Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s off to work she goes — but nobody warned GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo just how long the days would be! The veteran of soap operas, prime time and movies was surprised to find there’s so much more to the job these days than the last time she visited Port Charles.
Soap Opera Weekly: Do you feel like you’ve picked up right where you left off eight years ago?
Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo: Oh, no, are you kidding me? I wish. No, not at all.
Weekly: Why not? Because of the shooting schedule?
Giovinazzo: They had me working with new people for the first few months, so I’m now getting to work with all the actors who I have such a history with. I feel like I’m a girl who’s decided that I want to ride alongside Lance Armstrong. The muscle that gets into shape from this kind of acting is a completely different muscle from prime time. I’ve been doing four pages a day for the last eight years, so I’m really [pedaling], trying to keep up with these guys. They’re in much better shape than I am. On a personal level, it’s really exciting and challenging to try to do that many scenes and episodes a day.
Weekly: The schedule came as a shock?
Giovinazzo: Nobody told me! I was just talking to Jonathan Jackson [Lucky] in the hallway: “Nobody told us when we came back how they shoot now.” They shoot four, five episodes [per day]. On Tuesday, I’m shooting seven episodes in one day. Last time I was on the show, we used to shoot an episode per day.
Weekly: So you’re memorizing bits from seven different scripts a day?
Giovinazzo: Yes, seven different shows in one day. It’s unbelievable the way they shoot now! I have always had respect for daytime actors, but now it’s quadrupled by the kind of work that they’re doing consistently, year after year after year.
Weekly: All the shows have to take budgeting into account (so to speak).
Giovinazzo: Exactly. There are dark weeks and stuff like that, so we have to shoot triple the amount that they used to.
Weekly: Is it harder for you to keep track of the storyline?
Giovinazzo: No, it’s not hard to keep track of the story. It’s just that as an actor who for the last 13 years has been shooting four pages of dialogue a day — except for those six months I visited eight years ago; they were still shooting one show a day — it’s definitely a different muscle. I used to compare it to theater, but now I don’t know what [theater] actor is shooting 40 scenes a day! Just like any new acting experience, it’s a challenge. I like challenges.
