She walked the line.
Hayden Panettiere and Connie Britton‘s first interaction wasn’t all peachy keen on the set of “Nashville.”
“I remember the first scene that I ever did with her,” Panettiere, 36, told Entertainment Weekly, in a story published Monday.
The “Heroes” star explained that their first scene together was, “in [Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium], the backstage of the Ryman, and Rayna comes in and says something nice to me, and I am just so passive-aggressive to her.”
She recalled that after that first meeting, she “kept apologizing to [Britton], going, ‘I am so sorry!’ Because that was our first experience together, and I didn’t want to step on toes. Sometimes it gets real, very real, you know?’”
The country music drama originally aired from 2012 to 2018 – first on ABC, and then on CMT for its final two seasons, after ABC axed it in 2016.
The show, which hit Netflix on Monday, followed fictional country music stars such as fading legend Rayna James (Britton), and rising new star Juliette Barnes (Panettiere).
In the show’s 2012 pilot, Juliette was introduced to Rayna as a “big fan.”
However, when Rayna greeted her politely, Juliette turned condescending, and instead, gave a friendly overture to Rayna’s producer, Watty (JD Souther).
Panettiere said that “Nashville” was originally supposed to mostly follow the “Friday Night Lights” actress, 58, but producers dialed up Juliette’s role – and the characters’ rivalry – in response to audience enthusiasm.
“It was difficult to play that sometimes, that competitiveness, where we were in opposition and against each other,” the “Remember the Titans” actress recalled about their characters’ relationship.
She added, “And it’s not what we thought it was going to be, so it was very difficult to step in.”
But, she said that Britton was “just a class act.”
“She is so smart and so wise, and just being able to be on screen with her, I was honored,” she noted. “I think we kept each other grounded throughout the whole thing.”
