New 'Dallas' cast spills on 'awkward' ritual with Larry Hagman that broke the ice

Tags: Dallas, EW Video, Television, TV Scoop

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Image Credit: EW

Dallas star Larry Hagman is well-known for being a colorful character even when not gracing the small screen — and apparently even his new co-stars on the TNT drama, which returns to TV tonight, aren’t safe from his antics. In fact, when the young cast of the returning drama (including Jordana Brewster, Jesse Metcalfe, Julie Gonzalo, and Josh Henderson) first met the veteran actor and his fellow Dallas alums, they found themselves in the thick of a pretty weird situation.

“Larry really broke the ice,” says Metcalfe, formerly of Desperate Housewives fame. “He did some crazy ritual with us where we did this breathing thing [at sunset]. I don’t know, it was pretty awkward.” But the sunset ceremony (complete with humming and hand-holding), strange as it was, bonded them “from that moment on,” says Gonzalo. “Everything just went out the window, and we felt really comfortable with each other,” she adds.

And comfort is essential when it comes time to do stunts and physical scenes, says Metcalfe, who has had longtime friendship with co-star Henderson, who plays his cousin and rival John Ross Ewing. (Click here for more on the family connections and new faces.) “We have a personal history that we bring to bear on the characters and on that storyline. But we also have a comfort level between us that [enables us to] really go there and try to make the story as edgy as possible,” Metcalfe says.

Click the video below for more from Brewster, Metcalfe, and Gonzalo, including dish on who got slapped on set and what scene from the pilot left one actor needing an ice pack! (Henderson missed the video portion of the interview, but he’ll dish some scoop in Friday’s Spoiler Room.)