While both Hilary and Amanda were known to kick proverbial butt on The Young and the Restless, their portrayer, Mishael Morgan, admits with a laugh that she was “completely outside of my comfort zone” when called upon to literally do so in her new BET+ movie Sworn Justice: Taken Before Christmas.
In fact, the very first day on set of the action pic — debuting on BET+ on Thursday, November 16 — the actress wound up injuring herself. “I had to run from one point to another,” she recalls. “It was really cold, and I took off from standing to sprinting and didn’t stretch sufficiently first, so I pulled a muscle five hours into shooting.”
After that auspicious start, “I was kind of like, ‘Well, this is the beginning of the end!’” she laughs. “But it was all uphill from there.” In fact, the big action sequences were filmed toward the end of the shoot, giving her more time to prep. “They were probably like, ‘Let’s get all the acting stuff shot first, because clearly this girl can’t even run!’”
Despite that rough start — and a little bit of trepidation about taking on an action flick — Morgan says she is “so happy I took on the challenge, because it’s so fulfilling to watch it all come together, and to work with the stunt people. They’re the real athletes!” (You can see both Morgan and her co-stars in the trailer below.)
Believe it or not, the biggest challenge to playing Sophie — an undercover cop whose new beau is kidnapped on Christmas Eve — wasn’t the action sequences, but rather “getting used to not doing a lot.”
Her soap characters, Morgan explained, “are always moving. They’re talking and moving their hands and their body, but for Sophie, her action only came when she was fighting. Otherwise, she needed to be really grounded in her body and emotions. She was very composed and shelled. Being in front of the camera, you just want to act and do stuff. But sometimes, less is more.”
That’s not to say that the fight scenes weren’t challenging as well. “It’s like acting, but with your body. You have to hit specific marks at a specific time. It’s like dancing and choreography, and if you’re not hitting your mark at the right time, people can get hurt.”
The other thing Young & Restless taught Morgan which came in handy during this shoot? Being able to handle a lot of material in a short period of time. “That’s why the director and I got along so well. She said, ‘I’ve never worked with an actor before who, when I ask you to do something, you get it done right away and we can move on.’ That’s a skill I learned on the soap, being prepared and ready to deliver very quickly. We had a tight shooting schedule, and that helped us make our day or even get a little bit ahead.”
Describing the movie as “the black Die Hard,” Morgan says that like the famous Bruce Willis actioner, this movie “rides that fine line where you’re not sure if you’re watching a Christmas movie or an action movie that just happens to be set around December 25. It leans toward the high-energy, high-stakes storytelling, but it also has the Christmas element and a love story. Hopefully, it has a little something for everyone!
Should Sworn Justice be the first in a series of movies, Morgan is all-in. “We talked about that a lot on set. I think they kind of had that in mind, so hopefully, people love it and want to see Sophie in other circumstances. That would be amazing!”
As for whether or not she might return to Young & Restless, Morgan says “there’s always a chance”. I’m still recurring on the show, and I would love to get in there and tell a little more story. There’s still more to explore with Amanda.”