General Hospital - NEWS ROOM

Laura Wright Discusses General Hospital with Soaps.com!

I recently spoke with Laura Wright (Carly, GH) about the upcoming 2010 Soap Cruise and after we chatted about which of her fellow actors she was looking forward to seeing and whether or not she would be singing Karaoke onboard (find out the answers in our previous Laura Wright interview), we got down to the business of discussing soaps.

Before we delved into General Hospital, I wondered if she watched the final episodes of Guiding Light, where she played Cassie Layne Winslow from 1997 – 2005. "I did, through tears," she admitted. While watching, she texted her former costar Kim Zimmer (Reva) during Reva and Josh’s final scenes where they vowed to meet each other at the lighthouse in one year. “I’m like, ‘They better flashforward a year," she recounted. "And she’s like, 'Keep watching.' And they did."

As for her feelings on the 72-year-old soap closing up shop? "I mean it’s a bummer," she sighed. "It’s so sad. You don’t want to see anyone out of work. I mean in our industry, there’s already enough actors and people connected to creating television shows or movies that don’t work, so that was a tough one. And it’s sad. I would have given anything to go back and play Cassie for the last few episodes, but I don’t think we could have worked it out being on a totally different network."

Moving on to General Hospital, Wright recently re-signed to play Carly Corinthos Jacks, whom she has been portraying since she left GL in 2005, for another four years.

When I asked if recommitting to play Carly was an easy decision, Laura didn’t hesitate. "Oh, yeah, I don’t really need to go anywhere. Look, no one’s banging on my door offering me a job somewhere else,” she laughed. "I love it. It allows me to have a great life and put money away for college education and I get to work, you know, I love what I do. I love playing Carly. It’s so funny, like right now everything’s airing after the aftermath of Claudia, I feel like I’m chomping at the bit and going for it because I’ve been sitting on the couch for six months eating carrots," she joked, referring to her formerly pregnant character’s health issues.

Now that Carly’s had her baby and the secrets are out, Carly’s once happy marriage to Jax is on the rocks. But that suits Carly’s portrayer just fine, as Laura, equating happy with boring on soaps, pointed out, "You can only be happy for so long."

So will Carly go back to her manipulative roots? "Right now she doesn’t really have any reason to be that way. I mean that usually comes from a place, so I don’t know. When she finds out that Jax knew about Dante and he kept that secret with Olivia, that may pretty much make her upset," she chuckled. She went on to speculate where story could go after that reveal, but then further explained her character by stating, "Most of Carly’s manipulation stems from trying to keep a secret, trying to cover a secret, but it always usually comes from her protection of love. It’s not that she’s usually wrong, she’s wrong how she goes about it."

There’s certainly a lot of story to mine now that Carly’s son Michael has killed Claudia and wants to join the family mob business. But again, it’s all good according to Wright, as when asked how she felt about Michael being the one to off Claudia, she enthused, "Oh, I love it. I know a lot of people are like, 'Oh it’s so terrible for him.' Of course, that’s what gives us story. I think it’s great. I love the scenes where you’re watching Sonny and he goes, 'I’m proud of you. You did good,' which you see that’s what starts the downward spiral of this kid wanting to be like Sonny and not having any problem with what he did, and that’s story. People are like, 'Oh my God look what you did to him.' Well, he’s not a real person. He’s not real. He is a character on a show and we have to give him things to do."

Likewise, when asked if she was happy about the recent SORASing of Michael and Morgan, she replied, "Oh, yeah, definitely. Big time. I say that so quickly because I just think you want to tell story and it’s harder to tell that kind of story with a twelve year old. Now, Michael can get involved with a girl; he can fall in love and that can be an issue for Carly and Sonny. Now, he’s trying to get in the business - that’s an issue for Carly and Sonny. You know, these are interesting things you really couldn’t have played with Dylan (Cash, ex-Michael). You had to age him to give us more storyline and it’s just the nature of the beast."

As for all the "newbies" recently added, she agreed all the actors who play the kids are doing a great job, and she’s happy with Jonathan Jackson’s (Lucky) return, even though she felt bad for Greg Vaughan who Jonathan replaced. She feels Dominic Zamprogna (Dante) is 'perfect for Sonny’s son' and as for James Franco, who will debut as Franco on November 20, she revealed she would be working with him, but at the time we talked, she hadn’t done so yet and didn’t know anything about their scenes.

However, she did comment on the Golden Globe winner’s stint by saying, "I think it’s great. It’ll be fun. I work with him Friday and I have no idea what I’m doing. I don’t even have a script yet, but it will be interesting to see, you know, I just love when anyone comes up who has never done our work before and they always end up going, 'Oh my God. You guys are the hardest working people ever.' I think it’s great. I saw the promo yesterday and it’s awesome. It’s exciting; I can’t wait to work with him."

For a sneak peek at James Franco’s upcoming storyline line, watch the video in our GH News Room and also read Laura's answers to some of your questions. Also, find out how you can meet Laura at the GH Fan Club Weekend in 2010!

- Lori Wilson