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Post by safeandsound on Aug 2, 2019 15:07:43 GMT -8
A post-RH interview. Michael's feelings about soap operas didn't really change over the years.
February 19, 1989
COMING CLEAN ABOUT SOAPS
Michael Levin's soap bubble burst in January when "Ryan's Hope" went off the air after 13 1/2 years. Levin had played investigative reporter Jack Fenelli for the entire time. Levin, who lives in Bedford, started off as a theater actor. He performed Shakespeare in Stratford, Conn., and worked at the prestigious Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. He also performed on Broadway in The Royal Hunt of the Sun. All that was before he became a soap star and, in some ways, a prisoner of daytime drama. Soap opera actors, it turns out, make tubs full of money. But acting out people's everyday problems every day is not the kind of work that keeps an actor's instrument tuned. Levin feels he traded security for quality. And now that "Ryan's Hope" has succumbed to low ratings, he's wondering if his Faustian bargain was worth the price he paid.
During a recent interview, Levin talked about the choices he's made and the consequences he's faced.
Did you like performing on "Ryan's Hope"? Best job in the world, not a very good career. I was used to the stage, where you'd work for weeks in rehearsal to prepare, you have an opening night when everything has to be as good as it can be. Your adrenaline is pumping and you go out and do it. When you do a soap opera, you have to do it all in one day for a camera. If you treat it like an opening night, you'd die. You couldn't survive more than two or three days. It will never encompass that kind of energy or commitment.
Tell me some of the things that went on behind the scenes on the "Ryan's Hope" set. A lot of things happened but they were sexual, (and) you can't print it! You change lines. You monkey around. You make fun of the script. I remember a scene when a baby cried all the time. Finally, we just filmed it. He's crying, I'm talking.
Overall, what do you think about soap operas? I don't like soap operas. I don't watch them. I think they're not relevant. I don't think they're intelligent. I think they can be good. At their best, which we were at times, they can be close to true, exciting and revealing of human nature. But that's about it.
Why is there so much "I didn't," "You did," "I didn't" arguing in soap operas? What you're talking about is filler. You have to do a show a day. If you were to write a scene for the theater or film, the playwright may write five pages, then they start to distill it and they end up with half a page. In a movie, you can write 10 pages and all they end up with is a shot. With soap operas, it's the opposite. We've got to fill up a half hour every day. The scene may be as simple as, "I'm tired of telling you to bring home the coffee." And you say, "OK." But if it's a soap opera, it's "Look, I'm tired of telling you. . ." "Yeah, I'm sure you're tired." "Well, I am," "So, I am, too." You go back and forth and back and forth.
That must be difficult to play. You're right. In watching the scenes I've done recently, I thought I got worse, which really bothered me.
Do you think the audience knows the difference between filler and substance? Soaps are no different than any other television. Most television isn't very good. But that's what the audience watches. "Ryan's Hope," and I'm going back 10 years, was totally different when it came on the air. No soap ever had an Irish Catholic family. All soaps used to be in Glennwood USA, and if people were religious, they just went to "church.” No soap ever took place in New York City.
What happened to force the show off the air? You keep doing it and doing it. The writers run out of steam. You run out of stories.
Do you think you're a better or worse actor than 13 years ago? If I had left the show eight years ago, I would have been a better actor. I think the show was wonderful for me, and I got to do an awful lot. But for an actor to be on a soap for more than five years. . . I'm not saying it's bad. But if you want to be as good an actor then five years is more than enough. Three years is more than enough. I was much hotter eight years ago than I am now.
Why didn't you leave earlier? Money. I was raising a family. I lived in Scarsdale. For an actor to have a job that's regular, where they pay you every week, and you know when you're going to go to work, and you can have a home, and you don't have to fly to California, are you kidding? Do you have any idea how many actors there are? Do you know how many make a living? Do you know what the average union actor makes a year? It used to be $2,000 a year. If I had the courage, I would have left. I didn't.
Why didn't you have the courage? You're talking about confidence. You'd have to feel inside that you're going to make it no matter what.
Do you feel that now? I'm different now. I don't have to make it. I'm much wiser. Making it is a bubble. Celebrity is a bubble. You can't eat it. All it means is opportunity. I'm not saying I don't want fame or success. I want all those things. But it isn't that important anymore. I'm not good enough, and the world's too tough. You've got to be a genius.
Did you watch the last show? Yes. I was with my wife. There were so many mixed emotions. I was very moved by it. There were so many people I had worked with for so long. So you cry. And you go on.
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