GH Exclusive: Rick Hearst On The ‘Complex, Interesting’ Attraction Of Ric And Ava

Ric Lansing and Ava Jerome spontaneously succumbed to the passion that has been steadily building between them since Ric returned to town last year and took Ava on as a lover. Soap Opera Digest spoke to Rick Hearst (Ric) about the rise of “Rava” and the fun he’s having working opposite Maura West (Ava).

 

Soap Opera Digest: Fans have been picking up on the Ric/Ava chemistry from the beginning of your interactions. What is your take on why it was so immediately clear that there was something exciting going in your scenes with Maura?

Rick Hearst: Well, there’s a lot of factors that makes it a very complex, interesting relationship. These two characters have lived independent, yet very similar, existences in Port Charles and, and this is them coming together at a time where he has nobody but his daughter [Molly] — and that, from day to day, becomes a tenuous situation for him. He doesn’t really have Elizabeth, and if he and Alexis can be in the same room without tearing each other to shreds, it’ll be a miracle! So to have somebody like Ava, where each of them understands the other … It’s a mutual kind of understanding of who they are. There’s no pretense between the two of them. They’re not trying to be anyone they aren’t, and in each other’s orbit, it almost serves them to be each other’s conscience at the same time. Not that one says, “That’s not the right thing to do,” but it’s really about, “I see where you’re going with this and it’s probably not going to get you the outcome that you want.” I think they’re great governors for one another, and they’ve been through so much in their lives. They are two people who have been through multiple relationships in their lives and have been through the ringer in relationships, and have made certain mistakes, and they are now at this point in both of their lives, I think, where they’re not looking for anybody in particular. And yet, that familiarity can make strange bedfellows! I am very excited for it. Everybody I’m around within the cast is coming up and saying that they’re seeing some really cool things [in our scenes].

Digest: What do you enjoy about working with her?

Hearst: Maura and I really play off each other so well. Her character is very silky. She very much weaves in and out of things. She is never reactionary. She’s not premeditated, but she always very much takes the moment through the moment to be able to discover what might be on the other side. And that’s the thing I absolutely adore about working with her, because I love being able to explore what we maybe didn’t think about coming into the scene. But the cool thing is, we also have such perceptions and commitments to our characters that there’s an element of — I mean, I don’t want to sound pretentious and say “magic,” but there is! There is that X factor that you can’t necessarily define, or even try to do. Sometimes you hit the luck of the draw and I feel like that’s where we’re at right now.

Digest: What I find so interesting is that Ric has a lot of self-awareness about his own moral ambiguity, and I see Ava as being cut from that same cloth.

Hearst: I think that’s absolutely correct.

Digest: And I could see a scenario where the very thing that Ric could do that would blow up a relationship with Elizabeth, say, Ava might be turned on by!

Hearst: Yeah! It’s that dangerous sort of element between the two of them where there’s not a lot of rules there, except, you know, “Don’t cross me.” Everything else is pretty much fair game with both of them! And you know, she has no allies other than Nina. Nina is almost like that moral compass for her and was immediately warning her about me! Yet it almost becomes a very enticing thing for both of them to lean into. But I do agree with you; I think that they definitely understand each other’s moral ambiguity and it is very much a turn-on because, because again, it’s not like Ric is trying to be on his best behavior! When you meet somebody new, often you try to be the best person you can be. Ric is like, “No, this is me. I’m too old to turn around and go the other direction and change. You get what you get.” And that is something that I think is very exciting to be able to explore with her.

Digest: As we’ve seen in some of his past relationships, he’d have to work a lot harder to make something work with someone who doesn’t have as similar a world view.

Hearst: Right. It’s not about having to change who and what you are. There are chapters written on him already, and she’s not only read the book, she could contribute to the foreward of it! So, the ability to take a step forward with somebody like that — I think there are just a lot of possibilities there.

Digest: Ric getting to know Ava was accelerated by him representing her in court last year. When they were first spending time together, preparing for the trial, were you playing him as aware that there was an attraction brewing there?

Hearst: No, and I think Maura and I were both very conscious of that because they’re adults, right? It’s not puppy love, they’re not kids. They’re two adult people, and it had to be something that got discovered in the moment, like one moment too long of looking into somebody’s eyes, right? And each time, there’s that little window into each other’s souls. It becomes more than just client/attorney. But in the course of discovering [all the things he learned about Ava while defending her], and finding things out about this person who does have that same moral ambiguity, as you said, that’s the part that allowed him to lean into whatever attraction there is. Otherwise, it’s just sex, it’s a roll in the hay, it’s whatever they get from each other and move on, right? It turns flat and it doesn’t have any legs beyond that. But the genuine, sort of dangerous attraction to one another [that developed], yeah, I think that is something that is very enticing to watch. And it gives not only each character something to express about themselves that nobody in town would even remotely qualify, but it gives them the unified sort of partnership to be the ultimate antagonists for all of the “moral compass” that is every other character coming at them!

Digest: I do love that Ric had to become very familiar with Ava’s rap sheet — like her roles in the deaths of Connie and Morgan — to prepare her for the trial. It’s good to get those conversations out of the way early in a new relationship!

Hearst (laughs): Yes, absolutely. It really was a great moment for them, too, because while testing her [to see how she would handle those tough questions under oath], he gets to know her in that moment. And she gets to know him, too. He basically gave her the opening to [open up] about the guilt she has inside of her about her own daughter [Kiki] dying by saying, “Hey, here’s the mirror. You know who you’re talking to? You’re talking to the same person, so don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about, ‘Oh, that’s something I can’t say.’ No, I want all of it. Give me all of it, because I know where it’s coming from. Don’t protect the ugliness of who we are, because we know who we are.”

Rules Of Attraction: Ric and his client, Ava, are mixing business with pleasure.