Italia Ricci Conquers Her Fears by Starring in "Chasing Life"
"Chasing Life" Star, Italia Ricci, Talks The Summer Finale and Beyond!
It's a known fact that ABC Family does not shy away from controversial subjects. After all, this is the channel that explored the life of a pregnant teenager, pretty girls who keep secrets and two moms raising a diversified brood of foster children. So it's no surprise that its latest drama tackles the weighty subject of a twenty something who finds out that she has cancer. And it does it beautifully.
"Chasing Life" debuted in June and introduced us to April, a twenty-four year old Boston native who is finally putting the pieces of her life together after suddenly losing her father two years ago. She lives at home with her Mom, Grandma, and younger sister while trying to make a name for herself as a reporter at a major newspaper.
Just as she lands her first big assignment and a date with her work crush, April finds out that she has leukemia. It's a devastating blow to a young woman who seems on the verge of getting everything she ever wanted out of life.
April is brilliantly played by Canadian native, Italia Ricci. She is believable to the point that you find yourself wanting to pray for this fictional character's quick recovery. Italia is also surrounded by equally proficient supporting cast members like Haley Ramm as her younger sister Brenna, Aisha Dee as her best friend Beth, and a love triangle of sorts with two gorgeous guys, Richard Brancatisano as Dominic and Scott Michael Foster as Leo.
"Chasing's" summer finale will air on Tuesday, August 12 at 9:00PM. The episode titled "Finding Chemo," finds April checking in to the hospital for thirty days to undergo chemotherapy. It is definitely one of the sadder episodes of the season, but also incredibly true-to-life to families that have been through this experience.
We recently chatted with Italia about the impact "Chasing Life" is having on her life, the summer finale, and what we can expect from the show in the remaining episodes from Season 1.
"I was at my Sunday bowling league and my manager came up to me, he was on my team, and he was like, I just found the role for you," Italia recalls about the first time she ever heard about "Chasing Life." "I was like, 'What?' And he showed me the breakdown and I read the story. He was like, 'I have a feeling this is going to be it!' And I was like, 'You always say that.' This sounds way too good for me to get it. They're probably going to give it to an actual name or whatever."
She gave it a try anyway. "I went in and auditioned, the regular process, call back, screen test and I got it! I still sometimes wake up and shiver, just remembering that I even booked it, never mind that I've shot 21 episodes."
Though she was thrilled about landing such a great role, Italia had major reservations in the beginning. "I was terrified!" she confesses about her first couple of days on the job. "I was like, 'What if I can't carry a show? What if nobody wants to watch this many pages of me in it? What if I'm not interesting? What if people don't believe me?' I was so scared because I had never been the lead of anything before. I was so nervous that I wasn't going to be able to do it, because some people, no matter how hard you try or how talented you are just aren't meant to be lead characters. They just don't have whatever it is. I was just so scared that it was going to be beyond my control that I couldn't do it. I went into the whole 'insecure actor mode' and was like, 'Why did I do this? Why didn't I just get a regular job?'"
Turns out, she had absolutely nothing to worry about. The actress was the perfect fit for April who Italia describes as "Sort of as 'Every man's woman.' She's relatable because she's real. She's loyal. She's somebody who I think exists in the world, in many different people's lives if not in them, themselves... if that makes sense."
Preparing to play April brought relatively new challenges to the actress who you might have seen on "Aaron Stone," "Secret Girlfriend," or "CSI." "My regular process, I was able to paint on a character, outside of one that I did a while ago, called 'Unnatural History,' they were very specific personalities. I was able to sort of remember that and paint that on, pretend to be that person and then take it off at night. With April, she's just so real. She's a girly girl when it comes to being a little boy crazy. She's a bit of a goof sometimes. Then she's hell bent at being successful at work. She's strong and she's weak. She's so many things. You can't describe her in three words."
See a clip from the summer finale here:
"I was so scared that I wasn't going to be able to paint on that character without being inconsistent about it. So I went it and did it as Italia in "April's" situation. Like every reaction that you see on camera is me reacting because I'm believing that it's happening to me. That was terrifying too because I am literally just being myself in the show, but in April's shoes. And that was so scary because as easy as it felt for me to believe everything that was happening to her, what if the audience was like, 'oh gosh, we can't stand this girl! And then I can't blame it on a character that they didn't like cause that's me!"
Again, her fears were unfounded as "Chasing Life" continues to deliver solid episodes week after week with characters your can't help but get invested in and find yourself wanting to know more about their lives. The summer season finale on August 12, will be a pivotal episode for the freshman series.
"It's sad!" Italia admits about "Finding Chemo." "April thinks that she knows what is going to happen when she's in the hospital. She thinks she knows what to expect and she thinks that she's prepared and she's really NOT! Mentally, physically, emotionally... she's not!"
Don't let the subject matter keep you from checking the show out. There are plenty of funny moments too! "To me, I'm not the funny one, so the weight of the humor is never on my shoulders and I'm much more comfortable in the drama because I'm not funny," Italia reasons. "It's important to the show because I've watched shows that I love that get sad but then it gets to the point sometimes in shows where you're like, 'I just don't want to cry anymore!' like 'You're just doing this to be mean now!' Like somebody gets hit by a car and then they get a donor who's actually their ex father in law or something and then the dog dies. And it's just like... it won't end! It's like 'Why is this so mean?' But our show... I love the fact that it's like, 'Here's the really crappy part and then here's real life again.'"
See another clip from the episode here:
It sounds like viewers will get to see more of the lighter side of April when the show resumes the second half of the first season (We know there is a Christmas episode and then maybe it will resume in January? We hope!) "They let April have a little bit more fun in the second half of the first season. They let her sort of act a little bit more her age and sort of let the perspective shift that she's had because of being in chemo. They just let her have more fun and they explore more in depth stories behind Brenna and Mom and Grandma. So yeah, you guys can definitely expect a lot of lighter episodes than you've seen [so far] this season."
Italia is so grateful to be on a network that fully supports this unique series. "I am so incredibly proud to be a part of it," she exclaims when asked about the ABC Family Legacy. "At first I was like, 'Oh no, ABC Family, can they make this show the kind of show that I feel it could be in my mind?' Cause when you're reading a script, you never know if it's going to live up to how you're reading it. So I didn't know if they would be willing to go there. They have just been so bad-ass about taking the risks and telling such a brutally honest story about dealing with cancer. I'm so grateful that they're behind us and that they're taking those chances because our audience is feeling so well represented. I think it's just so cool of them to want to stand up for it!"
Be sure to check out Italia and the rest of the great cast in the summer finale of "Chasing Life" on ABC Family, Tuesday, August 12 at 9:00PM. It's a tough topic to tackle for sure; however, this cast and crew make it worth taking this journey with them.
For more on Chasing Life, visit http://abcfamily.go.com/shows/chasing-life
Follow Italia on Twitter: http://Twitter.com/ItaliaRicci