PATIENT IS A VIRTUE: Anthony Montgomery (Andre, GH) was delighted by his short-lived stint as Franco’s therapist. “Can I just say how much I love working with Roger Howarth [Franco]?” he enthuses. “I love to see where he goes with [the material], like when he plopped down on Andre’s couch and said, ‘So, this is confidential, right?’ Andre was like, ‘Uh, okay, so you’re my patient now?’ and I was like, ‘I love this guy!’ Roger is so, so awesome to work with. He has Franco down, and it’s just fun to be playing a scene with him, not sure what is going to come next. I have learned so much from working with people like Roger; he’s a vet and he knows exactly who Franco is, so from the moment he grabs the script and we start going over it, he’s right there. When the cameras are on, he just ratchets it up ever so slightly for the melodrama, but for the most part, when we’re rehearsing, he’s already totally dialed in, and when we go from rehearsal to shooting, it’s a seamless transition. It’s a blast getting to work opposite someone like Roger.”
Photo credit: GETTY; STEVEN BERGMAN
UNEXPECTED CONSEQUENCES: The Will’s alive storyline is giving Christopher Sean (Paul) new challenges, on-screen and off. When Paul had to lie to John and not say anything about seeing Will, Sean shares, “One of the hardest moments in my acting career was playing Paul keeping that information from John [Drake Hogestyn],” Sean explains. “The father/son bond means so much to Paul, and I’ve grown so close to Drake that it was a challenge. But, Drake’s a pro. Before we shot the scene, I told him I was so sorry [about playing that moment with him] and he said, ‘Hey, if we didn’t have this we wouldn’t have story.’ He really made me feel comfortable. I told him, ‘Okay, I’m really going to play it up!’ Drake said, ‘Knock it out of the park.’ So, his encouragement allowed me to shine as bright as I could. It’s nice to have material to work with. When you get to work, you really have to take advantage of it, and Ron [Carlivati, head writer], Sheri [Anderson, creative consultant] and Ryan [Quan, creative consultant] have written some amazing things.”
SNOW BIZ: Alyvia Alyn Lind (Faith, Y&R) says that sharing scenes with her TV dad, Joshua Morrow (Nick), is guaranteed to be fun. “Josh and I joke a lot and always laugh about everything,” smiles the actress. “Whenever there’s a technical problem during a scene, he says, ‘Okay, how did Aly screw up this time?’ We were doing a winter scene with fake snowballs and I was so excited because I grew up in L.A. and we don’t have snow. So, I made a snowball and hit him when he wasn’t expecting it. It was a good shot. I surprised myself! He grabbed me, picked me up and flipped me upside down. I was laughing so hard I couldn’t stop! It was one of my best days on set!” Morrow, who refers to Lind as Aly Cat, always makes sure that he remains his soap daughter’s only on-the-job father figure. “When Steve Burton [ex-Dylan, now GH’s Patient 6] played Faith’s stepdad on the show, he and Josh always had competitions about who I liked best,” she giggles. “So, my favorite days were when I knew I was working with both my dads.”
BIG BROTHERLY LOVE: BIG BROTHER 19 winner Josh Martinez had a blast appearing on B&B as “Josh” and says he’s open to doing it again — even with his BB nemesis Jessica Graf, who also did a stint as Il Giardino hostess Jody. “I stepped out of the house the winner so there’s no reason for me to be mad at anyone,” Martinez chuckles about his former TV foe. “If Jessica and I were to appear on B&B together, I don’t know if it would be good or bad, but I know it would be great TV! We did it once and we could do it again. I wouldn’t mind doing a role with her. I think it’d be fun.” Having survived life in the BIG BROTHER house, Martinez says he’s now an expert when it comes to drama. “I was fighting the shomances, with people who fell in love in 20 days. Are you kidding me? There were intense arguments,” he relays. “I was crying every other day, so it was a dramatic roller coaster and like a soap opera, it doesn’t stop. It just keeps going. So yes, I’m ready!”