#interview: 2017

5 THINGS TO EXPECT IN STILL STAR-CROSSED  

If you’re struggling to fill the void that Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder left behind with their respective season finales, have no fear—there’s a new Shondaland drama on the horizon, and it’s about to dish out a fresh heaping of the juicy storylines you’ve come to crave. The Shonda Rhimes-helmed production company’s latest series Still Star-Crossed premieres Monday, May 29 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC, and you better believe that it packs plenty of twists and turns.

The period drama picks up after the end of Romeo and Juliet, offering a glimpse at what might have gone down after the titular characters’ tragic deaths. It revives the long-standing feud between the Capulet and Montague families, and delves deeper into the lives of characters that we came to know and love (or hate) in Shakespeare’s original play. One of the characters that we’ll get to know particularly well is Count Paris, played by former Reign star Torrance Coombs, who didn’t survive the end of the play. In ABC’s take, however, Paris is alive and well—and that’s just one of the many suprises to expect.

“Romeo and Juliet has been a play for a long time, so obviously I can spoil that—but I don’t want to spoil too many of the liberties that have been taken with the sequel,” Coombs recently told InStyle. “But I will say that there’s still a lot of hurt from what went down with Romeo and Juliet, and there are a lot of angry people. Amid all that, though, there’s still some hope. There’s a love story in there, and it’s still an optimistic show despite all of the violent and terrible things happening. And there’s something sexy and romantic and beautiful about it all.”

Scroll down for five things that Coombs told us to expect in the show.

1. Signature Shondaland Drama

“It’s got the hallmark stuff of Shondaland’s other shows—there’s definitely some of the sharp twists and turns that they’re known for,” said Coombs. “I imagine there will be some moments that are very shocking to people. But it also has something a little different to it. I think there’s a reason they didn’t throw it on Thursday night with the other shows, although the sense of humor and the celebration of the soapiness of it is definitely there. Everything on the show is a confrontation, because there are no cell phones or technology. Every encounter is deliberate, and the only way to talk to somebody is face-to-face or by letter—so it’s difficult to tell people that someone is in trouble and needs saving. Information doesn’t travel easily, so dramatically speaking, that raises the stakes a lot.”

2. Gorgeous Settings

“The show shoots in small-town Spain, and the production team opted to shoot entirely on location,” said Coombs. “So there’s no studio or soundstage—it was 100 percent real locations throughout Spain. Occasionally a fountain will be made of Styrofoam or something, but everything is really authentic—the walls and stairs in the buildings are all worn and heavy, and there were amazing cathedrals. Everything was picked for how picturesque it was. We shot in six or seven different cities, and one of the most impressive places was a town called Salamanca where we shot a lot of outdoor scenes for the pilot episode. There’s a big church up on a hill, and it’s probably one of the most magnificent churches you’ve ever seen. But then you see another church in the distance, and it’s even bigger and more impressive than that one.”

3. New Twists on the Classic

“In the story of Romeo and Juliet, Paris is a noble from a nearby city who’s initially engaged to be married to Juliet. He’s in line for the throne in Manchua, and if he had married Juliet, the Capulets would have basically been elevated to royal status. So he really thinks that’s going well, but then it turns out that Romeo has married her under his nose. So he has a swordfight with Romeo, which leaves him dead in the play. But for the purposes of our show, we say he’s very close to death but manages to survive his wounds. He hasn’t given up on his aspirations for power and elevating the Capulet family with a political alliance—it’s still pretty important to him, and he’s going to continue to pursue that. But now that Juliet is dead, Paris has to go to plan B. He’s kind of gone into hiding, and he’s biding his time. He slowly worms his way into the main storyline, and that’s when the real fun began for me.”

4. Tons of Swordfights

“There are some huge swordfights in this show,” said Coombs. “When tensions overflow, they get really impressive. We’d go into a room to practice, and there would be like 100 guys practicing. There’s one big central swordfight between Paris and Romeo, and was exciting to shoot. It was interesting because I’ve been spending a lot of time doing more broadsword, big-swinging sword fights, and this was a lot more finessed, kind of like rapier sword fighting. So that was an adjustment for me.”

5. Elaborate Costumes     

Demi Lovato has been bit by the acting bug! ET’s Sophie Schillaci caught up with the 24-year-old singer at the Sony Pictures Animation Slate presentation featuring her new movie, Smurfs: The Lost Village, where she opened up about getting back into acting – and the one thing that’s holding her back.

“I did get bit by the acting bug a little bit [working on this movie], but I think I started thinking about it the other day, about wanting to go back into acting. I think I have too many tattoos now,” shared Lovato, who has at least 20 known tattoos. “You’d have to cover all my tattoos up and it would take forever.”

The former Disney darling has a while to think about making her big return to the screen. For now, she’s got a lot on her plate, including new music.

“I’m in the studio right now,” Lovato revealed. “It’s going really great. I’m just trying to figure out what sound I want to have for the next album.”

But the “Stone Cold” singer might not want to change up her sound too much, as her last album, Confident, is nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2017 GRAMMYs next month.

“I’m definitely getting excited,” Lovato confessed of her first GRAMMYs as a nominated artist. “I haven’t picked out dresses yet, but I’m getting excited.”

“It’s a new experience for me,” she continued. “I’ve never been nominated, so I’m just grateful and that’s all I’m excited about, just being there and being in the company of such talented, incredible singers.”

While Lovato spends the next few weeks picking out her GRAMMY look, the singer says not having to worry about her outfit was one of the perks of playing Smurfette in Smurfs: The Lost Village.

“I was able to act and not be in front of a camera, which was really nice. I didn’t have to go through hair and makeup, and I didn’t have to worry about my camera angles and what not,” she said. “So, it was nice to be as animated as I wanted to be, play with my voice and to just have fun with it.”

“It’s very exciting for me to play such an iconic character, and to be a part of such a classic and timeless franchise,” she added.

Smurfs: The Lost Village is in theaters April 7.