Eric Martsolf (MySpace)
Even though he prefaced our interview by saying his storyline was ‘very secretive’, Eric did share that Brady comes home as a result of his stint in rehab. “He has a lot of amending to do with the relationships he’s left, particularly Chloe, particularly his father.”
Speaking of John Black, he isn’t exactly the person Brady remembers, as Eric previewed, “He’s coming back to a father that’s definitely gone through some changes in the last couple of years and he’s got a lot of work to do in that department. Needless to say that’s a scary reunion. It’s hard to come back to your father and he’s not quite sure who you are.”
While John might be an enigma, his portrayer, Drake Hogestyn is anything but. “[Drake’s] truly a nice guy and he has a great work ethic. He was constantly wanting to run lines with me in our first scene together, over and over again,” Eric recalled. “I’ve been really impressed with the work ethic over there at Days. Everybody really cares about the material. They really want to make the most out of it and that’s actually an ethic that I share as well.”
Although this may be a recast role, taken over from Kyle Lowder (Rick, The Bold and the Beautiful) who played the character from 2000 - 2005, Eric wants to make sure he stays true to who Brady Black is. “I am very aware of Days of Our Lives as a program because when I was doing Passions, we did constant events together and we constantly talked about our storylines and had a few laughs about it, so I know of the character. I know what his past relationships were,” he said. “Changes will be inevitable. I think when ever there’s a recast situation there’s gonna be some change, but you also have to stay truthful and respect what the character has already been through.”
He continued on, saying, “It’s a great opportunity to throw a different spin on a character that has been abandoned. He’s a good character, he already has a fan base and there’s potential to just add on and grow, and I consider that my job to do that."
One area Eric will definitely be able to make his own involves Brady dealing with being a member of the DiMera family, something the old Brady never had to contend with. How Brady handles this new wrinkle remains to be seen, but according to Eric, “He’s John Black’s son so he has those different colors that John has; he has an evil side, he has a good side. Those elements are also going to be present in Brady Black now, I believe, so I’m hopeful to play on those because I don’t want the audience to know where this guy is headed. To be truthful with you, I don’t know where this guy is headed. It’s very ambiguous right now because there’s a lot of unanswered questions.”
Eric Martsolf (MySpace)
While Eric’s scenes won’t start airing until November 13, his former cast mate from Passions, Galen Gering (ex-Luis) will start popping up in Salem on October 31 as an FBI agent who will interact with Sami. Since they were both popular characters on Passions and they are coming to Days of Our Lives at roughly the same time, I wondered if they would be sharing scenes together. “I don’t know. At this point I think we’re on opposite ends of the Salem universe, but we’re talking soap operas, so it doesn’t take that much to get integrated into another person’s storyline. We will see,” Eric mused.
Since Passions wrapped earlier this year, Eric has been enjoying some time off and spending it with his family. “Ethan Winthrop over at Passions, he worked everyday for like six years and I had a lot going on with my life. I have two and half year old twin boys right now and they’re just growing like weeds, so I really took the six months from Passions to Days and just spent time with them. The best part of having the time away was just hanging out with my boys and making a mess with them,” he laughed.
Even though it’s been off the air since August, fans of Passions won’t soon forget the character of Ethan or his often-shirtless attire. But don’t expect the same from Brady Black, as according to Eric, his new character has a more extensive wardrobe and will be wearing more clothes than Ethan did. “It’s going to be a big disappointment, but once in awhile Brady is going to speak,” Eric quipped. “He’s actually going to act and do things like that. I’ve actually managed to keep my clothes on for two weeks now. Everybody’s pretty shocked. They’re like, ‘Fourteen days have gone by and you still have a shirt on!’ I don’t feel exploited yet.”
Having already known most of the cast of Days, Eric was comfortable heading to the set, but he noted that he still felt like ‘the new kid in school’ his first couple of days. However, that seemed to quickly fade, as he explained, “As far as the people are concerned, they truly couldn’t have been more welcoming. I know it sounds cheesy, but everyone was helpful. There wasn’t one person who didn’t look me in the eye and shake my hand and say, ‘Good to have you here.’ So I was really impressed with everyone over there in that aspect. I remember driving home and telling my wife, ‘Oh my God! I love my job. This is really cool.’ When you love what you do, that’s more than half the battle, so I feel pretty fortunate at this time.”
Soaps.com would like to congratulate Eric on his new role and can’t wait to see what he brings to the character of Brady Black.
As promised, we asked Eric some of your questions that you had for him. To find out his responses, check out our article on our sister site, Soap Opera Fan Blog!
- Lori Wilson
