Starry Constellation Magazine
  

CARRIE GENZEL

UNDERNEATH IT ALL hrc
by: Lisa Steinberg

Featured Interviews
Q

Q.  What are some of the recent projects that you've been working on?

A.  Right after we did the show I did a little part on Jennifer's Body which is starring Megan Fox from Transformers.  That is coming out in I think 2009 and that's the next film that Diablo Cody wrote who wrote Juno.  It was a fun atmosphere to work on because there was a lot of good energy and buzz around it.

Q.  What can you tell us about the premise for the show "Under One Roof" and about your character?

A.  Basically the premise for "Under One Roof" is Calvester, who is played by Flavor Flav, moves in with his brother Winston and I'm Winston's wife Ashley.  We live in Beverly Hills and Ashley is very self involved, very naughty, she's the trophy wife.  She has her life and her family's life very orchestrated and everything looks very perfect from the outside.  Calvester has a tendency to come in and mess all of that up.  Ashley is not very fond of Calvester, he's always messing up her plans and embarrassing her in front of her friends.

Q.  What made you want to be a part of the show?

A.  You know what, it was a really great opportunity to do something fun.  I haven't done a lot of sitcoms in the past and I was looking forward to the challenge of doing a half hour comedy and of course working with Flavor Flav I was excited about working with him.  He's such an icon with his music career and with his reality shows, I thought it would be a fun opportunity to do something that I don't normally do. 

Q.  Where do you draw from for your portrayal of Ashley?

A.  Ashley is very different than I am, it's funny how I just kind of created this character based on the circumstances that she's in.  Just being around all of the other actors, Kelly Perine, who plays Winston is just so great, so talented, and he's so quick to think of jokes and ad-lib lines.  Flav is the same way and it really helps me to get into that mindset and just really roll with the punches and keep up with everybody.  I just kind of draw from everyone else, draw from the circumstances, and the situation and Ashley kind of blossomed from there.

Q.  Is there anything about your role that you find challenging?

A.  Our schedule is pretty challenging!  We shoot two episodes a week and that isn't normal.  Typically on a sitcom you do one episode a week.  We work really hard, we're there six days a week.  That gets really challenging, just to keep the energy level up, just to get enough rest and try and get into work with enough energy and excitement for the day.  Like I said, we're so lucky to have a great cast, and we're all excited to be there and we all work really hard.  Claude Brooks and Darryl Quarles who are our executive producers have so much excitement and enthusiasm for the show and that really helps most days when we're feeling a bit tired.  We all draw energy from one another and we all support each other.  That helps and that's probably the most challenging thing about the job, trying to get two shows out a week.

Q.  Was there instant cast chemistry when you all came together or did it take some time to develop?

A.  I think from the get-go we really just bonded and I think a lot of that came from us being together six days a week.  We're with each other a lot and I think that really helped us to bond really quickly which was great.  I was actually working on another project so I kind of came on board just as we were about to start filming.  The cast had actually been together for about two weeks before I got to work with them.  I was a little worried but everybody immediately gathered around and we were all in it together and we all really bonded and got along well.  They did a really good job of casting because we all feed off of each other really well and we love to try to make things better.  We all work really well together as a team which is nice because sometimes that's not the case. 

Q.  Where can people go online to learn more about you?

A.  I don't have a website for myself actually but I possibly will look into getting that in the next year or so.  I guess just basically on our website underoneroof.net.  There is a little bit of information about each of us on the show and we'll see what happens in the future if we have more input of what goes on our website and maybe connecting more with the fans.


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