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DAYS Four Play

Deidre Hall (Marlena)
Soap Opera Digest: Is it hard for you to film scenes that you know the audience probably won’t love?
Hall: Yes. I so feel their presence in the room.


Digest: Is it strange for you to see Drake in these scenes with another actress?
Hall: What’s odd about doing intimate scenes is that when you’re doing them, you’re not looking at them. I only get that sensation of the reason you love [John and Marlena] together when we show the montages during the fan club luncheons. Then I say, “That’s right. They’re magical.” But that isn’t a sensation that washes over me when I’m doing it. I love Drake and I love working with him — it’s like a security blanket. I know that the audience is in my ear going, “Yes, oh, huge thanks,” so it’s like satisfying a lot of voices. And that’s wonderful ’cause there’s a freedom to that. When the voices are saying, “Oh, don’t do that,” it’s hard.


Digest: Is there an indication that you’ll be working more?
Hall: I know I’m in five shows straight coming up, which hasn’t happened for three or four months.


Digest: How did you feel about winning the Soap Opera Digest Favorite Couple Award?
Hall: That’s energizing to me and replenishing because it’s been a while. That’s so satisfying. It’s nice that people make the extra effort of voting and caring and reflecting that they still love the couple. It’s so dear and so reassuring that it is on the right track and they do love the couple. It just makes it that much more fun to do, whatever is in store for the reunion.
Lauren Koslow (Kate)
Digest: What do you think it is about John and Kate that strikes a chord with the audience?
Koslow: Their incredible chemistry? [laughs]. It’s something new, something fresh, and I think that’s always interesting for the audience. John and Kate are so different and yet they have a lot in common: They’re both extremely independent, very powerful people who have been up and down and all over and have dark pasts that are pretty similar. They’ve both been through hell and survived. We’re having great fun with that; there is just this chemistry that comes out and I think the audience is seeing it.


Digest: What is drawing John and Kate together?
Koslow: The thing that everyone has to remember is that they believe that their respective spouses are dead and they have fought their attraction for each other because of the memory of Marlena and Roman. Even after this lovemaking occurs, she still says, “I feel a little guilty,” and that’s not necessary, but she is very respectful of their past relationships.


Digest: Is it hard for you because there are fans who want Kate with Roman?
Koslow: The Roman/Kate fans say, “We want to see you together, but we really like you and John together.” So, even if they want their favorite couples back together, they still have to admit that there is chemistry going on with these new couples, too. But there’s never just an ending; the story is always evolving. People come together and they split apart and then work their way back. That is part of great storytelling and that’s what this is.


Digest: How do you think Kate would feel if she knew that Roman and Marlena saw them together?
Koslow: Oh, my God. Well, what could be worse? That’s just unthinkable. Josh [Taylor, Roman] and I joke about this, because I say to him “Hey, we are so not guilty. You are so guilty. Roman and Marlena have no excuse whatsoever. They should just be working much harder to get out of the castle [laughs]. If Jack can get out, what’s wrong with them?”


Drake Hogestyn (John)
Digest: Do you think these feelings that John has for Kate are romantic and real?
Hogestyn: It’s been a very slow build over a long period of time. I think there’s a romantic feeling there that spawns out of a couple of different things. She has not turned her back on him and he has been putting her through hell, and the other part is that misery loves company, which is what got them to this point. They’re just trying to bury themselves in each other and forget about what they have lost. That’s a human emotion.


Digest: How is John’s current situation affecting him?
Hogestyn: John’s still under the influence and has been under the influence throughout the evolution of this relationship. When he’s of a really clear mind, what is his perception? He needs an anchor; Marlena always was there for him in that capacity and he’s looking for help and for strength and Kate is obviously providing it. And visually, she’s not an eyesore!


Digest: What’s it like to work with Lauren?
Hogestyn: It’s fun to work with someone you haven’t worked with before and it’s been a good pairing. We’ll get ready for the fireworks when Roman and Marlena come home.
Josh Taylor (Roman)
Digest: What rekindles the flame for Roman and Marlena?
Taylor: Well, I don’t know that “rekindles” is the right word because it’s always been there. Roman and Marlena have an incredibly strong past and still have a love for each other that has never gone away, even though they’ve certainly moved on, Marlena with a strong and long love with John, and Roman with an intense, wonderfully passionate love, albeit shorter and newer, with Kate. Seeing John and Kate actually having sex, these two need each other to make the world, somehow for one moment, seem okay. And Tony has been pumping in the smell of roses and playing with their minds. I think all of that totaled up to a point of no return, and all of the love and the passion and the resignation kind of came together: right time, right place, so to speak, and that’s what finally pulls them together.


Digest: Is it wrong for them to sleep together, knowing that John and Kate think they’re dead?
Taylor: They’re both damn good people and they both fought against that for a long, long time, even though they’ve been sleeping together in the same room. They both love their respective spouses, but all of what happened pretty much overpowered them and the only way that they would find any peace and joy and salvation is to join together through the wonderful act of lovemaking. And it certainly is lovemaking and not sex. There is a difference.


Digest: In the story, Roman has had a throughline of feelings for Marlena in spite of his romance with Kate. Do you agree?
Taylor: Yeah, they definitely have done that, but they’ve also done it the other side. I mean, Marlena’s certainly espoused that also. I’ve been pleased that they haven’t really made Roman this hopelessly-in-love guy, you know?


Digest: Kate and Roman have a very passionate fan base. Do you keep them in mind during these scenes?
Taylor: Yes, absolutely. That’s a fan base that I’ve been very aware of and Lauren’s been very aware of and that strong fan base is exactly what made this story happen. Without the success of that coupling and the popularity of that coupling, you wouldn’t have had a storyline. All stories need conflict and couples need obstacles to overcome and they have put these two couples in that position.

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