HARD TO SAY GOOD-BYE
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DAYS’s Eric Martsolf (Brady) found himself in a unique situation when he had to bid adieu to longtime co-star Arianne Zucker (Nicole). “It was like a split personality scenario,” he says, “where, as Brady, I’m saying, ‘Why don’t you take your kid and get the hell out of my face?’ and then as soon as they yelled ‘Cut,’ I was smiling and telling Ari, ‘Don’t go!’ ” When Martsolf received the scripts depicting Nicole and Brady’s harsh final moments, he shares, “My first thought was, ‘Oh, no, this is how I have to say good-bye to Ari Zucker?!’ It’s a strange way for friends to say good-bye on a soap opera set.” The farewell aside, he describes what it felt like watching the scenes play out on-air. “I didn’t realize how angry I actually became,” he notes. “I almost scared myself [laughs]. I felt that anger through my screen. As actors, that’s what we try to do. If we can feel it, then we know that it’s right.” Martsolf also made sure to temper Brady’s anger. “I wanted it to come across that he was a hurt man, someone who has just had his heart sliced in two, that it wasn’t all anger. It was a really well-situated triangle between Brady, Nicole and Eric that was heartbreaking for all three characters.”
FUNNY BUSINESS
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Emme Rylan (Lulu, GH) made her daytime debut in 2006 playing GUIDING LIGHT’s Lizzie, and the actress still marvels that she got the gig in the first place. “I did my screen test with John Driscoll, who played Coop, and in the scene, Lizzie is apologizing and trying to get him to forgive her,” she recalls. “At the end, I jumped up and threw my arms around him and hugged him with this big, goofy smile on my face, all excited and hyper and happy that he’s forgiven me. John was super-nice. I was feeling good about myself when we finished, and when I went to leave, the monitors on the first floor of the building were on, and I could see the other girls auditioning. Of course, I couldn’t not torture myself, so I watched! Every girl was so hot, so sexy and womanly, and this one leaned up against him at the end and it looked so romantic. I was like, ‘I never thought of that!’ It never crossed my mind to use sex appeal in the audition. I was like, ‘I have no right being on daytime!’ Because my audition was like, ‘Hi, I’m a bubbly goofball. I’m here to do a sitcom!’ I cried the whole way to the train because I thought I had totally blown it. When I got the call that I got the part, I was like, ‘What?!’ I couldn’t believe it.”
