DAYS’s Cady McClain (ex-Dixie, ALL MY CHILDREN et al) was thrilled to see some familiar faces from the AMC reboot when she joined the soap as Jennifer. “We had this big Zoom meeting before we all started,” McClain recalls. “Sal [Stowers, Lani; ex-Cassandra, AMC] was like, ‘Cady?!’ and I was like, ‘Sal!’ And it was funny. She was wearing a necklace that I had given her on the reboot during the meeting. She had done this incredible job on the reboot that I don’t really think she got enough credit for during that sex trafficking storyline. And I have that mama bear personality where I was like, ‘I don’t know whether you want this or not, but I’m gluing myself to your side and I’m going to beat anyone with a stick if they hurt you.’ When young women have to do difficult storylines like that — I know because I was a young woman having to do difficult storylines — I wish that I had had somebody like me back then, and so I am that person for them and that sort of makes up for it all and so that’s part of what that necklace was about. So we have this magical, loving connection, and I would add her to my coterie of adopted grown-up children. There’s always a spot for her in my heart. And of course, Robert [Scott Wilson, Ben; ex-Pete, AMC]. I have actually been watching DAYS just to see him, as well, but especially what he’s been doing moving from being a killer into a good guy, I’m just so proud of his work; I’m so impressed by everything he’s done. He’s grown so much as an actor. I’m just so thrilled for him, just thrilled. Sal, as well. They’ve both just developed into these beautiful actors.”
Photo credit: Courtney Lindberg Photography
When it comes to the portrait that hangs above the fireplace in B&B’s Forrester mansion, Katherine Kelly Lang insists that she has no burning desire to see her Brooke take a turn on the wall. “Brooke needs to clean house,” notes Lang. “It’s got to go back to the way it was in terms of happiness and positivity in the house, and one of the things that includes is getting Quinn out and taking her portrait down. However, Brooke has never been thinking, ‘Oh, I want to be up there.’ That’s not on her mind. She has always believed that Stephanie’s portrait needs to go back up there to honor her. She was always the woman of that house and no one can take her place. So, that’s in her mind. Or, they can just take down Quinn’s portrait and put something lovely up there — not even a portrait but something bright and cheerful and different.”
Photo credit: Gilles Toucas/Courtesy Of Bell-Phillip Television Inc
Sharon Case (Sharon, Y&R) has fond memories of brawling with Phyllis near a chocolate fountain in 2010. “We knew we only had one shot so we rehearsed the chocolate fight a lot,” Case recounts. “We really talked about what was happening and went over and over the choreography of the fight. All we could do was go over all of the details enough times, then throw caution to the wind and hope for the best. I’m used to doing things where I only have one shot but I remember when we were ready to shoot, Michelle [Stafford, Phyllis] expressed a little nervousness about it and was like, ‘How are we ever going to get this in one take?’ which anyone would think under that kind of pressure. So I told her, ‘Let’s just do it. We’ll be fine.’ ” There was just one hitch in the sequence. “We didn’t anticipate how much chocolate would be on the floor, so we were having a hard time getting traction in our catfight,” Case chuckles. “When we were done, we were covered in chocolate and laughing. We walked back to our dressing rooms without touching anything.”
For Laura Wright (Carly, GH), maintain- ing the physical intimacy between Carly and Sonny was essential to playing the truth of Mike’s final moments. “Maurice [Benard, Sonny] always knew he had me in a scene if he needed a look, needed a touch,” she notes. “I am very touch-y with Maurice in a scene, so I was like, ‘I’m going to come in and probably hug you at this point.’ There was a moment when Mike passed and we realized he was gone and it wasn’t scripted, so I had to talk to the directors and say, ‘I’ve got to go in and hug him.’ There are technical things that the director wants and you have to honor that, because we’re a very technical medium; you’ve got four cameras going, you’ve got boom shadows and you have to be aware of cameras, as well, it’s not just about our work. I was like, ‘I know you want your single shot of Maurice but I have got to hug him. I would hug my husband!’ And they were like, ‘Absolutely,’ and Maurice [agreed]. His character, for sure, had a lot more going on than anyone else, and when that happens, you’re like, ‘What does Mo need? What does Maurice need in this scene?’ Those are the kinds of things that you talk about.”