WEBVTT - Bonnie Morgan Meets World 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:21.360 So I was having this conversation with my wife the 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:23.200 other day and I don't know why this pops up, 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:26.800 but Susan, Susan, my wife, we were talking about, what's 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:28.960 your favorite word. 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:34.040 Oh, melifluous. I don't get to say it often, but 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:35.480 I love the word melifluous. 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:38.159 I love the word transcendent. 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:44.040 I like usurp. Oh really, yeah, I'm a bit like. 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:45.120 I love them. 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:47.599 But the sound itself, I love it all. 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:50.560 I don't know if it's it's and it's so on 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:54.880 a monopoetically incorrect for what it is it's meant for, 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:56.840 but it's so great. 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:58.960 So one of my one of my favorite words for 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:01.480 the meaning is synesthesia. 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:03.160 Oh I don't know what that means. 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:08.000 It's when you experience one sense with another. So in 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:11.520 other words, see music like the idea of like see like, 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:13.720 and some people have it actually as a brand and 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:17.240 then they close their eyes and they can actually see 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:19.839 color or hear colors or you know whatever. 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:21.039 I think you can take color. 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:24.200 I love the way it sounds like. And then also 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:26.360 just you know, the meaning of the word is so cool. 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:30.640 So that's a great run. I feel like I got 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:32.840 my love of words because I do love words. I 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:36.440 just started following Merriam Webster the Dictionary. I just started 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:38.160 following the Dictionary on Instagram. 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:40.839 You know, it's not really the Dictionary that's instagramming their stuff. 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:43.119 There's somebody that's the Dictionary. 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:48.640 No, guys, it's the book. It's the book. I've seen it. Okay, 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:51.920 it's very it's I love words, and I will I 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:57.120 will again. Credit to David Combs. David, David, he had 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:01.000 such a vocabulary and and I mean involving calls froom 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:05.320 as we've discussed all it's such a vocabulary and and 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:10.960 just finding like great words to describe things. It was 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:14.000 so important. And you learn it too, if you enjoy 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:16.880 if you enjoy school and you work hard on your papers, 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.360 and you find you have to come up with, you know, 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:22.359 good words, and there's so many out there. And yet 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:24.520 you also want to find the fine line between like, 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:26.760 I don't want to sound pompous. I don't want to 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:27.359 sound like. 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:34.720 Sound about the pretentious person in the world. 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:35.920 Yes, you have to. 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:39.560 Like no, I love good vocabularies, and it's so fortunate 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:41.440 that people don't use it enough. Like I feel like 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:44.639 we all use so many simple words when we could 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:47.720 have better ones. I love experience. And what's cool is 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:49.400 that it's one of those things that does get better 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:52.160 with age, Like yeah, your vocabulary, just like my vocabulary 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:55.040 just keeps getting bigger. And I love that, like you know, 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:56.760 and and yeah, I love it. 0:02:56.800 --> 0:02:59.360 I was I was listening to a podcast this weekend 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:02.840 about William shap It's it's all the things in history 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.040 that are myths that you know, are kind of debunked. 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:07.000 And one of them, you know, the little famous one 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:10.320 is did Shakespeare write his own plays? But one of 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:13.320 the things they talk about is William Shakespeare apparently invented 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:15.000 over twelve hundred words. 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:19.079 Oh yeah, oh something like of his vocabulary, of his 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:20.160 his words were made up. 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:23.399 Made come up and have become just part of the lexicon. 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:26.720 I mean, that's amazing, amazing. So that's why I think 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:28.960 all the time we keep I keep trying to invent 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:31.320 words on this podcast, hoping just one of them will stick. 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:34.440 We could still try to get strafty bright Man. 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:36.360 We just drafty bright could work. 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:39.240 We could using tage now instead of montage, but that's 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:41.000 just like delish, we know it, that's all. 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:49.360 Where we use Jackting, I can't no jacket and I 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:49.760 think do. 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:52.840 You use facting when you were talking about face acting? 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:55.480 Yes, that's the other one. I'm a good factor, so you're. 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:57.680 A good factor, and I can't. I'm a I'm an 0:03:57.680 --> 0:03:58.640 I cannot jactor. 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:03.400 Abelia Shakespeare, William Fredell, similar. 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:09.720 Welcome to Pod Meets World. I'm Danielle Fischel, I'm rather strong, 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:14.560 and I'm Wilfredell or William Shakespeare Fordell or William Shakespeare. 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:16.280 I wrote all of my own plays. 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:29.880 So we have commonly referred to this show as more 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:33.240 than just a podcast, because it also sometimes doubles as 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:35.760 a therapy session, and not just when we had a 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:38.720 real therapist on. Many of the things we've remembered or 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:41.640 the memories we've unlocked have led us into our own journeys, 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:44.919 both on the air and off, unpacking a childhood that 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:47.520 may have been seen on TV, but also had its 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:51.440 own set of private issues and puberty laced confusion. And 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:54.839 nothing from Pod Meats World has displayed this therapeutic side 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:57.840 effect more than recalling the day I was cast as 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:01.919 to Panga Lawrence, a moment that would change my life forever. 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:05.120 I have told that story for thirty years. I had 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:09.320 previously only focused on the aspirational angle, the unbelievable tale 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:11.960 of going from a character in the background to center 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:15.200 stage within just minutes the long night my mom and 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:18.159 I put into nailing Michael's notes, and it was my 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:21.640 story of success and the origin of my Hollywood career, 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:24.159 something that I am still lucky enough to have now 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:27.680 as a director. But it was my adulthood and now 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:30.520 also having children of my own, that allowed me to 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:35.200 realize recently it wasn't just my story. There was somebody 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:38.800 else in that story who shaped the rest of their life. 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:44.200 There was the original topanga. Her name, Bonnie Morgan, went 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:46.560 in and out of my memory for the past thirty years, 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:50.400 either consciously or subconsciously, I don't know. She was part 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:52.760 of this story I retold on TV and on the radio, 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:54.880 and in my book and really anywhere that asked me, 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:57.640 But I never thought about what it must have meant 0:05:57.640 --> 0:05:59.960 to her, and if I was forcing her to relive 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.440 a hard time in her young career. I didn't know. 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.880 So when writer recently recognized her sister during a rewatch, 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:08.400 also a child actress who appeared on Boy Meets World, 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:12.279 you heard me in real time announce that I wanted 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:15.280 to speak to Bonnie because our lives have been so 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:20.719 connected and yet we have never spoken. So I was 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:23.560 able to get in touch with her and we had 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:28.240 a meaningful and beautiful conversation that lasted well over an hour, 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:32.680 and she very graciously agreed to come on the podcast. 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:37.039 And so today I am genuinely honored to introduce to 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:40.520 our audience for this week's Pod Meets World someone I 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:48.159 know you're going to love, actress and contortionist Bonnie Morgan. Welcome, Bonnie. 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:51.080 Good gosh, this is a room I never thought I'd 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:51.760 be sitting in. 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:57.320 Right. Bonnie, we recently spoke on the phone in a 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:01.880 conversation that I truly chair and have thought of many 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:05.480 many times since we spoke. And before we get into 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:08.000 what you remember about your time on Boy Meets World, 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:11.480 I wanted to talk about your family and how you 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:13.040 started in the industry. 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:18.360 I am third generation vaudeville. My grandma opened for Frank 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:22.119 Sinatra in nineteen forty two in his Bobby Socks tour. 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:30.400 She was regularly requested by Jimmy Duranty. My grandparents were 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:35.000 swing and sway with Morgan and May, and they were 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:42.720 wow a soft shoe, jitterbug acro duo. My gosh, did 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:46.600 us so very cool people. They had my father, the 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:49.440 little scamp Gary Morgan, and had to come off the 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:54.120 road like many do, to seek a normal life. Their 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:56.280 version of a normal life was to open a dancing 0:07:56.400 --> 0:08:01.840 school in Pasac, New Jersey. Hmm. And my dad became 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:05.160 a Broadway brat. He was a child star on Broadway. 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:11.120 He worked with Olivia de Haviland, oh Man, Henry Fonda, 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:13.840 Lillian Gish, I mean. 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:17.360 Yeah ah. 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:19.120 The man knows his history. 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:20.680 Of course, of course. 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:26.000 And like many, sought his fame and fortune in California. 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:30.040 So he picked his jew fro, put on a top hat, 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:34.079 got in his Volkswagon bus with a surfboard on the roof, 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:39.440 and drove to California. Now we're more or less circus spolk. 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:44.079 Our idea of a straight job is a center ring, 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:50.800 still walking, trampoline, rolling globe, tight wire, high wire, low wire, 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:57.520 anything acrobatic that's like, that's your day job. Really so 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:04.439 my dad, My gosh, my dad is also a horror icon. 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:06.920 He doubled the dog in Kujo. 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:09.720 I mean that is coraz. 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:15.120 My dad did all the attack scenes with Dee Wallace, 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:18.200 and any So anytime you see the dog attacking, some 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:20.880 of the dog's attacking trainer, whenever you see an actor 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:26.600 being attacked, it's my father in a suit, going, that's 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:32.120 my dad. So great. My aunt Robbie was Jason's first 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:38.600 victim in Friday the thirteenth. You know, the little hitchhiker, Hi, 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:41.480 can we go to Camp Cristal Lake, the one that 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:45.120 gets her throat foot on the tree. My aunt Robbie. Wow, 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:51.000 my dad was Billy and Logan's Run No Way. He 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:55.400 screen tested for Luke Skywalker because of that. Oh, my 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.320 dad had two screen tests with George Lucas. 0:09:58.400 --> 0:09:59.760 Oh my gosh. 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:03.160 But my dad was didn't quite have that fresh faced 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:05.960 you know country boy. Look, he's a little more han 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.640 solo mischievous. 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:10.000 So wow. 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:13.520 It was also the first Frangie that you saw in 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:14.199 Star Trek. 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:18.360 Really really, we're we're speaking my language. 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:21.000 Wow. Oh, talk nerdy to me, man. 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:23.920 Exactly, that's how I am. That's how I am. Oh man, Oh, 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:24.680 that's awesome. 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:28.720 So I mean, as you guys, as you can tell, 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:31.920 like truly, it never ends. She has story like this 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:34.479 after story like this, after story like this. It's incredible 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:38.960 and so I think it's probably when you started acting. 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.560 Did you basically walk out of the womb as an actress. 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:44.680 I always say I came to an age of reason 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:48.400 with a sad card and a pension, right, like right? 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:52.760 Like really? On Facebook you're like, you know, oh, my 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:56.439 first head shot, I'm like, hmm yep, nope, like. 0:10:56.520 --> 0:11:01.679 Herber stuff, right, that's called a baby picture literally gerber sheets. 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:06.120 And again it was the family business. We always joke 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:09.120 whenever one of our cousins has a baby nine months old, 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:10.000 not that much job. 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:10.800 Yet, like. 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:15.839 This is normal for us. I think the only way 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:17.880 to disappoint my father is if one of us had 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:24.840 become a CPA. Right, that's not a joke. So if 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:28.400 you're ever looking for a fun read, La Weekly did 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:34.400 a piece called the Fabulous Flying Morgans. It's a fun read. 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:38.280 Star Forman did all the artwork. It's it's photos of 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:43.839 are the blue pastel in Laurel Canyon. So literally, I 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:48.959 was raised by hippies and Laurel Canyon. My parents met 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:53.160 at a Hollywood party. Before she met my dad, my 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:57.880 mom was living with hal Ashby, whoa. She was Ruth 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.800 Gordon's like stand in stunt double for Harold and Maude, 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:06.880 a few other movies. So like literally Hip be Chick, 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:13.560 Hip Bee guy hurtying in the canyon. This is my life. 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:16.000 Well that's a perfect segue. 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:19.640 Into that's exactly why. 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:23.839 What do you remember about auditioning for Boy Meets World? 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:31.320 So crazy thing that my parents got married into Panga Canyon. 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:35.280 I got a call from my agent. I was working 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:38.839 a lot as a kid at this point. I was 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:41.920 an Oscar Mayer Wiener kid. I was. I did a 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:46.280 lot of commercials. I was on The Nanny, I was 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:52.319 on Life Goes On. I had just done Blossom. Yeah, 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:56.480 as like a tech nerd in jail, and I had 0:12:56.840 --> 0:13:01.040 a lot of auditions for a show called The Torkul Sins. Okay, yes, 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:02.480 playing Ruthan. 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:04.200 So I'm Michael Jacobs. 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:09.000 I've been seen for that many times in many incarnations 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:11.640 of the show, it seemed. So I get a call 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:16.800 from my agent that was like this is weird, Like 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:19.360 she's like I would normally say, you could get this, 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.720 but it's it's like it was written for you. Like 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:26.600 you don't hear that a lot. I mean, I mean, 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:29.920 look at me. You don't hear that a lot, especially 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:34.320 as a kid and the thing is as an actor, kid, 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:39.000 The Brass Ring is a series. You know, when can 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:40.840 I get a pony? When you get a series? What 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:45.760 everything in your life is going to happen when you 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:51.120 get a series? Yeah, long running syndication, all words that 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:57.480 you know, So I get the sides and and it's weird. 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:01.080 It's it's stuff that I I know, it's stuff in 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:05.800 my life. I'm reading this going this is easy. First 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:11.320 call really, casting directors look at me like, wow, I 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:14.040 you know what, Let's just try it this way just 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:17.880 for fun. Wow, okay, we thank you for coming in. 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:22.240 Now here's where it gets a little weird. I had 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:27.960 three callbacks. They kept bringing me back, and I have 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:32.040 I have a hyper thymusic memory. I remember what I 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:36.240 wore to the audition. I remember the French doors in 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:40.000 the office for one of the meetings on the lot 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:44.600 so and it was rooms full of people every time. 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:49.000 And weirdly, every time i'd audition, we'd talk a lot. 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:56.120 I'm a luquacious felure and every time I'd come back, 0:14:56.160 --> 0:15:00.440 the script would change slightly. It seemed to that we 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:06.560 had talked about And I have a lot of strange 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:13.240 side abilities from contortion to animal calls. By the time 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:17.239 I had this audition, I'd already done two full productions 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:20.800 of Midsummer Night's Dream, one of which I went on 0:15:20.920 --> 0:15:22.280 for Puck at eleven. 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:23.560 Wow. 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:28.880 So the whole humpback whales so pale with the I had, 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:31.760 like I knew how to do the makeup for that. 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:35.280 I was like describing the geometric patterns that would be 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:41.120 exciting for that scene. They kept bringing me back, though, 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:45.760 which was strange, and one time I even left the 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:49.120 building and someone chased me down in the party lite. Hey, 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:51.240 could you come back? We want to try something else. 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:53.760 We want to give you a different script. You want 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:57.440 to the what do you call it? A The Men 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:00.280 Underground scene made it into the audition. 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:00.760 Okay, right, like. 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:06.960 All of it so, and it was even my parents 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:11.720 were going, what's up, something's up? And I got a 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:15.880 call from my agent that said there's a power struggle 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:19.120 and Bonnie stuck in the middle of it. The creator 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:24.040 loves her. And every time someone tees like it's like 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:27.120 it was written for you. Yeah, it's like it was 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:30.920 written for you. My mom grew kombucha mushrooms in our 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:38.280 kitchen right literally, So finally it came down. You got it, 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:45.160 Michael Won, I didn't know that you could get fired. 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:48.120 What seems like in some ways Michael was writing the 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:50.520 part for you. Yeah you know, I mean if you 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:52.720 had auditioned for Toko since because I mean, I know 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:54.640 he kept track of Like the reason I auditioned for 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:57.240 Boy Meets World is because my brother had audition had 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.320 come close on another. So he like kept track of 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:01.520 actors and he remembered people that he would read with 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.280 and work with. So it seems like the character of 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:07.240 Topanga was essentially written for you. Around you. 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:11.040 It would make sense because we did talk a lot, 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:14.520 I mean more so than now. Anytime you had like 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:19.359 a significant audition, you talk to people. They want to 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:21.400 know who you are, what you are, what does your 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:22.800 mom do? What does your dad do? 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:26.199 Okay, so you get this call, there's a power struggle. 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:28.880 The creator loves you, and then you get the call. 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:31.360 You've got the part. 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:36.480 You are to Panga. Even the name, even the name 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:41.800 was out of my parents' love story history. It was. 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:48.640 It was the coolest thing ever. And what's more, I mean, 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:51.160 you were all kid actors. You would audition for things 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:53.200 that you were like, I don't know what to do 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:58.520 with this. I mean, I'll go in. I'll sometimes it 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:02.600 was so off, you'd get coaching because you had to 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:05.640 make something out. Even as a kid, this. 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:09.800 Was just easy, and you think that's it. I got 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:12.359 it that you don't know that you could be fired. 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:18.160 I didn't know that was even possible. So I come 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:25.720 to set and it was the weirdest day of my life, 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:30.840 even as a kid. I was like, what's going on here? Weird? 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:34.480 I remember what I was wearing too. I know you 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.040 can't imagine this. I was a bit of an odd kid. Now. 0:18:37.080 --> 0:18:43.879 Tapanga was originally written as a quirky girl, an outlandish 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:49.200 hippie flower child. Yes, and quirky was the main word. 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:53.720 So I came in and all the adults were very 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:58.680 short with me. I went to wardrobe and I had 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:02.800 a duffel bag of all of my stuff, all of 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:07.320 my mom's batiqued clothing from the Renaissance there and all 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:09.880 of that. And she looked at the bag and looked 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:15.480 at me like just I couldn't describe it at the time. 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:18.359 I know what it was now, but at the time, 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:20.520 I like, I went to open the bag, She's like, 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:25.639 leave that in the corner. All right, okay. So she 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:30.720 fitted me in this strange what I could only describe 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:40.200 as a sweatshirt dress aka sweatshirt dress. Like, well, that's 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:45.280 not very hippie, like it doesn't matter. H humhm. Like 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:49.760 they put me in very frumpy, strange wardrobe and wouldn't 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:52.320 look at my stuff. They're like, you know what, just go, 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:58.280 we'll do this later. Okay. Weird. So the table read 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:05.119 was great, fun, it was all there. It was couldn't 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:09.439 have gone better with everyone around. The minute I was 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:15.040 separated out, it was another story. So now we're blocking 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:21.000 and Ben started kind of poking at me a little bit. 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:25.080 He would make faces and try to break me, and 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:28.480 it worked. At this point, I was becoming a nervous wreck. 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:32.439 I couldn't get his name. The opening line, Corey, I 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:37.000 would like, beffaw Corey. And David was just like, get 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:40.199 it tag together, and I'm trying to pull it together. 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:43.400 And I pulled it together in sheer fear, and Ben 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:46.840 just kept kept doing this thing to. 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:49.760 Crack and you were breaking. You were giggling and breaking 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:50.440 and giggling. 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:55.520 Another strange fact is that my dad was not on 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:59.120 set with me that day. My dad was almost always 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:01.399 on set with me. Actually on big days it was 0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:04.480 my mom, and my mom was much more. You know. 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:11.560 I would stay to the side. And I know that 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:16.760 Michael wasn't there that day, right, Michael wasn't there, My 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:23.000 dad wasn't there. Strange. And at one point I had 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:26.960 a line. It was a sweet line, and David went, 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:34.480 I want you to say it's sweeter peace. 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:38.960 I was like, I said peace, okay. 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:45.679 Okay, and uh he said, say it's sweeter. So I 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:48.399 said its sweeter. He went, no, I want you to 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:51.720 say it, and he got really close to me, like 0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:58.320 you're saying up birthday. And I was. I was so 0:21:58.600 --> 0:22:04.080 tiny at that moment, and I just said, Okay, I 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:08.600 really goes do it. I said. I thought he meant 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:12.080 during the take, he goes do it now, wish me 0:22:12.200 --> 0:22:19.280 a happy birthday. And I took every bit of sacharin 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:24.920 in my body and just said happy birthday. Good, that's better. 0:22:25.400 --> 0:22:31.520 I was. I was amazed and knew not what to say. 0:22:33.119 --> 0:22:37.600 So and again, benk I would say that your hair 0:22:37.640 --> 0:22:40.879 looks different, so upline. He would mock me. While I 0:22:40.920 --> 0:22:43.200 was saying that. I would say a line and he'd 0:22:43.400 --> 0:22:46.679 mock it back to me. And I think I went, mmmm, 0:22:47.119 --> 0:22:51.080 what are you whoa hey, like, that's not cool. It 0:22:51.480 --> 0:22:55.439 every step of the day, and we were gonna do 0:22:55.480 --> 0:22:58.280 the kissing scene on the locker, but at that point 0:22:58.320 --> 0:23:00.560 I was like, I'm just gonna stay away from him 0:23:00.560 --> 0:23:05.800 till Wednesday, right, geez right, thinking I was, you know, 0:23:06.800 --> 0:23:11.440 stand on my ground, making a good went back to wardrobe. 0:23:11.480 --> 0:23:15.680 They were like, you just take your stuff home. It's like, oh, okay. 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:19.320 The people that were nice to me were nice. Everyone 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:24.640 who was lovely was lovely. But it was the strangest 0:23:24.720 --> 0:23:28.240 day on set I had ever had. I went home 0:23:28.680 --> 0:23:32.720 and knew nothing. I did not know what was happening 0:23:32.760 --> 0:23:33.280 that day. 0:23:33.640 --> 0:23:36.000 Of course, so this is this is our Friday. You're 0:23:36.080 --> 0:23:39.119 very the very first day. You probably arrived to set 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:42.240 around seven or eight. For school, we would have had 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:45.440 our table read at nine. Rehearsal would have started pretty 0:23:45.480 --> 0:23:48.520 much immediately after, and then the day is usually wrapped. 0:23:48.600 --> 0:23:51.800 Like you, we were done for the day by four 0:23:51.920 --> 0:23:57.400 or five o'clock. And so you're having this awkward, uncomfortable, 0:23:58.119 --> 0:24:01.320 super strange day on set and you're probably thinking, well, 0:24:01.359 --> 0:24:03.880 thank god, there's a weekend after this. I just get 0:24:03.960 --> 0:24:08.440 to go home. Recoop, have a nice weekend, and I'll 0:24:08.440 --> 0:24:10.560 be back on Monday to start fresh. 0:24:10.880 --> 0:24:14.359 Well. And what's even funnier is even with that crazy day, 0:24:14.480 --> 0:24:19.600 I was like, and Monday'll be even better, right, Monday 0:24:19.640 --> 0:24:23.440 will be even better? Uh you know, I'll pull out 0:24:23.480 --> 0:24:28.000 all my my btique tie dyed boardroom that I have. 0:24:28.800 --> 0:24:32.199 I had a whole thing, the humpback Whale. I was 0:24:32.280 --> 0:24:35.120 gonna go full contortion on that scene in my audition. 0:24:35.320 --> 0:24:38.359 I sat down, put both legs behind my head and 0:24:38.480 --> 0:24:43.800 began doing pushups like my gosh, like a dolphin going 0:24:43.960 --> 0:24:49.240 through a wave shape. Like I had a whole choreograph plan, 0:24:50.200 --> 0:24:53.880 yoga centric bit to go with that. I was like, 0:24:54.160 --> 0:24:56.000 when we all get it on our feet, it's gonna 0:24:56.040 --> 0:25:02.200 be great, right, Jes. I had no clue. 0:25:02.440 --> 0:25:05.000 And how old are you? Are you eleven or twelve? 0:25:07.080 --> 0:25:10.080 We're about the same age, right, eighty one? 0:25:10.320 --> 0:25:10.480 Yeah? 0:25:10.560 --> 0:25:13.760 Eighty one roughly? Okay, yeah, so you're twelve ish twelve? 0:25:15.560 --> 0:25:20.680 I was twelvesh Now, what's I remember it so very clearly? 0:25:22.880 --> 0:25:25.359 I had no idea. I woke up the next morning 0:25:26.119 --> 0:25:31.040 to celebrate. I made myself blueberry pancakes because I was 0:25:31.080 --> 0:25:33.240 so grown up with the job now, you know. 0:25:33.520 --> 0:25:34.119 Yeah. 0:25:34.359 --> 0:25:37.040