Scene and Heard

Y&R’s Hunter King (Summer) admits that working with TV dad Joshua Morrow (Nick) can be challenging whenever their characters are discussing dramatic subject matter. “Those scenes are actually very hard for me to film because the whole time, I’m trying not to laugh at Joshua,” sighs the actress. “It’s even worse when we have to lock eyes and keep looking at each other very seriously. I get so nervous that I’ll start laughing so I can’t really make direct eye contact with him. Any time we’re ending a scene where we have to look at each other, I don’t look him right in the eye; I have to look at his forehead. And as soon as they call ‘Break!’ then we usually both bust up laugh- ing.” When Michelle Stafford (Phyllis) is in mix, it’s a different vibe. “Michelle is a total professional, unlike her two juvenile scene partners,” King chuckles. “Joshua may play my dad but he’s more like the brother I never had and you just can’t get him to shut up. We’re always poking fun at each other and calling each other names, we’re just so ridiculous. I feel bad because everyone on set is usually saying, ‘Okay, let’s go!’ ”

While B&B’s Thomas is no longer bunk- ing with his pal, Vinny, Matthew Atkinson (Thomas) has some fun memories of taping with his portrayer, Joe LoCicero. “So, it was summer and the air conditioning broke down in Vinny’s apartment,” Atkinson recalls of one set of memorable scenes. “That was a funny day because the actual situation was, they had the air conditioning running in the studio all night, because of all the lights that they use during the day, so overnight they have the chance to run the AC and cool everything down. Well, we come in the next morning, the AC is running, we’re practically butt naked because it’s supposed to be a heat wave and they’re spraying us with water to make us look sweaty. It was like 60 degrees and we’re pretending to be hot! To be honest, I may have been shivering in some of those scenes [laughs]. That was pretty intense but looking back on it, it was pretty funny.”

One of Briana Lane’s most challenging GH scenes since joining the show as Brook Lynn required her to stay still while Wally Kurth’s Ned poured his heart out to her unconscious character. “I was just so worried that I was going to, like, twitch when he was coming to kiss my forehead,” she explains. “I was like, ‘Don’t twitch! You’re supposed to be unconscious!’ I was also really worried about crying, because his performance was so moving and during rehearsal, I teared up. I was like, ‘Please don’t let a tear drop while I’m supposed to be unconscious! I don’t think that would work for the scene!’ Wally was so great, oh, my gosh. Wally comes from the theater world — in fact, we both went to UCLA and studied theater in the same program — and he’s so present in his scenes, it makes scenes like all those hospital scenes so much easier for me because he just drops in immediately. I feel like working with him has made me a better actor. He brings the spirit of the theater to his work.”

Mike C. Manning (Charlie) had a unique introduction to DAYS’s Salem. “My very first day on set, I was spilled on and then my second day on set I was spilled on, and I can say that has never happened to me before,” he muses. “It was actually freeing in a way. They made it fun. I think that so many times as actors, we get caught up in our own heads and we want to do a good job and we’re so nervous about performing, and for me, I just decided, ‘Hey, I’m going to go on set and they’re going to spill on me and I’m going to be standing there with a wet shirt for my entire first scene that I shoot on the show and it is what it is.’ It really made it like 41 playtime, like we were just a bunch of kids having fun and cameras just happened to be there.” Manning says he’s gotten tips from his two scene partners, Isabel Durant (Claire) and Paul Telfer (Xander). “Isabel and Paul have both sort of taken me under their wing and been like, ‘Hey, this is how you look at the right camera, this is how we do our blocking really quickly.’ I think the one thing that they both have in common that I have really appreciated, is that they both helped me keep it fun and not stress out about getting everything perfect the first time. I feel like that has allowed all of us to find different moments and really have fun with the characters.”