Alexandra Chando (left) as Deb and Andrew West (right) as Hunter star in “Rockville, CA,” a new music-driven romantic comedy for TheWB.com. (Photo Credit: Pamela Littky/Warner Bros. Television Group)
The last of our Rockville, CA interviews is with Alexandra Chando, who plays the witty and sarcastic lead, Deb. She’s a young A&R rep who comes to the Rockville to check out the new bands that keep coming to play. She and I discussed her character and why she wanted to play her, plus why she thinks people will tune in!
TakeFiveGal : Why Rockville, why did you want to play Deb?
Alexandra Chando : Initially, everybody who was involved, before I even read a script. We had to audition just like any show. So before I even was sent the sides or scripts, seeing who was involved. Josh Schwartz, Alex Patsavas who is the music supervisor for so many great shows, she did so many beautiful soundtracks. So that kind of piqued my interest, I know Josh is such a creative genius and he really only puts out great work, so that piqued my interest, and then as soon as I read the script – we had the first script sent to us – it was amazing. It was so well written and the characters were so relatable and realistic. I really enjoyed my character of Deb. I really related to her. I just liked that she was witty and sarcastic and so yeah, that just drew me to it, then, the quality of the materials.
How much like Deb are you?
[laughs] Certain ways. I’m very impassioned about music; not to the extent that Deb is. She can rattle off statistics about music from the 1970s. I’m passionate about music, but also, I tend to be kind of sarcastic. We’re sort of similar. Our demeanors, our general demeanors. It wasn’t exactly a huge step to pay this character! [laughs]
They make a running joke in the episodes of your character saying major all the time. Has that worked its way into your vocab?
No, it didn’t! Every now and then when we were filming, I would catch myself saying major, and be like, “oh my gosh.” I never say major. It was funny for me, because the first couple times I said it for the show, I was like, this just doesn’t seem natural to me because I was so not used to saying it. But it became natural after a while!
Why do you think that people will be interested in this show?
It’s definitely a new medium, which is going to be interesting to see the response. First of all, I know people know of Josh Schwartz’ shows. They know The OC and Gossip Girl, and Chuck, so that of course will have some pull. The show is so innovative because it’s really not like anything out there where the music is such a common thread throughout the entire series. Just the way that the website is going to be set up as far as my understanding, it’s going to be extremely interactive. For every band that performs on our show, you can go out and by their CD or you can watch their performance on the website. That’s really interesting. Music is such a large part of people’s lives. I think that’s going to be a really big draw. It’s an original idea!
You mentioned the music – with Alex, some of the music she finds, you don’t know where she finds them, but they’re perfect.
I want her to make a soundtrack for like my life!
I know! I said the same thing to her yesterday! Did you know of any of the bands that were featured? Or are you a fan of them now?
I knew a couple of them. Of course I knew Phantom Planet, The Kooks. There was a ton that I had no idea! Now I’m a huge fan, I’m a huge fan of The White Lies. They performed, kind of one of the first weeks, and they were one of my favorite performances. Also, Passion Pit. They have really great music. Really, all of the bands were fantastic. It was so great to be introduced to them on such an intimate level.
What else besides Rockville do you have coming up?
It’s pilot season now, and I’m screen testing for a new show. Keeping auditioning. I’ve been involved in a movie for a year now. We’re in the pre-production stages. That is eventually going to start production, possibly this summer.
Rockville, CA Premieres March 17, 2009, on TheWB.com