Soap Opera Digest: So let’s go back to 2009, when Dominic was cast as your son, Lisa. What do you remember about your first contact with him?
Lisa LoCicero: Well, the first time I saw him, [Casting Director] Mark Teschner showed me his headshot. And I will only say this now because I’ve already said this to you, Dom — that headshot looked nothing like you! But then we corresponded by text and I was very happy to see that he had a great sense of humor and he was cool. Then he came [to Los Angeles] looking for a place to live and he showed up on my doorstep and we went and looked at apartments. You looked very young, because you had a baseball hat on backward — and that was in your day of wearing lots of gold chains, I believe.
Digest: Do you wish to contest this, Dom?
LoCicero: The record shows it, dude. You can’t really contest that one!
Dominic Zamprogna: Oh, I would never contest that! Why would I contest that? Those were my jam! Hey, I grew up in an Italian house where my dad wore gold chains, still does to this day.
LoCicero: As did mine, as he does still!
Zamprogna: The minute I was old enough to buy a gold chain, I did, man. It was a big deal! I remember wearing them [on the show]. It was a conscious choice to keep them on. I don’t really like bringing too much of me to a role, but I felt like Dante, he’s a hardcore Italian kid from Bensonhurst, and that’s what they wear! Gold chains with a cross on them, that’s what Italian-Americans wear! I remember [Steve] Burton [Jason] — he would always make fun of my hair and my chains, but when you get him serious, he says, “No, dude, I think it’s great that you did that.” His black T-shirt thing is like what Dante’s chains and hair were at first!
Digest: What would be the equivalent for Olivia — her cleavage?
LoCicero: Yeah, sadly, if you ask a lot of people, I think it would be the boobs! But that works with the character, too. Recently, Olivia’s stepdaughter’s throat was slashed and she shows up at the hospital in this [low-cut] red dress. And I want to put this on record: I took that dress into Wardrobe and I said, “We need to sew this up a little bit higher. We need to rein this in a bit.” And even so, it was a lot — and the fans reacted with a lot of, “What the eff?!”
Zamprogna: I remember walking in the door my first scene back with you [in Port Charles, when Dante shows up at the Quartermaines’]. I was like, “What the —?” You were freaking busting out of that negligée or whatever you call it, that little get-up!
LoCicero: She was supposed to be coming to the door in the middle of the night. I wanted her to look very sort of … innocent.
Zamprogna: Wait a second. That’s not an innocent look, first of all, and second of all — you think I’m a delivery guy coming in the middle of the night?
LoCicero: That’s what I say before I open the door! “Do you have any idea how late it is?”
Zamprogna (talking over LoCicero): She thinks I’m coming to drop off the milk in the middle of the night!
LoCicero: Watch the scene — that’s what I say! Now, the thing is, when you go to Wardrobe and say, “I’d like her to just be wearing a nightgown,” they go to the soap opera nightgown rack and they pull out a white nightgown and a robe and I go, “Great. She’s a rich lady, so it’s not like she’s going to be wearing a flannel Pilgrim gown.” Then you put the thing on and you’re like, “Oh, my God. All you can see are my boobs!” So then you try to wear a bra with it, and that makes it worse! But you’ve got to go up and shoot the scenes, and you’re like, “Am I going to slow down production all day looking for a new nightgown?” So you try to tie the robe a little bit and hope for the best. That’s how that went. That’s how these things progress on a soap!
Zamprogna: That’s a pretty accurate description of how it goes. Especially for the women!
Digest: In real life, you’re not terribly far apart in age. Was that ever an issue for you as you developed Olivia and Dante’s dynamic?
Zamprogna: We made out a lot behind the scenes. In the hallways. Just to kind of take the curse off it so that once we were in front of the camera, it wasn’t a big deal.
LoCicero: We got it out of the way! No, that never actually happened.
Zamprogna: I remember meeting you and thinking, “Wow, she’s very beautiful,” and yeah, it’s a little on the less-believable side that I could be your son, but it didn’t really matter. It felt like the friendship we had, which we formed really quickly, and our bond, we could exploit when we were on camera and make it real.
LoCicero: I never had any feelings of, “How could he be my son?” I have had other actresses come up to me and say, “How did you agree to this? Weren’t you offended?” But honestly, it never even crossed my mind.
Digest: As Olivia, Lisa just overflows with maternal love. What is that like to be on the receiving end of, Dom?
Zamprogna: Oh, it’s great — especially when she smacks you in the face right before a take!
LoCicero: Do I do that?!
Zamprogna: You used to always go, like, “Ah, Dante, come here!” And you’d step back and smack my cheek.
LoCicero: I’m sorry, baby.
Zamprogna: No, don’t apologize. With Lisa, I get to be on the receiving end, as you say, of all this beautiful, unconditional love that I almost don’t get to experience with anyone in my real life — my mom’s gone, my grandparents are gone. My dad’s alive, but he’s an old Italian dude, so you get more of the smack in the face than the all- encompassing love Olivia gives off! It’s pretty nice, I’ve gotta say. It’s very easy to be on the receiving end of all of that.
Digest: And Lisa, what is it like to give it to this joker here?
LoCicero: Well, I am extremely grateful, because if I had to gin up all these emotions for some, like, douche-y actor type, it really would have been difficult. I get to play those scenes from a genuine place. I can just feel what I actually feel, and that’s a real gift as a performer.
Digest: So, here’s my burning question for you, Dom: When Olivia came to see Dante at the WSB facility, how on earth could you not open the door?
Zamprogna: I don’t know, but I think it gave Lisa her Emmy reel!
Digest: What were those scenes like for each of you to film?
LoCicero: When it’s one of those days that has been built up to for years, literally, you need to pull something out of yourself to give the fans an appropriate payoff to what they have invested in the storyline. That day, they cleared the set, which they almost never do, like, “Okay, we’re clearing the set because we’re doing some emotional work,” and then you’re like, “Ah, shoot, everybody’s waiting for you to do this thing! Ready? Do the thing!” The way I chose to go about it was with the absolute certainty that he was going to open the door. Like, 100 percent envisioning that this door is about to open and I’m about to hug him, that intensity of, “I’m about to hug my baby!”
Zamprogna: To Lisa’s point, not that what we do is so difficult, but there’s a ton of pressure on you to deliver in those moments, and to do it in a timely manner. It’s not like you’ve got a couple of hours to warm yourself up or five takes. You’re given one go. The added pressure, I thought, was that they did the split-screen, and I was on the other side of the door going, “S–t! I hope I’m reacting appropriately,” wanting to open the door but deciding not to and feeling her [pain] through the door. And luckily, I think we both kind of got where we wanted to get to.
Digest: Did it feel good to pop onto Twitter after that show aired and see how much people responded to it?
LoCicero: Oh, my God, I was so relieved, I can’t even tell you. You never know if they’re going to be like, “Meh.” Or, “Overact much?” Or, “Nice triple chin on that door scene!” It was fairly overwhelmingly lovely and it really does make you feel like you did your job. My job was to make you cry when this story paid off.
Zamprogna: I was just like, “Thank God, people are actually happy to see this guy!” I was thinking, “Maybe they didn’t miss me!” But I think another element that really resonated with people is having all these reuniting moments in the middle of this pandemic. We’re not addressing the pandemic on the show, but there are other ways to acknowledge those themes of love and reconnection.
Digest: Well, I think how excited fans were to see Dante and Olivia reunite is a real testament to the success of the relationship you’ve created.
LoCicero: I mean, Dom feels like family to me, and has practically since day one. And the relationship Olivia, this character I love so much, has with Dante, is so important to her and really anchors her.
Zamprogna: I almost take it for granted, the relationship we have and the way people respond to it. But I feel very lucky.
