General Hospital’s Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos) and Chad Duell (Michael Corinthos) are very close today. However, when Chad first took over as Michael, Maurice was not so happy with the new newcomer. How did Chad and Maurice bridge that gap?
General Hospital – Maurice Benard Was Upset About The Recast
General Hospital’s Maurice and Chad discussed their rocky start on Benard’s YouTube series, “State Of Mind.” Benard really liked Drew Garrett who was playing Michael at the time. However, Benard said, “I’m very loyal when I like somebody. They had an actor playing Michael who I thought was good, and we got close.
And I was really working hard with him. Then I come home on a Sunday, and my wife is on the phone with the executive producer at the time [Jill Farren Phelps] and she said they fired [Garrett]. And I was pissed.” Duell had come to the studio to audition for the part of Kiefer Bauer (Christian Alexander). However, Phelps decided to hire Duell to replace Garrett instead. Benard says it took him six months to warm up to Duell.
General Hospital – Chad Duell’s First Day Was Rough
General Hospital’s Duell says he still hasn’t watched his first episode. Duell says, “They had me in the middle of a storyline. The first day, I was with Dominic Zamprogna, (Dante Falconeri) and I was telling him that I killed Claudia. And I was so nervous that I sweated through two shirts, I almost vomited, I was having panic attacks.
I knew everybody was looking at me like, ‘Oh, this is the guy that got him fired, we’ll see what he can do.’ And the stuff I had to do in that take, like that’s getting baptism by fire. And I think, they’re going to fire me, I felt like I couldn’t do it, I wasn’t performing well because I was too nervous to actually let my performance come through.”
General Hospital – Maurice Benard Began To Thaw
General Hospital’s Duell was playing very intense scenes where he was being interrogated on the stand. Maurice said he couldn’t deny that this newbie had talent. Chad was killing it on the stand as Michael. Maurice was convinced that Chad would mess up but he never did. Maurice says his feelings began to thaw and now 12 years later, they are very close. Maurice says Chad is now like a son to him and he is thankful for that.
Maurice tends to try to mentor new actors who join the show. It may have taken a while to get close to Chad but now they are as close, if not closer than Sonny and Michael.
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