Disney/Christine Bartolucci
Twisted Trio: Holly (Emma Samms) is wrapped up in a dangerous situation with Sidwell (Carlo Rota, l.) and Lucky (Jonathan Jackson) on GH.
Emma Samms was delighted to learn that her latest return trip to General Hospital would include an intersection between her character, Holly Sutton, and the character of Lucky Spencer, played by Jonathan Jackson, who is the son of Holly’s ex-lover, the late Luke Spencer, and the half brother of Ethan Lovett, the son Holly shares with Luke.
Samms originally played Holly from 1983-85, then again from 1992-93. She wrapped up that latter stint in July 1993, and just a few months later, Jackson made his own GH debut at the age of 11. “I never worked with him as a child, weirdly,” Samms notes. “Our paths had never crossed. We did not know each other at all. But I had heard really good things about him — not just professionally, but personally, as well. So I was looking forward to working with him. I don’t know what he had heard about me, or what he must have thought. It was an unknown for both of us, really.”
Once they were on set together, Samms quickly found common ground with Jackson. “He’s just delightful, as well as being a very good actor,” she enthuses. “It took about 24 hours for us to realize that the reason why our work style was very similar is that we’ve been trained by Tony Geary [ex-Luke]. And that’s been our thing that has bonded us, is our mutual love and admiration for Tony Geary.”
While Samms knew in advance that Holly would encounter Lucky, their run-in took both characters by surprise. “It’s not what she was anticipating at all,” Samms chuckles. “Isn’t that always the way that it happens in soap operas?” She notes that it is “completely” inconvenient for Holly that he is in the mix. “She is in the middle of something, as Holly often is. And it definitely adds a complication that she was not happy about and wasn’t anticipating.”
Which just makes the storyline that much more fun. Says Samms, “Certainly for me, one of the best parts of playing Holly is that she’s such a feisty, interesting character. She’s much braver than me. And frankly, she is much more interesting than me! And what’s so glorious is that she can crop up in the middle of the story when people are least expecting it, and it’s perfectly plausible, based on her character. And what a joy that is, to have a character like that.”
What fans can expect from Lucky and Holly, Samms says, “is really a fun dynamic because they both have their goals. And Holly doesn’t seem to think that she can’t have it both ways, which is to get what she wants and rescue Lucky. She feels like she can do both. He might think that that’s not the case and that her priorities are not right. And that’s the fun, really, of their interaction: They’re both very capable people, just with temporarily different priorities!”
So Bad It’s Good
In the story, Holly and Lucky are each, in different ways, mixed up with the dangerous GH newcomer Sidwell, played by prime-time player Carlo Rota (24, Jane The Virgin). “He is amazing,” Samms declares of her new co-star. “Carlo is obviously very skilled, very experienced, but he’s never done daytime before. A lot of people warned him [about the intensity of the quick shooting pace], but until you’ve actually experienced a day where you’re expected to do 50 pages… nobody can ever really warn you enough [to properly prepare you], and bless his heart — he coped really well. I mean, more than that, he was fantastic! But you could still see the look in his eye, like, ‘What?! We’re moving on? We’re done with that scene and moving to the next scene?!’ It’s hard for people to adapt to the pace of daytime, I think just generally, but he’s not shown a glimmer of that.”
Beams Samms, “He is so much fun to work with as well. We have had an absolute blast. I consider it like a gift to me from the producers and [Casting Director] Mark Teschner that they found this guy who is so good and has been just the perfect villain. He’s a whole new character, but my goodness, his villainy sort of fits in very nice into what the story needs and what the show needs, I think.”
And as a bonus, Samms shares, “My daughter [Beatrice] is very excited because he was in Gossip Girl!”
Sums up the actress, “Really, his credits are incredibly impressive — but you can see why he’s got so much work, because he’s really good, and he’s easy to work with, too, you know? He hasn’t brought any fussiness or ego [onto the set]. No, he’s just really great. And I want to add just one word — nuanced. He plays a nuanced villain, you know? It’s not just black and white. He’s brought a lot of shadow and interest to the character, which is not always easy when you’re the bad guy! He’s brought so many interesting and different colors to the role. The writing was there, he [deserves credit] very much as well, bringing even more of what was on the page, and that shows how skilled he really is.”
