“So, have you had that experience yet where you’re out on the town and someone just really starts to bug you—like what’s your thing, what’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you because so many people know who you are now. I mean, you’re still just starting out, have you had that—or there’s something personal about your life you never thought would get out, or…?” He leaves off with the word “or,” so it takes me a couple of seconds to realize that he’s done asking his question.
“Yeah,” I tell him. “There hasn’t been a whole lot of that sort of thing for me yet. Most of the people that I meet are just really nice people who think it’s cool to meet someone they’ve been hearing about, you know. It’s really, very flattering, very humbling.”
“Didn’t you just kind of contradict yourself there?” he asks. “Flattering builds you up, being humble means to recognize your lowness.”
“Well, it’s kind of both,” I tell him. “It’s flattering that people see me and want to talk to me or wave to me when they pass me on the street or whatever, but it’s also humbling because I’m just a redheaded chick from the Midwest, you know. If anything,” I tell him, “I guess it’s been kind of surreal.”
“Well, that’s good,” he says. “Hang onto that. A lot of the people I talk to come in here and they’re talking about fans that are showing up on their doorstep or doing all these crazy things—I talked to Aaron Wills a while ago and he said there was a huge fallout on his social media when he announced that he preferred Chinese food to American food. It’s so crazy. People were talking about boycotting his work and all this.”
“It’s weird what people choose to care about,” I tell him. “If anything, that’s what I’ve noticed. Things that wouldn’t even be a big deal if it was just someone you knew, but if it’s happening to this celebrity or that, it seems like that can sometimes get a little out of hand.”
“It sounds like you’re talking from experience there,” he says.
“Not really,” I tell him. “Like I said, most of the people I’ve met have been—”
“Notice how she says most of the people there?” Tag asks the unseen masses.
“—they’ve been really great,” I finish.
“I see,” he says. “So what’s it like working on this film? I know you’re no stranger to the busy side of film, but this really is kind of a breakthrough role, isn’t it?”
“Well, I think I’m going to wait until the movie’s out and people see it to decide whether it’s my breakout role or not,” I tell him. “But yeah, it is a different ballgame. There are some similarities, but a lot of differences.”
“Has it been difficult to adjust?” Tag asks.
“Not really,” I tell him. “Damian kind of found me the first day and he offered to be my mentor, so that was pretty cool.”
“That’s Damian Jones?” he asks. “He offered to be your mentor, huh?”
“Yeah,” I answer. “To be honest, I thought he was a bit full of himself at the time, but getting to know him, he’s a really great guy.”
“So you’d say you have a good relationship with Damian Jones on and off the screen,” he says.
“That’s a great question,” I tell Tag. “You should ask him, because I have no idea what kind of relationship we…”
With absolutely no illusion that the on air light is off, I still look up at it.
When I look back, Tag is sitting there looking like he just won the lottery.
“So maybe it’s a little more than just an offscreen friendship?” Tag asks.
Oh shit. I didn’t want this to get out, and I know this isn’t going to help Damian decide anything positive about our relationship.
Maybe I can walk it back.
“No, just,” I start, “we tease each other a lot on set and so it’s hard to know if he’s going to be serious Damian or funny Damian or…”
“Yeah, but that’s not what you said,” Tag responds.
I’m really starting to hate this guy.
“I said that I don’t know what kind of relationship we have,” I try again, “because you never know which Damian you’re going to get on a given day. Sometimes he’s himself and he’s playing around, other times, he’s in character mode, you know.”
“How long has this been going on?” he asks, “your relationship with Damian Jones.”
“Our relationship—our friendship started not too long after we started filming. The whole cast, really are great—”
He interrupts, “So you’re going to deny that there’s any kind of sexual relationship between you and Damian Jones, right here in front of thousands of listeners.”