Question: If you could describe your character in three words, which would they be?
Answer: Honorable, honest and devilishly attractive. I know that last one has two words, but I’m going to throw that in there anyway!
Q: Why do you think people keep tuning in to watch Make It or Break It?
A: Because it’s good. It’s a good show. It does have a soapy feel, but it skates on such a good drama side of the soapy feel. I don’t know many dramas that are able to pack quite the empathy and the amount of dramatic punch into a one hour show as Make It or Break It does. It’s enthralling and all of the characters are so engaging. It’s kind of got all the ingredients to make the perfect drama cake.
Q: If you had to choose, which Rock girl would be your favorite?
A: I’d probably go for Emily just because her story is so inspiring. She’s a girl who came from nothing who desperately fought because she had a passion for gymnastics. She wasn’t forced into it. She didn’t have the financial backing. She didn’t have the experience. She just had the passion to go for it, and it’s her passion that has taken us to an elite level. I think that’s a story that resonates with a lot of people and really connects with people.
Q: How does Sasha deal with all the drama at The Rock?
A: I think he deals with the drama by burying his head in the sand. I think he’s a bit of an ostrich to it, consciously. He just stays out of it. Thankfully, he’s got that office where he can just sit on top of his pedestal and just overlook and as long as the drama isn’t getting in the way of the girls’ development as athletes and as individuals, he just stays out of the way.
Also, I think as a character he’s also thankfully ignorant to a lot of it. It goes on in whispers and it goes on behind closed doors. He doesn’t want to know. Me as a 34 year old man, I don’t particularly want to know 16 year old gossip that would be going on and I think he’s the same. He’d happily stay out of it.
Q: What would you say is the most important thing that Sasha has taught the girls?
A: One thing I do love about Sasha, and I kind of mentioned it when we first spoke, was that he not only tries to find the best way to help them become better athletes. He’s not just interested in creating good athletes. He’s not just interested in creating perfect gymnast robots that, once the competitive sport is over, they’re going to be broken pieces of meat. He wants to develop fully rounded people and human beings.
I think he instills in them good morals. He instills in them a good understanding of self. But what he also instills in them is an identity and he, through the sport and through his interpretation of the way to coach the sport, gives them a better sense of identity and a better sense of self that goes beyond just the gymnastics training. I think that’s more than they would have done with any other coach, Sasha makes them better human beings.
Q: What motivates the character of Sasha to get out of bed each day?
A: He lives in a trailer, so there’s not much to keep him in there each day, I think. I don’t know the full answer to that question, to be perfectly honest, because we haven’t fully gone into the background of who Sasha is. Holly Sorensen and I and some of the writers have sat down and discussed loosely what we think it is. Of course, last season we discussed that a girl he was coaching actually died on his watch, forcing him to leave the sport.
My interpretation of him is he’s an incredibly driven person, driven to succeed. He enjoys the competitive element, which is why he became a multi-gold medalist and why he strived in the sport as an athlete. So his goal for getting out of bed every day is one, to kind of stick the finger to the gymnastics establishment by succeeding in the way that he wants to succeed. That’s the message he’s trying to get across to the girls is you that don’t have to do things by the book and you don’t have to follow protocol perfectly. There are many ways to skin a cat, and he’s trying to find as many alternate ways to get to the same result, if not better, if possible.
Answer: Honorable, honest and devilishly attractive. I know that last one has two words, but I’m going to throw that in there anyway!
Q: Why do you think people keep tuning in to watch Make It or Break It?
A: Because it’s good. It’s a good show. It does have a soapy feel, but it skates on such a good drama side of the soapy feel. I don’t know many dramas that are able to pack quite the empathy and the amount of dramatic punch into a one hour show as Make It or Break It does. It’s enthralling and all of the characters are so engaging. It’s kind of got all the ingredients to make the perfect drama cake.
Q: If you had to choose, which Rock girl would be your favorite?
A: I’d probably go for Emily just because her story is so inspiring. She’s a girl who came from nothing who desperately fought because she had a passion for gymnastics. She wasn’t forced into it. She didn’t have the financial backing. She didn’t have the experience. She just had the passion to go for it, and it’s her passion that has taken us to an elite level. I think that’s a story that resonates with a lot of people and really connects with people.
Q: How does Sasha deal with all the drama at The Rock?
A: I think he deals with the drama by burying his head in the sand. I think he’s a bit of an ostrich to it, consciously. He just stays out of it. Thankfully, he’s got that office where he can just sit on top of his pedestal and just overlook and as long as the drama isn’t getting in the way of the girls’ development as athletes and as individuals, he just stays out of the way.
Also, I think as a character he’s also thankfully ignorant to a lot of it. It goes on in whispers and it goes on behind closed doors. He doesn’t want to know. Me as a 34 year old man, I don’t particularly want to know 16 year old gossip that would be going on and I think he’s the same. He’d happily stay out of it.
Q: What would you say is the most important thing that Sasha has taught the girls?
A: One thing I do love about Sasha, and I kind of mentioned it when we first spoke, was that he not only tries to find the best way to help them become better athletes. He’s not just interested in creating good athletes. He’s not just interested in creating perfect gymnast robots that, once the competitive sport is over, they’re going to be broken pieces of meat. He wants to develop fully rounded people and human beings.
I think he instills in them good morals. He instills in them a good understanding of self. But what he also instills in them is an identity and he, through the sport and through his interpretation of the way to coach the sport, gives them a better sense of identity and a better sense of self that goes beyond just the gymnastics training. I think that’s more than they would have done with any other coach, Sasha makes them better human beings.
Q: What motivates the character of Sasha to get out of bed each day?
A: He lives in a trailer, so there’s not much to keep him in there each day, I think. I don’t know the full answer to that question, to be perfectly honest, because we haven’t fully gone into the background of who Sasha is. Holly Sorensen and I and some of the writers have sat down and discussed loosely what we think it is. Of course, last season we discussed that a girl he was coaching actually died on his watch, forcing him to leave the sport.
My interpretation of him is he’s an incredibly driven person, driven to succeed. He enjoys the competitive element, which is why he became a multi-gold medalist and why he strived in the sport as an athlete. So his goal for getting out of bed every day is one, to kind of stick the finger to the gymnastics establishment by succeeding in the way that he wants to succeed. That’s the message he’s trying to get across to the girls is you that don’t have to do things by the book and you don’t have to follow protocol perfectly. There are many ways to skin a cat, and he’s trying to find as many alternate ways to get to the same result, if not better, if possible.