Teen actresses shine in divorce drama 'Once and Again'

By Gail Shister --
It stars two grown-ups, but ABC's acclaimed divorce drama, ``Once and Again,'' has evolved into a showcase for two extraordinary child actors -- Evan Rachel Wood, 13, and Julia Whelan, 16.

This season, Wood's Jessie is breaking our hearts as she battles anorexia in reaction to her parents' (Billy Campbell and Susanna Thompson) split. Last season, it was Whelan's Grace agonizing with her mom (Sela Ward) about feeling fat and ugly.

"Basically, I walk around in a state of amazement about these brilliant girls," says Marshall Herskovitz, who produces the 10 p.m. Tuesday sophomore hit with partner Ed Zwick.

"Julia and Evan take my breath away. Except for Claire Danes (star of the duo's "My So-Called Life"), I don't think I've ever worked with people that age who had such unbelievable abilities. I feel like I'm in the presence of some form of genius, and I don't use that word lightly."

Twice, Wood has brought Herskovitz to tears on the set -- a first, he says.

While Herskovitz has had his share of remarkable boy teen actors -- notably Wilson Cruz (Rickie) and Devon Gummersall (Brian) in "My So-Called Life" -- he acknowledges he has more luck with girls, possibly because they mature faster at that age.

The key to the duo's success? "We are maniacal about casting," Herskovitz says. "We look and we look and we look. We find people others might overlook."

Wood, for example, was brought to their attention by Timothy Hutton, who has just worked with her in his big-screen directorial debut, "Digging to China."

Jessie's anorexia, painfully explored last week in a family therapy session, will be featured in at least three more episodes. The storyline surfaced last season as the producers brainstormed about one of their favorite themes -- adolescent angst.

"When you deal with teenagers, you think about sexuality, drugs, eating disorders," says Herskovitz, a divorced dad of two teen girls. "Every girl in America has friends with anorexia or bulimia. It's part of their landscape."

Jessie was the perfect character to explore the issue, he says, "because there's something very vulnerable and unspoken about her that led us to think she was taking on larger burdens than she needed to."

Tackling an explicit issue is rare for Herskovitz-Zwick, whose other credits include "thirtysomething" and "Relativity."

The last time it happened was during the only season (1994-95) of ABC's critically adored "My So-Called Life," when the alcoholism of Rayanne (A.J. Langer) became an ongoing storyline.

"We hardly ever do single issues," Herskovitz says. "We're trying to convey more general messages, like the importance of the examined life."

Herskovitz and Zwick created the anorexia storyline "only because it fit the character so well. There is a way our characters tell us where they need to go.

"I've always thought of writing as controlled madness. There's something hallucinogenic about it. Characters become real to you. You explore them like your own family."__Knight Ridder (Dececember 11, 2000)