Post by jag11 on Apr 15, 2008 20:00:34 GMT -5
April 14, 2008 CBS Soaps In Depth
As the old saying goes, ignorance is bliss. Certainly no one has to tell that to Y&R's Chris Engen, who admits he would have been terrified if he had known exactly how plum a part he was auditioning for as Victor's MIA son, Adam. "I don't have any family or friends who watched Y&R, or any great stories to tell you about how I grew up watching the show," he smiles. "I recognized Eric Braeden [Victor], of course. But I can't tell you why. He's just assimilated himself into the paradigm of TV consciousness... so I had no idea of the importance of this role.
"I guess I'm really new to this genre and the soap world," the California native adds modestly. "It's been a daunting task to adjust to the entire process and mechanism of the show... but I've been gathering from the amount of work that I've been doing and what people are saying that this is a really important role. And I couldn't be more thrilled."
Indeed, the actor says that despite the long hours and intense dialogue that come with a major storyline, he's enjoying the challenge. "I'm having a blast," he enthuses. "The fast pace has been a little jolting. It's the closest I've ever been to doing a live show. Hope's death scene, for instance, if it had been a movie, would have taken place over the course of weeks. But literally, it was one take, one take, one take! You have to have a lot of material prepared, and if you want to be good--which is what I'm really striving for--you have to know your stuff and change it at a moment's notice."
Saying Good-Bye
As daunting as it's been to step into the shoes of Adam (formerly known as Victor Jr.), Engen believes that it would have been even more difficult had the role been a recast. "Luckily, I'm not going to be compared to anyone else," he says. "So anything I do and anything I try to project, my kind of ideas that I have to influence the character, are okay."
And when it comes to being influenced to make certain choices regarding his character, Engen credits his TV mom, Signy Coleman (ex-Hope). "I was fortunate to have her, because she kind of held my hand when we were working together the first few days," he says. "She really told me everything I needed to know. She talked to me quite a bit about her experience on the show, the character of Victor and my character."
In fact, Engen says that it wasn't easy when Coleman's alter ego finally passed away. "She only worked five or six days, but I really felt her presence gone when she was gone as a character," he shares quietly of his on-screen mom. "I felt, given what I knew of this storyline, that I needed to keep a very large piece of Hope alive on the show and embody those qualities she felt were the most important. That's what I really wanted to do, because I've played a lot of really awful villains, and this is an opportunity to create a really great, rich, three-dimensional character."
Role-Playing
Not surprisingly, there has been plenty of discussion about Adam's true character on Internet message boards. After all, the Harvard grad's arrival in Genoa City has shaken up the Newman clan, and he's all but replaced Nick in the family business. And then there is the little matter of his coveting his brother's wife, Phyllis. While Engen admits he doesn't know what may be down the road for his alter ego, at the moment, he's choosing to portray Adam with sincerity rather than any sinister intent.
"I'm trying to create a great guy, a strong character who is balanced but flawed, as we all are but nevertheless who is deep down very good," the actor offers. "He's very much the product of a good, strong upbringing. He has dignity and pride. He may be a little closed off... and ambitious. He's here for the job and he wants to succeed. A lot of people ask or wonder whether he has some sort of secret agenda, but I don't think he has. I think he thinks he can succeed [at Newman Enterprises] on his own merits."
While the soap newbie has been involved in primetime and movies, Engen confesses that being on daytime--where roles can span three weeks to more than 30 years--is challenging because of the open-ended nature of the genre. "I've been focusing on each day, day by day, and not projecting too far ahead," he admits with a grin. "I don't know what's going to happen, but I got this job during the [writers'] strike, so it was odd to be working at all. I felt like the luckiest guy in the world to get a job in a time like this."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
F.Y.I.
Born: Apple Valley, CA.
Raised: Spring Valley Lake, CA.
On His Nightstand: "Scripts have completely taken my reading over," he laughs. "But I've started reading Howard Zin's A People's History Of The United States. I never got entirely through it. I also like reading the classics."
Life's Ironies: In an interesting twist, Engen actually worked with Lauralee Bell (ex-Christine) on the independent movie Scarlet Cross. "It's one of those weird coincidences. She actually played my mother in different time periods. We did end up having a couple of scenes together, but other than that, I didn't get much of a chance to talk to her."
Another Son Rises
by Julie McElwain
Chris Engen takes on the juicy role of Victor Jr., aka Adam
As the old saying goes, ignorance is bliss. Certainly no one has to tell that to Y&R's Chris Engen, who admits he would have been terrified if he had known exactly how plum a part he was auditioning for as Victor's MIA son, Adam. "I don't have any family or friends who watched Y&R, or any great stories to tell you about how I grew up watching the show," he smiles. "I recognized Eric Braeden [Victor], of course. But I can't tell you why. He's just assimilated himself into the paradigm of TV consciousness... so I had no idea of the importance of this role.
"I guess I'm really new to this genre and the soap world," the California native adds modestly. "It's been a daunting task to adjust to the entire process and mechanism of the show... but I've been gathering from the amount of work that I've been doing and what people are saying that this is a really important role. And I couldn't be more thrilled."
Indeed, the actor says that despite the long hours and intense dialogue that come with a major storyline, he's enjoying the challenge. "I'm having a blast," he enthuses. "The fast pace has been a little jolting. It's the closest I've ever been to doing a live show. Hope's death scene, for instance, if it had been a movie, would have taken place over the course of weeks. But literally, it was one take, one take, one take! You have to have a lot of material prepared, and if you want to be good--which is what I'm really striving for--you have to know your stuff and change it at a moment's notice."
Saying Good-Bye
As daunting as it's been to step into the shoes of Adam (formerly known as Victor Jr.), Engen believes that it would have been even more difficult had the role been a recast. "Luckily, I'm not going to be compared to anyone else," he says. "So anything I do and anything I try to project, my kind of ideas that I have to influence the character, are okay."
And when it comes to being influenced to make certain choices regarding his character, Engen credits his TV mom, Signy Coleman (ex-Hope). "I was fortunate to have her, because she kind of held my hand when we were working together the first few days," he says. "She really told me everything I needed to know. She talked to me quite a bit about her experience on the show, the character of Victor and my character."
In fact, Engen says that it wasn't easy when Coleman's alter ego finally passed away. "She only worked five or six days, but I really felt her presence gone when she was gone as a character," he shares quietly of his on-screen mom. "I felt, given what I knew of this storyline, that I needed to keep a very large piece of Hope alive on the show and embody those qualities she felt were the most important. That's what I really wanted to do, because I've played a lot of really awful villains, and this is an opportunity to create a really great, rich, three-dimensional character."
Role-Playing
Not surprisingly, there has been plenty of discussion about Adam's true character on Internet message boards. After all, the Harvard grad's arrival in Genoa City has shaken up the Newman clan, and he's all but replaced Nick in the family business. And then there is the little matter of his coveting his brother's wife, Phyllis. While Engen admits he doesn't know what may be down the road for his alter ego, at the moment, he's choosing to portray Adam with sincerity rather than any sinister intent.
"I'm trying to create a great guy, a strong character who is balanced but flawed, as we all are but nevertheless who is deep down very good," the actor offers. "He's very much the product of a good, strong upbringing. He has dignity and pride. He may be a little closed off... and ambitious. He's here for the job and he wants to succeed. A lot of people ask or wonder whether he has some sort of secret agenda, but I don't think he has. I think he thinks he can succeed [at Newman Enterprises] on his own merits."
While the soap newbie has been involved in primetime and movies, Engen confesses that being on daytime--where roles can span three weeks to more than 30 years--is challenging because of the open-ended nature of the genre. "I've been focusing on each day, day by day, and not projecting too far ahead," he admits with a grin. "I don't know what's going to happen, but I got this job during the [writers'] strike, so it was odd to be working at all. I felt like the luckiest guy in the world to get a job in a time like this."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
F.Y.I.
Born: Apple Valley, CA.
Raised: Spring Valley Lake, CA.
On His Nightstand: "Scripts have completely taken my reading over," he laughs. "But I've started reading Howard Zin's A People's History Of The United States. I never got entirely through it. I also like reading the classics."
Life's Ironies: In an interesting twist, Engen actually worked with Lauralee Bell (ex-Christine) on the independent movie Scarlet Cross. "It's one of those weird coincidences. She actually played my mother in different time periods. We did end up having a couple of scenes together, but other than that, I didn't get much of a chance to talk to her."