she still believes what she believes. There’s stuff coming up where you’ll see that this woman truly believes what she is saying to be her own truth. And when you are an actor playing a villain, you’ve got to believe full-heartedly in what that character is doing. You have to completely absorb that character, whether it’s good or bad.”
Your physical choices with Jordan, like your sweeping hand gestures, are inspired, like Jordan is ready to attack. “She’s so deranged [laughs]. I’m a dancer at heart, so I’m a physical actor and what’s interesting I find on this show is that [the other characters] are so still and I’m not used to that as an actor. I’m big, so because they’re so still, it makes me look even bigger than I really am.”
Your face behind that heating grate when Jordan was hiding at the lake house was also a hoot. “How fun was that? We shot it several times just to make sure that we got the exact eyeball in the right area, you know. Yeah, it was fun. I want Jordan to be as theatrical as she can be and that plays against the steeliness of the Newmans. It’s a huge contrast to them. I know that a lot of fans have said I’m overacting. No, I’m not. It’s a character choice.”
Your scenes with Melody Thomas Scott’s (Nikki) are especially riveting. “What unbelievable work she’s doing! Oh, my God, she’s breathtaking and I just applaud her every day that I see her on the screen because she’s just so damn brave with what she’s doing. I wasn’t watching the show during those times when Nikki was drinking, so I’ve never seen this before from Mel and she’s spectacular.”
What does it mean to you to know how thrilled fans are to have you back in daytime? “I did not anticipate this tidal wave of response from the fans. It’s really been something and I can’t thank them enough. I mean, the fact that they even remembered me after 13 years [since AS THE WORLD TURNS, where she played Barbara, went off the air]…. I know the WORLD TURNS fans groups are out but there that’s just for my show. The fact that this has stretched across the entire daytime world with people that first say, ‘Who is she?’, ‘I don’t know who she is’ and some of them say, ‘She’s a terrible actress’ — and that’s okay! They’ll figure it out [laughs]. I’m having the time of my life. It’s so much fun, so much fun.”
Are you getting recognized by fans as Jordan yet? “I’m not because I’m usually in a baseball hat, but I was in Utah for Thanksgiving with a friend and I got recognized all over the place. It was crazy but really nice.”
