General Hospital Stars Reveal The Adorable Chaos of Gio and Emma’s Animal Rescue (Excl)
The fur went flying this week on General Hospital when Emma (Braedyn Bruner) and Gio (Giovanni Mazza) were finally able to rescue the adorable dogs that were the subject of testing in the not-so-dearly departed Professor Dalton’s (Daniel Goddard) illicit lab, and Sonny (Maurice Benard) was in for quite a shock when his grandson and his girlfriend showed up on his doorstep with so many four-legged friends in tow. Behind the scenes, having so many animals on set was certainly chaotic — but in the best way, according to the GH actors Soap Opera Digest spoke to about the experience.
Pup Culture
Like her character, Emma, Braedyn Bruner has a soft spot for animals and is a dog owner herself (her pup is named Calvin), so she was in heaven on set that day. But what stands out to her the most, she says, was watching Maurice Benard interact with his Pomeranian co-star. “I could not stop laughing about Maurice holding the happiest dog,” she grins. “Also, the same happiest dog took a poop right before filming. Also, the same happiest dog got loose and ran up and down the soundstage until someone caught him!”
The precious Pom in question is named Fizz. “Maurice also loved the dog very much,” Bruner reports. “However, when calling him, he called him by every name but Fizz, like Spitz, Spaz, Fitz, et cetera.”
Giovanni Mazza shares, “One of my favorite moments was when I fell madly in love with a beagle named June,” not to be confused with the show’s other beloved beagle, Bailey, who plays Outback. “Also, all the dogs were running around and playing with the actors — like, on the first take when we went through the door, all the dogs just ran off stage and through the windows of the set, the other doors, [past] the cameras … all expect one big, fat, lazy bulldog named Frank!”
Frank, you see, had other plans. Chuckles Mazza, “Frank got up on his chair and fell asleep like the bestest boy.” Teases the actor, “No work was done that day!”
Another actor involved in the canine chaos, Rick Hearst (Ric), begs to differ. “Oh, it was work!” he howls. “Those scenes with the pack of rescue dogs, oh man! When you have kids or dogs in scenes, it is so crazy unpredictable, and you’ve got to be ready for anything because they’re definitely going to have the focus. It was crazy! There were 10 dogs! I had to sort of corral two of them in the scene, and they were two of the biggest dogs. One was a Bullmastiff, and the other one was a Great Dane. I was joking with the director, Didy [Von Cleave], like, ‘Oh, sure, give them to me!’ At one point, I was holding a beagle and having to step over the Great Dane — it was just pure comedy. It was fun, but boy, oy, boy, talk about a challenge for trying to keep your focus and staying on point with your dialogue!”
Conversation
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