Linden Ashby – A Daughter’s Revenge

By: Lisa Steinberg

Q) Please tell us the premise for the movie A Daughter’s Revenge.

A) It’s about a daughter who is vengeful. She is lousy with revenge. She’s oozing it. [laughs] I marry this girl’s mom and the mother is troubled. It doesn’t end well. The daughter is also troubled and I’m not aware of how troubled she is so off we go…

Q) Talk about your character David Spencer.

A) I play a pretty good dad and a pretty good husband. It was a really fun shoot. Working with Jessica and Sierra, we hung out and laughed. We had a great time together.

Q) Was there anything you found particularly challenging about the role?

A) Truthfully, no. He was a really fun and easy part to play. That’s challenging because you always want to be good. This one was kind of like, “I got this.” I wish I could tell you that I struggled and there was artistic angst, but there wasn’t.

Q) Was there anything you added to the character that wasn’t originally in the breakdown for him?

A) No, it was kind of all there on the page. [laughs]

Q) Were you familiar with either of your costars before working with them?

A) I had worked with Pierre David before, who is the producer. I’ve worked with him for almost thirty years now. The first movie I did with him was probably the second movie I’d ever done in my life. It was called The Perfect Bride and it was myself with Sammi Davis and Kelly Preston (who played my sister). I was terrible in this movie. Not just a little bit bad, but I was bad! There were reasons for it! You just don’t click with certain directors and I didn’t with this director. He would just kind of jump on me about stuff and then I would start getting more and more tense. By the end of the movie, I’m telling you, I could barely talk! It’s this interesting thing that I found where my daughter talked to me about a speaker she had seen. Temple Grandin, who is an animal behaviorist, came to give a lecture and Temple said something really interesting. She said, “You can’t have fear and curiosity at the same time. They cannot exist in the same moment.” I think that goes with creativity and everything an artist should be. I just shut down on this movie and I was fearful that I was going to screw it up. There was no freedom. It was very conforming, so I sucked in this movie. My agent came and saw a screener and said, I don’t know about this movie. You were really bad in it.” I thought, “Well, this movie will disappear and no one will ever see it. Don’t worry about it.” Then, they started this little channel called USA and they bought this movie. I swear to God they showed it five hundred times that first year. I was like, “Oh my God! Of all the things I’ve done, why this?!” It went on to launch this series of movies like The Perfect Bride, The Perfect Nanny, The Perfect Sister-in-Law, etc. It was hilarious! Then, I was going to do many years later this part that Pierre’s partner was producing. His partner was like, “I’m going to hire this guy,” and Pierre was like, “No! Don’t hire him! He’s terrible.” [laughs] His partner said, “I’ve seen his work and he seems pretty good,” but Pierre was like, “No, I’m telling you he’s bad. Don’t hire him.” Anyway, I got the part (thank God his partner didn’t pay any attention to Pierre) and I was actually pretty good in the film. I saw Pierre at a party and I told him, “I’ve got to tell you, I was really bad in that movie that we did together.” He was like, “I know! I told Larry not to hire you!” We laughed about it and I kind of explained what had happened on set. It was this really valuable lesson for me to learn going through that process on that film. You can’t allow someone to put you off your game like that. You, as an actor, have to take care of yourself. You can control what you can control in life and you can only be what you are. You can’t be something else. You can be a character, but you have to know you are enough and what you are bringing is enough. You have to be comfortable in your own skin. As long as you are comfortable, truthful and honest it’s all going to be alright. Don’t be afraid. There is no place for fear in art and creativity. You can’t have fear and creativity at the same time. Needless to say, I’ve probably worked with Pierre thirty times since then. We’ve become incredibly good friends. In a town that is not known for honesty or loyalty, he has both. He’s been there in good times and bad times and I will stand by him every day of the week. He’s a really good man.

As far as Jessica [Sipos] and Sierra [Wooldridge] I’d never worked with them before. I had worked with some of the crew before since they work with Pierre. But it was a real treat to get to know Jessica and Sierra. Jessica is this beautiful bombshell who is such a tomboy. She is so smart! She’s crazy smart. Half the time she’s talking I’m like, “Really?!” Then, Sierra is like this really cool, beautiful gentler soul. They were both really cool.

Q) What were some of your most memorable moments from shooting this movie?

A) We went go-kart racing on our days off. Jessica was great! She’s fast on the track. We also did a shadowboxing thing without slapping and don’t do that with her because she will light you up! She is just great. We hung out, we laughed and just kind of had a great time making this movie.

Q) What makes A Daughter’s Revenge a perfect fit for the Lifetime network?

A) Having done a few of these movies, people love these kinds of films. It’s a certain formula that they follow and it’s familiar, entertaining, fun and compelling. Look, I have guy friends who love Lifetime movies. It’s like the guilty pleasure they don’t tell you, but they are hooked. You get the gist of the story pretty quickly. And it’s almost like comfort food. People adore these films and this film is fun. It’s a psychological thriller. You go for this ride and you’re not disappointed.

Q) We loved getting to see you on “Teen Wolf.” What did you take way from your time on the series?

A) It was one of the best experiences of my life. I’ve been a professional actor for about…thirty-five years. It was truly open of the best experiences of my life. I had to spend seven years with this group of people. It truly does become like a family. There will be good days and bad days, but they are still your family. I got to watch these kids grow up into young men and women. And I couldn’t be prouder of them if I tried. So, what I take away from that is that I got to have this amazing ride with these amazing friends and family. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Also, I don’t think anybody was ready for how “Teen Wolf” would go out into the world. It really profoundly touched people in a different way. It’s a show about inclusiveness. You don’t have to be a certain way to be accepted and we were pretty inclusive. I loved that we had a gay storyline. I was just like, “These kids are teenagers and they happen to be gay. Guess what? They have the same issues that a straight kid has. I loved it. I loved that we normalized family. And that’s the way it should be in my opinion.