Opposites Attract - SOW

OLTL rivals Melissa Archer and Jessica Morris dish boys, work and 'group kissing'

Soap Opera Weekly: What were your first impressions of the other?
Jessica Morris: "She seemed like a down-to-earth, nice person."
Melissa Arhcer: "Jess and I clicked pretty quick. [When I first started on the show] a bunch of people went out to eat, and Jessica sat next to me. We started talking, and the next thing you know, we went up to my room and talked all night."
Jessica Morris: "You call it talk? I'm just kidding."
Weekly: Sounds like a classic romance.
Melissa Arhcer: "Then we started to hang out all the time."
Weekly: What did you talk about that night?
Melissa Arhcer: "Boys, boys, shopping, boys and work."
Jessica Morris: "Our similar experience with bad boys. Our life stories are similar. Personalities, we're more opposite."
Melissa Arhcer: "Oh yeah, totally different."
Jessica Morris: "She's more outgoing."
Melissa Arhcer: "Jessica's quiet. She likes to feel things out. I pretend like I've taken some sort of speed pill. I don't take speed, just so you know."

Too Much of a Good Thing?
Weekly: So you guys work together and play together. Do you ever get sick of each other?
Melissa Archer: "The funny thing is, at work we don't see each other that much. We have some scenes...but we don't see each other as much as we do outside of work."
Jessica Morris: "So we get home from work and call each other and talk about our days. We're on the phone for a couple hours."
Melissa Archer: "Talking about work. (laughs)"
Weekly: Do you share a dressing room?
Melissa Archer: "No. We're across the hall from each other, though."
Jessica Morris: "That might be a bit much. We live right by each other."
Melissa Archer: "Practically roomies."

Best and Worst
Weekly: What are your best and worst traits -- and each other's?
Jessica Morris: "I work hard, and I always want things to be better each time. The worst thing is probably the same thing: I'm hard om myself and dwell on what I did wrong."
Melissa Archer: "My best is that I'm a go-getter. If I have a goal, I'll go after it 100 percent. That's also a bad trait: I need to learn when enough is enough."
Weekly: What about in each other?
Melissa Archer: "I think her best trait is...great hair (laughs). She's a good listener. When you need to talk, she's there. Worst trait...I don't know. I'm trying to think."
Jessica Morris: "I have a temper."
Melissa Archer: "Yes. Actually, best trait is that she's sensitive, but her worst trait is that she's sensitive. It's good because she cares about other people, but she can also get hurt."
Jessica Morris: (Turning to Archer) "One of the best things about you is that you're so down-to-earth and out-going. There's no pretense. And the worst thing is that some people take that the wrong way. They don't appreciate that. Some people think you have to act a certain way at a certain time, which is stupid."

Fun and Games
Weekly: What do you do for fun?
Melissa Archer: "We eat out a lot."
Jessica Morris: "That's the best thing about New York to me: all the different restaurants. I love eating more than anyone you'll ever meet."
Melissa Archer: "When I first moved here, I went to a karaoke place every night. I barely go anymore because it's so exhausting."
Jessica Morris: "She got me into it for a while; I need encouragement to get up there. I go to a lot of movies and play Internet backgammon and casino games a lot. Aren't we fun? (laughs)"
Melissa Archer: "Jeopardy! 2003, Wheel of Fortune 2003, solitaire, spider solitaire, Alchemy."
Jessica Morris: "Alchemy is addicting. I'm like one of those cartoon characters with the hypnotized eyes spiraling."
Melissa Archer: "There's something about getting on your computer and doing that all day."
Jessica Morris: "Letting your brain just zone out after all those lines that you have to memorize."

Good Girl/Bad Girl
Weekly: Jen is now being protrayed as the bad girl and Natalie is the good girl, but Jen would probably be disagree. What do you think, Jessica?
Jessica Morris: "I don't think either one of us is a stereotype. Both characters have good hearts. They just want to be happy, and they're trying to get that happiness any way they can. Jen is the same person she always was. She was very sweet with Cristian, because they were in love and happy, so she had no reason to fight for anything. But when things went wrong..."
Weekly: Doesn't it seem like the characters have switched personalities?
Jessica Morris: "I can see how you might say that, but both of our characters are changing and developing. It has nothing to do with the other. I don't see Natalie as being how Jen used to be."
Melissa Archer: "I have to agree. What Jen is doing is not the same way Natalie did things. It's similar, but there are different reasons behind it."

Rebel Yell
Weekly: Who is the bad girl in real life?
Melissa Archer: "Growing up, I akways had to do everything right. If I got in trouble, all you'd have to do was look at me, and I would cry in my room all day."
Jessica Morris: "I always tried to do the right thing too -- up until high school. Then it went downhill."
Melissa Archer: "Yeah, in high school, I was like, 'I'm done being good!'"
Jessica Morris: "I always had an attitude, wanted things my way. (laughs)"
Weekly: Care to share any rebellious stories?
Melissa Archer: "Not anything I'd want to say..." (both laugh)
Weekly: Do you know what each other's stories are?
Melissa Archer: "Oh yeah."

Kissing David Fumero
Weekly: Did you know who David Fumero (Cristian) was before you started on the show? Did your friends say, "Oh, you're so lucky. You get to work with him"?
Jessica Morris: "No. His friends were telling him, 'Oh, my God. Did you hear about this girl Jessica Morris? You get to kiss her at the audition!" (laughs)
Melissa Archer: "I remember seeing him when I started watching to catch up with everything, and I thought he was really, really attractive. I'm not saying I don't think he is now. But he's a nice guy. All the guys there are: Nathaniel (Marston, Al), John-Paul (Lavoisier, Rex).... You don't think about making out with them, because you do what you do for the moment and then it's over with."
Jessica Morris: "And none of them are unattractive, so it's not very hard. It helps."
Weekly: Is it strange that you kiss the same guy at work?
Jessica Morris: "We're all kissing each other. We might as well all have a group kiss. (laughs)"

Sex and the City
Weekly: Are you dating anybody?
Jessica Morris: "No one special. We're both focused on our work right now."
Melissa Archer: "If it happens, great. If someone knocks me upside the head, I'm cool. But if they really knock me upside the head, then I might have to say no. I'm not into the whole caveman thing."
Weekly: Any nightmare dates?
Jessica Morris: "I've had a couple. One guy, I really think, was Dracula. I went to meet him and he had a long black cape on. That freaked me out. I was trying to hide my neck. I decided that moment if I saw him again I was going to wear a turtleneck."
Melissa Archer: "I remember that guy. I'm trying to think back to the last time I had a date..."

The Perfect Date
Melissa Archer: "When I worked at Nordstrom, I bought myself a dress to go to the opera with a date. That dress still sits in my closet unused. I want a guy to take me to the opera! And I want to use that dress. I will hopefully still fit in it."
Jessica Morris: "I don't care about getting dressed up. I'd rather be comfortable. Someone to go to a movie with. I want to kiss in the rain."
Melissa Archer: "Me, too. And not care. Be soaking wet."
Jessica Morris: "I want to have a great dinner, and then you go outside and it's raining, and he grabs you and you kiss. Then you go have coffee and you talk for hours."
Weekly: Sounds a lot like your first date -- but with kissing.

Melissa VS. Jessica
We asked Morris and Archer how they and their characters would finish if pitted against each other in a...
Weekly: ...wrestling match, Jen or Natalie?
Jessica Morris: "Natalie is a 'genuine street-fighter.' That's one of the lines that Al had. She's the born street-fighter who would beat up the little princess."
Weekly: ...a bake-off, Melissa or Jessica?
Jessica Morris: "Me, definitely. I like to cook. I'm afraid I'm turning into Martha Stewart at too young of an age."
Weekly: ...a running race?
Jessica Morris: "I've seen you run after a cab..."
Weekly: ...Are either of you athletic?
Jessica Morris and Melissa Archer: "No!"
Weekly: ...a painting competition?
Melissa Archer: "I can't paint."
Jessica Morris: "Probably me."
Weekly: ...creative writing contest?
Jessica Morris: "Me. I don't know; do you write?"
Melissa Archer: "I write. We'll have to have a competition."
Weekly: ...a spelling bee?
Melissa Archer: "Me."
Weekly: ...a debate?
Melissa Archer: "Me."
Jessica Morris: "I would be like, 'Oh, shut up! Just leave me alone. I hate you! (laughs)"
Melissa Archer: "I grew up with a family full of politicians, so it's instilled in my brain."


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