Catching Up With Scott Bailey
GUIDING LIGHT’s Sandy met an untimely end, but his portrayer, Scott Bailey, is thriving with SAINTS AND SINNERS, a new prime-time telenovela premiering March 14 on MyNetworkTV. Before the debut, Bailey gave Weekly the scoop on his new show and his new life in Los Angeles.
Soap Opera Weekly: Do you play the Romeo in this modern ROMEO AND JULIET?
Scott Bailey: Actually, they needed a Juliet and I stepped up to the plate (laughs). Yes, I get to play the Romeo character. His name is Roman, which is very clever.
Weekly: The show is set in Miami. Did you film there?
Bailey: They shot the exteriors in Miami. We shot most of the show in San Diego, using the San Diego coastline and beaches. It was nice. I can’t believe my job was to sit out in the sun and just play Roman every couple of minutes.
Weekly: How did it compare to soaps?
Bailey: SAINTS AND SINNERS is similar to soaps in that you have your archetypal characters — a lover, a bad guy, an ingenue, the overbearing mother — and we had to shoot it really fast. There is also lots of love and drama and strife and emotions. But because of the lighting it looks more like film. And we were on location, so when we were at the beach, we were at the beach. You get to see the sun and the water and the sand, not just a studio where you throw some sand in there and you pretend. There’s a chase sequence, and we got to shoot out in the streets and wreck a car.
Weekly: Who else is in the series?
Bailey: They got this amazing cast for it. Maria Conchita Alonso plays my mother. She’s a fun lady. Mel Harris plays Julia’s [Roman’s love interest] mother and she’s such a professional. Charlie Shaughnessy, who used to be on DAYS OF OUR LIVES (ex-Shane), plays my father. Charlie was a big goofball; he kept us in stitches.
Weekly: What do you have planned now that you’re done filming?
Bailey: I caught up on my sleep for two days and now I’m back taking meetings.
Weekly: How is life in Los Angeles?
Bailey: I’ve been back for three days. I lived in San Diego for five months for the show because I was shooting 14 or 15 hours a day. I like Los Angeles, aside from the traffic. I live a mile from this canyon that we can hike through. It’s sunny and I’m enjoying it.
Weekly: What else have you been working on?
Bailey: Right after I left GUIDING LIGHT I managed to get in a LAW & ORDER, and I did a film with Rosario Dawson there in New York called Descent. It’s a dark story. Rosario’s character got raped and then decided to exact revenge. I played a guy who went out with her best friend. Then I moved out here and I booked this pilot and then I hung out and visited friends and family and kept waiting to shoot this show. I’ve been busy.
Weekly: Do you keep in touch with anyone from GL?
Bailey: With those kind of jobs you make lifetime friends because when you’re stuck with somebody in a room for 15 hours a day, they start to grow on you. [One] who grew on me and I can’t get rid of is Crystal Hunt (ex-Lizzie). She’s crazy busy now. She’s working on a couple of films. She’s a lifetime friend of mine. I see her a lot and she’s doing great. When I worked on the show, I would have poker night with Tom Pelphrey (ex-Jonathan) and John Driscoll (Coop) and Joe Cola, who did our makeup. They still call me when they’re having poker night, like, “Hey man, we miss taking your quarters.” I keep in touch with them.
For more on Bailey and SAINTS AND SINNERS, check out the March 20 issue of Soap Opera Weekly or go to Bailey’s Web site, ScottBailey.tv.
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