Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins
Next week on General Hospital Lante fans, and those of Dominic Zamprogna (Dante), will find several things in Dante’s world may have turned upside down, in particular with the women in his life. His mom Olivia finally wakes up after a medically induced coma as a result of Heather Webber giving her a whopping dose of LSD. Meanwhile, Lulu isn’t feeling well! Hmmm.
On-Air On-Soaps recently caught up with the talented and popular Dominic Zamprogna to get the lowdown! Will Lante fans finally get to see some major story for their favorite duo, after the couple seemed to have been back-burnered for some time? What does he think of the other men who have been circling in Lulu’s life, namely Patrick and Johnny, and if they pose any real threat to the couple’s future happiness? Dominic shares his thoughts!
Meanwhile on the real life homefront, Zamprogna is about to be a proud papa for the second time! His wife, Linda is expecting their second child due around Christmas time. Having been a co-host on our On-Air On-Soaps Podcast, Dominic’s direct tells-it-like-it-is attitude is refreshing and he can be hilariously funny and charming all at the same time. He’s the real deal. So with that, here’s our chat with Dom!
So let me put this out there to get your opinion on this. I interviewed Jason Thompson (Patrick) and I suggested that perhaps the powers-that-be at GH were considering putting Lulu in Patrick’s future as a potential love interest. And then, the Lante fans went off on me! (Laughs)
Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins
DOMINIC: I agree she could be in his future! I watched their scenes and I thought Julie had really nice chemistry with Jason, to tell you the truth! (Laughs) They are two fantastic actors. I thought they worked really well together. It’s a soap. So whatever happens … happens.
But wouldn’t you like something to happen to Dante and Lulu? They can’t just be on the air as a boring happy couple, that never seems to fly on soaps.
DOMINIC: Well, we haven’t really been anything lately! If she is with someone else, that would certainly get us back on and some airtime. I think it comes in waves. To me, that’s the nature of soaps. And yes. I think I would like that threat in their relationship. But that threat exists between Lulu and Johnny, because they are business partners again. We are going to see just how much of a jealous person Dante is, even though he tried not to be. You can see he can’t help it Johnny slept with Dante’s mom and is his father’s enemy. Plus, he slept with his wife years ago. So they have a past. So you are going to see that drive a bit of a stake between them … and that is going to bring us back into the forefront a little bit more. But honestly, whatever stirs things up is good! Obviously, Frank Valentini (executive producer, GH) and Ron Carlivati (head writer, GH) are into stirring things up all over the place from what we have seen so far!
I kind of thought; what if they had a triangle with you, Julie Marie Berman (Lulu), and Jason Thompson. That would be giving the fans three great actors to watch interact with each other in this situation. And again, this would all be temporary until Kimberly McCullough (Robin) comes back to the show! (Laughs)
DOMINIC: You know that would be interesting though. If you have a Dante/ Lulu/ Johnny triangle, you have a bad guy, a good guy and her in the middle. With Patrick and Dante, here you have two good guys which could be interesting, and again their scenes together are phenomenal. So again, fans should not get angry at the threat of that. It would be story and legitimate story and conflict, no matter what happens.
Courtesy/ABC
Here is my thing: I have loved your performances on General Hospital the entire time you have been there. You had such great story, and you were on all the time and then you were back-burned. Were you concerned that the new regime did not want to write for you?
DOMINIC: No, no, not at all. I think everyone gets their time in the sun. Sure, compared to the first two and half years I was on the show, I was on non-stop everyday. I think these guys (Frank and Ron) like me too, but they like to spread the stories and the action out a little bit. I don’t think that is a bad thing. And at the same time, it’s nice for your fans to say, “We want more Dante” instead of saying, “We are sick of seeing him!” I also feel in the last month the story has been there. Now it’s just starting to air though!
So there is big story for Lante fans isn’t there? Lulu isn’t feeling so good next week.
DOMINIC: Honestly the story is there and it’s coming. I have worked a ton since we had the dark weeks. There is a lot of great stuff coming up in scenes with me and Julie. Like awesome! So, if Lante fans are looking for some good stuff, they are about to see a lot of good stuff coming up!
How would you have liked to have seen the former writers lay out story for Dante and Lulu? Do you think they got married to quickly? Do you think it was done at the right time?
Courtesy/ABC
DOMINIC: The problem when you have two people like me and Julie is when you have written a big build up to our relationship, and then you finally had us have sex, and then we got together, it did well. There also was the Brook Lyn thing and all of that. I do think with Frank and Ron it wasn’t their story to have us married. If they had their way, they wouldn’t have had us marry. And I think if Jill Farren Phelps (Ex-EP, GH) and Garin Wolf (Ex-head writer, GH) had their way, they wouldn’t have married us so soon either. There was supposed to be a bunch of things that was supposed to happen. But time and the threat of the show being canceled, forced them to push up story. So we got married in December. Then it was like, “OK. What do we do with them now?” And then the new people came in and said, “Oh, they are happy.” But they were breaking up all these other couples. So the thought was, “let’s not break them up.” I think at some point you have to have a real threat of a breakup, or a massive crisis or conflict of something between the two. Not outside forces, because then that feels contrived such as Lulu opening a club with Johnny. I do like the conflict they are having because Dante being jealous is a real problem that happens in real relationships. People who become insecure in their relationship because of an ex, that can cause a lot of problems. I think that is one of the first legit concerns that they have had since they have been married. I will say again that there is so much great stuff coming!
Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins
Next week, Dante has a lot going down; there are some developments with Olivia after she awakens from her coma and her LSD trip! And it may not be good!
DOMINIC: Yup. Mom’s in danger, but it’s a different kind of danger. There are a lot of people in different kinds of danger. Patrick is in trouble. Luke is in trouble. Olivia is going to be in trouble, but actually it’s going to play out much more interesting than you think!
What happened to the scenes between Dante and his father Sonny? It seems like you and Maurice Benard (Sonny) hardly work together at all anymore. What is up with that?
DOMINIC: We had some scenes the other day. Whether we are going to see more on top of that, I don’t know. Whenever Sonny and Dante get together on screen for to long people are like you can’t be too happy either, and you can’t be to angry either. There are fans on both sides of that fence as well. There are fans who really want Sonny and Dante to get along, and fans who really don’t want Sonny and Dante to get along.
I never knew where their father/son relationship ended up! I was confused if they liked each other, loved each other, or still couldn’t stand each other.
Courtesy/ABC
DOMINIC: It didn’t end up anywhere definitively. I think their relationship is always going to be influx and that is what is interesting about it. It’s kind of like a train wreck where we have a conversation and it’s kind of like a rubbernecking experience, where you don’t really know if its going to end with a harmonious moment and a hug, or if its going to be like, “Good seeing you,” or, “F*** U, Dad.” I think it’s interesting no matter what they write for Maurice and me.
Alright Dom and Lante fans, what do you think of his remarks in the interview? Are you excited about what is to come for Dante and Lulu? What do you think should be the dramatic conflict between these two? Are you liking Lulu and Johnny being in each other’s orbit again? Let us know what you think will happen coming up in the story as previewed and hinted at by Dominic!
