SC_Monique: Can you tell us about those scenes where Eric rips into Stephanie and everybody else for deceiving him?
John McCook: His first reaction is absolute denial and disbelief. There are a couple of episodes with Susan Flannery where I just come back at her, because I just can't believe that this has been something that she didn't know all this time. Even if she didn't, she should have known from the very beginning that it was a possibility, that Ridge was somebody else's child and never introduced that into our relationship. So Eric's point of view is that she's lied to him from the very first day that she found out that she was pregnant with Ridge. So now I've had enormous scenes with her, very emotional scenes with her, then very emotional scenes with Ridge, into which Massimo comes on the scene. Then Ridge inadvertently calls him [Massimo] father in front of me, which hurts my feelings and makes me very angry again. And then I'm off to the mountains and I'm howling at the moon at the Big Bear Cabin. I then come back to the cabin and I see Bridget and Ridge up there, together consoling one another. I go, "Isn't that sweet, my lovely children worried about me." And then they kiss one another. Eric swallows everything else and just flips out, throwing Ridge around the room and saying, "stay away from her and you stay away from him." Oh my God, it's just abhorrent. Then back to Massimo to rip him up for manipulating Bridget that way and Ridge for that matter.
SC_Monique: So he does finds out that Massimo was manipulating this whole situation?
John McCook: He absolutely knows that this is what's going on. He goes right to Brooke when he sees the two of them together and there's big emotional scenes with her about that. Then Brooke says that it's not their fault, it's Massimo's. So then Eric goes to Massimo. Now we've done two weeks of episodes and it's been very emotional, really fun. It's like doing the decathlon. It's like just getting out there and really going to those places and some of which are very, very primitive and really fun. Then to the beach house to be alone, finding one of my keys work and there's an English tart waiting for me! So it's lovely. Jackie (Lesley-Anne Down) and Eric are very surprised to see each other there. We begin what's a pretty interesting platonic relationship to begin with, laced with wit and with really good concern. It's not titillating or silly or any of that, it's a couple of adults rooming up for a while. There will be an attraction of course, one of these days, but we're far from that. I would hope that we let that simmer rather than jumping between the sheets right away. Even if we don't know everything about each other, Eric doesn't know that Nick is Massimo's son. That's going to fun when that comes out. She and Eric are really enjoying telling each other things and it's really nice.
SC_Monique: Are you pleased with the amount of time that this secret has been strung along without Eric finding out?
John McCook: This is what I have been waiting for. As soon as the truth about Ridge's paternity was revealed to other people, not to me, which was a long time ago, it's been revealed so many times. I'm afraid that revealing it to Eric won't be such a big deal as it was when it was first revealed. It was a great surprise to the viewers of our show, but the secret has been withheld for so long from Eric that, it's not anti-climatic at all from my point of view, but I just hope it isn't for the viewers. It's very engaging. Eric goes nuts and we get to see him do that.
SC_Monique: It's good to see him have the opportunity to confront everyone about the secret.
John McCook: Then this whole thing with Massimo. Eric tells Stephanie, "Then you and Massimo are just too perfect for one another. You're manipulators and liars and if you want things the way you want them, then you just go live with him then. That'll be great. You two will be wonderful together." He has this very offended point of view about Massimo and Stephanie both right now. It's going to be a long time for that to change, if ever it does. This could be a permanent change, it really could.
It's a great story and it's been fun for all the actors, not just for me. It's great for Ronn Moss and I to be spinning it out. It's wonderful for Susan and I to play these scenes together. I love standing and throwing s--t at Joe (Mascolo). He throws stuff at me. It's really gratifying. It's good to know that you have this great, operatic actor on the other side of the dialogue and I know he enjoys it too. Joe has spent so many days over there on Days of our Lives, manipulating people's lives and yelling at other people that were younger than him or at other women, so the fun of it is that these two men don't dare touch one another, because somebody will die! So we're very careful about being physical if no one else is in the room.
SC_Monique: It's wonderful to see Eric finally has a peer to have conflict with.
John McCook: I've never had that and that's why I celebrated when I heard Joe was coming over here, because that's absolutely good for me and for Susan. Now I know that Lesley-Anne is here and that's another cog in the grown-up wheel. My conflicts have always been either with women, with Stephanie or with my children, so it is great to have an adult nemesis. It's very powerful. Sally Spectra for Christ's sake, I mean you know. That's really been wonderful too, but this is [different].
SC_Monique: When Eric confronts Ridge and Bridget after he sees them kissing, is he feeling angry at both of them or is he acting more like the protective father of Bridget?
John McCook: His first reaction is that Ridge is the grown-up and aside from blood and brotherhood or half brotherhood or not related at all. Aside from that, Eric's point of view is that Ridge is taking advantage of Bridget, that she's a little girl and he's a grown up and he should know better. After he has his first calm conversation with Jackie he goes to them [Ridge and Bridget] the next day. He goes to Bridget and he talks to her and then goes to Ridge and he talks to him and he says, "Look, I disapprove absolutely of what is happening here. This can't happen and we have to stop it and I'm going to help you because I love you and you're my children. No matter what I will always think of Ridge as my son and I'm here for you now as I always have been and we're going to stop this." Ridge says, "I know. It has to stop." Bridget reacts the same way. Bridget was horrified that her Dad was so angry. He's never yelled at her like that and he comes to her and says, "Look I'm angry. I admit that, but it doesn't excuse how I walked out on you the other day. I will never turn my back on you again."
SC_Monique: So when Eric found Ridge and Bridget kissing, he went in there, blew up at them and then walked out?
John McCook: Yeah, he walks away from it. It's just so freaky. His whole world is turned upside down. Then when he pulls himself a little together he realizes, "These are my children. I have to help them. They're the only family I have." The only thing that has changed is that Stephanie is not there. Eric goes to them with that in mind. He re-establishes a really powerful and wonderful relationship with both of them, still disapproving of that part of their lives and wanting to help them overcome it. So we'll see how that goes. I don't know how much Eric is going to help them get over it. I think they're going to get over it themselves, but Eric's intent is to help them do that.
SC_Monique: The scenes following Eric's discovery of Ridge's paternity were a long time coming. Were your expectations of these scenes met or were you hoping for something different?
John McCook: They were a bit. We built the mountains around the cabin, the rocks and trees and Eric spent a whole episode out there in the trees being very confused and howling at the moon, throwing things up at the sky and shouting at no one in particular. That was kind of his madness and that was good. I really wanted the scene to be where Ridge finds him there and he and Ridge have their moment of reconciliation, but this was not to be, because this was the device to get me up to the cabin. To get them up to the cabin to see that which was even more devastating than what Eric was going through. It just added insult to injury and made it worse. He flips out. I think that he also has an intellectual reaction to it which he expresses eventually which parallels what a lot of the fans have wanted to say, which is that there is an immorality here. [Eric says] "Beside the fact that you're not related it's not part of the equation. This is a bad decision. This is something that needs to be risen above and you're both adults and you have to stop it. You're doing something that's bad for both of you and it's going to tear a family apart. Stop it right now."
SC_Monique: What can we expect now from Eric. Is he going to separate himself even further from the family?
John McCook: He's going to separate himself very much and very definitely from Stephanie. I'm not sure what she is going to do about that. He's going to try and rebuild his family by enlisting the help of Thorne and Bridget and Brooke and trying to hang on to what they have. Instead of seeing the glass almost empty, he needs to see that the glass is almost full -- it's just minus Stephanie. That's what his focus is going to be and he has help in doing that, because he has a new adult female in his life and that's going to help him. It's going to frighten Stephanie and make her angry.
SC_Monique: Have you taped the scenes where Stephanie and Jackie confront one another?
John McCook: Yeah we have. Well, Stephanie goes looking for me at the beach house because she knows that's where I'm staying and she sees this beautiful English woman there. She suggests that she [Jackie] break the lease and move somewhere else, in no uncertain terms. What's been fun is to watch how they write it and how Susan chooses to do it and how Lesley-Anne reacts to it and she's quite the lady. Her character is too, but she is also capable of decisions that go against Stephanie, so it's pretty interesting. This isn't about cat fights between these two ladies, this is about emotional, intellectual confrontations.
SC_Monique: In terms of Eric and Ridge rebuilding their relationship, how much does the truth really change things between them so far?
John McCook: It's been erratic as hell for the last couple of weeks, but bottom line, Ridge and Eric keep hanging on to the fact that they will always be father and son no matter what. They both realize that. The influence that Massimo has is very manipulative. The influence that Massimo is trying to exert on Ridge is becoming very negative for Ridge and he doesn't like it. He's realizing that now. Now, I don't think that's going to be the permanent reaction. I think that eventually as he gets more involved in Marone Industries then he's going to get into it, but when it comes to loving a father and a father loving a son, that's not going to change. So it's going to be a real interesting dynamic for us always.
SC_Monique: How do you think Eric will react to Massimo and Ridge growing closer?
John McCook: Well, it's a bit hurtful, but when Eric comes in to Ridge and sees him there in that office at Marone he says, "I look at you here in this place with all of Marone Industries' money at your fingertips and your intelligence, you're able to accomplish just about anything you want. And yet you've chosen to do this thing with Bridget and you're going to destroy your family. You have to make a choice here." So he sees what Ridge is going to do there, but then Ridge has other conflicts now, because we have Jack Wagner's (Nick) character sniffing around Brooke and Bridget too. There's been a breath of powerful fresh air blow through here with the addition of the new characters and the new actors. And they're not threatening to replace our show with reality programming!