L.A. Press Day with/Annie Jones, Stefan Dennis and Georgie Stone

Host James Lott Jr chats with Stefan Dennis (Paul Robinson), Annie Jones (Jane Harris) and Georgie Stone (Mackenzie Hargreaves) from Austrailan Soap Neighbours. 

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Hi, Welcome to the Neighbors Aftershow here in America. I'm James Live
Junior. I'm JLJ Media, andI'm excited to have my first guest from
my show. It's a special occasion, of course in America, because the
Emmys are as I'm recording this tomorrowand Neighbors is nominated for a couple of
those here in America. But Ihave three legends from the show. So
he plays Paul Robinson. He's beenon, he was on the first episode.

(00:27):
Correct back to nineteen eighty five.Stephan Dennis is here, Hi,
Stephen, how are you hey?And then she of course back in the
day also, and I just Ijust love your smile. She has a
beautiful curly has a smile. Sheplays Jane Harris, Miss Annie Jones.
Nice night there, and this person, I just I have switched ADMA RATIONI
befot you. So I was readingup on you and you were you had

(00:49):
like a little spin off series,and you're on before and you're back and
you're playing mckensey Hardgraves. It's GeorgieStone. Hello, Mammy. Okay,
So first of all, welcome tomy show. Congratulations for the big Emmy
nomination for the show. I wantto find out for each of you,
when you heard that America is nowas being shown in America here on Amazon

(01:11):
free Me, and that you gotnominations, how did it feel? So
I'll started with you Georgie first,just I did how did they hit you
that in America? Now it's goingto be talking about you? Oh?
It was. I was absolutely overthe moon, completely gobsmacked. It was
not something that was on our radarat all. I don't think that this
was even a possibility. So tobe nominated and also to have the opportunity

(01:34):
to come and be here in LAand go to the awards, it's just
like beyond our wildest dreams. Ohyo, a good time, missy Annie.
What do you What are your thoughts? Oh? Yes, we were
just gobs back to us. Yes, quession to say, but excited to
think that we have viewers in America, let alone to be nominated for at

(01:57):
any award. We're thrilled. Wedon't even dare dream of winning. The
nomination is enough, yes, Andthe opportunity to be here and to meet
some of our new fans. Yes, well I'm one of them, Stephan
I said, because you a longtime on the show off and on this
field. I mean, for Americato be now a part of the Neighbors

(02:21):
family. Well, echoing what Anniesaid, you know, just the fact
that we've now finally been accepted intoAmerica and Canada and you know, on
a big level, is quite anachievement. Well it's not quite an achievement.
It's freaking amazing then to to foryou know, if if somebody had
said to me a few weeks ago, you know, Neighbors is up there
an award in America, I wouldhave expected, oh, yeah, you

(02:43):
know, we're in in Sally's BackdoorTV Show Awards And no, no,
we've been nominated for the highest televisionaward you can possibly get in America.
And that's what what. Yeah,we're still pitching. It's still happening.
That sounds good. As I'm startingto watch it, I'm getting please about

(03:06):
that. Oh yeah, because isn'tthat That's the whole point, right,
It's Stepan, you were there fromthe very beginning. Yeah, came back,
left, came back, and nowthe new alliteration of it. So
I'm sure. I mean this islike, I mean, you're like,
hello, is it easy to getback to the playing little character. Just
you go right back into playing hereeasily. Yeah, No, very easy,

(03:27):
because only because of the fact thatI've been doing it for so long.
You know, it's it's a funnyold thing because your alter ego actually
becomes part of your own life andyou do. So that would be like
saying, you know, or isit hard to get back into your character?
Would be like saying, oh,you know, is it hard recognizing
your children at night? And youknow, so it's pretty easy to get

(03:51):
into. But at the same time, it's it's it's sort of an odd
thing because all of us here we'reactors. So you know, if you
say to me, oh, you'replaying for Orphans, but tomorrow you're playing
Fred Bloggs from such and such ashow, That's exactly what I would do.
But it's always very easy to comeback to the character of Paul Robinson
because I did. I mean,I had twelve years out of the show
where I was playing a multitude ofdifferent characters in different shows, both stage,

(04:15):
screen and television, and you know, I was able to just come
back in and play the character andslightly different to when I left, because
when I left, the character wasn'tanywhere near as evil as what he was
when he came back. I mean, he was deliciously evil when he came
back. He loved, but welove to hate, love to hear.
He's sort of mellowed off a littlebit of late, though he's not not

(04:38):
quite as evil as what he hasbeen. He finally developed a moral compass.
When they get a little older,you mailed out a little bit.
You're not always when you were younger. That sounds like real life. And
Jane, so is Jane? SoI just did it? Annie? Is
Jane your twin, cousin, asister, a friend? What do you
consider her? You played her offand on for years two? Yes,

(05:01):
yes, that's interesting way to thinkof it. Yeah, maybe a bit
of a tween. I guess It'ssuch a gift to be in a long
running show like this because you,as an actor, you get to grow
your character, You get to youget to adapt and change, and your
perspective changes due to the different storylinesand different things that happened to your character.

(05:24):
So yeah, I love being Jane. I love it now. Georgie,
I have to tell you because you'rethe first trans person. Yes,
yes, yes, it is lgbtQ I a plus Pride month. I
ask you, you're an actor.When you're an actor actor, but you're
also representation. How is for thismonth? We're like to say to people

(05:46):
how important that is? How importantthat is? Oh, that's a great
question. It's so important. It'sfirstly, really great to be in LA
for Pride. I just did WestHollywood Pride on the weekend and it was
so much fun. It's a lotof fun, a lot of fun girls,
a lot of a lot of fun. But it's it feels it's such
an honor to be playing Mackenzie.And McKenzie was a character I pitched to

(06:10):
Neighbors when I was eighteen, soit she's very close to my heart.
And I know, you know growingup how how important it is to see
characters that you can connect to andwho you know. It means a lot.
So I know that Mackenzie has beenthat for other people. So I

(06:30):
feel just a lot of joy andit's a it's a great honor, and
I think Neighbors has done a reallygood job of developing her and flashing her
out. She's a three dimensional,flawed, beautiful human and so I feel
a lot of pride in that andI love it. I'm so happy.
Okay, wrapping it up. Maybewonder you can come my show another time,
longer on a tap, got myshow anytime, any three of you.

(06:53):
But I was saying, give usa give us a sentence why Americans
should tune in to neighbors. Well, start with you, Georgie, then
you Andie it's called your character's nameagain, and you Stepan. So just
like one sentence just sounds like whyis she tuned into makers? This will
be a hyperbole, but it's themost fun you could have on a weeknight.

(07:15):
There we go. I like that. I like that. Fine,
it's fun on a weeknight. It'sa slice of Australian suburbia reimagined that once
you start watching your crave it,you will want to watch more and more
and more if she's right, folksand Stephan first, and I'm going to

(07:36):
say what I always say, andthat is it's a rollercoaster journey for the
audience every single episode because we don'ttake you on a monotonal trip. We
allow your emotions to be tantalized andtitillated throughout thirty minutes of television viewing.
I like that. Stephane Dennis,Annie Jones and Georgie Stone. Thank you

(07:56):
so much for being on my showyday. Congratulations on everything you're doing and the
show is amazing. Thank you somuch, Thank you so much.