Rachel Bilson apologises to Tate Donovan for behaviour on The O.C. set
Rachel Bilson has apologised to her The O.C. co-star and director Tate Donovan for her behaviour on the set of the TV show.
The actress starred as Summer Roberts on the Warner Bros. show, while Tate played the role of Jimmy Cooper and also frequently acted as director in the third season of the programme.
Tate featured on the latest episode of Rachel's podcast Welcome to the O.C., B**ches, and the screen star was quick to offer him an apology.
"I thought you were so wonderful, and such a wonderful director and... (an) amazing human and all of it, so if I ever added to any of the a**holeness, I want to apologise on record," she told him. "You went on to direct us on The O.C., which we can talk about more, and I know some of us kids were little a**holes. And I think that that speaks to that whole unaware, young, youthful, ignorant — just idiots, you know what I mean? And I hope I wasn't as bad as it's come off … You know, you get influenced, I'd say, by your surroundings."
Graciously accepting the apology, Tate replied: "Yeah, you can't help but believe all the sort of hype. Everyone gets caught up in it, especially when you're young."
He also insisted that Rachel was "a total sweetheart to work with".
Tate was less complimentary about Rachel and her young co-stars, who included Mischa Barton, Adam Brody, and Benjamin McKenzie, during an interview with Vulture in 2013, when he admitted: "By the time I started to direct, the kids on the show had developed a really bad attitude. They just didn't want to be doing the show anymore. It was pretty tough; they were very tough to work with.
"The adults were all fantastic, total pros. But you know how it is with young actors - and I know because I was one of them once. When you achieve a certain amount of success, you want to be doing something else."