Jessica Morris Talks ‘Ladies of the Lake’ and Female Empowerment [Exclusive Interview]

Many probably know Jessica Morris for her role as Jennifer Rappaport on the iconic daytime drama, One Life to Live.

But Morris has been mighty busy starring in a number of upcoming shows and films since then, including the new Amazon mini-series, Ladies of the Lake, based on the novel by Days of our Lives producer, Ken Corday.

I recently had a conversation with Morris about the new series, her love for soap operas, and playing characters that promote positive female relationships.

Growing up as a soap fan herself, Morris always knew she wanted to star in the genre.

“When I was in high school, I remember I used to tell my friends ‘I’m going to be on a soap opera one day’ because at that point I used to watch General Hospital. I used to love Sonny and Brenda and that whole story. I thought it was so sexy. And in a little town in Jacksonville, Florida where I’m this little shy girl and haven’t done any professional acting, they all kind of looked at me and gave a shrug and said ‘Sure, Jessica.”

“And cut to a few years later, and I was on a soap opera. I was proud of myself to be able to follow through on those words and not have them be pie in the sky.”

Morris’ new show, Ladies of the Lake, also has elements that every soap fan loves.

The show, which features a prominent female cast, centers around a group of wealthy and powerful women and the intrigues of murder and secrets.

“Everybody needs to check out Ladies of the Lake,” Morris enthused.

“It’s just a fun, sexy, scandalous show. And it has a bunch of soap actors and ex-soap actors. Everyone’s work is so on point. Everyone was just really funny and dynamic. The wardrobe is gorgeous. It’s aesthetically pleasing. It’s a really fun one for everyone to check out.”

On the show, Morris plays Crystal Amhurst.

“Crystal is very sweet, very loyal to her friends, a little bit timid — and her husband is very verbally abusive and comes down on her for some of her issues. He makes her feel really small about them, and anger just kind of boils up in her from all the years of abuse. And she doesn’t want to take it anymore,” Morris explained.

“She turns from sweet and mild to deadly.”

Morris also commended the show’s depiction of female support and friendship, which has not always been shown on soap operas given that female rivalry is a frequently used trope.

“I love that even though all of our characters are dealing with some struggles with our relationships, it’s really about woman empowerment, which I’m just a big advocate of. And even though it’s a little over the top and it’s things you wouldn’t normally do in real life, I love that all these women join together.”

“It’s not in a typical soap, [where] women are cat-fighting and competing for everything. [Here] it’s more about them joining together and using all of their energy to help them out of the situations that they’re in.”

I couldn’t help but notice the similarities in theme to the recent HBO series, Big Little Lies, which Morris agreed to.

“Yes, exactly. I love that show, and as soon as I saw Big Little Lies, I thought this. Ladies of the Lake is a slightly campier version of that.”

Since the mini-series is based on a novel, I asked if she drew on the source material for her performance.

“I have to say, and I’m actually embarrassed to say this, but I never read the novel because I got the script and we started shooting pretty quickly. But, I need to check out the novel!” she laughed.

“I’m sure it’s amazing. The script is amazing, and I love the story. That’s what hooked me in. As far as preparation goes, other than memorizing lines and doing my emotional prep-work, I kind of found ways that I could relate to the character.”

When asked what drew her to the project, Morris attributed it to the script and the talented cast she got to work with.

“Michael Caruso [co-producer] is such a sweet guy. I’ve seen some of his work before, and he’s such a professional who takes care of everyone so nicely,” Morris noted.

“Some of the girls — I knew of them and their work, and was excited to be part of that whole group,” she said, referring to the likes of Martha Madison, Marie Wilson, and Lilly Melgar.

And then also, with the script being so exciting to me, it was a no-brainer,” she continued.

About doing more soaps in the future, Morris said she would do it in a heartbeat if the right character came along.

Morris has a couple of movies coming out soon as well.

The Hollywouldnt’s, now available for preorder on iTunes, will be available for download on May 16th, which also happens to be Morris’ birthday.

“It’s such a sweet movie. There are so many shows and movies about murder and crime and dark topics – which are really fun as well – but what’s refreshing about this one is that it has a lot of heart. It’s about a group of people that are joined together to pursue their dreams. People are trying to push them down, and they’re just trying to help each other overcome all that, and push forward, and be positive, and inspire to make things happen.”

Morris has another movie coming out called Living Among Us, where she plays a slightly different character than in The Hollywouldnt’s.

“I play a vampire. That was very interesting. It’s fun to play darker roles, too. If I play a lot of dark roles then I like to throw in a Hollywouldn’t type of movie. And if I play squeaky-clean roles, all of a sudden I’m like ‘Ok, now I want to play a demon or something.”

Lastly, I asked what shows Morris herself was into these days, and she mentioned two that have heavy tones of female empowerment: Big Little Lies and Feud.

“I love Jessica Lange, she is one of my favorites. I want to be Joan Crawford when I watch Feud. It’s a great show.”

Ladies of the Lake will be available on Amazon on May 15, The Hollywouldn’ts will be available on iTunes on May 16, and Living Among Us will be out in theaters this summer.

*Featured image credit: Tim Schaeffer of Cellar Door Studios

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