Junebug
He captures the hearts of The O.C.'s faithful as Ryan Atwood, but Ben McKenzie wants the rest of America to know that he's not just that guy on Fox's popular teen drama. In fact, when fans hit theaters (in select cities) this weekend to check out his feature-film debut, Junebug, they'll be surprised to learn that their beloved boy-next-door is nowhere to be found. It may be difficult, McKenzie reasons, even to recognize him at first glance. The Texas native went back to his roots to play Johnny, a young man who struggles to make do while still living under his parents' roof with his pregnant wife and the rest of his "difficult" family. McKenzie acknowledges that his character isn't very likable, but says he could relate to Johnny nonetheless.
"I've heard a couple of comments about [Johnny], people sayin
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O.C. fans, sit down, 'cause the Nana is in love. And this week, Grandma Cohen's (Linda Lavin) decision to marry a younger man will find Sandy (Peter Gallagher), Seth (Adam Brody) and Ryan (Benjamin McKenzie) flying to Miami — at the height of spring break madness — to meet the fiancé. As one of TV Guide's O.C. fans, I hopped a flight to Florida for the taping. My mission: use my press pass to meet the boys, pump creator Josh Schwartz for inside info and find out what it's like to be an extra on the set of TV's hottest teen drama.8:30 am I can see the O.C. spring break set from my hotel room window. The stage. The banners. The pool. Wait a minute. Pool? Suddenly, the outfit I brought seems oh-so-inappropriate. What was I thinking? Cue my inner scream.10:40 "It's the Nana. The Nana!" Linda Lavin laughs as she tells me about the previous day's encounter with a group of screaming O.C.
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"Welcome to the O.C., bitch!" No, we're not dissin' you, gentle readers. That's just the line Chris Carmack made infamous on Fox's teen soap, The O.C., where he played semi-reformed bad boy Luke Ward. While the popular 23-year-old actor has moved on, Luke-aholics aren't yet ready to let him leave his signature role behind. Sometimes, they really freak him out...
Carmack's based in Southern California, where TV viewers live right in the midst of show business. Surely they're sophisticated enough to tell him and his soap character apart? "You give them too much credit," Carmack grumbles to TV Guide Online. "I can't even tell you the amount of people I've met who think my name is Luke and that I do live in Orange County. So don't put it past anyone. If somebody calls me Luke and expects me to engage in conversation with them... Oh, those poor souls are mistaken."
Ouch! Well tonight, Carmack does another sexy badass turn in The Last Ride
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Having wrapped filming on Season 1, The O.C. threw a cast party Tuesday at Falcon on L.A.'s Sunset Strip. There was much for McG & Co. to toast that night, especially since Fox just renewed the hit teen soap for next season. (As if there were any doubt!) Still, Party Boy wasn't in the most celebratory mood. I'm still cross that producers fired hottie Chris Carmack, packing Luke off to Portland last week. How could they?
"Yeah, it's unfortunate," said Benjamin Mackenzie, who plays broody Ryan. "The challenge the producers and writers faced with Luke was they weren't interested in continuing the Luke-Marissa-Ryan triangle too long. So once the triangle worked itself through, they were left with the problem of, 'What do we do with him?'"
Luke's love affair with ex-girlfriend Marissa's mom, Julie Cooper, sure was naughty. "He was great with doing comedy," Mackenzie agreed. "I thought that plotline was a lot of fun, but once that ran out
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