TAKE A SEAT
That wasn’t a lightweight prop chair Y&R’s Peter Bergman (Jack) tossed through a glass partition for the office scene with Ashley. “That was a real chair with some very heavy wheels,” the actor shares. “Initially, they wanted me to throw something smaller through the window that Billy put in [the CEO office] and Jack never wanted that damn thing to begin with, so on some level, shattering it was a statement. Then someone said, ‘You know, Jack threw a chair through a window before.’ So, they decided that it would be a chair that would go through the partition.” Shooting the action was carefully planned. “We actually had to separate that in two days,” Bergman explains. “The first day, I picked up the chair to half throw it, but not let go of it. One of the prop guys, Ben, said to me, ‘I have to say I was impressed to watch you pick that thing up. You’re in good shape.’ I said, ‘Oh, gosh, thanks,’ and about two hours later, I thought, ‘What the hell did I do?’ I guess I accepted the compliment a little too early because I could definitely feel it in my rib cage. The day that the chair was thrown, it was pure adrenaline that got me through the scene. That was one big piece of breakable glass, so there couldn’t be any retakes, but I’m happy to say that it went right through the center.”
TRUTH BE TOLD
Farah Fath (Mimi, DAYS), who is expecting her first child with husband Phil Galfond in December, recently shared on social media that her first pregnancy ended in miscarriage. “Miscarriages are so common,” Fath notes. “I have several friends who all started off with a miscarriage and then went on to have a successful pregnancy. I have friends who have struggled with fertility and spent four years trying and they still haven’t gotten pregnant. I just think not a ton of people talk about that stuff on Instagram; everything is painted in such a perfect light. It felt a little bit fraudulent to announce my pregnancy and just act like everything was easy and great. I decided to be more transparent and just let everyone know that it was a difficult road. I know other people have difficult roads, too. I just think it’s nice to hear from other people that you’re not alone.” She also wanted to illustrate that appearances can be deceiving. “My life can look pretty snazzy on the IG, but I still have challenges and difficulties,” Fath says. “I just wanted people to know that it wasn’t easy for me and if it’s not easy for them; I know what they’re going through. Pregnancy can be so glamorized with maternity photo shoots and this that and the other when in reality, pregnancy is very, very tough. I think it is for most people and I don’t know why it’s not talked about enough.”
PROUD PAPA STANDING
John McCook (Eric, B&B) couldn’t be prouder of his daughter, Molly McCook, for her work on the FOX reboot of LAST MAN STANDING, where she replaced Molly Ephraim, who was unavailable to return as Tim Allen’s middle daughter, Mandy. “Molly’s so happy,” he beams. “She loves it. She’s good at it. She competes for space in that sitcom and they look at her and they give it to her because she can handle it. They’ve written some great things for her character, and that portends good things. It means the writers are excited about using her in a different way than they used the character before, which is the best compliment for a replacement to get. In the first episode, they even played to the change in the script, which was hilarious.” Starting out, the younger McCook was targeted by a few social media haters who weren’t happy that the role was recast, but her dad was pleased with how Molly handled it. “She has gotten to the point where she said, ‘Oh, I don’t have to read all that crap,’ and I said, ‘Yes! You don’t. If you want to reply, be smart and witty, but you can’t spend your life trying to win those people over. Just do your job and win over your producers and co-workers,’ and she gets it. I’m very proud of her.”
GOING NOWHERE
While Jon Lindstrom is having a blast playing the dual roles of Ryan and Kevin on GH, there is one aspect of the gig that he finds less than desirable: wearing the straitjacket wardrobe of whichever twin finds himself imprisoned in a padded room at Ferncliff. “Because of the way the scenes are separated over a couple of shows, I’ve had to get in and out of the [Kevin’s] suit and [Ryan’s] straitjacket probably five times and trade out,” he groans. “I don’t know if you’ve ever been strapped up in a straitjacket, but man, it’s a real challenge. I mean, if you have any trouble with authority or anybody telling you what to do — and I do — it is absolute agony to have your arms completely immobilized. You can’t get out of this thing! No wonder they drug people up in order to put them into it because anybody would just go insane trying to get out.” To manage the experience, he says, “Really, I find myself telling myself, like, ‘Okay, take a breath. Take a breath.’ And I’m not claustrophobic or anything, but it just pushes the buttons of taking away your freedom in a way that I’ve never felt before. It’s scary! What we do for the job....”