| Super Soap Weekend - West Coast Event - Press Conference Recap |
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| Written by Katherine Thurston, April 2002. |
The surprise announcement from ABC and Disneyland for this year's West coast version of a Super Soap Weekend absolutely thrilled many fans, including myself, and by the next day my trip was booked. I had planned on attending last November's SSW in Florida, but like a lot of fans cancelled my trip after the events of 9/11. So this was a wonderful chance to meet the stars now rather than having to wait until the upcoming SSW this fall.
It was even more of a thrill to learn each weekend was going to be broken into each individual show, which meant more stars than usual from OLTL would be attending. This year there were eighteen stars in all who were able to attend this wonderful fan event.
Here's the list of those who attended: Catherine Hickland (Lindsay), Larry Lau (Sam), Hillary B. Smith (Nora), Erika Slezak (Viki), Phil Carey (Asa), Kamar de los Reyes (Antonio), David Fumero (Cristian), Erin Torpey (Jessica), Sherri Saum (Keri), Melissa Archer (Natalie), Jessica Morris (Jen), Robert S. Woods (Bo), Linda Dano (Rae), Timothy D. Stickney (R.J.), Nathan Purdee (Hank), Ty Treadway (Troy), Fiona Hutchison (Gabrielle) and Nathaniel Marston (Al).
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On the first day of the event,
with my Official Disneyland Media pass in place, I sat down and joined other
members of the press and anxiously awaited meeting the first set of stars to
come out. Unfortunately I had already missed the first interview session which
had been exclusively with Erika Slezak (Viki). I did catch Slezak later in the
day, looking more beautiful than ever, as she graced the top of the large float
during the parade of stars.
Before I delve into the press
interviews, I have to say one thing about the actors and actresses of OLTL, and
that is, where in the world is this magical shrinky dink machine all of
you must have gone through, and where's the door? I'm telling you, every star
looked absolutely fabulous, but incredibly tiny compared to what I see on-screen.
It really is true in that they say the camera adds 10 lbs. or more to your
weight, and not one of them I could honestly say had a pound to lose.
Finally the first set of stars were introduced, and they took their place along the table they had set up for them. The first group included Kamar de los Reyes (Antonio), David Fumero (Cristian), Nathaniel Marston (Al), Jessica Morris (Jen) and Nathan Purdee (Hank). Kamar was probably the most talkative, and very friendly with everyone. At one point, Kamar looked out towards all of us and said "I'd like to introduce Nathaniel Marston, he plays Al on the show," realizing that none of us had asked him a question yet. So Nathan Purdee (Hank) intercedes and tells us to ask him why in the world he is wearing a nice shirt and tie, and Marston responds and says "I got the memo, didn't you?" They all had a good laugh at his remark. Marston also talked about much he really enjoys the friendships he has made with his fellow cast mates on OLTL, which he didn't have as much as he did when he was playing Eddie on As the World Turns.
During the next set of interviews, one reporter asked Phil Carey (Asa) what it was like working with the legendary John Wayne. Carey responded by telling us how nice Wayne had been to him during a film they were working on at the time, and he really admired him greatly. Shortly after, Robert S. Woods (Bo) was asked what it's like for Bo working with Asa, and his response was "the way Phily (which is what Woods called him) feels about working with John Wayne, working with Phily is like working with the Duke for me. They way he feels about the Duke is the way I feel about him. He's great!" Woods then joked about how Carey will offer him his dressing room so he can take a nap until he's ready to work, and said "probably nobody here has ever seen Phil's dressing room, it's a scary place." I saw this wonderful camaraderie between these two men, and it was great seeing "Asa" and "Bo" being nice to one another for a change.
During another humorous moment at the press interviews, one reporter who was misinformed on a bio fact, said to actress Sherri Saum (Keri) "You sing professionally R&B, where have you..." but before she could finish her question, it was obvious from the very puzzled look on Saum's face this was not true, and Saum replied with a laugh and said "ah no, I like to sing in the shower." It was quite funny. Saum did go on to say she went to Saudi Arabia over the holidays for a USO tour, and said it was the most incredible experience she had ever done.
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Seeing Timothy D. Stickney (R.J.) for the first time I must say I was very impressed with his distinctiveness among his fellow cast mates, and he wasn't at all like his character on the show, which for some reason I had expected. He was very warm, and funny, and spoke very intelligently about his role as R.J. When asked what new direction he would like to see R.J. go, Stickney replied with "...Ewe, hey find one! My answer to this question is if I got a whole life that would be good, I'm not picky about what portion I get first." Then followed up with a reply about adding a more comic side to his character, he had this to say, "One of my favorite things about playing a villain in a soap episodic, is that one day I can be funny, I can be mad the next day. The hardest to kind of justify while we are doing it on the farcical day for me is that I try to take and get as much reality as I can, so the ridiculous doesn't slow me down. But more comic would be really hard, I am the bad guy." Then in pure R.J. style, Stickney chuckles, and says "I can make them laugh sometimes, but they have to be afraid of me, don't they?"
Next it was Melissa Archer in the hot seat, when she was asked what is Natalie's feelings towards Al at this point? She replied, "What I can tell so far, is it's friendship. It's like having a big brother, you want to kill them all the time, but you still love them."
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It was now time for the final group of stars to come out, and one of the first questions went to actor Larry Lau (Sam), who was such a delight to finally meet. The question to him was "Even though you play Sam Rappaport now, so many people remember you as Greg Nelson on All My Children, do you still keep in touch with Kim Delaney or do you see her ever?" Larry smiled, and said, "actually she had me over for dinner five years ago, that's the last time I've seen her. We played phone tag for quite awhile, then it just got silly, and we both drifted off in our own ways." Larry was also asked about his scenes for the upcoming "live" week, and he told us he has seen part of his script and that he would be doing some very dramatic shots with both Kassie (Blair) and Roger (Todd). The scenes with Sam and Blair will be on Monday, and then on Thursday will be Sam and Todd.
Catherine Hickland (Lindsay) was asked about the Emmy's, and she said she would not be attending the Emmy Awards this year as she will be performing with Campbell Scott in the popular play, Love Letters. "I'm not trying to make any kind of a statement [by not attending], but oh okay, I'll admit it," she laughed out. She went on to say she was very disappointed Starr (Kristen Alderson) was not up for a nomination.
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One reporter also asked Hickland what she thought of the whole "bondage" storyline she had done with Ty Treadway (Troy), and they all laughed and said they had never really thought of it that way, but said yes she did have Troy tied up for quite a bit. Hickland said she loved working with Ty, and that although she is not working with him now she thinks that will change again at some point. So then Treadway looked over to Hickland, and laughs and said, "I'm not going to prison am I?" It was clear to me these two wonderful actors had worked well together. Hickland also commented on how much she is enjoying her prison scenes and told us it will get really really bad for poor Lindsay, and that everyone should be very satisfied with what Lindsay had coming to her. The one part Hickland said she was concerned about in doing the prison scenes is she was told she can't get a haircut, which is also because all the actors need to keep the same look until after the live scenes in May.
Hickland explained she had gone in to talk to Gary Tomlin and suggested a great new story idea for Lindsay. She said she told GT that all those "big ladies [in prison] could tie her character down and cut off all her hair, and she ends up with a really great hairstyle, a Madison avenue hairstyle." Hickland laughed, and said that GT cordially invited her to leave his office. So she said I guess it's just not going to happen, but if it does, Hickland said you'll know where the idea came from.
Fiona Hutchison (Gabrielle) was next, and was asked if she was enjoying her role on the show more so now after being gone so long. Hutchison explained the one part that really bothered her about her character of Gabrielle in the past was her "weak whining side." Hutchison went on to say that she loves being back, and she has much more faith in which she does, and she is able to portray that as well into her character.
The final question for the press conference went to Ty Treadway (Troy) and about his new talk show for SoapNet. Treadway explained he couldn't be happier about doing it, and went on to say, "It's going to be a one hour talk show, the first ever talk show on soaps." Fiona Hutchison interrupts and says there has been another soap talk show, Pure Soaps on E!. So then with a laugh, Treadway jokes about how they must have made him lie for the commercials, and said they always do that to us actors.
That wraps things up for this Super Soap Weekend and the press conferences, but I would like to add it was definitely a wonderful experience seeing so many of my favorite stars of One Life to Live up close and personal. I look forward to meeting them all again at the next SSW. A huge thanks also goes out to both Disneyland and ABC for setting up this remarkable fan event, and on behalf of West Coast fans we really appreciated it greatly!
Click here for more photos of this
year's Super Soap Weekend at Disney's California Adventure Park!
© Copyright Katherine Thurston,
April, 2002.
