The Prodigal Son Returns
No one was more surprised than Daniel Cosgrove when AMC approached him about reprising the role of Scott, which he exited back in 1998 before going on to play GL’s Bill and ATWT’s Chris. He spoke to Digest about his homecoming.
Soap Opera Digest: You’ve been commuting back and forth from the East Coast to L.A. How frequently are you on a plane?
Daniel Cosgrove: I started back at ALL MY CHILDREN the week before Thanksgiving, and so far, I’ve been out here four days, then back there for a few days, then back here for four. I don’t want to uproot anybody [his wife, Marie, or their four children] just yet. It’s pretty tough, thinking about schools and all these other factors that come into play [with a move]. So I can deal with the commute for now.
Digest: Has there been a lot of Skyping with the fam?
Cosgrove: Not yet, but I could see it happening. My kids are so busy — kids’ schedules today, jeez louise — but I think we’re going to have to explore that.
Digest: When you got the call from AMC, was it a complete surprise?
Cosgrove: A complete surprise, yes.
Digest: You probably thought you had washed your hands of Cameron Mathison (Ryan)!
Cosgrove [laughs]: I was there when Cameron started! I hadn’t seen him, or even run into him at the Emmys or anything, since ’98. A lot of the people, actually. But of course, there are some people from my GUIDING LIGHT days on the show now. I overlapped with Ricky [Paull Goldin, Jake; ex-Gus] and Stephanie [Gatschet, Madison; ex-Tammy] and Jordi [Vilasuso, Griffin; ex-Tony], but I never had major storyline with them.
Digest: And now you’ve got a big story launching with Stephanie, thanks to that mischievous Greenlee.
Cosgrove: Yeah, Scott owes her. Her securing the job for him is what sealed the deal, I guess, for the parole board. In the world of soaps [laughs]: “He got a job? Okay! He’s outta here!” “What’s the charge — murder, rape, robbery? But he’s going to be working over at Mickey D’s? He’s outta here!” You gotta love it. Thank goodness that some of the audience is quite forgiving. Others are sticklers. They’re very busy saying, “Wait a minute….” But on a soap, anything can happen. And it does.
Digest: Speaking of which, who had the task of filling you in on all that happened to Scott in your absence?
Cosgrove: It was [EP] Julie [Hanan Carruthers], pretty much. I sat down with Julie and she filled me in on what had happened with Scott and JR and Annie and Marissa and all that and him going to jail, and when it was getting close, I had them send me a dozen scripts or so to kind of fill in some holes.
Digest: And what was your reaction to learning that poor Stuart had been killed?
Cosgrove: I thought it was terrible! Terrible! I really think it’s so awful that Stuart died. I think about Scott being in a new phase in his life and I’m thinking, “Scott was in jail? What happened to this guy?” I would hope that we explore that. He’s at a point in his life where he’s behaving in a way that is so not who he is and he’s taken responsibility for it, but how did he get to this place? His mother died of AIDS and there are these influences on his life, his father, who was this sweet optimist, a guy who always looked at the good as opposed to his twin brother, who in many ways was the opposite, as charming and as conniving and manipulating as he could be. His biological father had a drug problem. There’s a lot. There’s so much there. I’m thinking about nature versus nurture, becoming your own man, and how did he let this happen? I know people who are fantastic people who took a wrong turn or made a wrong choice and sometimes that can change everything. I would love it if they could explore that a little bit.
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