Things on 90210 were shaken up last week when Silver went a little insane, showing her class a sex tape and throwing a bottle at her teacher’s head. BuddyTV spoke to the actress behind the madness, Jessica Stroup, for the full story on what’s going on with Silver.
The 90210 star talked about her crazy new storyline and the many changes that lie ahead for the series. Jessica Stroup also talked about working with Tori Spelling, Diablo Cody and “stud muffin” Jason Priestly. Continue reading for the full transcript and to listen to the interview.
This is John with BuddyTV and I’m talking to Jessica Stroup from 90210. How’s it going?
Hello! It’s going great. Thank God!
I’m glad to hear it because Silver’s not doing so great. What is going on? She had a pretty severe meltdown last time.
Yeah, that was a fun one. I watched it for the first time that night as well as everybody else because I didn’t get a copy to view early, so I was so nervous about how it was going to end up looking. Yeah, she’s going through a lot. I think it was difficult because there was such a long hiatus that happened before we finally got to see the new episode.
We worked with the team and really tried to build these emotions, these heightened feelings, everything that was going on with Silver over the past five weeks, at least. So when we came back to this one on Tuesday night we really see where it was going, and it just got really, really big and really, really heightened by the end of it. So yeah, the end when she’s in Ryan Matthews’ apartment, which is also where it’s going to pick up next week, and continue on and get even bigger, you really see that something has just snapped and something is just definitely not OK.
I feel really blessed to have been given the opportunity even to just have something of substance, to have something to really try and do things with. There was no improv or anything like that but when I actually got to work off of Ryan – he’s fantastic, he’s one of my favorite people to work opposite of – I guess they just let us go because they had steady cams moving around the room with us.
For me I looked at these lines and I immediately judged them, and that was a problem from day one. Because I thought there’s no way that any person would hover over somebody sleeping. There’s no way that somebody is going to make a sex tape and show it to everybody. To me it all just seemed really over the top. But then I started to think about, ‘You know what, no, this is something that people go through.’ Nott necessarily these exact things but they have these feelings that what they’re doing is right, so I just had to let go of these judgements and realize everything that she believes is for a purpose.
She thinks that everything is right and everything is sane in her mind, even when she has these convoluted secrets that are going to be very evident in the next episode. I’d go on a rant but start off on one course and go in a million different directions but in Silver’s mind it makes sense. In the end when it circles back around you’re like “Oh, that’s what she was getting at.” So it was challenging but really fun and a great opportunity.
There are a lot of reports about Ryan Eggold pulling double duty on 90210 and Melrose Place next season, Dustin Milligan leaving the show, Rebecca Rand Kirshner taking over as the new showrunner. So I’m wondering, what kind of changes are we going to see next season?
The show is changing. Obviously, yeah, it’s changing in big, big ways. If Ryan does double duty – he’s a talented actor. He can do anything he wants to do if he chooses to do it. So as far as that goes I don’t really know.
Rebecca taking over: I mean, as a whole our show started out on shaky ground because we got picked up without even having a pilot. We were a name. They got some kids and were like, “We believe in these kids.” We had amazing showrunners last year, Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah, who are forever in my friendship love book. I will forever be friends with them.
As far as the second year, we had a lot of kinks to work out, a lot of behind-the-scenes changes that were happening while we were still shooting this last year. I welcome this new change. I really think that Rebecca is young and hip and she’s funny. She has a really great view on what she wants to do – a really strong view as well. As a woman to be able to speak your mind and go in there with full force and say “This is how I think things should look” and to have people see that and agree with you is respectable.
Things are gonna be way different, from the writing and who’s starring to even just the view of it, how it actually looks. We’re just going to make it look completely, completely different.
When it premiered there was this ton of pressure – it’s the new 90210. But now that you’re picked up for a second season already is that immediate pressure off?
I haven’t really had the time to think about that. We were filming up until a week ago. It never even felt like we finished the first season. I’m still kind of realizing, “Wait a minute. I don’t have to work tomorrow? Are they going to call me in this afternoon?” So I’m still in that whole mode. But as far as the pressure of next year, there’s a little bit of pressure that’s been taken off just because there’s a little more security in knowing that they believe in us, and think that we can do a great show. That’s why I’m most excited about the fact that it’s going to be changed up and it’s going to be fresh for us next year.
But with all the changes and the fact that it’s going to be so different I’m losing a little bit of that comfort zone. It’s kind of an exciting nervousness. You know what I mean? I cannot wait to start shooting again and I really believe that it’s going to be an amazing year, but at the same time I’m just wondering what it’s really going to be like.
Tori Spelling is returning. Jason Priestly is showing up to direct. Diablo Cody is guest starring…
I got really lucky because all of that revolves around what my character is going through. I’ve been a huge fan of Tori and a huge fan of Diablo Cody forever. Well, not forever. But you know. Tori’s first scene was with me. She came in there and she is the cutest little thing I’ve ever seen. She makes me laugh and I thought she was really professional. So I just had a blast working with her.
Diablo was actually a fan of ours so the fact that she came in there and was excited, I was like “You won an Oscar! What are you talking about?” I just wanted to sit down with her. She’s like a girl that I would be friends with if I just met them on the street someday and just started hanging out. She’s just so down to earth and so real. So I just had a blast working with her.
Jason directs the episode that’s coming on next week. Jason is the stud muffin. He’s fantastic to work with because he goes in there with such a strong vision of how he wants stuff to work. It was a really, really intense, big episode for me. Lots of big scenes. We were location shooting in Union Station, which is this gorgeous station. I think he really wanted to showcase that.
So I’ve been saying one of my favorite shots that I’ve ever gotten to in any movie, any TV show – it’s a tiny little shot. I know it’s going to be really quick and probably looked over. It reminded me of Trainspotting because they had a camera on the ground facing down this long tunnel at Union Station and me in my heels and my crazy hair, crying. I jumped over the camera and sprinted down this long tunnel. It was late at night. The sun was rising. It was probably like 5am. We were out of time. So they were just like, “Let’s go. Let’s go.” So I just take off running so fast. I was like, “I’m a superhero!”
-Interview conducted by John Kubicek
(Image courtesy of the CW)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
