Although this is your first time working together, had you been fans of each other previously?
CONNIE BRITTON: This is awkward. You don’t have to answer because you probably don’t really even know.
JEAN SMART: No, no, but it’s one of those things where you constantly see people, you think, “Why do I know them? Have I worked with them?” I mean, I’ve seen her in a million things. I remember watching her, obviously, on 24 because I was on 24, because it’s all about me.
As it should be.
SMART: And I thought that she was so fabulous and so gorgeous and so perfect to play [Kiefer Sutherland’s] love interest, even though he broke her heart.
BRITTON: He just broke my heart. He just left me in the dust. In the 24 dust. But here’s how it can go full circle. Designing Women [in which Smart starred] – I remember exactly where I was ...
SMART: She was in grade school.
BRITTON: I was home from college, and acting had always been my dream, but I thought,
“Now I’m going to do something serious and grown-up.” Like, real people don’t become actors.
For their full exclusive interview, grab the new issue of WHO.