It’s always a delight to talk with John-Paul Lavoisier (Rex) and Farah Fath (Gigi). They are charming, enthusiastic young actors, dedicated to their work and devoted to ONE LIFE TO LIVE. Recently I spoke with them — separately — about their storylines and the show’s 40th anniversary.
John-Paul Lavoisier: I can’t remember the last time I was this excited to watch ONE LIFE.
Soap Opera Weekly: Really?
Lavoisier: Monday and Tuesday’s shows — I loved them. I rewound so many times to watch some of the stuff that John Brotherton (Jared/Clint) was doing, that Bob (Woods, Bo/Asa) was doing, what I was doing. I loved watching Agnes (Nixon, show creator) and Erika (Slezak, Viki). I don’t read the scripts, and I don’t watch scenes being taped that I’m not in. Some people may have thought [the time-traveling plot] was corny, I don’t know. But I thought it was great, when Erika and Mark (Derwin, Ben) hugged, and then the opening of ONE LIFE was on the television above the bar. Then it cut into the actual opening.
Weekly: It was magical.
Lavoisier: Yeah, there you go. Magical. It was powerful. It was different. Kudos to everybody involved in the production of that stuff.
The two anniversary episodes kicked off the still-airing Rex-and-Bo-go-to-1968 story. We had some more technical questions about how people get from 2008 to 1968, so we asked yet another time-traveler.
Weekly: How exactly does time travel work?
Farah Fath: You have to be out in a storm, lightning has to strike you while you’re holding the portal, and the portal is the cell phone which Rex was holding. I’m not too clear on all the details; I just know I was on location, holding onto a fence where Rex and Bo were [in 1968], and I was holding a cell phone up to the sky. I went through [time], back to 1968.
Weekly: Is it fun wearing Emma’s long, black wig?
Fath: When you are on a soap, if you are lucky, you are on it for several years and you play one character. You grow attached to your character and you love your character, but it’s always fun to go outside the box and do something completely different. I took the opportunity and tried to run with it. I was probably over-the-top — I tried to make her as comedic as possible. It was fun.
