TVSquad Talks To Vanessa Marcil on Brenda's "GH" Return and "Las Vegas"

[JamesG]

Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo Talks About Brenda and Sonny's Reunion on "General Hospital"!
by Michael Maloney
posted Aug 10th 2010



Sonny Corthinos has had a lot of leading ladies over the years on "GH", but fans know that there's only one true love of his life -- Brenda Barrett, played by Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo.


The Emmy-winning actress makes her official return to "GH" -- and Sonny's life -- today, but fans have been treated to recent rebroadcasts of classic Brenda episodes. Another four will air on Sun., Aug. 15 on SOAPnet.




Marcil Giovinazzo recently sat down with TV Squad to talk about her return to "GH", her prime-time series "Las Vegas" coming to an end, why she's swearing off pancakes and what viewers can expect to see now that Brenda's back where she belongs.




What's it like being back at "GH"?

It's been crazy. I've been a mess all week. I'm used to doing four pages of dialogue a day and now I'm doing 80. But it's so fun.

It's like being paid to do theater. It's an incredible genre and is incredibly important especially for actors who are starting out. You get to learn so much. You perform and then it's over.




Fans have waited for your return for years.

I've always been pretty vocal about how much I love it here. We've always tried to work it out with our schedules.

Who knew "Las Vegas" would run six years? We've been trying to work it out for the last two years.











What is it about Brenda that makes her "the one" in Sonny's eyes?

I honestly have no idea. I think it's the writing.

Maurice Benard is very special and I'm lucky I get to work with him. Everyone has to rise up to their "A" game when they work with him, otherwise he is visibly disappointed in you, which is devastating.

If Maurice is disappointed in me, it feels like my father is mad at me. He gets me to work my hardest.







Do you feel any burden to raise the ratings?

I certainly don't feel that I'm capable of raising ratings on my own. That's a collaborative event.

I really feel that everything happens always happens for a reason and I end up learning an incredible amount of things from whatever happens.

Failure is part of success.







Can you tease what's happened to Brenda while she's been away?
What prompts her return?

She has a big explosive secret and I think that's what prompts her return. Nobody has told me what it is. I'm the last to know about things in my family. No one has told me here either.

It's an on-going joke between myself and head writer Bob Guza. He and [executive producer] Jill Farren Phelps know the secret and they've decided what it is. They'll tell me the day we're shooting it.











What's it like working with Adrienne Barbeau, who's doing some appearances?

She's incredible. Brad Rowe [who's joined the show as Murphy, Brenda's movie star boyfriend]; he's an old friend of mine and we're working together, too.

We're in there with our 80 pages of dialogue, sweating, freaking out and nervous. We have such respect for the work done here.







SOAPnet is re-broadcasting some classic Brenda-themed episodes to bring newer viewers up to speed and it's a treat for veteran fans, too.

Who knew? Everyone told me they'll never air again. [Laughs]

So maybe I would have done it differently if I'd known a show was going to air years later. It's so amazing that we'll get to see how Brenda evolved.











What was it like presenting at the Daytime Emmys?

Incredible. I was so excited about going and seeing everyone.

As usually something tragic has to happen to me, we had blueberry pancakes for breakfast. My face, hands and feet got swollen up like a blowfish. We were like, "What's happening?" It was like Violet in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. [Laughs]

I will never be cool. Every time I think I will be cool something horrible happens to me. We called my nutritionist; We found out I'm allergic to yeast.







"Las Vegas" ended kind of, well...

Abruptly? It's all about the way you look at it.

We felt incredibly lucky we ran for six years. That's a great run. The whole cast felt we'll roll with what's meant to be. We felt so happy to be there.

It was hard for us when Jimmy Caan left. He was the reason we got on the air to begin with. It was a close cast.





Maybe there will be a reunion show someday?

I don't know. Can you imagine getting all those people's schedules together?

http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/08/10/va...onnys-reunion/