| HE SAID/SHE SAID: |
| AW's Tom Eplin & Judi Evans |
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Q: Explain the chemistry between Jake and Paulina. What makes those sparks? Judi: We're both very passionate people, Tom more so than I. We also listen to each other when we work together. I think the fact that we like each other and we're friends makes it easy for us to commit to each other in a scene. Tom: I've told Judi a hundred times how I feel so at home working with her. Most people have an anchor. Judi's mine. She'll raise her stakes in the scene, higher and higher, so there's no limit to where it can go. Judi: I totally disagree. I think Tom does it to me, I honestly do. You're the driver. I'm just along for the ride. Tom: She's the first actor, and I use the word actor, I have ever worked with who gave me credit for being in the scene. Q: What do you think are the differences between Judi and Paulina? Tom: Judi is just a potpourri of every emotion a human can possibly experience. Many times in rehearsal I will have to tell her to save it because she's already crying, or she's already mad. I'm lazy that way, but Judi will rise to that occasion because that's how she is as a person. Everyone who knows her personally loves her to pieces. Paulina is such a small piece of Judi Evans, it's not fair to compare. Judi: (OBVIOUSLY TOUCHED) But my humor's much more X-rated than Paulina's! Tom: That's true. Judi can come up with a joke faster than you can finish the circumstance you're explaining. Her mind goes a million miles an hour. Q: How about the differences between Tom and Jake? Tom: It seems like they're starting to merge. Jake's become so honorable that I don't want to be different from him anymore. I used to when he was only doing the wrong thing. Now I don't think I've ever met anybody who tries to stick to his own sense of morals as well as Jake does. Judi: Jake's really a tender and caring person, but nothing like Tom. Tom gives so much and he really centers me. Just today, he said, "You're giving 110 percent in this scene. You're thinking too fast. Take ten percent away." He's always asking if there's anything he can do for me--in a scene and personally. Jake is a darkhorse with a heart. Tom brings the sympathetic side out in him so well because that's who he is. He's honest, he'll tell you exactly where you stand. Jake has it in him, but Tom's 10 times more like that. I think Jake's so popular because he always means to do the right thing--Tom just does it. Q: Are your rehearsal styles similar? Tom: I'm the problem of the rehearsal. Judi will say more times than not, "Do you want to run this?" And more times than not, I'll say no. Judi: And then he walks away! Tom: Sometimes it's better not to run the lines first. We didn't rehearse the scenes where Jake and Paulina were about to make love, and JAMIE (Russell Todd) thought Jake was raping her. I felt Jake and Paulina should be saying the things they were saying to each other for the first time. I asked Judi if it was okay not to run the lines first and she said fine. We did them in one take. Five scenes in one take! And Judi was absolutely phenomenal. Q: What does Jake like and dislike about Paulina? Tom: He likes everything about her--the only thing he didn't like was that they weren't together. Now that they're together, however, I think they're really going to find out what they like and dislike about each other. Judi: I think Jake dislikes it whenever Paulina denies her true feelings. Q: What does Paulina like and dislike about Jake? Judi: I think she innately likes the fact that he wants her, but she dislikes the way he goes about it--even though it intrigues her. She's the kind of woman who wants a stable, quiet, kitchen curtains, picket fence kind of life, but he is awry, and she loves that. If he weren't, she might not be as attracted to him. It's ironic. Tom: I agree with Judi. I think she nailed it. Q: What do you think the writers draw on from your personalities to infuse into your characters? Tom: Too much. (LAUGHS) Judi: I think our humor. More and more I am seeing a little more of our banter. I think they (AW writers/producers) see the way we work together in real life, and they build on that in our scenes. Tom: I agree. This is definitely the most fun I've had on this show. Judi: This is the most fun I've ever had on any show. Q: It seems really important for you to be there for each other. Tom: You can scratch this if Judi has a problem with what I have to say. Both of us are pretty wild. When you run as fast as we do, you go through emotional highs and lows like nobody else I've ever seen. When we come in here at 6 or 7 in the morning, it takes a special kind of person to look around and then say, "Tom's had about 37 Jack Daniels and two fights, so I'm gonna have to carry him down to the set and make him work." A lot of times you get actors who say I'm difficult, and that's what they mean. Most of the time I'm a gem, but one out of 10 times...you have to be a pretty strong lady to be there for me. When Judi can run, and I'm stumbling to walk, she'll carry me that extra time. Judi: And vice versa. If I am coming in from crying four hours the night before, and I'm an emotional mess, but I really want to do good work...Tom will just sit there and cradle me like a baby. Q: If you were writing AW, what storyline would you want to see? Judi: I can't think of anything except to just keep going further with what they're already doing. Tom: I feel the same way. I swear to God, I've never said that before in my life. The good thing about this story is that it's romantic. Annie (Heche, ex-VICKY/MARLEY) and I could never play that. I don't know why. We could do everything else, but we fell short there. In this storyline, however, it's all there for the first time. Q: Is it fun doing love scenes? Judi: It's fun with Tom. He makes me feel like such a lady. When I am unladylike, he'll say, 'You're better than that! Don't do that!' He makes me feel like a natural woman. He relaxes me. When we do love scenes, he makes me feel special and he makes my character feel special. When we are doing those scenes, you're with 30 people and there's no romance. We're not in love with each other, but Tom makes it romantic and sweet. Tom: Everyone knows I'm caustic. I say what I feel. I also don't like many people, so I don't make friends easily, but Judi's my best friend. Everyone on the floor will tell you that I've never seen anyone outside of this studio socially as much as I've seen Judi. Doing love scenes with her is like making love with your best friend. Not only do I get I to go home and make love to my best friend in real life, my wife Courtney, I also get to come to work and make love to my best friend here. #
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by Anne Marie Allocca