|
SC Monique: How did you connect to his evil side?
 Rick: Just every part of your imagination. It's the same reason that when you drive by a wreck. As gruesome and horrible and terrible it is, you want to look. It's human nature to want to know. Why would somebody want to do something like this? Well, that's my job. I've got to let my imagination run wild and try to figure it out. It's a game of pretend. It is everything that you want to say but know full well that no decent human being would ever say or do anything like this. You take your filter off and let it be. The directors and the producers and the writers will help to pair it to however they need it to be.
SC Monique: What was it like working with Sabryn [Genet, Tricia], Sharon [Case, Sharon] and Joshua [Morrow, Nicholas]?
Rick: Honest to god, the fact that each one of their characters was so specifically drawn prior to my getting there and also in the way that they played it, it made it easier. There's nothing harder than coming into something where somebody is not quite there because then you almost have to act for somebody else. I never had to worry about that with Josh, with Sharon, with anybody over there. They had painted their characters so specially that I knew where to go. They were there, ready -- Sabryn especially. I have a deep, deep affinity for her because she was just so ready to throw down whatever I brought and vice-versa. We had a mutual respect from day one. It was great.
SC Monique: And how about working with Shark [Fralick, Larry]?
 Rick: If you've not met or been around Mr. Fralick, just on vision alone, to see him, you want to run in the other direction (laughs). He is such an imposing figure. Physically, I mean his hands are this big! He's so physically imposing but he has a heart as big as his whole being. We hit it off right away. Some people said, "He's kind of an eclectic guy," but I was like, "Bring it on." It was one of those work situations where I was very ready to come back into the fray, into daytime. Because I had stayed out for so many years, the first year purposely, but after that I just wasn't ready to delve back in there. People like Shark, you know, bring it. It's just another new energy. It's very deceiving because when you sit down with him, he is so intense and so focused and into you that he wants you there with him. It was great. Good man to bring down an alley too!
SC Monique: What was it like playing a dead guy?
 Rick: (laughs) See, that's funny because everyone thinks it was a dead guy. They think that it was a ghost, in so much that I got voted best ghost in one of the magazines. It was a figment of the imagination. I was nothing more than the personification of her [Tricia's] psyche. I had to look to Sabryn for the cues because whatever her character was playing with other characters in front of her is one thing, but what is going on in her mind is me. So that was fun, and I was really happy that they didn't camp it up and make it really hokey. It went on for a heck of a lot longer than I expected it to. I thought maybe 5 or 6 episodes and then 6 months later, there I was.
SC Monique: Do you expect this to become a recurring role?
Rick: With Y&R, honestly, I think that they are done with it. I think that they are done with that particular character. And I really applaud Kay [Alden, Y&R's head writer] because she didn't have to do that. We really kind of met on the same path in terms of what we thought of the character and how best to utilize him. She figured out a way to really utilize him, and I figured a way to keep him somewhat alive. But I think he's done. Unless he starts haunting other people but then it really become repetitive. I am protective of that, and it would have to be something really amazing or a totally different character.
SC Monique: Let's talk about B&B. Did you audition for the role of Whip Jones or did they create the role for you?
Rick: How it came about is that they were looking for a 28-35 year old businessman. That was it. I talked to my agent, the casting people had talked to my agent and said that they wanted me to test for it. For a brief half of a second I thought, "You guys know my work, you know that I can do it." But then I thought, visually, if I were running the show, this character is completely different from that [Matt Clark]. I work right across the hall from The Young and the Restless, and when I was walking down the hall, a lot of people did a double take. They were like, "What are you doing here?" I was wearing a suit, I was clean-shaven and my hair was a lot shorter -- I looked a lot younger because I have a baby face. I look very wholesome, and they flip out. They couldn't picture me that way. If they can't picture me that way, how are the writer and producer of the show going to picture me that way? You have to have it right there in front of you. Given that, I had to give the man his respect and come in and audition. I was fortunate that I was going to get to do the screen test with Sean Kanan [Deacon], who I have known for 12 years. Basically, we knew each other before either of us were working. We always talked about it and here we are now as old guys going, "Yeah, remember that time?" We were just talking about that, so it's a real treat for me to finally work with him. And our characters are head-to-head. Sean's energy and mine are very similar. His character is coming from the blue-collar point of view and [my character] is coming from the, not to say white-collar, but the thinking man's way of matching wits. I don't have to put up my hands, I'll use this instead [points to his head]. That's where it's really nice to see two similar energies with two different perspectives on it.
SC Monique: So how did the audition go?
Rick: Everyone was getting rehearsals, and then they went to tape. I walked right out on set, leaned into Sean, he shook my hand and gave me a hug and I heard them call a slate on me. I was like "Wow, I don't get a rehearsal... let's go!" I came in, and we clicked immediately. It couldn't have gone better. He started ad-libbing a little bit, I started ad-libbing. The scene was done. I walked out. The stage manager looked at me and said, "I guess that's it." I left. I felt in my heart, "I have to have this. But even if I don't get it, I did my very, very best." I got the call the next day at 11 o'clock from both my agent and my manager saying, "It's yours." When you're waiting for it, you learn to never take anything for granted... don't buy the house yet. Even though everything's great, you've got 12 years experience in daytime and Emmys... no, not today. That happens. I've learned to never, never count my chickens before it happens, but thankfully, this time it came through. I was working the very next day. As far as creating the character? Bradley is creating it as he goes, and so am I.
SC Monique: How much input do you have in that process?
Rick: My input comes from how I play it on the stage. And everything else is Brad's. I don't try to tell a writer how to do things. That is why they are there. They are painting the picture, and I am just there to fine-tune the strokes. I am supposed to bring it to life. My input is... pretty much on the stage. If they don't like what's happening, they tell me.
SC Monique: Can you tell us a little bit about the character of Whip?
Rick: In as much as I know -- he's worked for Forrester for 12 years. He's that guy who's always in the back walking past the water cooler, and they just decided to feature me. They literally parachuted me in the middle of a major storyline. Like I said, without giving too much away, I'll be in direct conflict with Deacon, with Brooke, with most of the Forresters and that is the extent of what I know. He is very much an opportunist. He's not the evil guy, which is nice -- I don't have to worry about doing something that is going to get me written off really fast. He's very intellectual, very witty, very much the thinking man. Very poised, very charming. Sometimes I am out there and the rhythm, I can almost hear music in the way he speaks and it makes it difficult because sometimes I speak so much it becomes hard. Because this guy can talk, that's the difference between being over there [at Y&R] and being over here [at B&B]. It's a shorter show but your characters have longer scenes and lots and lots of monologues. There is nothing worse than doing a monologue and watching the other person going... OK, get to the punch-line, get to the end. The one thing I am hoping with this particular character is that you don't see him coming a mile away. You don't go "uh oh." The situation is going to be that way but hopefully with the playing of it, you won't see it coming and it will really sneak up on you. I think we can do that. I know I can do that. I think that everyone included will be an integral part of that. It's gonna be a great ride, a great journey. As Brad called and told me, "I'm really looking forward to the ride." 
Back: Page 1
| 
