Courtesy/CBS

In the soap shocker of 2013, The Bold and the Beautiful pulled off one of the biggest casting replacements in the history of soapdom, when they announced that very popular soap opera leading man, Thorsten Kaye, has been cast as the new Ridge Forrester!  As BOLD fans know, Ridge was last played for 25 years by Ronn Moss, who departed the series on his own accord well over a year ago.  In story, Ridge was last seen in Paris after Brooke and Ridge’s honeymoon went bust!

Kaye, who has been so beloved in the role of rugged business man Zach Slater on All My Children for nearly a decade, surprised everyone when he signed a contract to appear as the new Ridge, while the state of the second season of the online revival of AMC was still in a state of flux.  With things though heading south, it would turn out to be a wise move for Kaye, since All My Children was for all intent and purposes canceled again, leaving him open to new opportunities and a primo role on the most-watched soap opera in the world … B&B!

On-Air On-Soaps chatted with Thorsten to get his outlook on: taking over the role of Ridge, how the character may have changed since he was away, what it was like working with his new leading lady, Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke) for the first time, and his own bold move of agreeing to join the cast of the soap opera, without knowing the part he would be playing!  Imagine his surprise, when Kaye found out he was the new Ridge Forrester!  Viewers will first see Thorsten on the Friday, December 13th episode of the CBS soap opera.  Here’s what Thorsten shared with us on his new daytime adventure!

MICHAEL:

How did this come about that you landed on The Bold and the Beautiful?  Did you have a meeting with executive producer and head writer, Brad Bell?  We heard you actually did not know you were signing on to play Ridge!  Is that true?

THORSTEN:

Photo Credit: Sue Coflin/Max Photos

We did not really have a meeting.  I got a call from my agent that there was interest from The Bold and the Beautiful.  I said, “O.K. Let me know what it is.”  My agent said, “Brad Bell would like to call you at home.”  I said, “Alright, well I’m here.”   So he called and said the coolest thing and obviously, you want to start out the right way and he is a smart man.  Brad called and said, “Look, I know the puck is about to drop at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, so I know we don’t have a lot of time.”  So obviously, Brad did his research and found out I was a hockey fan and the big game was about to start, so I was already in! (Laughs)  We talked about travel and what it would mean, and being away from my family, and all that kind of stuff, and how many days and how long.  We never really talked about the character.  I don’t know if it’s because he did not want to say, or I am so conceited that I think I could do anything! (Laughs)  But it just never came up.  So then a couple days later when we got a deal together, and decided we would try this for awhile, I then said, “So Brad, what do you need?  What do you want me to do?”  Brad said, “You’re going to be the replacement for Ridge.”   I said, “That’s great, that mean’s nothing to me.”  But then, he went on to say the name, “Ronn Moss”.  I have met Ronn before, and now I think we may be in a little bit of trouble, I said.  That is not an easy thing to do! (Laughs) They obviously have decided to go completely in a different direction with the character.

MICHAEL:

You are so beloved by the fans of All My Children!  Did you make the decision to join B&B, because you were seeing the writing on the wall that things weren’t working out for a second season of AMC online?

THORSTEN:

Photo Credit: Sue Coflin/Max Photos

I have to tell you, if All My Children had worked out, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.  We were taping AMC a half hour from my house in Connecticut.  It was never about not wanting to be on All My Children, or wanting to be on The Bold and the Beautiful.  There comes a time in your life where it’s not really about you anymore.  Ten years ago, my first daughter was born, and then you try to maintain, and it’s kind of like working out.  I am just trying to maintain, and it’s the same thing with my career at this point.   If I can just get by, and not hurt anybody .and my kids can eat and go to a good school, then I am fine.  But it was the only choice I had, because All My Children wasn’t there. They kept talking about being there and coming back, but they weren’t, and they kept saying they were, but try to tell that to the gas company … they don’t buy it.  They just want their bills paid every month.

MICHAEL:

With all the issues that plagued the first season of AMC’s revival online, did you expect All My Children to be canceled a second heartbreaking time?  (First on television by ABC, and second by the production company Prospect Park, who resurrected the show online.)

THORSTEN:

I am not sure what I expected.  There are so many good people over there.  I am not sure what happened between when we took a break, and when Oprah wanted the next 20 or 40  episodes, and how people were now starting to figure out Hulu, and the computer and how to use it, and a DVD player to get there.  They were just getting to that point when Prospect Park decided not to do the show anymore.  So I am not sure what happened.  It makes me sad; there are a lot of good people out of work.

MICHAEL:

When you started becoming the new Ridge Forrester, did the show give you carte blanche?  Was it an open slate?  Could you inherently make the character different than Ronn Moss’s Ridge?

THORSTEN:

Courtesy/CBS

I think I got hired because of what I have done in the past, and not what I could do in the future.  They were obviously going a different direction, and if they had a choice, Ronn Moss would be doing this role, but that wasn’t an option anymore, as I understand.  So they had to get somebody else.  So as a producer you think, “Well, we could get someone who is really good-looking and sensitive, and can bring what Ronn brought to the role, or do something completely different.”  I think the jury is still out on that.  I have not aired in the U.S. yet.  But, you have got to bring the tools that you have to the stage.  And we don’t really get paid to be chameleons in this industry.  I think people hire you because of what you have done before.  I don’t think they would hire Arnold Schwarzenegger to be the new head of The Smurfs, although that would be funny!  (Laughs)  As an audience, you want to know what you are getting yourself into when you spend $12-$15 bucks at a movie.  You want to make sure Bruce Willis doesn’t get killed in the first five minutes.

MICHAEL:

What happened when you became part of the cast and signed on the dotted line?  Did you chat with your new leading lady, the series superstar, Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke)?  Had you met Katherine, previously?

THORSTEN:

I had never met her before!  She is a classy lady, but she and John McCook (Eric Forrester) actually called me at home before I started working on B&B.  He said, “We are really looking forward to having you, and it’s a real cool group, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”  And Kelly did the same, but she did say that she doesn’t think just anyone can play the role of Ridge, which I am not sure what that means, but we will see if she changes her mind on that.  It has got to be hard for her.  She has been with the same guy on-screen for 25 years, and they are very good friends off-screen.  Ronn is a good guy and something didn’t work out.  He did not get fired or anything … if he had, this would be a different conversation.  I don’t know if it had happened that way, if I would have taken a part like that, because it never ends well, for anybody.  But he decided it was time to move, and he had this conversation with Kelly, and I don’t know too much about the behind the scenes stuff.  But, we will see.  This is a completely different play now.  I can not recreate what they had, so we have to come up with something new.   Whether it’s better or not, that is not up to me.  I am just going to show up and do what I can.  This is the other thing:  I walk into the studio and one of the producers says: “Kelly is sweet and pretty, but don’t be nervous.  She has chemistry with anybody” And I go, “Oh, I don’t really know how to take that?”  (Laughs)

Courtesy/CBS

MICHAEL:

So, for the long time audience of The Bold and the Beautiful, it might take an adjustment period, because here comes in an Irish Ridge Forrester!  Will you use your natural accent?  Or, are you changing that for the character?

THORSTEN:

You can pull that stuff off such as …. changing accents in a movie … but the thing about daytime, and I say this when I get to teach class … you have to bring as much of you to the role as you can, because otherwise, you can’t maintain it.  You can’t pretend to be somebody completely different.  You have to make the role a part of you.  In a movie, there is a beginning, middle, and an end.  You can create something.  Here in soaps, because the writing is so fast, I kind of have to bring me to it.  All the parts I play are very similar.  I am not going to lie to you.

MICHAEL:

Did you watch any old clips on You Tube of Ridge and Brooke’s star-crossed romance to prepare for taking over the part?  Or, more notably, did you check out Ronn Moss in the role?

THORSTEN:

I don’t see the upside of that.  You can see how much better looking this dude is, and then you got to go to work.  That is like playing for the Red Wings and saying, “I am going to watch Gordie Howe videos.”  It’s a different thing.  It’s a different game.  It’s something that somebody wanted.  At the end of the day, this is the entertainment business.  If we can find a way as a group, and it’s not up to me, to keep entertaining people, then we are in good shape.  If it’s not entertaining, that it doesn’t matter who is playing the role.

MICHAEL:

When Ridge comes back into the picture, will he have a chip on his shoulder?  After all on-screen in story, things did not end well for Ridge and Brooke after they got married and went on their honeymoon! 

THORSTEN:

Photo Credit: Gilles Toucas

I am playing it that he has chip on his shoulder, because I am playing it! (Laughs) I don’t know if a chip on his shoulder is the right thing.  There has been some stuff in his past that I was not part of, that I am aware of, that wasn’t dealt with.  Like everything, there is Ridge’s story, Brooke’s story, and then there is the truth. And whether we are going to get to that or not, I don’t know.  But, I think both those people come into it with unresolved issues, and that is always fun for soaps. Unfortunately during that time, Katherine was busy with other members of the cast!  It is heightened reality, but I got to tell you, the set up is good.

MICHAEL:

Fans are looking forward to seeing two very strong leading men go head to head with each other!  Namely, you and Don Diamont (Bill)!  Have you taped scenes already with him?

THORSTEN:

Yes, I have. It’s fun working with him.  I think the dynamic he has with Ronn was different, and that is all I am going to say about that.

MICHAEL:

B&B has also recast the role of Ridge’s son RJ!  Have you had scenes with him and we understand he will be somewhat older, but not 30! (Laughs)

THORSTEN:

Courtesy/CBS

I have had scenes with him.  RJ is not one of those kids who are going to return after he is 23-years-old after going up to get the skis, or whatever the story is.  He is still quite young, and again, it’s a sense of family and what it means.  Can you swallow your pride and get past the problems that you created, that she created, and can you get back that family unit?  Or, is it better to start all over somewhere else … and is it better for the kid?

MICHAEL:

Soap viewers have loved you for all of your tough romantic leading guy characters. That being said, could B&B be planning on making you, as Ridge, an out and out villain to stir the pot?

THORSTEN:

Well, there is always fine line.  What’s a villain?  A villain is somebody who does bad things and doesn’t really think they are bad.  We have all done that.  I am not saying Ridge is going to be a villain, but I do think he will stand by what he feels is right, and sadly, in those situations, someone always get hurts.

MICHAEL:

Photo Credit: HutchinsPhoto.com

You are married to two-time Daytime Emmy Award winning actress Susan Haskell (Ex-Marty, OLTL) and the two of you share children together.  What was Susan’s reaction to the fact that you would be leaving Connecticut and flying to Los Angles to tape B&B a lot?

THORSTEN:

Well, it wasn’t, “Oh, by the way, I am leaving!”  Susan was part of this discussion from the very first phone call, and the kids get it.  But luckily and sadly, the kids miss me when I am not here, and I miss them, and we have to figure all this out.   I don’t know what’s going to happen in three or four years!  And once they start airing this stuff, it may not be my decision, anyway.  If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, and I get it.

MICHAEL:

You know it’s a different time we are living in.  Now, soap operas are giving actors contracts and jobs, even if they don’t live in Los Angeles or New York, and flying them in as part of their deals.  Recent examples are: Steve Burton (Dylan) who lives in Nashville, but flies in to tape episodes of Y&R, and many of the actors who lived in Los Angeles. who were flown to Connecticut to tape the reboots of AMC and One Life to Live.  

THORSTEN:

It is an interesting time.  You have to chase work a little more.  It’s also that people look for different things.  It’s funny to me when people say it’s the economy, and we can’t pay you what your supposed to be paid, but when I take my kids to the movie theatre, it’s still $65, and so that hasn’t change.  If you can’t pay actors to do the job they have done in the past, and the salary they have worked toward and that you should be earning now, if you can’t pay them that, then you can’t charge the same for the product.

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/ABC

Did either of your former All My Children leading ladies, Alicia Minshew (Ex-Kendall) or Paula Garces (Ex-Lea), say anything to you once they heard you took a role on B&B?

THORSTEN:

I think my leading ladies want to run away from me as fast as they can! (Laughs)  Katherine Kelly Lang has actually moved and changed her telephone number! (Laughs) Alicia is married to one of my best friends, and it’s a business, and this was never meant to hurt anybody, and Alicia knows that, and so does everybody at All My Children.  It’s about feeding my family first.  Listen, I wish we were still doing All My Children, and I could just drive to work and be home by 5PM and put these kids to bed, but as you said, it’s a different world we live in.

MICHAEL:

When you look at your body of work as Ian on Port Charles, Patrick on One Life to Live, and Zach on All My Children, are there any storylines or moments, where you were proud of your performance?  Actors are very often critical of their work, so this may be a hard question to answer.

THORSTEN:

Courtesy/ABC

You know what?  I am critical and for good reason.  I think all actors should be. Otherwise, you are not going to be any better.  You just read the good reviews and throw the other ones out.  I think every show I have been on had moments where people did great work, and if you were lucky, you would be a part of that.  Was there one storyline where I thought I did a great job?   I am looking at my shelf and I don’t see any Emmys, so my answer would be “No!”  If you can’t find that thirty second scene that is going to make you smile and connect with somebody, then don’t be an actor, because it’s not all going to be Hamlet!  And I have to tell you, I have done that show, and it wasn’t all that great, either!  I can’t blame the writer on that one!  (Laughs)

MICHAEL:

You also have an on-screen half brother now … in the form of Winsor Harmon (Thorne Forrester)!  Have you had the chance to work with Winsor?  He is a lot of fun!

THORSTEN:

Yes!  Winsor has been to my house before.   Now, let’s talk about that accent!  He must be my brother from Southern Italy! (Laughs)  They are all great people over at B&B.  I can’t say a bad thing … I mean, not yet.  But ask me in a couple of months, and I might have something to say on that!

MICHAEL:

Finally, any nerves about how the audience will receive you when you debut as the new Ridge Forrester?

THORSTEN:

Courtesy/CBS

I didn’t until just now! (Laughs)  Television is different than live theatre.  In the theatre … you can’t help but have nerves about it, because you can feel the energy of the audience.  I am not going to watch my debut on The Bold and the Beautiful, because I can find a thousand reasons why I don’t like it.  I have moved on from that already.  I am working on new material for the coming weeks.  This is a very different way to approach the part.  I think the role of Ridge is very important to the show.  It’s a small cast and playing him differently may not work in the makeup of it, but I can’t pretend to be Ronn Moss, I am not.  I can’t do what he can do.  I can’t bring what he brought to it.  That would be like him playing Zach Slater … it’s very different.  And that does not mean, it’s better or worse, it’s just different.