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Michael Easton: A SSW Interview
Anyone who knows me knows that my favorite soap character is Lt. John McBain on One Life To Live.
Yeah, he broods sometimes. Big deal.
But what I really like about McBain is his honesty and loyalty and the fact that he always does the right thing to a fault.
The only times that he breaks the rules is if someone that he cares about is in danger or in trouble.
You gotta love that!
At Super Soap Weekend 2008, I caught up with the actor - who plays my favorite cop - Michael Easton.
And I learned an interesting fact that I didn’t know and maybe you didn’t either.
Easton rode around with one of New York City’s finest for a week before tackling the role of McBain.
“I went home with him and talked to his wife and I really learned a lot from that relationship,” Easton said. “She said that he’d come home and the whole night would go by and she knew something was on his mind and he wouldn’t talk about it. And she’d ask him and he’d say, ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ They see a lot of stuff and you know it has to affect them.”
Regarding playing John McBain, Easton said, “I like that he doesn’t talk a lot. It’s a hard thing to do on daytime not to talk about your feelings all the time. He’s a hard guy to like and that’s one of the things I like about Todd. It makes them sort of different from the other daytime male characters, who are always handsome and rich and very charming and there’s certainly a great place for them. But then you get these other characters who are reserved and can’t say I love you [like McBain] and that’s honest. Then you can get the audience to take that ride with you. The gestures mean a lot more and when he does say something he means it.”
Easton is multi-talented. He’s also a poet, writer and photographer.
His first book, “Eighteen Straight Whiskeys,” is a compilation of his poems about his life during less prosperous times. The writing is raw and real and you actually feel what Easton has been through. I have a copy of the book and it’s good writing.
He also has a recently published the graphic novel “Soul Stealer,” with illustrations by Christopher Shy.
On Soul Stealer: “It’s one of the things that I’ve done that I feel is beautiful and pure. I started asking a lot of questions in my life like “Have you ever lost somebody in your life and how far would you go to try and get them back?” Out of that came this character, Kalan, this Etruscan warrior, poet and he develops the ability to bring back souls from the after life. And he uses this to wander the earth, searching for his one true love.
“We’ve had a great response [to Soul Stealer] and it’s very kind of people to want to check it out.”
Easton, who played the vampire Caleb Morley on Port Charles, said he likes coming to Super Soap and seeing his co-stars from Port Charles - Kelly Monaco (now Sam on GH) and Thorsten Kaye(now Zach on AMC).
“We had a lot of fun with that,” Easton said. “That storyline had passion and humor and so many things you don’t often get. It’s nice coming down here, it’s almost like a little reunion with Kelly and Thorsten.”
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