Brier & Marston on Playing Parents
It’s hard enough for the stars of ONE LIFE TO LIVE to crank out an episode a day, but throw a set of twin toddlers into a front-burner storyline and things can get downright dicey — or at least challenging.
Kathy Brier and Nathaniel Marston‘s (Marcie and Michael) major storyline this year involves little Tommy, recently played by twins Jacob and Luke Clodfelter.
Despite the fact that they are squirmy little creatures (the babies, that is), Marston and Brier have fallen in love with the boys. “They’re just the cutest little guys. They’re actually starting to be cognizant of who, where and what’s going on, and they’re developing their own personalities,” gushes Marston. “And out of all the babies [to play the role], I’ve enjoyed these two the most. We know when they’re pooping and when they’re hungry. I know when to stick a bottle in his mouth. We’ve become very accustomed to one another.”
And the tykes are starting to talk just a little bit. “They’re saying, ‘Yeah,'” Marston adds. “They’re saying, ‘Poppa,’ but they don’t call me that. That’s what they call their grandfather. Every every month or so, we try to get the babies to talk. They’re great little actors, but verbalizing dialogue right now is still a little bit beyond them. Kathy and I sit on the floor with them and we go, ‘Say, “Da-da.’ And they go, ‘Ahhhh.’ Or they just don’t make any sound at all [when taping a scene], and when [the director] says cut, it’s ‘blahblahblah.'”
“They are the most precious,” agrees Brier. “They have the best personality. My journey with them mirrors Marcie’s journey with them. When they first brought them on the set Marcie had these comical scenes where she really didn’t know what to do and she was just really nervous, trepidatious and scared. That’s kind of how I was! The first time they put the first set of twins in my hands the kids started crying, and I did not know what to do. I held him out like the little cub in The Lion King, and I was like, ‘I don’t know what to do! Somebody take him!’ They were like, ‘You have to quiet him down.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know what to do!’ It was pretty funny. I really didn’t have to act, quite frankly; I was just had to be myself. I was a nervous wreck, so that was kind of fun to parallel of how I felt. After a while you look into the eyes of these children and they are so wide-eyed and positive.”
The boys brought out Brier’s maternal instincts, largely out of necessity. “They are these little creatures, and you can’t help but to feel a maternal instinct,” she confesses. “They are on-set with you, and if they are hungry you have to feed them, even if you are in the middle of a scene. If they’re hiccupping, you have to pat them on the back. If they just ate, you have to burp them. You become their caretaker and their protection while they are on-set.
“Jacob likes to play with my hair and he likes to touch my face and his mom goes, ‘Oh, he loves you!'” Brier notes. “Apparently he only touches my face and his aunt’s face. They keep you on your toes. They keep you centered and in the scene because you forget about your lines and you mind goes to them. That parallels how Marcie feels about Tommy: Tommy has become her world. She spends every moment with him. Michael is a doctor, so he is constantly on call and not around a lot. So Tommy is her best friend.”
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