Since returning to Days of Our Lives, Drake Hogestyn will eagerly tell you that he’s been on Cloud 9. He missed coming to the show’s NBC studios every day. He missed working and frolicking with the cast and crew. And, most importantly, he missed portraying daytime superhero John Black. Now that he’s back, Hogestyn is determined to make the most of his second go round on the show.
What are you hoping to achieve this time around as John?I've played 13 different identities. All I want to achieve, right now, is to have the audience fall in love with John and Marlena again, just like they did back in 1986. What did you miss most about playing John?
It’s interesting. I’ve wanted to do a lot of different things in my life, but I never had the opportunity to do them. I thought they were important to me. So I tried wearing many different caps during the 2-1/2 years I was off Days. But I’ll tell you, none of those caps fit. Absolutely none of them. I missed being creatively stimulated. I missed acting. It made me realize I’m an actor. I’m an artist. Has working with people that you haven’t worked with in years, like Deidre Hall (Marlena), Christie Clark (Carrie) and Patrick Muldoon (Austin), produced any funny, deja vu moments?
There was one. I was doing this six page scene with Patrick, Christie and Deidre, when I first got back. All of a sudden I was looking at Patrick, and he made this face. Then, we finished the scene and he went, "Ah, man! This is like acid, man." I could see where he went. It was, "I'm Patrick Muldoon. No. I'm Austin. No. It's 16 years ago. No. It’s right now. Oh my God! There's John. There's Marlena. There's Drake. There's Deidre. There's Christie." You could see him step out of himself and zoom back in. It was a great moment. When you left the show, Eric Martsolf had just joined the cast as your son, Brady, but you didn’t work with him much, did you?
No. I didn’t. We were ships passing in the night. It’s the same with Galen Gering (Rafe). He and Eric had come over from very successful runs on Passions, and they were finding their shoes on Days of Our Lives. John and Brady had one or two scenes, but they were estranged. John was emotionally void. John wouldn’t have walked across the street and put any water on Brady, if he was on fire. He didn’t care. Brady meant nothing to him until the very last scene, when John started getting his faculties back and recognized his son. But then it was a day late and a dollar short. What are your thoughts on the current John and Brady situation?
I’m coming into a situation, where I’m watching how comfortable Eric is in Brady’s shoes now. I’m watching how he responds and how his character relates to everybody else. I’m coming in in a position where I’m trying to find my relationship with him. It’s interesting. John and Brady used to have a wonderful relationship and a nice dynamic. Are you hoping to get that back?
It’s a matter of whether they explore that. I’m sure they will down the line. Right now, Eric and I haven’t had many scenes together. [The scripts] have indicated that there has been correspondence between the two of them and that John has not been approving of the life choices Brady has made. But he’s a grown man. He’s going to have to find his way. Marlena’s been encouraging John to keep in touch, saying, “It’s not the John I know to give up on anything.” So they’ll be addressing the situation, I’m sure. But, right now, we are dealing with one issue at a time.
