Читать книгу All The Days Of My Life (so Far) - Alison Sweeney - Страница 8

Salem’s Future Hellraiser!

In some ways, playing Samantha Jean Brady is like wearing an old comfy pair of jeans that I can put on anytime, anywhere, knowing that they’ll fit perfectly. After more than a decade, I know Sami so well that sometimes I think I know what she’s going to do and say, even without looking at the script.

When the producers of Days of Our Lives hired me in 1992, they told me that I was the perfect fit to play Sami. There had been previous incarnations of the character, played by five different child actors (from Ronit Aronoff to Christina Wagoner), dating back to 1984. But now the producers and writers had decided to bring Sami back as a teenager. What a wonderful opportunity for the actress who would get the part!

When my agent told me about the auditions, I was skeptical about my chances. After all, I know what the odds are in this industry. You may know that dozens and sometimes even hundreds of actors often try out for a single part. You’ve probably heard about the “cattle calls.” The stories are true. So it’s smart not to get your hopes up too high.

At the time, I certainly didn’t fit the stereotype of the typical underweight, undersized, under-nourished actress. See, I was a little overweight (especially by Hollywood standards)—maybe by about ten to fifteen pounds at the most. It was nothing to be particularly concerned about—unless you’re an actress. If you think America is obsessed with its waistlines, just try show business on for size. This is a community and a profession where the anthem seems to be that you can never be too slender.

Fortunately, however, the producers of Days had something else in mind when casting Sami. Of course, Sami is Marlena Evans’ (Deidre Hall’s) daughter and Carrie’s (Christie Clark’s) younger sister, and the soap’s writers already had a story line in the works for their new addition to the cast. They were considering a story line where Sami would battle bulimia, the bingeing-purging eating disorder that affects millions of Americans, mostly adolescent girls and young women. As a result, the producers were thinking outside the box when searching for the next Sami. They weren’t necessarily seeking a razor-thin actress who looked like she had never craved a Godiva chocolate or never had a weakness for French pastry. (As one magazine noted when describing the search for an actress to play Sami, “Most soaps would have cast a glammy, reed-thin sexpot in such a conspicuous role.”) Later, I found out that their “job description” for Sami was simple yet demanding—a young actress who could carry her own weight (so to speak) with the rest of the cast. Everything else was secondary.

Yet when I first heard that Days was casting Sami, I was baffled. After all, I was already a big fan of the show, and at the time, Marlena didn’t have a sixteen-year-old daughter on the show, or at least I had never seen her. So what the heck was this audition all about?

Well, when I got the script for the tryout, the mystery was solved. Here’s what I learned: The very young Sami was being aged, and she was about to reemerge as a key character on the show. What a cool idea! I couldn’t have been more excited. I really wanted this part.

The Tryout

I was a bundle of nervous energy leading up to the audition. When the day finally arrived—a Monday afternoon after school—I drove to the interview, which was with Fran Bascom, Days’ casting director. Fran, who is still in charge of casting for Days, is a great lady, and I was really anxious about meeting her. But she was so nice that, almost right away, I felt much more comfortable. As for the reading itself, I certainly did my best but wasn’t really sure how well (or how poorly) I had done.

As I was walking out the door, Fran stopped me in my tracks and pulled me aside. “Ali,” she said, “you did a great job.”

A great job?! Wow! Believe me, you don’t usually hear that kind of positive feedback at an audition. It just doesn’t happen. Usually, it’s just an emotionless “thank you” or something equally vague so that you leave having no idea whether they hated you or loved you. Normally, you have to wait a few days, and you don’t hear back directly, but rather through your agent or manager.

“Look,” Fran continued, “we’re holding the screen test on Wednesday. Ali, I want you to come back on Wednesday. Can you make it?”

Was she kidding or what?! I couldn’t believe Fran was telling me this right then and there. She seemed to have instantly made a decision that I might be right for the part. I was so excited—and absolutely stunned.

“Definitely,” I told her, desperately clinging to my composure. “I’ll be there.”

On the way home, I was so ecstatic—but so nervous—that I could barely think. Homework would have to wait. So would everything else except learning my lines for Wednesday’s screen test.

I couldn’t believe this was really happening.

I called my friend Mary that night. She was also a fan of Days, and I told her what had happened. We were both screaming and freaking out over the phone (I’m sure our parents—not to mention the neighbors—thought we had completely flipped out!). For the moment at least, I was on cloud nine!

The Screen Test

Then I had to think about the screen test.

I went to school on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I can’t tell you much of anything that happened there. I spent every free moment reading and rereading the script that would be used in the screen test. For forty-eight hours, butterflies fluttered in my stomach. I can assure you that I didn’t sleep much on Monday and Tuesday nights. How could I, with my mind running wild with images of everything that might happen during the screen test—and what it would be like if I actually got the part?!

One really important way for me to prepare for the screen test was to schedule an appointment with my acting coach. I am a firm believer in coaches, and I still take acting classes today (I’ll write more about this later). Having another eye to read the material and scrutinize my performance helped me lock down the character and also gave me the confidence to do my best in front of the cameras.

I carried the “sides”—which is what they call the audition scene—around with me everywhere. I’d sneak it out during chemistry (I was terrible at chemistry anyway) and review the notes I’d made during my coaching session. I swear, those were the longest two days of my life, waiting for that screen test!

At 3:30 on Wednesday afternoon, I arrived at the NBC studios in Burbank. I was so nervous. And so excited. I knew my lines but didn’t know how much my nerves might affect my performance. I also knew that I had plenty of competition: At the studio, four other actresses were there, all of us being screen-tested for the part of Sami.

After I had my makeup applied, a stage manager told me to wait in an empty dressing room until my name was called. So I sat and waited. And waited. 4 o’clock. 4:30. 5:00. 5:30. More nervous. More excited. More waiting.

Finally, at 6 P.M., the stage manager called me and the other actresses to the set we’d be using, right next to the one for Days. The soap had just finished taping for the day, and the director was finally ready for our screen test. After talking to us for a few moments, he walked all of us through the scene, telling us where we’d be standing and how we’d be moving when we spoke our lines.²

Then Patrick Muldoon (ex-Austin) and Christie Clark (ex-Carrie) walked in. Just seeing them almost took my breath away, and ratcheted up my nervousness a notch or two. What a thrill to meet them, not to mention to do a scene with each of them! I was so embarrassed to meet Patrick in particular—I had such a crush on him from watching the show. I blushed to the tips of my ears, and even the thick makeup couldn’t hide it. In fact, Joe, one of our stage managers, still teases me about it today!

The other girls and I had the amazing experience of rehearsing our scenes with Patrick and Christie, and I somehow got through it. Then Joe told us to go back to the dressing rooms for some more waiting until it was finally our time before the cameras. All the actresses auditioning for the role were given separate “call times” and different rooms, so I never got a chance to talk to any of them. It was such an awkward situation, to know they were competing against me, but still needing someone to share the experience with. All the waiting was killing me (of course since then, I’ve grown very accustomed to waiting—it’s practically in the job description).

I wouldn’t have guessed I could become so tense and so starstruck at the same time, but I managed it when I spotted Lisa Rinna and a few other actors on the show. I was too embarrassed to introduce myself or say anything to them, but I do remember thinking how incredible it would be to work on the same show with them. For some reason, I still didn’t expect to get the part, but it was so exciting for me just to be there, to spend time on the set, and to see some of Days’ cast members. I had to pinch myself and wonder, “Could this really be happening to me?”

So, you’re asking, how did the screen test go? Funny, but I really thought I might have blown it. Big time. The cameras were almost ready to start rolling for my scene with Patrick. That’s when the stage manager said to me, “Don’t forget to close the door behind you after you enter the scene.”

Close the door? That wasn’t in the script!

I suddenly started to become unglued. What if I forgot to close the door? Or what if I didn’t close it just right? What if the door slammed? Could it cost me the job? Don’t mess this up, Ali.

Patrick sensed that I was starting to melt down.

“Don’t worry about the door,” he told me gently. “It’s not a big deal.”

I managed a smile. Patrick’s words were very comforting. He was so reassuring and the pressure lifted a little. I felt back in control. And, guess what? I did close the door. It didn’t slam. And, of course, I got the part!

Waiting for the News

After Wednesday’s screen test, I returned to school for the rest of the week, sitting on pins and needles waiting for word from the studio. They seemed like the longest days of my life.

On Friday, my agent finally got a call from the producers saying that I’d been hired. My agent contacted my mom, who immediately called my high school. Minutes later, when my classmates and I were filing out of my geometry class, one of the office assistants met me at the classroom door and handed me a note.

“From your mom,” it read. “You got it!!”

Yes, there were two exclamation points at the end of the note. I felt like adding a thousand more.

My reaction? I was almost delirious. I screamed. I literally jumped for joy. I almost couldn’t control myself. (Hey, I was 16 years old!)

So just how good was I on that screen test? Obviously, good enough to get the part. But let me put it in perspective: A few years ago some of the Days cast got together in my dressing room and we watched the videotapes of all of our screen tests, which Austin Peck (who played Austin Reed after Patrick Muldoon) had tracked down in the Days video library. Oh, my goodness! We were so bad!! Every one of us! We roared with laughter watching those tapes. Bryan Dattilo (Lucas) got some ribbing over the short gym shorts he wore on his videotape. I laughed so hard over how my bouncy walk had my “Jan Brady” hair swinging all over the place. We teased Austin about how different his voice sounded…well, the list goes on and on. Julianne Morris (ex-Greta), Arianne Zuker (Nicole) and I couldn’t get over the now-out-of-fashion clothes that we wore with pride in the early ’90s. It’s not one of those videos that you want to share with the world.

But here’s the good news: We were able to laugh at ourselves because we had grown so much as actors since we had auditioned for Days. That’s one of the blessings of working on a soap. You’re acting all the time, one day after another, with new opportunities to refine your acting abilities and develop your talent. Here’s the way I think about it: As a soap actor, you know that even if you’re unhappy with your performance in today’s episode, you always have tomorrow to make things better (even though today’s episode might continue to bug you for a while!). Because you’re acting so much and so often, you’re always growing and always learning something new about yourself and the craft of acting. When you look around you and recognize how talented the cast and crew are, you realize everyone there is at the top of his or her profession, and they all have something to teach you if you’re willing to learn. Not only that, but your character is developing and changing as well, which continuously presents you with new acting challenges and demands. And the twists and turns in Sami’s life have never allowed me to become blasé about playing her.

Into the Fire

On January 6, 1993, I began my new life as a cast member of Days of Our Lives. What a day!

If you thought I was nervous for the screen test, you should have seen me on that first day of playing Sami. I was absolutely petrified. Shortly after I arrived at NBC, I got a tour of the set, and was introduced to the cast. Everyone—and I do mean everyone—was so friendly and supportive, to my great relief. I don’t know why I was anticipating anything else, but being the new kid on the block, I just wasn’t sure if I’d fit in and how I’d be accepted.

Well, those fears were certainly unfounded. The cast embraced me, and everyone behind the scenes—from the makeup people to the stage crew—couldn’t have been any nicer. In no time at all, I felt like part of the family. But still, do you know what worried me the most? In the first few days, I was scared stiff that I’d accidentally call the actors by their characters’ names. (Can you imagine me introducing myself to Matt Ashford, and calling him “Jack”?) Those are the kinds of embarrassing scenarios that created some sleepless nights.

During that first week, I got my feet wet in a few scenes, but without a lot of dialogue. In fact, Sami was introduced slowly to the TV audience, and (as you might expect of Sami) in a most peculiar way. In fact, in the viewers’ first glimpse of her, she was lurking around Salem, shrouded in a dark hat and coat. She made a phone call…but did not utter a word. I didn’t even have to put on makeup for those scenes, since there was only a shot of my arm, or a camera angle from behind my shoulder, keeping me concealed in shadows. From the start, Sami was a mysterious character. Millions of Days’ fans must have been asking themselves, “Who is this person and what is she doing in Salem?”

On the third day, Sami turned up at her parents’ home. She peered under the doormat, but didn’t find a house key there. So she removed her hat, pulled a bobby pin from her long, blonde hair, and used the bobby pin to break into her parents’ house. Sami’s father, Roman (played by Wayne Northrop at the time), heard the commotion that Sami was creating, and grabbed his gun. He snuck around the side of his house, confronted Sami in the shadows, pointed his gun at her and shouted, “Don’t move.”

Sami froze. After a few tense moments, I spoke my first words on Days:

“Daddy, don’t shoot me!”

Fortunately, Roman didn’t fire the gun. If he had, my career on Days may have ended right then and there.

A Little Help from My Friends

Ironically, in my first few months of playing Sami, she gave no hint of becoming the sassy (and, let’s face it, sometimes obnoxious) character that she turned out to be. In fact, in those early days, Sami was a sweet, “good girl,” and Marlena (played by Deidre Hall) and Sami had a close, loving relationship. But I’ve had to remind die-hard fans about Sami’s innocent beginning many times—how could they forget? I ask myself! As it turns out, the writers of Days had originally created Sami as an innocent, naïve girl who may have felt a little inferior to her peers. Before long, however, she began to create chaos throughout Salem, one show after another, one year after the next. Early on, one of the prop guys and I would sometimes joke that there were two kinds of people in Salem—those who were given the key to the city, and the others who were given a bobby pin to pick any lock that got in their way; as Sami proved in that first week, she was definitely gifted with bobby pins!

From the beginning, I was lucky to be surrounded by actors on the set of Days who were not only talented, but were always generous with their advice and guidance. I learned so much just by watching the seasoned cast working around me. What a wonderful experience to be in scenes with actresses like Deidre (Marlena), who is not only brilliant at what she does, but has always been willing to offer suggestions and words of wisdom. It’s amazing how quickly you can learn in that kind of environment. From the start, working with Deidre has given me an incredible opportunity to grow as an actress.

Looking back, I was actually a little hesitant at first to ask questions of someone of the stature of Deidre, who created the role of Marlena in 1976 (she once described her role on Days as “my longest-lived relationship”). But then I figured, “Which would be more embarrassing—to ask Deidre a foolish question, or to make a foolish mistake with the cameras rolling?” The answer to that one was obvious, so I asked again and again—and she couldn’t have been nicer (and always has been!). I think Deidre could see that I was interested and eager to learn. So she was always receptive, always helpful, and definitely someone I knew I could turn to. She’d offer advice (“Why not try saying it this way?”), or give me an open-ended invitation to grill her with any question I had (“If you feel you don’t get anything, just ask.”).

It may seem silly, but when you’re a teenager and new to the show, you’re afraid of what you don’t know. On Days, however, there were always people to turn to for advice. And as far as Deidre goes, I’ve always loved acting in scenes with her, even when our characters were fighting. She has always made it easy.

A Juggling Act

When I joined the cast of Days, I found myself with more challenges than just adapting to the demands of playing Sami Brady. Along with this wonderful opportunity to chase my dream of an acting career, at age 16 I still needed to make school my first priority. Both goals were worth pursuing. My challenge was to create room for both school and acting in my life.

At the beginning, I figured that I’d work one day a week on Days, maybe less. My contract stipulated a commitment of at least half a day a week on the show, and I didn’t expect to be doing much more. After all, I had been a fan of Days, and I had noticed that the child actors weren’t on it very often, particularly during the school year. But the producers caught me by surprise. In no time, I learned that the scriptwriters had big plans for Sami. Almost from the start, she was a key player in the story lines of Days, requiring me to adapt to a three-day-a-week schedule. Fortunately, my schoolwork wasn’t a casualty of the increased demands on my time—and I loved the challenge of juggling the two.

I was so fortunate that my own high school—a private school in the L.A. area—couldn’t have been more accommodating. My teachers were thoroughly understanding and supportive of my career, and they made every effort to make sure I didn’t fall behind. If I needed help after school, the teachers were always there. If I had questions, they patiently answered every one of them.

On the set of Days, the producers were just as supportive of my academics. They provided me with a teacher (by law, they have to do so, allowing minors to spend at least three hours a day on schoolwork while on the set). They even hired a special tutor to help me with my chemistry homework because (yes, let’s face it) chemistry was not my strong suit.

At the time, the Days’ daily schedule was very demanding for both the actors and the crew. Although our timetable has changed since then, the entire cast arrived at the studio sometime between 6 and 8 A.M. (ugh!) to prepare for what’s called a “dry block” through the script, which I explained a little at the bottom of page 20. (“Blocking” is the physical movement in a scene—and when Sami decides to turn away from Lucas and move over to the table in the corner, that’s called a “cross” so in “dry blocking,” the director will tell me that on a specific line, I am supposed to “cross” stage left. Is this making sense?)

At 8 A.M., we’d “camera block” the entire show, which means that the actors act out the scenes one by one so the cameramen and the rest of the crew know exactly where we’ll be positioned during taping later in the day. The cameramen have to know where we’re standing, and on which spoken lines we’ll move, and the audio department needs to know where we’ll be standing when we speak, so they can be sure to hear us! This rehearsal or “run through” of the day’s entire show lasted until lunch-time.

After a meal break (which was also time to apply our makeup, touch up our hair, and change into our wardrobe), we’d move into a dress rehearsal of the show, and then wait for notes from the producers, which might include suggestions for script changes for the final taping. By 3 o’clock, the taping would begin, which might take three or more hours from beginning to end. It was a very long, very full day—but it was not over yet. I’d head home for an evening of homework—and learning my lines for the next show.

This schedule was so rigorous that it could wear you out if you didn’t pace yourself. Imagine being on the set from early morning ’til night, squeezing in at least three hours of academic work somewhere during the day, and then catching up on any remaining schoolwork at home. I don’t know how it all worked out, but it did. The studio teacher was always nearby, ready to work with me in-between rehearsals and during any other free moments during the day.

But as exhausting as my life may have seemed, I really think school itself had prepared me for it. Think back to your own middle school and high school years, when you’d attend classes for a full day and then spend hours doing homework at night. That kind of schedule can run you ragged, too, even without trying to squeeze in a day of acting. So it never really felt like an impossible transition from full-time student to full-time student/actor—except, that is, for one added source of anxiety that often disrupted my nighttime sleep. I began having nightmares—the kind of nightmares where you awaken startled and a bit panicky. The dream was always the same: I’d sleep through my alarm, wake up late, and rush to the studio, disheveled and scared to death that I had kept everyone else waiting. It was a terrifying dream, and ever since, I’ve always been petrified of being late to the set. The morning “calls” or reporting times were so early that oversleeping seemed like a real possibility (or in my case, perhaps a likelihood!). Even today, if I “sleep in” until 8 A.M. on a day off, I still wake up a bit stunned and disoriented, convinced that I’m late for work until I can figure out where I am and what day it is.

Except for minor inconveniences like that, my career on Days of Our Lives has been a wonderful part of my life, and the cast and crew have become very important to me. Even so, I knew that acting was “in my blood” for years before Sami Brady entered my life. In the next chapter, I’ll take you back to my earliest moments in front of the cameras.