Articles and Interviews: 2003-2007

Dynamic Duo (Soap Opera Digest 2/15/05)

Through death, prison, divorce and recasting, Kassie DePaiva and Trevor St. John keep OLTL's premier supercouple, Todd and Blair, fun to watch because they have fun doing it.
by Mike Bruno

The on-screen chemistry between One Life to Live's Trevor St. John (Todd) and Kassie DePaiva (Blair) comes from the mutual respect and affection they have in real life. When discussing their portrayals of the supercouple and how they manage to keep us rooting for them after years of tumultuous history, the actors almost fall over one another to exchange compliments. At the same time, it's not without friendly barbs (like when St. John lovingly mocked DePaiva's Kentucky drawl when she said, "This is goooood," in reference to our lunch). It's a comfort and trust that can't be faked and a big reason why this duo is so much fun to watch.

SOAP OPERA DIGEST: In speaking with you seperately about the Todd/Blair relationship, Trevor, I feel like you interpret it more as an obsession....
TREVOR ST. JOHN: Well, from my point of view, that's the whole makeup of the relationship as a whole. I don't think it's very healthy. It's very dysfunctional. They need therapy.
KASSIE DEPAIVA: But because of that dysfunction, it's fun to watch.
DIGEST: So, is there real love behind all of that dysfunction?
DEPAIVA: It kind of depends on what "real" is, but for these two people, this is the closest thing. Todd completes her circle. He's the father of her children. He completely understands her. He doesn't want to change her and he gets her.
DIGEST: Kassie, did you sense that Trevor coming on to play Todd would re-energize the relationship?
DEPAIVA: I think Trevor had one of the most difficult jobs in daytime. To come in and not only be cast as one character, and then six months later find out he's not only a new character, but he's Todd, who is very specific and very engrossed in the deep history of One Life to Live, I think he did that flawlessly. I know what that feels like, to come in to play a role who everybody else knows more about than you do. I know he was probably being bombarded by a lot of other people. I do think people need the chance to get into their own groove and find their own way with playing a role.... And when he came on, [Todd] came back practically from the grave, broken, beaten, scarred, rebuilt. He could be anybody he wanted to be because no one was there to watch Todd transform. So, it was justified. Trevor can choose to play Todd any way he wants to because there was a transformation of character. It wasn't like one day Roger [Howarth, ex-Todd; Paul, As the World Turns] walked off the set and Trevor just came on.
ST. JOHN: But even if I had replaced him the next day it would've been the same thing. It's kind of like saying that no one could ever play Stanley Kowalski because Marlon Brando played him. It doesn't matter what actor played it [before]. Just because the role has been played once by some person, then it can never be played again? That's ridiculous.
DIGEST: What was your first impression when you started working with Kassie?
ST. JOHN: I thought she was kind of a spitfire who knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid to say it. Someone with her feet on the ground, which I like. Actors are notoriously full of it, and she isn't that.
DIGEST: You two can be very funny on-screen. Is it written funny or do you take it there?
ST. JOHN: I've been trying to take it there because it's not written funny. I'm a bit of a contrarian, if you haven't noticed, and because it's over-the-top serious so much, I try to go the opposite way to even it out a little bit. There's so little humor in it that I search for it. I don't know if I'm trying to make it funny as much as I'm trying to not make it so dour.
DEPAIVA: I think that's what always works with Todd and Blair because we delight in what other people would find sad.
ST. JOHN: For instance, I remember one moment where she's in Todd's office and he asks her where she's been; he's upset with her. She leans over, kisses him on the cheek and says, "I've been digging up Paul Cramer's dead body." And he turns and sighs, "Awww," and gives her a kiss back as if she said she's been out shopping.
DEPAIVA: That was not written.
ST. JOHN: The look was supposed to be, "Todd worried that she was in trouble," so I did the opposite.
DIGEST: What's it like when he throws that in?
DEPAIVA: I'm right there, man.
ST. JOHN: She's right there. That's what is great about her. That's what I really like about Kassie. I like to improvise, not so much lines, but behavior, and the mark of a good actor is whether you're listening and paying attention enough to play along. Some actors can't do it. They just get floored and they get flustered and they feel like they're out of control, that their performance is being jeopardized, and Kassie's not like that.
DEPAIVA: Trevor and I both listen to each other. This medium is so fast that sometimes you forget to listen because it's like, "Oh, my God, what do I say next? What's my next line?" But I think Trevor and I trust each other enough to listen to each other, so the reactions are organic.
DIGEST: What's next after the Margaret abduction story?
DEPAIVA: What's nice about this Margaret and Todd abduction is to see the fallout that happens to Blair and Starr. [Blair's] relationship with Kelly has been strengthened because of it, which is nice to see.
ST. JOHN: Here's what I hope happens: From Todd's point of view, I decided it kind of feels like rape, to be tied up like that and be helpless and to face so much adversity, physically and emotionally. I hope that somehow that can be dramatized after I'm rescued. It's a little bit of an emasculation [and] a violation in some way. Not a physical rape, but a real sense of loss. I hope they play that instead of just going back to normal. Something Todd has to work out and affects his behavior -- that I don't just go back to being this smart-ass; something changes.
DIGEST: Have you enjoyed working with Tari Signor [Margaret]?
ST. JOHN: She's a really sweet person. She's working with a massive amount of dialogue.
DEPAIVA: And physical activity, and she's pregnant [due in March].
ST. JOHN: She's just a trouper.
DEPAIVA: Isn't she just lvoely?
ST. JOHN: She's a real professional and a great gal.
DEPAIVA: Yeah, hats off to her, man. There's been a couple times I watched an episode and said, "Huh? I can't believe they rolled her around like that! Somebody should have been up there protecting that pregnant woman [laughs]!" This storyline is physical. From the get-go, I swear, I thought Trevor was really hurt. Your moans of agony were so frigging believable.
ST. JOHN: Oh, yeah?
DEPAIVA: Oh, yeah. Right from the wedding day, I think the first time she shot [Todd], and you grabbed the skirt of the bed and went [wincing] "Oh, God!" I thought, "Oh, no, she's hurting him!"
ST. JOHN: Oh, that's good.
DEPAIVA: It was good.
DIGEST: What is Trevor's best trait?
DEPAIVA: I think his best physical attribute are his lips and his personal attribute would be his spirit.
ST. JOHN: I'd say her...well, physically the whole package is pretty nice.
DEPAIVA: Thank-you, Trevor! That's nice.
ST. JOHN: Personality, it's warmth. A real underlying sense of friendliness. I don't mean that in the most superficial way. I mean a real, genuine warmth.
DEPAIVA: That's sweet.
DIGEST: So, you lucked out. You had to work with whoever Blair was, but you lucked out with Kassie.
ST. JOHN: Yeah. I did luck out. Absolutely.