Anita Dupree’s secret on Past the Gates, which has been hinted at because the present’s February premiere, has lastly been revealed, and nobody is happier than her portrayer, Tamara Tunie. “Oh, I used to be thrilled,” Tunie says. “I used to be excited. We’ve been speaking about this from the start.”
The actress, who spent almost 15 years taking part in authorized eagle Jessica Griffin on As The World Turns, is not any stranger to cleaning soap twists however Tunie admits she was shocked to be taught the key, {that a} girl named Barbara based The Articulettes — the singing group that made Anita well-known earlier than she launched into a solo profession — however was later kicked out and died by suicide.
“I didn’t know,” Tunie shares. “It was a shock to me. I used to be on the similar time actually excited and located it extremely daunting, the trail we have been going to go down. I believe it’s one thing by no means seen in daytime tv.”
For Anita, coming to phrases with the choices she made in her previous hasn’t been a straightforward process. “She type of put that secret away in a spot in her soul and spirit that she simply wouldn’t go to,” Tunie explains. “She was not at her finest at the moment, and he or she was egocentric, and he or she was bold, and he or she wished her desires to come back true at no matter value. If there was collateral injury, so be it. And she or he actually regrets that.
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“After all, with age comes knowledge,” she continues, “and looking out again, she would have executed issues in another way, understanding how she just about deserted [fellow Articulettes] Tracy [Tyler, Maria Howell] and Sharon [Winger, Bonita Brisker]. She’s attempting to reconnect and reunite and heal their friendship to be able to not be haunted, if you’ll, by what she did, and what her selections led to, so far as Barbara was involved.”
Tunie says she had a robust response to seeing how Anita’s reveal would unfold. “That was actually emotional,” she remembers. “Once I learn the script, I cried, after which I didn’t take a look at it till the evening earlier than we have been capturing it, in order that any emotion that may bubble up can be saved for the filming. The writers are simply writing actually unimaginable tales. It’s not simply typical cleaning soap opera, who’s sleeping with who. They’re actually moving into some complexities that I believe are unbelievable.”
Her directorial expertise got here in useful for a key scene on the June 3 episode, the place Anita learn the suicide word Barbara left behind. “I really like the concept of studying that letter,” shares Tunie. “And at one level within the script, I believe it mentioned that my voice joined her, and [Anita] began reciting the letter from reminiscence as a result of [she] memorized this letter. I advised to Steve Williford, our director, ‘What if it’s like that second in Hamilton when Hamilton is writing the resignation letter to George Washington, after which he begins saying it too, after which Hamilton’s voice fades away, after which it’s all George. What if we do one thing like that?’ And he was like, ‘Oh, my God! I simply bought chills. Let’s do it!’ So, we did it.” I understood that it labored very well, so I’m actually completely happy about that.”
Now that the reality is out, count on so see a barely totally different Anita. “It’s undoubtedly unburdening herself, and I believe that she feels a weight lifted,” explains Tunie. “She’s been carrying it on their lonesome, and now she shared it with somebody, her husband, to hold it along with her, so she feels a bit of lighter. After which, if this opens up the chance for Sharon and Tracy, and for them to be reunited, then that’s a really thrilling prospect, however on the similar time, she is aware of it’s not going to be straightforward.”
Tunie says she has been deeply moved and inspired by the constructive response to the brand new CBS cleaning soap since its debut over three months in the past. “It’s meant a lot to me,” she says. “Coming full circle and again to daytime with this present, and it being obtained the way in which that it’s being obtained is icing on my profession cake. It truly is an outpouring of affection. You possibly can simply really feel it. I do know there are some naysayers that could be on the market. No matter. I pay no consideration to them, as a result of I do know what we’ve got and what we’re doing is one thing unimaginable and particular, and entertaining. And it truly is inviting folks in. It’s simply the absolute best job that I might have proper now, at this level in my life in addition to in my profession.”
Past the Gates, Weekdays, CBS. Test Native Listings