Topic: NY Daily News Interview with RPG (Jake) - Spoilers
Topic Posted by: Maria
Date Posted: Fri Apr 25 17:33:55 2008
Additional Comments:Jake's return on 'AMC' is a Goldin opportunity By CAROLYN HINSEY
Jake Martin resurfaces on "All My Children" next week as a wounded hostage in Darfur, Sudan, now played by soap vet Ricky Paull Goldin (ex-Gus, "Guiding Light," ex-Dean, "Another World").
"Jake is found on a dirt floor, a hostage of rebel fighters," says Goldin of his new character, who went to Africa in 2003 as a volunteer for Doctors Without Borders (when he was played by J. Eddie Peck).
"They find out this Dr. Martin guy is funded by the high-profile Cambias Corporation, which has very deep pockets. Since they need money, they figure, 'Let's kidnap him and demand a ransom of $5 million.'"
Word gets back to Cambias honcho Zach Slater, who dispatches new head of security Aidan Devane to Africa to rescue Jake.
"The thing that's cool about Jake is, he's been in this war-torn country, so he's used to this stuff," says Goldin. "He's the type of guy who could be operating on somebody and have a bomb go off 100 feet away. He might flinch, but he'll keep working."
Indeed, Jake is ordered to operate on a rebel leader while being held captive. The rebels say that if the man doesn't pull through, Jake will be executed. "No pressure!" cracks Goldin. "They force him to operate on their leader with guns to his head. He's a good doctor. He's got a bit of a 'House' quality to him."
Needless to say, since Goldin has a long-term contract, Jake will make it out of Africa during May sweeps. "He gets to Pine Valley but is in the hospital," says Goldin. "He's got a deep, dark, secret. You're seeing somebody come back from a war. He's seen atrocities, and they're going to haunt him - and I have no plans to do that in the typical soap opera way."
Look for scenes with Jake's brother Tad, father Joe, rescuer Aidan and "Greenlee [Rebecca Budig], for the first time, after all this time. I'm just lying in a hospital bed as, one by one, they come in."
Goldin is circumspect about his recent exit from "Guiding Light," where he reportedly differed with bosses on the show's new direction, which involved location shoots, hand-held cameras and quick, MTV-like scenes.
"It's tricky for me to compare 'All My Children' to 'Guiding Light' without getting into details about 'Guiding Light' and what path they're on," says Goldin. "But there's a beautiful sense of professionalism over here [at "AMC"].
"The production quality is really high. They want to make every scene beautiful. Besides their Steadicams and their lighting, the sets are pretty extravagant. It feels like a fantasy."
As for the rumor that former co-star and best pal Beth Ehlers (Harley, "Guiding Light") is going to follow him to "AMC," Goldin will say only, "Beth is going to have no shortage of places she can go. Sometimes you've got to take a couple of punches before you wake up."
Sounds good, and I'm anxious to see RPG's Jake get moving. I think he'll bring something special to the character.
But one thing I do notice missing is any mention of scenes with his mother, Ruth Martin (Lee Meriwether). I hope they just failed to mention that, and that it's not an indication that she'll be MIA again.
I'm starting to feel like there has to be an entire campaign put forth every time, just to get TPTB to feature her for one episode!
