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The specifics about who she’d be playing were at a minimum when AnnaLynne McCord was cast as “The Mystery Woman” on Days of our Lives , a character who appears to be the late (or is that "late?") Abigail Deveraux DiMera . While it presented a challenge to the actress, she was ready to dive in and give it her all. McCord chatted with Soap Opera Digest about her daytime debut and the DID connection she shares with Abigail.
Soap Opera Digest: What was it like getting cast to play a character known only as “the mystery woman,” with no real guidelines as to who she actually was?
AnnaLynne McCord: “It was really interesting, because it was during the end of the [writers’] strike. So no one really knew exactly what was going to happen. There were a couple of thoughts about the character and the direction it could go, but I really wasn't told anything at all. So it was definitely a little bit confusing in the beginning, but I think that was kind of the fun of it. As an actress, our job is to find the truth in every word and every line. So I was just like, “Okay, I'm just going to go for the most truth in these words and then hope that it works for whoever I end up being.”
Digest: What was getting the job like?
McCord: It was a very, very tedious time [with Hollywood productions mostly shut down]. And it was a really serendipitous opportunity, because the very first show I had ever screen-tested for [ Young and Restless ], Marnie Saitta was the casting director. So she called [my agent] and said, “Well, no one's working right now, so I know AnnaLynne is free. Would she want to do this?” Marnie said that she had wanted to work with me for 18 years. Then it actually ended up working out. It was really magical to me that it all happened the way that I did.
Digest: Were you familiar with soap operas? Had you ever watched any?
McCord: Oh my gosh, you don't understand. My Mimi, my grandmother… I remember as kids, my mom and dad would have to drive to her house, which was like an hour away, and change out her VHS tapes, because Mimi did not miss a single episode of her soap operas. So all of these characters are familiar to me, at least the [veterans]. So I'm like, “Oh my gosh, I know you from 30 years ago.” [To read about McCord’s first encounter with Deidre Hall, Marlena, click here .]
Digest: So your grandmother was a DAYS fan and you watched the show with her as a kid?
McCord: Well, technically I wasn't allowed to, but we would sneak in there and watch it with Mimi when she wasn’t looking.
Digest: How has it been creating this character?
McCord: I was talking to Noel [Maxam] one of our producers, and I was like, “It's such an honor and privilege working for you. The producers and directors and everyone on the show have been so incredibly gracious and generous, and they allow this faith and space for the actors to really create and just feel trusted.” It doesn't always happen that way, especially on a long-standing project like this. I've had so much fun. As it’s developed, there's been a lot of twists and turns, and I've been given the freedom to kind of play a little bit with what evolves. I feel that that actually has created something I wasn't expecting in the process. It kind of was that movie magic we talk about in the industry.
Digest: Have any of your co-stars filled you in on Abigail’s background?
McCord: Billy [Flynn, Chad] is like a walking, talking on-set Days of our Lives encyclopedia. He knows everything that has ever gone down on the set of the show and in the storylines. He has helped me immensely with understanding the nuance. Because as you can imagine, I'm just kind of going along, la, la, la, la, la. Then I'm like, “Wait. Stefan did what to Abigail? EJ did what with Abigail?” So I'm learning as Abigail is unraveling her memories. I'm like, “Oh my God. Did this stuff really happen?” And Billy's just laughing, “Yep, every single bit of it.” So he has definitely helped me and the other actors [have] as well. But Billy is the one that I work closely with, so he's definitely helped me unravel Abigail's story with him and with the other characters.
Digest: Has it been easy connecting with Billy as a potential love interest?
McCord: Well, he's not attractive at all; baby blues don't do anything for me [ laughs ]. He's such a darling human being. He is a delicious gentleman, and we have this mixture that just works. We banter a lot off-screen. I think that that gives the energy on-screen to be that palpable kind of yumminess that you want between love interest characters. And I really appreciate how raw he is. I mean, he's obviously been on the show for a decade, and he brings something new to every moment. He's wonderful, and I love working with him.
Digest: What about connecting with Abigail and her past mental issues and traumas?
McCord: It's interesting because I've incorporated some of my own personal life in a lot of these [on-screen] moments. I speak out a lot about mental health, and I’ve dealt with dissociation, severe dissociation, to the point of having what's called DID [dissociative identity disorder]. Then I found out that Abigail had that too. I was like, "Okay. Abigail and I get each other." I was diagnosed with that, and I'm grateful to have reached what's called fusion, where my parts came back together. But during that time, you're so numb. I would describe it to people. I'd be like, “I knew something was wrong, but my screen was blank.” That's what happened. In my mind, my screen would go blank.
Digest: How have you incorporated that into your portrayal of Abigail?
McCord: I brought that into the scenes during the early moments with Chad and Jack and everyone, because the Abigail who can't remember her life would've been a lot the way AnnaLynne was in her life when she couldn't remember her story. I didn't remember certain things that had happened to me when I was a child. When I would get into conflict, I would sometimes freeze and everything would go blank. I've incorporated that quite a bit into the early storyline of Abigail's journey, because I lived it. I give her these quiet moments where you see she has a little bit of anxiety rising. And in the moments where everyone's there, a lot of times I have her freeze and experience what it's like to be in dissociation, which is that you don't really know where you are in space or time.
Digest: Obviously, it’s pretty heavy material. How have you been enjoying the daytime experience as a whole?
McCord: This whole experience has been honestly amazing for me personally. As an actress, it's wild, because you can have upwards of 25, 30 pages of dialogue a day that you’re learning whenever you're on. The actors on DAYS and soap operas, in general, are incredible to be able to navigate, learn that many lines, have one take and go. It's like acting boot camp. The ones that stick it out are the true unsung heroes in my opinion. I think the freedom and the fact that we move through so much material so quickly is actually a lot of fun for my ADHD self. I'm like, “Let's go.” I love it, just constantly devouring the material. It's cool to be brought onto something that's much bigger than you and not the weight of it being on you. This show is the character, and we're all parts of its character. Some parts have been there for a long time, and some of us are brand new parts. It's cool to be a part of something that feels like a legacy in the industry. I feel really humbled and honored to be on the 60th season of it. I mean, 60 years is such a feat. Nothing lasts that long in Hollywood. It has stood the test of time. So as an overall experience, it's just been really rewarding.
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