Photo Credit: Eric Schneider

General Hospital favorite, Dominic Zamprogna, delivered one of the power performances of last week, during pivotal episodes of the ABC daytime drama series.  In story, PCPD detective Dante Falconeri was on to the theory that Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary) was being held against his will in the old Spencer home basement by an imposter, Fluke!  When using his investigative skills, Dante deduced that he had to get Luke out of the basement.  As he attempts to do so, Fluke throws him down the basement stairs and then clubs him over the head with a crowbar.  Dante, desperate to get to his feet in order to save his father-in-law, mustered the strength to get to the chair in which he believes Luke is tied to and being held hostage, only when he gets there Dante is in for the shock of his life!  Luke isn’t there, but a skeleton of him, or someone else … and there is a bomb ticking in the skeleton figure’s lap!  Dante is about to die!

These scenes provided the backdrop for fans of the series to get an opportunity to see the talents of Zamprogna … and it didn’t stop there!  After Dante is rescued from the bomb by his police partner, Nathan (Ryan Paevey) he comes to in the emergency room at General Hospital, and reveals there is also a bomb on the Haunted Star.  Elsewhere, his father Sonny (Maurice Benard) has escaped Pentonville prison, and made his way to the boat himself to save his son Michael (Chad Duell) from certain doom.  Michael finds the bomb on board and runs with it out to the deck, but Sonny grabs it and goes into the waters of Port Charles when the bomb explodes. When Sonny survives, he has a tender and heartfelt reunion with Dante.

On-Air On-Soaps chatted with Dominic to talk about his wild week of story, and find out: what he thinks the future holds for Lante, how he and co-star Emme Rylan (Lulu) feel when they are back-burnered, what he thinks of the Fluke/Luke mystery, the return of Brandon Barash (Johnny) and if Dante will be part of solving this supreme GH riddle of what is going on with Luke Spencer in the coming weeks, and what kind of story would he like to tackle next.  Here now is what Dynamite Dom had to say!

MICHAEL:

Let’s discuss the scene in the basement, where Dante is trapped with a skeleton Luke, or Bill, or whoever that is, and the bomb that is about to explode!  Was that difficult to pull off dramatically?  First, there was the obvious humor in it … you looking at this skeleton … and then having to play it for all it’s worth!

DOMINIC:

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There is nothing scary or frightening about it.  It looked like a burned corpse, which was a little disconcerting, but these are the toughest scenes to play: rolling around and then pretending to be unconscious.  The way some things went down … where Dante reaches out and grabs the crowbar … I am questioning: “Am I awake, or am I asleep?”  Going into the scene, I was thinking I don’t know how to play any of this.  I said to the producers, “You have to give me lots of blood, so it looks like he is really f**d up.  Otherwise, there would be no reason that he can’t use any of the tools at his disposal to get the hell out of there.”  It was important to show Dante in as bad as shape as possible.  Getting back to the skeleton, it’s never easy to play off of something like that.  You look at it, and know it looks kind of silly, and additionally it has a bomb sitting in its crotch. (Laughs).  However, you don’t have time to think about that.  You have to get through the material, and the last thing I can do is really smile about it on-camera. (Laughs)

MICHAEL:

And in actuality, it was very upsetting to see Dante left alone to die with a bomb! You felt so bad for him, and when he said he didn’t want to leave his son, Rocco … hankies!

DOMINIC:

Courtesy/ABC

It’s always one-take unless you royally mess up, and you know that going in there, and I have been at GH now a pretty long time.  When you are doing stuff by yourself, it’s tough to know how well it’s going, because there is not another actor there, and you are trying to depict something that you think would be accurate for that situation.  I tried to find the combination of drunk, and asleep, and being out of it.  I have never been thrown down a flight of stairs, and smashed in the head with a crowbar! (Laughs)  So, you kind of have to do your best.

MICHAEL:

How was it working in these scenes with Tony Geary in this key part of the Fluke/Luke story?

DOMINIC:

We had the confrontation leading up to falling down the stairs, and I love working with Tony.  Apart from being a legend, he’s a terrific actor.  He is also a really generous actor and person.

MICHAEL:

How did you film the scenes where Fluke is hitting Dante in the head with a crowbar?  Was there a double involved?

DOMINIC:

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Yes.  I think in one shot Tony’s double hit me in the head, which was the one I was concerned about, and there was another shot with Tony, where there was a close-up on his face as Fluke.  Tony was kind of just doing the motions of it, and dropping the crowbar out of frame. It was the double that actually had to get a bit closer to me!

MICHAEL:

Dante wasn’t being doofus in all of this, and I was so glad about it.  He was actually figuring things out in the Fluke mystery more than anyone else last week … prior to getting clobbered and trapped!

DOMINIC:

Dante thinks he’s on the right track to discovering who Fluke is, and I was really excited about that, but then we come to find out he’s not on the right track. (Laughs)  So, that didn’t last very long.  And yes, I was kind of happy that he was figuring things out.  So much of this story is left to other people, other than the police department.  I have always wondered … why that is?  I don’t understand why we, as the cops, can’t figure things out on this show, whereas other very intelligently written shows have both strong and intelligent evil and good characters, and there is a very strong push-pull.  Every great crime drama has both of those elements.  I have never understood why the PCPD can’t have a few more “wins”.

MICHAEL:

It is nice to see Dante in heroic-mode, but sometimes that is far and few between these days now that Nathan (Ryan Paevey) is on the scene at the PCPD.  Nathan was the one who rescued Dante from the basement, and the bomb.  How has it been working with Ryan Paevey?

DOMINIC:

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Its great working with Ryan, and it’s nice for Dante to have a partner.  It was cool when Michael Easton was there as McBain.  Dante and John had a good partnership going.  As for Ryan, he is a super nice dude.  He came into the show pretty green in the acting world, and I think he has come along way since he started.

MICHAEL:

Is Dante going to help Lulu come to grips on where and/or who Luke is?  Viewers were left with the belief that Fluke is Luke after the Friday air show.

DOMINIC:

I think Dante is going to help Lulu figure this out and keep track of Luke.  I think Nikolas (Tyler Christopher) is going to be more helpful to her than Dante coming up.  There is going to be a bunch of stuff with Lulu, and Tracy (Jane Elliot), and Nikolas.

MICHAEL:

Maurice Benard (Sonny) and you turned in some powerful moments on Friday’s episode in the scene where Dante comes to see Sonny at the hospital, as he is so glad that his father is alive.  After all, Sonny was the one who took the bomb off the Haunted Star and saved everyone on it.  Maurice was so good in the scenes with you, and it’s a shame that viewers don’t get to see the two of you together on the show that much anymore.

DOMINIC:

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We talk about that same thing every time we get to work together.  We seem to have one scene like that every six months, or so.  I heard it was received well this past week.  I remember doing it, and Mo was in that emotional place, and we kind of bring that out in each other.  We have always played, since the beginning, the fact that this father and son love each other despite their differences, and despite the obstacles that are constantly going to be there, and it’s painful.  The one thing that is nice is that the more scenes we do, they are more reconciliatory.  There feels like there is more common ground between them, and a little more forgiveness on Dante’s part for who is father is.

MICHAEL:

I recently did an interview with Maurice over Christmas, and no matter what anyone says he still turns out great performance after great performance.  I know that a lot of the fans of the series backlash him, and they still feel, at times, it’s the Sonny show.  However, it feels that sometimes this man doesn’t get the due and respect from members of the audience when he comes to the table with scenes like we witnessed on Friday’s episode.

DOMINIC:

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I have always thought that since I got to GH.  I am shocked he did not get a pre-nomination this year for his work in the Daytime Emmy race. The last two years, I think Maurice has done top-notch work.  He has really made a conscious decision to grow the Sonny character since I have gotten to GH.  Maurice has grown Sonny into this other person, and by that I mean he’s developed this guy even more so.  He has gone from being an ego-maniacal, ruthless, gangster to a softer-gentler version of that.  I thought he really deserved a nomination.  Maurice obviously has a huge fan base, and because of having a huge fan base, there is also a large contingent of people opposing that fan base that are going to be there, because people like to s–t on things.  Every time I am in a scene with Maurice, or see him do a scene with Laura Wright (Carly) or Chad Duell (Michael) he’s a 150% there.  He brings it out in other people, too.  You can’t work with someone like that, and see what they are doing, and then half-ass it.  I have the utmost respect for Maurice, and I always have.  I would love to work with him more.  Every time we do get to work together, we get to the heart of who these guys are.  It’s a real human relationship, which is hard to come by sometimes.

MICHAEL:

So, I hear you decided to not submit yourself for the Daytime Emmys this year?

DOMINIC:

I did not submit for the Emmys, because I did not feel I had the material.  I have had discussions with people in the past of when to submit, and when not to submit.  Some people think just throw your hat into the ring and see what happens. I have never felt that way.  If I don’t know off the top of my head and remember that I have something, I tend to not want to participate.  I knew last year I had that scene with Maurice at the boxing ring that felt really good to me.  I didn’t feel I had that this year off the top of my head.  I looked at a couple scenes, but they weren’t there for me.  I didn’t want to waste people’s time, I think, who have to watch the reels in the voting process.

Courtesy/ABC

MICHAEL:

What do you think of Brandon Barash’s (Johnny) return?  Did you have good time with Brandon reigniting the tension between rivals: Johnny and Dante?

DOMINIC:

I loved doing it.  The only thing I didn’t want to fall into was playing the same story beat that we played when Julie Marie Berman (Ex-Lulu) was here a few years ago.  Dante was imagining them getting it on, and it was a side of this relationship that I never had played, and that was: Dante being jealous.  I did not want to redo that story.  I tried to find on the surface at least, why he was concerned about this business relationship between Johnny and Lulu, because I do believe Dante trusts Lulu completely, and I do believe he doesn’t trust Johnny.  When Brandon came back, and I told him this, when I worked with him he felt like he was super free.  And, anytime you get to work with anyone that is feeling like that it makes me more free.  I think Brandon did great, and I don’t know what his plans are for the future, but it was cool to have him back.

MICHAEL:

It has seemed up until now that you and Emme Rylan (Lulu) have been back-burnered … or shuttled off the canvas a bit.  Do the two of you often get together and talk about times when there is a lack of story for Lante?

Courtesy/ABC

DOMINIC:

Yes, we have talked about it.  I have talked to our executive producer Frank Valentini about it, too.  He had said that sometimes you need to have happiness in one place.  I guess we were that for a long while.  For a long time I wasn’t working much with Emme, but working with other people, which is also great.  Doing a scene with Chad or Maurice, and doing those scenes with Tony, that was very different for me; and I welcomed that.  Now at the same time, I do enjoy working with Emme, and the Lante relationship is very important.  But, maybe it’s time for some kind of shake-up with them, and maybe the Johnny-thing was the first ax!  I know they talked about some future story plans, but I don’t know if they will come to fruition; so we shall see.  If you have people happy for too long, people don’t dig it anymore, and mostly because no one in their real life is that happy! (Laughs)  I think people don’t tune-in to watch a show about happy people; they tune-in to watch a show about people who are “train-wrecks.”  Not that I want a split or something terrible to happen between Lulu and Dante, but you do crave the change-up, and have things blown-up once in a while.

MICHAEL:

Could you see another woman on the canvas catching Dante’s eye to stir things up?

DOMINIC:

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Maybe not on the canvas, as of yet, Michael. (Laughs)  In the past, we have talked about women in Dante’s past, but that none of them have come close to what Lulu means to him.  I think that is what makes them so special: he was Sonny’s son, and she was Luke’s daughter. So, I don’t know if it would be a long lost love, but there could be some action somewhere down the line, potentially.

MICHAEL:

I think it would be interesting if this time it’s someone from Dante’s past that drives a wedge between Lulu and Dante.  Previously, all the romantic conflict has come from men in Lulu’s past.

DOMINIC:

I think that would be interesting, too, and we have been there before with Lulu and her past loves.  But, I think Dante is just too good right now.  He is a good person, and there is never going to be any doubt about that, but I don’t know if anyone is this clean.

MICHAEL:

I hear you’re working on some very exciting and intriguing outside projects!

DOMINIC:

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My life outside the show is sort of taking off.  So, things happen for a reason.  When I started on the show I was called: “Every day Dante” by Lisa LoCiero (Olivia).  It’s a long ways from that now, so you want to be somewhere in the middle of that.  The time off has allowed me to develop a lot of things outside the show which could potentially be a big next couple of years for me.  I have a few TV and film projects I am working on at various stages, and it’s just super exciting.  One I did the story with a buddy of mine, who did most of the writing on it, and one is a movie about Charles Ponzi.  If all goes well, we hopefully will have an announcement down the line.  It’s all been very interesting! Being on GH is a great job!  It allows you to go to work, work on your craft, pay your bills, support your family, and lets you realize some other dreams you might have.  It’s incredible.  I feel blessed and lucky.

MICHAEL:

What do you think about the way GH fans take to social media to comment on what they see on the episodes, and in story each day?  Your show tapes and then airs those episodes, I would say, faster than the other daytime drama, so the feedback seems more instantaneous.  Would you agree?

DOMINIC:

Our show is different, because we shoot it and three weeks later it airs, and fans react one way, or the other.  I would say GH faces things that other shows don’t face in such real time.  Any other show, mostly in primetime, they shoot their show and then it airs, and they get love or hate from the viewers, and then it ends.  This show is never-ending! (Laughs)  We take two weeks off, and then we are back at it.  We don’t take six months off.   I think it must be difficult at times for the powers-that-be to tell the story you want to tell, and then deal with the praise, the good, and the bad from the audience.

MICHAEL:

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Of all the scenes that aired this past week with Dante being trapped, the confrontation with Fluke, the emotional material with Maurice … what was your favorite?

DOMINIC:

The stuff with Maurice brought back all those old feelings of the guy who shot me, cheated on my mom and left my mother, and wasn’t there for me, and now is.  It’s so heavy.  The history with Fluke/Luke and Dante is based off that Dante is married to his daughter, but the father/son relationship between Dante and Sonny is like no other.  The material with Sonny was the most rewarding for the character, and for me as an actor.

MICHAEL:

What can you tease, or preview to the audience that is coming up for Dante?

DOMINIC:

There could potentially be bumps in the Lante cupcake batter.  There could be some bumps in the road coming up.  And let’s just say, their happiness could be tested. There is going to be some fun scenes coming up with me and Tony Geary again, where he plays getting under Dante’s skin again, and he plays that very well, by the way. (Laughs)  So there is going to be confrontation, and the Luke mystery does not get solved yet; I think for a couple more weeks, at least that I know of.  Dante will eventually come back into the fold to help Lulu in dealing with, and fixing, the situation with Luke.

Photo Credit: HutchinsPhoto.com

MICHAEL:

In closing, since we are getting close to understanding the Fluke/Luke mystery, when you found out who Fluke was going to turn out to be, what was your reaction to it?  How do you think the audience will feel when all is said in done?  Do you feel it’s been laid out so they will fully understand it?

DOMINIC:

When Tony Geary and I were talking about the story shortly before the Christmas holiday he told me who the character was actually going to turn out to be.  I thought it was kind of cool, and I actually liked it.  There’s a deeper meaning to me, and to him as actors, to play the way the story actually is, than with these other red herring stories that they were throwing out there.  I actually liked it, and the way they went with it.  I think it will completely make all the sense in the world very shortly to the audience.