It's a Family Thing: Meet Evan Rachel Wood and Shane West

On Friday nights, in the "reel" world, Evan Rachel Wood and Shane West are brother and sister on TV's Once and Again. Off screen, these great friends are more like nonrelated siblings-- finishing each other's sentences and joking around. Teen's All About You! sat down with them to talk about on-set pranks, upcoming movies and what a day in the life of a TV star is really like.

What's a typical day for you?
Evan: I wake up early in the morning.
Shane: [On set at] 6 a.m. and then wait around forever.
Evan: You just wait around. I have school. Then hair, makeup and rehearsals before we do a scene. Usually we have to deal with some practical joke that Billy [Campbell, he's their TV dad, Rick] will play on us--or we play on him.

What's the best prank you've pulled?
Evan: Just recently, Billy was tormenting all of us. In one scene, he was supposed to walk in, pick up his briefcase and leave. So we loaded the briefcase with three huge sandbags. He gets his cue and grabs the briefcase--BOOM! It hits the floor.

Good one. Evan, how much time do you have to spend in school each day?
Evan: Three hours. Sometimes in between shots, they'll send me to school. Basically, I'm on the set or in school while you're having fun with Ms. Pac Man [looking at Shane]

Three hours in school and work, that makes for some pretty long hours.
Shane: It changes all the time. You could be there for two hours or all day.
Evan: It depends on which room of the house we're filming. It's especially long when we're filming in the kitchen. There are so many people that we have to take out the walls to move the camera around to film everyone.
Shane: Eating scenes are pretty hard, too!

Are those choreographed like a dance?
Evan: Yeah, we'll be setting the table, putting down silverware and getting the food ready. Then we have to go back and do it exactly the same way we did it before. You have to remember how to match things while also remembering your lines.

What do you like about your characters?
Shane: Eli's laid back, but there's a lot of stuff going on in his head. Mainly, I like how internal he is, and if he blows up it's kind of a shock.
Evan: I think Jessie is similar to Eli. They pick up on a lot of things and really see what's happening. They do like to keep a lot of things inside.

Do you share any of those characteristics?
Shane: In my life, no, I pretty much say everything I feel. I wear my emotions on my sleeve.
Evan: I think I'm similar to Jessie in that way because I feel that I pick up on things and can sense some things. I also keep my emotions inside and, like Jessie, when it does come out it's quite a shock.

Do you feel you're going through some of the same issues that your characters are dealing with?
Evan: Yeah, in a way. I'm in home school, so I don't have to deal with teachers. But I do have to deal, or at least I did, with the pressure of living up to other people's expectations. I'm over that, but I did get picked on a lot and got my feelings hurt. Now, I try to look at all the good things.
Shane: I'm out of school, but it's not hard to remember what it was like to be that age. I remember my high school years very well.

What's the best thing about acting?
Evan: After I did the anorexia story line, I started getting fan mail and letters from young girls who were anorexic. To me, the most rewarding part is when someone says, "Thank you, you really touched me. You changed my life." That's probably the best part about acting.
Shane: I love being able to let out my imagination and play a bunch of different characters. It's a way I can fulfill fantasies.

Shane, you're in a ban, Average Jo. Is that the direction your career is headed?
Shane: I think it's an additional step. We recorded a song for the A Walk to Remember soundtrack.
Evan: You did? I didn't know that. Cool!
Shane: Yeah, I wanted you to hear that [smiling at Evan]. I think that's our first step and then we'll try to get a record deal.

Speaking of A Walk to Remember, what was it like working with Mandy Moore?
Shane: I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was worried in the beginning, cuz [sic] I knew she was a singer. I didn't know if she had done any acting. But after we tested, I knew I wanted her to do the part. I could see that there was something there. She did a really good job. She got very deep into her character. Sometimes when she had to be mad at me, she would treat me like crap before the scene. I was like, "All right, if that's the way you want to do it." As soon as the scene was over, she was back. She's a really sweet person.

And Evan, you got to work with Al Pacino in Simone. How was that--he's such an acting legend?
Evan: It was everything you could image it would be and more. He's just so focused at what he does. It was also one of the most nerve-wracking things I've ever done. Everybody asked "Wasn't it amazing?" Yeah, but what if you went in a room and Al Pacino is sitting in there. Imagine the director saying, "I want you to do a scene with Al Pacino, the greatest actor in the world. GO!" [Shane starts laughing] You wouldn't be able to speak and that's basically what happened on the first day. They said "Rolling," and I just had to breathe.

Can you remember the first time you were recognized on the street?
Evan: I had just done A Christmas Carol and wen went out to eat after the show. Somebody at the restaurant said, "It's Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas past." That's when I went, "I like this, I want to get recognized more."
Shane: I did a guest star part on Boy Meets World. I had two or three lines, and then my whole job was to kiss the girl, Topanga. Because everyone seemed to watch that show, I got notice immediately.
Evan: I didn't know you kissed Topanga.
Shane: Oh yeah! [smirking] Yes I did.

Pop quiz, describe each other in three words
Evan: Um, smart, interesting and a cool person. Your turn now.
Shane: Adorable, sassy....
Evan: Sassy?
Shane: I'm joking, I was waiting for your reaction. She's very funny and very intelligent.

Awww. Thanks guys! __ Teen's All About You! (Winter, 2002)