General Hospital News

Donald Agnelli, Carolyn Hennesy's (Diane Miller) husband, will portray a biker at Jake's on March 5th. 

On March 3rd, Jennifer Lyons airs as Jennifer Biles. 

 
Has Sonny's judgement day arrived?
Dakin Matthews plays Judge Carroll on February 24th.

 
John Burke comes to General Hospital, as Everett Dawson, on February 24th.

Claire Mills and Declan Beaty play characters Claire and her son, Declan beginning February 5th for at least one episode.

 
Adam Wylie portrays Police Officer Church on February 3rd.
He will be interacting with Sam.

Conceptual Artist Carter on
James Franco’s General Hospital Appearance:
“It was my idea”

Franco confirmed in an article for the Wall Street Journal that his General Hospital gig is, in fact, an experiment in performance art, a partnerhship with his friend, the New York-based artist, Carter (just one name, like Franco).

Franco’s General Hospital appearance will be material for his next collaboration with Carter, a more ambitious feature-length film that is currently in the works and will explore similar themes as their previous work together, “Erased.”  

The man behind Franco’s daytime TV appearance answered some questions from WSJ's Speakeasy:

We hear you were the brains behind James Franco’s arc on “General Hospital.” How did that come about? And why “General Hospital,” of all soap operas?

It was my idea to suggest to James to do a soap opera, and that would tie into another film he and I are working on. But a lot of the work was outside me. As far as why the soap opera was “General Hospital” or the development of his character, I didn’t have much influence. I did suggest, however, that he should be an artist. The writers on the show basically took it from there. And in turn, in some roundabout weird way, he’s now playing an artist with one name, as maybe a shadow of me.

Do you think some people will interpret his appearance as satirizing the genre?

Of course people are going to and they already have. But I think people are cynical and lazy and that’s what that’s coming from. It’s incorrect. I don’t want to call it “satire.” That’s rude.

Why do you think that many people, especially those who don’t normally watch soap operas, find his “General Hospital” arc funny?

Having James on “General Hospital” is a challenge to what people expect and anticipate, so they just laugh, which is the easiest response. Sure, there’s humor involved, a lot of humor, but there’s also a challenge.

How will this General Hospital stint be tied to this other film that you’re working on?

I really can’t say much about this next film; we’re working on it now. As for how it ties in, I was on the “General Hospital” set filming for the upcoming film.

Franco had said that in “Erased” he was operating at half-speed. What do you think he meant by that and how does that compare to a soap opera, where actors are notoriously over -acting?

One of the thoughts I had when I suggested he do a soap opera is that acting on a daytime television series is a very hard thing to do. It becomes an almost athletic event –- it’s very fast with a lot of memorization. Same thing with “Erased” -– I often referred to it as an athletic event. We had to film it in one day and James had to play difficult parts pretty quickly. So I can draw parallels between a daytime television show and something more artistic. And it’s obvious that for someone of James’s ilk, it’s not about pay or moving further in his career. It’s about really working on his craft and doing something difficult.

Is there a distinction between the James Franco you know and the “James Franco” on screen?

... As an outsider, I think it’s really fun to watch an actor play themselves in quotes.

Interview excerpted from The Wall Street Journal, Speakeasy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"There will be one more step. After all of the Franco episodes [on General Hospital] are aired, my character's storyline will be advanced in a special episode filmed in a "legitimate" New York gallery. One more layer will be added to this already layer -heavy experiment. If all goes according to plan, it will definitely be weird. But is it art?"
--James Franco
A Star, a Soap and the Meaning of Art:
Why an appearance on 'General Hospital' qualifies as performance art.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Word is Franco will co-direct the related GH episode this spring.

Update: Borlenghi's appearance has been postponed until early this year, due to some changes in storyline.  Also, his character's identity has been confirmed.  See Coming, in our Spoilers.

Matthew Borlenghi Joins the Cast of General Hospital
Borlenghi is somewhat of a veteran of Daytime, having had previous roles on both All My Children and Days of Our Lives.  Gossip is that he may be filling the rumored role of  "Travis" (now known as Valentin Cassadine).  (See Rumorville of 9/15 for more)