General Hospital Exclusive: Dominic Zamprogna On Dante, Lulu and the Looming Fake Nathan Reveal
On General Hospital, Dante was caught off-guard when he learned that his former wife, Lulu (Alexa Havins), was dating his colleague and good friend, Nathan (Ryan Paevey). Still, he took the news surprisingly well. “Everyone thought Dante was going to lose his mind,” grins his portrayer, Dominic Zamprogna, who shared what he thinks his character really thinks about the new romance — and how he’ll likely react if the truth comes out that “Nathan” is actually an impostor!
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“I don’t think anyone wants that scenario to unfold between an ex and a very close friend,” Zamprogna says. “Many of us have maybe had experiences like that in real life, and you’re like, ‘Ew, that’s awkward!'”
But it didn’t surprise him that Dante didn’t lose his top. “I think if we were younger characters, it would be a bigger deal,” he suggests. “And if so much time hadn’t passed since Dante and Lulu had been together, that would make it a bigger deal, too. But I think with time and age, Dante has been able to separate from [his feelings for Lulu] emotionally, and it’s not as impactful as it would be if they had just broken up. At least that’s kind of what I read into the material and what I reached for in playing it. It’s not really his place to be angry about it. He’s not happy about it, but what’s he supposed to do, freak out on these people because they’re together? It’s none of his business and he has no say in it. So, he can not like it, but that doesn’t give him an excuse to freak out about it.”
On the April 22 episode, “Nathan” told Dante that he felt like he’d betrayed his friendship by getting together with Lulu, but Dante assured him that he’s fine with it. “‘Nathan’ is doing what a good friend would do, saying, ‘Hey, I’m sorry this happened.’ He and Dante are basically trying to be grown-ups about it,” sums up Zamprogna.
But what Dante doesn’t know is that the man courting Lulu is not Nathan at all — it’s his semi-evil twin, Cassius. Zamprogna says that he would love for Dante to play a big role in his eventual unmasking. “Of course I would!” he exclaims. “It would be cool if that’s what [the writers have planned], but I’m good with whatever. You kind of learn [when you’re on a soap] that what’s on the page is what you’ve got to put on the stage, with your inflection and interpretation. And if Dante isn’t the first one to find out, you, as the actor, can play into that and be like, ‘Dammit, I wanted to be the one to find this out! And if he is one of the people who helps take him down, it’ll be, ‘I’m happy that I helped figure this out!’ But then comes, ‘You were my friend and you were with my ex and now you’re not even the same dude?!’ I mean, either way, there’s a lot of good stuff to play there!”
And while Digest suggested to the actor that Dante, as acting police commissioner, might be due for a brush-up on his detective skills for failing to realize that there is an impostor in his midst — one who not only romanced Lulu, but infiltrated the PCPD — Zamprogna is quick to defend his character. “If you’re duped by an identical twin, I think you get a pass,” the GH star says with a laugh. “I’d give myself one, anyway! Besides,” he winks, “Dante is only the acting commissioner. If he was the real commissioner, he’d be like, ‘Yeah, I should’ve caught that one.’ But he’s just the acting commissioner, so I absolve him of being bad at his job.”
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