CBS
Alley Mills (Heather, GH) was in for a pleasant surprise when she to got to work opposite Genie Francis (Laura) during the Laura/Heather Pentonville scenes that recently aired. “Those were really interesting for me, because they were pretty snarky scenes,” Mills notes. “Heather was extremely snarky the last time she saw Laura because she was so freaking pissed off that she ripped her child away from her. But Heather needed her this time. So I was trying to figure out, just in my mind, because Laura’s not stupid, how I could be snarky and then also get something from her. Well, I was just talking and chatting with Genie before shooting it, when we were about to rehearse the scene, and I said, ‘Heather and Laura knew each other when they were teenagers, didn’t they?’ She said, ‘Yes! And you were just kind of, like, a librarian before you became a sexual person and sort of stole boyfriends and stuff.’ And so I have this whole kind of internal backstory about Heather, which allows me to be vengeful and kill people with a good conscience because she thinks they deserve it, that kind of thing. It’s a real sort of abuse backstory in the bottom of her. And so I thought about that librarian [comment] and as I’m talking to Genie, I realized, you know, ‘We’re friends! We’re high school friends!’ And that changed the whole way that we did the scene, which was really great. I love when stuff like that happens. Instead of it just being a manipulative, snarky kind of normal Heather thing, it was sort like [adopts enthusiastic tone], ‘Oh, my God, a visit from the mayor! What?!’ It made it real. It was like, ‘Whoa, Laura, hi! Wow, it’s been a long time since we’ve hung out and now you came to see me in prison!’ That kind of thing. It was genuine, and she responded that way even though she was obviously suspicious, and so Heather really did get Laura on her side to help her. It really did change our relationship, you know? Though I don’t know if that’s extremely temporary or not [laughs]!” On all fronts, Mills is having a blast being back on the show. “I just love Heather,” she beams. “I’m so grateful.”
