ABC/Richard Cartwright(LOS ANGELES) — Darby Stanchfield’s Abby Whelan can be tough as nails on Scandal, but the actress admitted to ABC Radio that stepping behind the camera to direct tonight’s episode — one of only four left in the series — was intimidating.

“It was so much. It was like drinking from a fire hose. I mean, you had to make five thousand decisions a day,” she tells ABC Radio.  “I’m not even exaggerating.”

Like any challenge, directing “The Noise” took some fueling up, Stanchfield recalls.

“I had so much adrenaline and I was working so hard that I was constantly, I was like, you know, a 14-year-old teenager who just got done swimming a hundred laps,” she says.  “Like, I needed food all the time because it was exhausting. I went to In-and-Out at least four times when I was directing.”

Nerves aside, Darby said her co-stars made calling the shots on set easy.

“Even…you know, the veteran actors who’ve been, you know, acting much longer than me, they were like, ‘Direct me. Go ahead!'” the actress says.  “You know, they, I mean, I got in there and I, you know, offer suggestions or try this or that and it was so fantastic to feel that respect and like, ‘We know this is your first time but we’re just gonna trust you,’ and I had a blast.”

So is there a secret to directing Scandal? “The secret is these actors kind of direct themselves!” Stanchfield laughs, “So I’m just calling action.” 

Check out Darby Stachfield’s handiwork when Scandal airs tonight at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

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