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Interview

ICYMI Michelle Stafford and James Patrick Stuart Interview

"General Hospital" Set Wedding
James Patrick Stuart, Michelle Stafford "General Hospital" Set Wedding The Prospect Studios ABC Studios 12/05/16 ©Howard Wise/jpistudios.com 310-657-9661 Credit: JPI

Soap Opera Digest: So, last summer, you guys met, then pretty much immediately had to make out and do a love scene.

James Patrick Stuart: Yeah, when she met me, my trousers were actually halfway around my legs!

Michelle Stafford: No, here’s what happened. When Frank [Valentini, executive producer] said, “Oh, you’re going to have a love scene with him,” James was doing another scene, and then Frank brought him over and introduced us. I said, “I hear we’re going to get naked together and I just want to say, ‘You’re welcome.’ ” That was our first moment together.

Stuart: Yeah, that’s true! That was our introduction.

Digest: What were your first impressions of one another?

Stuart: This is going to sound like a pat answer, but the Valentin/Nina fascination is not that far from the James/Michelle fascination. She’s not only devastatingly beautiful, but she’s funny.

Stafford: I have nothing to say. That is so lovely!

Stuart: I showed up last summer looking to make a little money, then go off and do my smash-and-grabs on nighttime crime procedurals. All of a sudden this beautiful, funny woman is there. I’m like, “Ahh, shoot.” That kind of messed up my plan and I think that there’s a parallel in our storyline.

Stafford: I think James is a really beautiful, funny woman, too.

Stuart: Oh, you’re cute!

Stafford: James is really, really fun to work with. That first day, I think we had four scenes and then we were in bed. There was one scene where I was sitting on the bed, and he comes and sits on the bed with me, and we had to wait for them to say, “Cut.” We were sitting there staring at each other, he takes a few beats and then he goes, “You wanna see my d–k?” It was really funny. I knew I had a compadre right there.

Stuart: We’re two peas in a pod!

Stafford: I know, right? And James is super-sexy and handsome and the chicks dig him. It’s a fun job; I get to go and pretend make out with him.

Stuart: When they first got together in that hotel room, Valentin had been hit in the head with a book by Maura [West, Ava] on the island, so I showed up in Port Charles with this massive head wound with a butterfly suture — and poor Michelle had to go, “Ooh, yeah, I want some of that!”

Stafford: I made a joke about Massive Head Wound Harry and, thank God, he got it. When I make a reference — in this case, to SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — and someone gets it, I’m always very happy.

Stuart: Michelle gets a lot of my really obscure references, too. There’s a genuine fondness between us.

JPI

Digest: After their one-night stand and those great confrontation scenes at the PCPD, James left the show. Did either of you have a sense at that point that there would be more to their story?

Stafford: Did you, James? Because I was like, “Oh, okay, he’s going away to Greece.” But, you know, that doesn’t mean anything on a soap! I thought James was super-hot in those scenes, by the way.

Stuart: Right back at you! Yeah, I could feel it right away, that we had a real connection. I just really enjoyed her. I thought she was clever, sophisticated, all this stuff. I thought, “You’d be silly to let that go. That’s a fish you don’t want to throw back.” Wait, that’s a terrible analogy. What about, “That’s not a toy you wouldn’t want to play with.”

Stafford: That’s worse. That’s way worse! (They laugh.)

Digest: James did return to the show, and in a matter of months, your characters were married. What was taping the surprise wedding like?

Stafford: That was a big day. We shot three shows on that day. But we made it happen. We’re pros.

Stuart: Yeah, we’re bros, and —

Stafford: No, I said we’re pros, not bros. I would never be like, “James and I are bros.” We don’t have that kind of relationship.

Digest: Yeah, James, she already told you; she thinks you’re a beautiful woman!

Stuart: You’re right, sorry. I was actually very taken by the wedding scene. I’m a hopeless romantic, so I loved the set, first of all, I loved what she was wearing, I loved the ribbon [wedding bands]. I loved how nobody had been thinking about getting married, it just sort of happened.

Stafford: Oh, no — believe me, since the first time she slept with Valentin, she’s been going, “Nina Cassadine, Nina Cassadine, Nina Cassadine.”

Stuart: Writing it all over her P.E. folder [laughs]? I thought the wedding was charming, I really did. I was really taken by you, Michelle.

Stafford: Oh, good! I thought it was sweet, too. You know, he is supposedly a killer, and she has been a nut, and I always love it when two very damaged, flawed people come together.

Digest: James, do you think that Valentin is damaged?

Stuart: Oh, I know he’s damaged! But all of a sudden there’s this beautiful creature that makes his heart go pitter-patter that he wasn’t expecting. That’s what I’ve been playing, anyway, and like I said, that kind of fits into my own life right now. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy my co-star as much as I’m enjoying her, so it’s been a very easy arc to play.

Digest: How have you found sharing the stage with Scarlett Fernandez (Charlotte)?

Stuart: She’s got a mouth like a truck driver. She needs to kick it back a notch, make it PG-13. Kidding!

Stafford: She’s so squishy. She reminds me so much of my daughter [Natalia], that little Scarlett. She has a bit of an edge. Not in a bad way; I mean that she’s a sophisticated little girl, and my daughter has the same thing about her. It’s really fun to work with her.

Stuart: Scarlett’s an eyebrow actor like me, so we get along great. If you ever watch her eyebrows, they’re sort of dancing to their own drum [laughs].

Digest: You seem to be very harmonious co-workers. Have you ever disagreed about a scene?

Stuart: I think we’ve disagreed; I don’t think it’s ever gotten hostile.

Stafford: Oh, no, it would never get heated. We disagree, but disagreeing is just working it out, it’s just part of the process. And James is very helpful, too. I don’t mind taking a note from my partner. A couple of times, James has jumped in and helped with a moment that I was having a hard time with, and I think I’ve done the same for him a couple of times.

Stuart: You absolutely have, and I think you’re being way too kind. I think you’re a master at figuring stuff out! Sometimes, I’ll go to bed thinking, “How am I ever going to nail this particular line? Oh, I’ll wait outside of Frank’s door and ask him if I can change it.” She’s like, “No, let’s see how we can sell this! There’s a way to do it!” I think she’s really good at that. Honestly, there were lines that I thought about making a fuss about, and because I’ve seen Michelle sell something I thought was unsellable, I gave it a shot. Then I’d watch it on TV a couple of weeks later and think, “Wow, that actually worked!”

Digest: What have been your favorite scenes together so far?

Stafford: Pressing up against James’s hard, manly chest.

Stuart: That’s it?!

Stafford: Isn’t that enough? There’s not particular scenes, necessarily, I just always love it when the bad guy is the most sensitive guy in the room. Nina doesn’t see a killer, she sees this beautiful man who is seemingly so taken with her. What woman doesn’t want that? Every scene is really fun to play because it’s a very complicated love story.

Stuart: I do have a couple of specifics that come to mind. I loved the stuff in the police station when Valentin is chained to the table. My guy is so taken with her. He knows he’s going to prison, he knows that there’s no way out of this situation, but he wants to be with her. I thought that was sexy. I also loved the stuff in the mansion when Valentin just sits on the couch, staring at Nina while she talks about her childhood. I just thought that was so vulnerable. I ate that up with a spoon!

Digest: Anna is becoming a bigger factor in their lives now that Nina knows she has a history with Valentin. Your thoughts?

Stafford: Nina’s not an idiot. This is Chick 101! She’s like, “Oh, f–k, there’s someone I gotta compete with.” She has this history of her men cheating on her. Franco didn’t cheat on her, but he went right to Elizabeth after her. She definitely sees Anna as a threat, and that’s an element of this that I really, really love, because I love triangles, I love all that messiness, and of course, I am giddy with glee to be working with Finola [Hughes, Anna]. I hope we get to play all the elements of the three of us.

Stuart: That would be great! She’s a sexy woman, too.

Digest: Yeah, James, my condolences over possibly being torn between those two.

Stuart: I know, it’s going to be hell!

Digest: So, in conclusion: From day one, James has been a Michelle fan, and Michelle has been a James fan.

Stuart: I think that’s very true.

Stafford: Yes! We ship each other.

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