
PHOTO CREDIT: JSQUARED PHOTOGRAPHY
Rachel G. Fox, who you know from the movie Dream House and as a guest star on ABC Family‘s “Melissa & Joey” took the time to answer some questions for us! Rachel has a new movie, Jewtopia, hitting the Newport Beach Film Festival today and the second season of “Melissa & Joey” airing in May. Check out what Rachel had to say about her projects, working with huge celebrities, and what she does in her free time!
MissExclusive: Jewtopia is your latest film and it was selected to be in the Newport Beach Film Festival! First, Congrats!! Second, tell us more about the movie!
Rachel G. Fox: Jewtopia is a film about two men, one Christian, one Jewish, who were best friends when they were younger and lost touch as they got older. The film explores the differences in their families, traditions, and cultures, and also those of other religions as well. The two men, one Jewish, Adam Lipschitz (Joel David Moore) and one Christian, Christian O’Connell (Ivan Sergei) reunite when O’Connell falls in love with a Jewish girl, Alison Marks (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and needs help trying to woo her and her family. There is lots of religious and cultural humor by comedic greats, Jon Lovitz, Rita Wilson, parents of Adam Lipschitz and Tom Arnold and Camryn Manheim, parents of Adams fiancé (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) and others in the film.
I play Adam’s younger sister, Jill Lipschitz. Jill is a quirky little character who tries to show her rebellious nature by dressing goth and by having a constantly bad attitude. The funny thing is she really likes her family and will probably end up raising her family just the way she was raised.
MissExclusive: The movie is based off the off-Broadway comedy. Is there a funny part in the movie you’d like to share?
Rachel G. Fox: One very funny part in the film occurs when Chris goes with Adam (when they were young) to dinner with Adam’s parents to a Chinese restaurant. The Chinese waitress calls Adam “little man,” and Rita Wilson hilariously exclaims, “You are not and will never be her LITTLE MAN!”
MissExclusive: Why should people check this movie out?
Rachel G. Fox: People should check out Jewtopia because you will laugh out loud, love the vivid, overly colorful characters, and understand better the differences between families with different customs, traditions, and religious beliefs.
MissExclusive: “Melissa & Joey” returns May 30th to ABC Family. Last season, we saw many sides to your character. What is she like this season?
Rachel G. Fox: On Melissa & Joey, I play Holly Reback, the girlfriend of Ryder Scanlon (Nick Robinson). In the first season, Holly is really dominant and controlling. Ryder is submissive and not too secure in himself. It’s cute and it works because Ryder is sweet and just really likes Holly. In Season 2, premiering in May, Holly goes through changes and Ryder does as well. You will have to tune in to see.
MissExclusive: You play a lot of characters with different attitudes, but it seems like they overlap in filming. How do you keep your characters straight?
Rachel G. Fox: Keeping a character straight comes from the preparation starting the night before reading over the script and my character’s part several times. Then it is further solidified during shooting days as I go into scene rehearsals, wardrobe, and hair and makeup for the character.
Then my very favorite part of working happens next, and that is creating memorable characters.
MissExclusive: You’ve worked on movies, dramas, & sitcoms filmed in front of an audience. Is there one you prefer?
Rachel G. Fox: I love all of it, every single solitary bit of it, that is creating a character, a human being, based on the writer’s imagination, coupled with the ideas of directors and producers.
My natural-given skills favor dramatic work, like the work I did in Dream House playing Chloe Patterson or playing young Jennifer Garner in the finale of Alias. I absolutely adore doing live-audience sitcom work, because it is an adrenaline rush and the audience just super-charges you.
I see myself gravitating towards dramatic movies and hope to have a career like Meryl Streep, who is one of my role models.
So to answer the question, I love it all!
MissExclusive: Jewtopia stars vets like Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Tom Arnold, & Jennifer Love Hewitt and “Melissa & Joey” stars Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence. What did you take away from all of these stars as a newcomer?
Rachel G. Fox: It is always amazing to work with actors who are so accomplished such as the people you’ve named. I’m not a brand new newcomer, having started working in Los Angeles in 2005 on That’s So Raven playing Buffy, Muffy’s little sister. But it does not matter if I’ve acted for 10 years or 10 minutes, I am constantly in awe of and learn so much from the amazing actors I have the amazing opportunity to work with.
I learn something completely different from each person, from preparation to demeanor to comic timing to focus to director-interaction to style and more, and then I incorporate the great things and learn from the not-as-great things.
I never take for granted all that each actor, director, producer, and other industry professionals have accomplished — who they are and what they’ve done and how they’ve done it and have the very highest respect for each and every one.
MissExclusive: Summer is right around the corner. When you aren’t working, what are you doing?
Rachel G. Fox: When I’m not working, I am trading stocks, studying for my Series 6 Financial License, which is issued by the SEC that will allow me to sell annuities, mutual funds, and other products, and help with my family’s insurance business. I also play guitar and sing and play in a band called Magnitude. This summer, I plan to travel, go to the beach, hang out with friends, and turn 16…. Sweet 16
and create memorable characters on film.
I’d love it if you follow me on Twitter right HERE.
Thank you for your wonderful questions!
Rachel