General Hospital: Maurice Benard Talks Sonny and Turner’s Kiss, Says Pairing ‘Just Feels Right’ (EXCL)
On General Hospital, Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) and Justine Turner (Nazneen Contractor) have been inching closer for months, despite being on opposite sides of the law. On the Monday, February 23 episode, the pair kissed for the first time … and although she broke it off (and slapped him!) the very next day, it’s clear that the feelings blossoming between them won’t be so easy for the acting district attorney to will away. Soap Opera Digest checked in with Benard about his latest GH love affair.
Chemical Romance
Between Sonny’s involvement with Justine, the thaw in his relationship with half brother Ric (Rick Hearst) and the uptick in his storyline crossover with the legendary Genie Francis (Laura), Benard is a happy Port Charles camper. “I’m into everything at this point,” he smiles. “I’m into ADA Turner. It’s been really cool. She’s a really good actress, and it works on every level for me.”
Benard says that he could tell from the start that he and Contractor might be a good on-screen match. “First and foremost, I knew she could act, and I was excited about that,” he reports. “For me, the bottom line is, ‘Can this person get in there and do what needs to be done?’ And she has proven that she can. And to me, it’s working. When I’m in a scene with her, I’m not questioning [her abilities].” Plus, he chuckles, “She’s the perfect height. Not that that matters all that much, but she is!” All in all, “It just feels right.”
Dating back to his early days on the show, GH fans tend to be very opinionated about Sonny’s love life. Some pairings they overwhelmingly love — he reached bona fide supercouple status with Brenda (Vanessa Marcil) and with Carly (Laura Wright) — while others they hate, and still others, like his ill-fated romance with Nina (Cynthia Watros) prove divisive. But in Benard’s opinion, Sonny deserves some companionship, and he hopes viewers will be open to this latest coupling. “Sometimes the fans are like my mother — no one is good enough for him,” the actor chuckles. “But I’m like, ‘Hey, Carly’s had boyfriends [since she and Sonny divorced in 2022]. Does Sony have to be alone for the rest of his life?!'”
The actor appreciates that the show’s writers have taken its time to nurture Sonny and Turner’s attraction. “I think the only way to do it was to do it slowly,” he offers. “If you try to rush it, it can feel contrived. But there’s no contrived story here.” And while it’s true that the show has gone down the “Sonny gets involved with someone on the opposite side of the law” road before, Benard points out, “People say, ‘Well, oh, he’s been with an FBI agent,’ but I always say, ‘What story has there not been done on a soap opera 10 times over?’ It’s not the story [that the audience responds to] at this point, it’s the chemistry.”
As Sonny and Justine’s kinship developed, she has gotten to see unexpected facets of the dimpled mobster — including the fact that he can throw down in the kitchen and that he’s a champion girl dad to his adorable youngest daughter, Donna (Scarlett Spears). But what is it that about Justine that Sonny is drawn to? Muses Benard, “He sees that she’s strong, but underneath that strength, there’s a vulnerability. And you know he loves that [laughs]! And I’ll tell you this: There’s a lot of potential in that area for both of them — like for him to show her what he’s been through. It’s going to be very interesting.”
Benard was happy with how the duo’s first kiss unfolded. “It wasn’t planned,” he notes. “It was more in the moment. I love where it happened and how it happened.” And even though she slapped him in the aftermath, and Ric subsequently warned him that Justine might be trying to get close to him just to take him down, Sonny isn’t running scared. According to the actor, “Sonny doesn’t believe that at all. He knows he’s hit a button with her and he doesn’t think she would do that. Now, I know that’s not smart, but that was his intention in the beginning — he was going to get her to fall for him so hard that she would not [prosecute him], but now, I think he really believes now that she wouldn’t.”
But might she prosecute his son? After all, Michael (Rory Gibson) isn’t totally out of the woods yet when it comes to a potential arrest for Drew’s (Cameron Mathison) shooting. “I like that whole situation,” Benard enthuses. “It’s a movie I would watch!”
And speaking of sons, Benard has a fun surprise for GH fans coming up on his YouTube series, State of Mind — specifically, the episode that will air on his birthday, Sunday, March 1 — that features Port Charles son Dominic Zamprogna (Dante) “It’s going to be hilarious,” Benard promises. “Dominic is going to interview me, Maurice, and then Dante is going to have a conversation with his father, Sonny. And I think the audience is going to eat it up!”
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