Red Carpet Interview: Emme Rylan – 2014 Daytime Emmy Awards

From the red carpet at the 2014 Daytime Emmy Awards – Interview with General Hospital star Emme Rylan.
TVSource Magazine’s West Coast Editor, William Dallman, attended the 41th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, CA. General Hospital star Emme Rylan (Lulu) spoke with TVSource Magazine on the Daytime Emmy red carpet about her approach to getting ready for the ceremony, playing firsts in her fictional life before she experiences it in her real life and tackling new storylines.

TVSource Magazine: Do you have difficulties choosing a dress for the Emmys?
Emme Rylan: It really depends on the year. Some years it is the biggest nightmare, and some years it literally just falls into my lap. This year I was in denial. I waited until a week ago and my husband [pointed out] that it was in a week. I went to Bloomingdales and every dress was in my size! It was as if the dress gods were shining down on me [laughs]. I bought four dresses for opinions and was going to take them back, but I might stock up. This was the first one I tried on.

TVSource Magazine: Are you able to relate to the storylines you’ve had to portray?
Emme Rylan: I feel like at this point, almost every single thing I have played on daytime I have not experienced in real life. I played pregnant on Guiding Light before I was pregnant. I used to have a teacher in New York that would say, “If you are emotionally [and] truthfully prepared, the audience will believe what comes out of your mouth.” It is about being real with whatever the emotion is, so I have broken it down to what a mother would feel in this situation, and finding that truth.

TVSource Magazine: Has becoming a mother helped you with some of the material you’ve been given since joining General Hospital?
Emme Rylan: In this case, with the baby battles, I find that it comes from this place in the depth of being a mother. I don’t even need to prepare. It is so hard to leave it at the set [sometimes]. There was a scene with Lulu and Olivia where they said she had to give the baby back to Spinelli and when they yelled cut we couldn’t stop crying. That doesn’t [normally] happen; usually you shake it off and let it go but being a mother changes things. We just had baby Gabriel’s funeral and a scene cut to me and Lisa [LoCicero] and we are weeping, even though we are not totally in that baby’s storyline. Sometimes, if I can’t let it go, I will take a physical class like kickboxing to get it out.

TVSource Magazine: Fans really love the dynamic between Maxie and Lulu. How do you feel about their relationship?
Emme Rylan: What helps is the way Ron [Carlivati] writes it. He writes it with all of those layers involved. Kirsten [Storms] and I are playing it with all the layers there. Lulu wouldn’t be as hurt if she didn’t love Maxie so much. She would have written it off and it would have been over and done. They love each other!

TVSource Magazine: What storyline would you like to play that haven’t yet?
Emme Rylan: Ok, my first one is a joke. I have never been in a good coma [laughs]. One where you are out for a month where everyone is mourning over you. You just come in and sleep! Really I like being a bad guy. A lot of my characters have been good hearted and made bad decisions that they can somehow justify. I would just like to be evil.