The TV Chick

Make It Or Break It (as I have said) is my favorite new show of the summer. The ABC Family hit centers around a group of four elite gymnasts, who are Olympic hopefuls. This is a fantastic show, and if you haven’t watched it, you really should. It was just renewed for 10 more episodes, and nominated for a Teen Choice Award, and it is all well deserved. I recently got a chance to sit down with the four stars and chat about their characters, the drama and what we might see in the rest of the season. Here is part one of the four part series–my interview with Chelsea Hobbs, who plays Emily Kmetko on the show.

First of all, I have to say, I really love the show.
Thank you.

Why don’t you tell us a little more about Emily. She’s big into compartmentalizing her life—keeping gymnastics separate from work separate from her family.
Emily’s moved around a lot in her life. She keeps everything separate—it’s a little bit about how she keeps everything in control. She does have so many different parts of her life, that she thinks if they all get mixed together, it’s just a big mess in her head. So it definitely makes her feel safe.

A big theme this season in general has been breaking the rules. How do you keep your character true to life?
I think we’ve all been there. We’ve all been in the place where someone tells us you can’t do something and you just want to do it more. So that definitely comes into play and every issue that happens on the show really does happen in real life. The writers have really kept true to what teenagers do and what people do in general. So it’s really easy for us to get to and relate to because it’s all very true to life.

Emily seems kind of, embarrassed (for lack of a better word) by her working class background. Can you speak a little bit about that?
Well I think that with Emily, I don’t know if she would feel so embarrassed with it if she wasn’t in the situation she’s in. I think it’s more the fact that she’s stepping into a new situation where people have a completely different lifestyle and she really is the outsider coming in with a scholarship. I think there’s a bit of humiliation for her on that level because people do treat her differently based on where she’s coming from. And you know, she’s coming into this situation the odd one out, so to speak, so that’s got to be really hard I think.

You’ve actually played a gymnast before. You were in The Perfect Body.
Yeah. I was actually just a really small role. It was one of my first film roles that I did, and I was one of the new gymnasts at that gym that the film took place in and the coach has to yell at me for my weight. (laughs) And actually the interesting thing is that the coach who had to yell at me was Brett [Cullen], who plays Payson’s father on the show.

That’s really funny.
Yeah, it’s quite a coincidence.

So did you talk to any gymnasts to prepare for this role? Did you watch a lot of gymnastics to prepare?
Definitely. We Youtubed like there was no tomorrow. Every video possible—just to kind of get really our head into that world. Because other than really the Olympics, I haven’t been in the gymnastics world at all. Just watching the Olympics. And then also, all of our doubles are awesome. They’ve been so amazing at anything we need to know…they’ll tell us. We study every walk…we study them as much as we can…listen to their stories, and it’s so great.

Have you learned any gymnastics skills while doing the show?
Well, it’s something that really does take time (laughs). We did a lot of training after the pilot, we learned how to build up the strength that it takes to do all the tricks. So slowly as we build up the strength, we’re able to do handstands, you know, one of the girls does a front walkover, and yeah, we definitely are slowly learning whatever we can learn.

What has been your favorite part of filming the show?
Learning something new. It sounds so cliché, but it’s so true. We really are blessed that we get to step into this crazy world and learn so much about it every day, and sit and watch Olympic gymnasts do things right in front of our eyes. It’s unbelievable. You never get bored on set.

Are you all friends off-set?
We’re all friends. We all get along so well. We go to each other’s birthday parties, we have barbecues, we all hang out all the time. We love each other.

Emily has a very interesting relationship with her mom. Do you want to speak a little bit about that?
Emily and her mom are actually a lot like me and my mom. It’s very different but it’s similar. You know, my mom was really super young when she had me, and so was Emily’s mom. It’s really great because your mom can relate to a lot of things but there’s also frustration involved in it and sometimes when your mom tries to become that much of a part of your life, you feel like you need the space. And I think that happens a lot with Emily and Chloe. I think that Emily feels like she likes to keep things separate so when her mom gets too involved, that really frustrates her.

Can you give us a little teaser what we might see from Emily in the rest of the season and in season 2?
I think Emily is going to build a lot as a character. She has a lot of learning to do as a gymnast. She doesn’t have the training in an elite gym that the other girls have so it’s going to really exciting to see where her gymnastics is going to go. I think Emily has the fire behind it, she just needs to learn how to take direction from the coach and trust. Just in general, she needs to trust—in her life, in gymnastics and I think everyone’s going to see her go to great places…as long as she does that.

Do you think the others will accept her? Do you think she will become a part of the group?
It’s interesting because I think it’s definitely going in that direction but at the same time, when you put competition in the mix, there’s going to be a problem somewhere. I think she’s going to become close to certain people, and I think that the competitive side of it could definitely throw some interesting drama in there…just because of jealousy and whoever does better than the other person, it’s always going to be like that.

What are your favorite tv shows and acting influences?
You know what’s funny? I don’t watch a ton of tv. I do like a lot of HBO and Showtime shows. And actresses I love are Meryl Streep, of course and Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet. I really love people who are willing to get their hands dirty and step outside their comfort zone and shows that do the same thing. I really enjoy watching stuff like that. [And] I like some reality tv.

Than
k you so much for taking the time to speak with me.
Thank you so much.

Check back tomorrow for Part 2–my interview with Cassie Scerbo who plays Lauren Tanner.