Written by | Ray Cornelius
Some of the stars from ABC’s dramatic thriller “How To Get Away with Murder” came out Saturday evening for a special screening of this week’s highly anticipated new episode. The event took place in Atlanta, GA at SCAD’s aTVfest and was attended by students and die-hard fans of the show hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite character.
Liza Weil with Jack Falahee and Peter Nowalk
“How To Get Away with Murder” stars Emmy and Tony winning-actress Viola Davis as the brilliant, charismatic and seductive professor Annalise Keating who gets entangled with five law students from her class, ‘How To Get Away with Murder.’ Little do they know, the students will apply what they learned to real life situations. The series debuted to a lot of fanfare in 2014 and is produced by Shonda Rhimes.
Charlie Webber, Liza Weil and Jack Falahee
Actors Jack Falahee, Liza Weil and Charlie Webber all joined the show’s creator and writer Peter Nowalk for the intimate screening. The viewing was immediately followed by a lively Q&A session where they all discussed the rapid success of the series, what it’s really like working with Viola Davis and the challenges they face playing such complex characters and more. Check out their surprising answers below:
Jack Falahee plays Annalise Keating’s student ‘Conner Walsh’
On adjusting to the sudden popularity of the show…
Charlie Webber: I get asked this a lot. I don’t think you can ever expect a show to be this or to take off like this! What Pete allows us do as actors, I’ve never experienced before and it’s just been fabulous. I just love going to work everyday.
Jack Falahee: There were fans waiting for me at the airport today! (cheers) So that’s crazy. To think that a year ago today we were up here on this same stage and now there are people waiting at baggage claim. Yeah, it’s been a roller coaster but a really good one.
Liza Weil portrays ‘Bonnie Winterbottom’ the assistant to Annalise Keating
On finding out character details…
Liza Weil: We’re really not too far behind viewers in terms of the information that we’re learning about these characters. We’re really excited at any development in terms of forging their stories and all of that stuff. We just get rabid about it.
Jack Falahee and Peter Nowalk
On working with the great Viola Davis…
Peter NoWalk: She’s really our leader in so many ways. I’ve grown so much as a writer working with her. She’s extremely collaborative. In fact, she actually kind of came up with this week’s episode idea and pitched it to me beat by beat. As a creator, your exhausted all the time and you feel like you have no ideas and then here’s someone who comes to help you out. She’s been doing this for so long and she always challenges me and I hope it bleeds into the whole the show. It’s the best version of a collaboration. I feel like, in a weird way, she’s really like my teacher but much nicer than Annalise Keating.
Charlie Webber plays ‘Frank Delfino,’ AnnaLise Keating’s other Assistant
On the challenges they’ve faced playing these characters…
Liza Weil: I think last year was certainly really scary for me. I had never played like a romantic thing before. I think I’ve only played an awkward “virginity losing” scene that was supposed to be really uncomfortable and terrible. The stuff with ‘Bonnie’ and ‘Asher’ (played by Matt McGorry) was really scary for me because I had never done that. That was something that was great to sort of work through.
Jack Falahee: For me personally, the taking off of the shirt has been a challenge that I really didn’t see when I auditioned for the pilot. But it’s been overwhelmingly positive. Pete’s always the first to be like ‘whatever your comfortable with’ Jack. I think I’ve also learned a lot about myself as both an actor and a person accepting my body. This is what it is America and you’re welcome!
Charlie Webber: I’ve done a lot of the sexual stuff over the years. (cheers) It’s been bit of a staple in my career. (LOL) What’s funny for me is that being with these people, I’ve really been able to do my shit. I really care about this. I care about my work and this character and getting the chance to explore that. It’s not necessarily going there but the willingness to let people see it is what’s new for me. I’m really appreciative of that and it’s been both scary and fun.
Jack Falahee and Peter Nowalk
On the similarities between them and their characters:
Charlies Webber: Frank is this completely different person. What I find fascinating is that I spend more time with him than I do as myself. He’s in my bones and I love him despite his flaws but he’s a terrible person in a lot of ways. I relate to him because I am him but I don’t know what we have in common other than the fact we’re the same person.
Liza Weil: There’s always stuff that you can relate to in your character. The gift to being able to play a person for a long period of time is that they do sort of get in your bones and you can sort of trust that they will be there next to the vodka. Wait! That’s a terrible answer.
Jack Falahee: I actually revel in what I don’t share with Conner. I guess we do both share the fact that we’re both flawed. Conner is also very confident and I’m not. I think that seeing that juxtaposition or at least examining it is sometimes helpful.
Check out a sneak peek of this week’s new episode below:
How to Get Away with Murder returns this Thursday, February 11 at 10 p.m. EST.
Photo Credits: RayCornelius.com
