When Patrick J. Adams steps on to the set of Suits,he is first and foremost Mike Ross, but during the week of shooting the 100thepisode, which airs on August 30, he also had another important role –director. Though he’s been in this coveted position before, this time it washis job to make sure all the scenes were the best they could be. “Being adirector is more macro; I get to think about a lot of moving pieces at once,”he told HELLO! earlier this summer. “I’m a Virgo; I naturally love toorganize things. I get to have control over things that as an actor I have tosort of ignore.”
But having a seat in the director’s chair isn’t always easy. “I think I’m getting better at it,” Patrick, who admires the careersof Sydney Pollack and George Clooney, shared. “There was one episode Idirected, the mock trial. I just had to leap over my fear of telling peoplewhat to do. Literally there was one part where I’m like Gabriel, sit there, youstand there. It’s like conducting an orchestra.”
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The 35-year-old and hisco-stars Meghan Markle, Gabriel Macht, Sarah Rafferty and Rick Hoffman havebeen making sweet music for seven seasons – and the cast isn’t letting theextra attention of a certain royal romance affect the product. “We are all abig family. We’ve been together for years,” he admitted. “We all show up andknow we have to get so much done within a day so whatever is going on outside,for everybody – everybody has their lives. As long as everybody is happy, theneverybody is excited to get to work. We try not to let anything bleed into theprocess.”
Currently he has beenenjoying the summer hiatus before Suits resumes filming on September11 with his wife Troian Bellisario. The two call Los Angeles home, but with hershow PrettyLittle Liars wrapped, they have been able to spend more quality timein Toronto. “It’s nice,” he said. “Before we had to carve out a weekend foreach other and now we can hang for a couple of weeks. It feels like a normalrelationship.”
MORE: Relive Patrick and Troian's California nuptials
His co-star and loveinterest on the USA Network legal drama, Meghan is also very familiar withmaking a long distance relationship work with Prince Harry. The 36-year-oldjust spent a luxurious vacation in Africa with her British royal beau and hasbeen jetting to London whenever possible. While Harry hasn’t visited the Suitsset just yet, one could hope that happens in September when he heads to Torontofor his Invictus Games. Still, it might not seem likely that Harry will keep withthe trend of having significant others make cameos on the show like Gabriel’swife Jacinda Barrett or Troian. “Anything to do with that is so far above mypay grade as you can imagine,” the Canadian-native joked.
As for the relationship that has captivated fans around theworld, Patrick says Mike Ross and Rachel Zane are solid despite navigatingtheir new success. “They are super in love and together; there is no doubt theyare the person for each other,” he noted. “It’s cool to have a love storythat’s just inherent that they are in love but you get to see them strugglewith how do you make time for each other when we don’t even have time forourselves.”
It’s also something that he has dealt with personallybalancing his career and eight-year relationship with Troian. Aside fromworking together whenever possible – their short film We are Here will be releasedthis year – the writer explained: “Learning to make both things a priority iscomplicated, and everyone relates to it one way or another. You have to makesacrifices and learn to communicate and learn to say yes and no.”
Suits airs on USA Wednesdays at 9 p.m. est
