Yay! Welcome back everyone to the SoapWire Podcast.
I'm so excited because we have a special guest.
We have Ben Gavin from Beyond the Gates. Hey!
Hello, how's it going? Good, how are you? I'm
doing great, great to be here. Oh my god, you
were talking about your daughter earlier and
how old is your daughter? So she's going to be
two on Friday. So very excited. Yeah. Yeah. Happy
birthday. Yeah. It's a crazy stage right now.
She's just like talking like crazy, running around,
swimming. Now it's like, man, I can't believe
it. Oh my God. It's such a good time. My daughter's
15, so she'll be 16 in February. So yeah. Wow.
Yeah. I'm like, Not ready for that yet. No, we're
close. You're right. I remember those days. I
don't want to go back. For sure. Oh, my God.
So we put on our social media that, like, you
know, we were going to be talking to you soon.
And so we're coming in. They were flooding in.
Cool. Actually, though, I want to say I recognize
you, though, from my favorite. I was at Lifetime
TV movies, Killer Reality. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. Yeah. And that stars another soap opera
vet. She played Maya on Geron Hospital, the lead
in that movie. So I was like... Oh, yeah, for
sure. She's great. Oh, and I had the little phone
call with her, pitching her the job, right? Yeah,
that's great. That was actually directed by one
of my favorite people in the world. His name's
Jeff Fisher. And that was the first of, I think,
three movies that I've done with him. We did
a Hallmark movie called My Christmas Love as
well. And then we did another... Christmas movie
called Christmas Camp. And he is just my favorite.
He's such a sweetheart and so sensitive and passionate.
And sometimes with those movies, you don't get
someone like him to work with you. So I absolutely
love working on Killer Reality. And that movie
turned out so good. I loved it so much. So I
was just like, anything he does, I'm in. Yeah.
So this is your first Oprah, right? So how has
it been? It's it this is definitely my first
opera it is but it was it was an adjustment i'm
not gonna lie because the pace was so fast and
coming into you know sets that are all pre made
and everything like that and you're coming in
and shooting the scenes one two and we're out
moving on and then we're doing the next scene
right away so that was like an adjustment i was
kinda like. Oh, deer in the headlights at first,
but you know, once, once it kind of started to
set in a little bit and I'm like, oh, okay, I
get the, I get the, I get the nature of how we're
doing it. I get, you know, the pace of what you're
going. And now it's like, now, now I'm, I feel
in the group, you know, and I love it so much.
I mean, It's like yesterday, I shot seven scenes.
I think my call time was at 7 .30 in the morning,
and I was out the door by 11 .30, 11 .30 in the
morning. And that on a film set is absolutely
unheard of. You might get seven scenes done in
the whole day. But it's great. I mean, the cast
is incredible. Just being around those people,
some of those vets, and then some of, you know,
I mean... And just working with everybody and
everybody who they brought on department heads
from from Teresa with the with the costumes and
and Stevie with the makeup and my guy Wayne who
does my hair and my beard and lines me up every
day. I mean, I just I love it so much. It's it's
been an absolute dream come true. So I'm really
diving in digging in get sinking my teeth in
and now that Derek is starting to progress a
little bit more, a little bit more interesting
storylines. It's been, it's been a lot of fun.
Yeah. We got to talk about that. But I do love
how you guys are all on like TikTok and you guys
are interacting with the fans. So it's really
great. It's fun. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Cause that's
like the number one question we got from the
fans is like, okay, so this whole switcheroo
with the love. I know you can't, of course. Of
course you cannot spoil it. But like, what can
you tell us about what's going on with Derek
and Ashley and now the little, the little gossipy
nurse Shanice? Yeah, Shanice, you know, um. You
know, Shanice has been dropping little hints
throughout the early part of the season, being
kind of like, well, if you don't keep hold of
that man, I'm gonna, you know, and I definitely
was picking up on people being like, well, if
Ashley keeps, you know, messing around, Shanice
is hanging in the, hanging, lurking in the corner,
waiting to, and she definitely did. She pounced
on it quickly. And I think Shanice and Derek
have really. great chemistry together. They clearly
really like each other. Derek kind of feels a
little like freed up from maybe what was kind
of a tumultuous relationship with Ashley. But
at the end of the day, if you were to give Derek
some truth serum and you ask him who does he
want to be with, I truly believe it's Ashley.
And that might materialize here going forward.
It might not. We'll have to see. You know what
I mean? But yeah, in his heart of hearts, he
really just wants the happily ever after. He
wants that family life. He wants that one woman
and he wants to have a family. He wants to have
his job. and he wants to keep all that stuff.
And, you know, that's something to be said for
a character on a soap opera, because typically,
you know, they're kind of, you know, you got
eyes turning this way, who's next? You know,
Derek is very singularly focused. I don't think
he makes always the best decisions, but none
of us do. So, you know, having to kind of navigate
those decisions. But, yeah, I mean... acting
off Ernestine has been a real treat, as well
with Jen Jacob, who plays Ashley. And now that
we have a little bit more tension growing between
us, it becomes a little bit more interesting
for everybody, including the fans watching. Oh,
I'm not going to lie, too. I mean, Ashley was
blatantly flirting. I mean, I would kind of be
like... Tell me about it. Tell me about it. It
was funny. I was talking with Sean, who plays
Andre, and we're just kind of going back and
forth. And we were talking about, like, is there
going to be any, like, fight sequence here? Because
someone was like, because at this point, Derek
would have thrown down with Andre. You know what
I mean? I'm just like, I think so too. But yeah,
there's definitely, I mean, You know, there's
there's stuff that Derek knows and doesn't know.
You know, there are conversations that Ashley's
having with Andre that, you know, it's like it's
like that, like you kind of sense it in the back
of your mind. Like this is happening. But Derek
doesn't have anything tangible to hold on to
to say, hey, what is happening here? Why are
you having these conversations? So it's it's
just kind of like this burning little little
little thing in the back of his head that he's
that he's trying to to understand what it is.
What is this disconnect that we're having here?
Is it in my own head? Is it my own insecurities?
Is it something that's really happening or is
it a combination of both? And you're absolutely
going to find out soon. It can't be because I
drank the orange juice off the potato. It can't
just be that, right? You know what I mean? That's
no big deal. I'm trying to save the glass. That
whole sequence was kind of amusing. But yeah,
I mean, I would get so frustrated. I'm like,
OK, y 'all delivered a baby. Like, all right,
OK. Yeah, that's right. We got it. We got it.
We got it. They keep bringing up that baby in
the elevator. I'm like, OK. We get it. It's not
that serious. So funny. Yeah. So the show's been
renewed for season two. We're so happy about
that. So what do you want to see for your character
going into season two? Man, I just want to see
growth. I want to see more action when it comes
to him being a firefighter. You know what I mean?
There's a lot of talk about him being a firefighter.
There's not much other than like, getting injured
with that concussion early on. And then I'd like
to see a little bit more of that, a little bit
more of what makes him tick in that regard. I
want him to be able to kind of spread his wings
a little bit in terms of... in terms of his romance
life, you know, what, like, be, like, kind of
hold solid ground a little bit more and kind
of, you know, draw a line, like, hey, this is
what I want, this is who I am and this is what
I want and I want him to set the standard, you
know what I mean, and be able to. be able to
kind of command what is best for him. And hopefully
he can do that. There's some stuff that's coming
up that definitely will put a hitch in that.
But he definitely starts making his way and being
more committed to what he truly wants. And it's
not going to kind of cow tail to anyone else
who might not be on the same page as him. Oh,
interesting. Yeah, that was so cool to see him
at his job and to see, and to see, you know,
like kind of an everyday life. Cause we see the
hospital a lot. So yeah, it'd be kind of cool
to see. Right. Nurse hospital. And then there's
the, uh, there's the, the police station, but
there's not, there's no fire station. You know
what I mean? Um, they do, they have brought in
some, some more of the firefighters. I will say
that. Um, I don't think that's breaking any rules.
So I am interacting with some more of my my co
-workers who, you know, truly to him, they're
his family. That's before, you know, before Ashley,
that his whole life was at the station working
with his firefighters, like these guys, they
risked their lives together. You know, they really
poured all out on the line and there's a connection
and a bond there. And I think season two, there's
a lot of room for that to be discovered. Yeah,
there is. I mean, we could do a whole arson story
or something. I've seen that. I saw someone,
some fan theory saying that like Derek's going
to burn Ashley's house down and then come in
and try to save her. And I was like, whew, that
is a stretch. That would be very soapy. That
would be soapy, right? You never know. I don't
think anything's off the table. Right. Explore
his bad side a little bit or maybe throw him
in with some of the Dupris. I mean, he's like
Dupris adjacent. Yeah, very adjacent, very adjacent.
It would be nice to interact with some of the
Dupris, too, for sure, because they got some
meaty stuff going on in their life. That's the
truth. Right. Has anything been filming about
or challenging about filming? And if so, what?
You know, for me it was, my background in acting
before getting on Beyond the Gates has been mostly
films. So, you know, there's a single camera
and, you know, we set up your coverage and we
shoot it like three or four times and then we
set up my coverage and we shoot it three or four
times and then we do a master and we shoot it
three or four times. I had to definitely get
used to, we have four cameras going on all at
once. So everything's happening all at once.
So we get in there and we shoot that. And it's
a lot of times one take. That was definitely
the most challenging thing for me because I had
to kind of adjust being like, oh, OK, I'm not
going to get four, five, six times to do this
scene. I'm going to get one, maybe two times
to do this scene. And then we're moving on. So
that was an adjustment because when I'm doing
a film, I'm kind of navigating when I'm what
I call dropping in. Like when I drop in and I
go all out for that one take. And I'm not going
to do it when the camera's not on me. I'm going
to do it when the camera's on me. And that was
something I had to learn early on in my film
career. So being like, OK. We got to be ready
to drop in take one. Here's your close -up go
That was definitely a challenge, but but that
was early on I think I adjusted to that after
after the first few weeks of the show You know
some of the the amount of dialogue that we get
Like that that that's never been an issue for
me That's always been kind of one of my strong,
my superpowers is my memorization, but boy, we
got a lot, and it comes in and we're doing it
all the time. So I'm like, just the other day
I had a really heavy day of some high emotional
stuff that was like pages and pages and like
I had monologues. And then I got off the set
late and then was like, okay, I got to get in
tomorrow early at 7 .45 and I'm... looking at
my pages for tomorrow and I'm like, oh boy, there's
another long day. Like, and I had to just like,
you know, stay up late and get, so that is definitely,
I think any soap actor can agree with that. Like
the amount of dialogue that we have and it's
as fast as we do it. That's a challenge, but
really it's a dream job, honestly. You get I
get in there. You're not for the most part. You're
not spending all day on set Which is what you
know on films or or or probably? Primetime television
shows you might be doing if you have that many
scenes They come in they knock them out and then
you're and then you're off You know doing something
else for yesterday or getting ready for your
next day It's a it's a dream scenario And the
best part of the whole process for me is when
I get the email of a new script. And I'm like,
OK, where are we going now? Where's my life taking
me now? Because it's totally out of my hands.
You know what I mean? It's in the writers who
are amazing. Michelle Van Gene, she's just obviously
so. elevated at her craft, the storylines and
the arcs for all the characters. But I mean,
I've been really grateful to see what they've
done with Derek and the different obstacles that
they've put forth in front of him that make it
very interesting to shoot and try to overcome.
Yeah. Well, speaking of the script, I mean, you
could BCC me. I won't tell anyone, but no. Oh,
yeah, for sure. Yeah, I'll send them over. We
got the script that they were breaking up your
character and his girlfriend, Ashley. How did
you what was your initial reaction? I remember
when I first read this, it was like when they
first kind of started dropping the seeds of breakup,
when Derek came in and started bringing all his
stuff in and was like, yeah, we're gonna get
rid of this, we're gonna do this. And I was like,
boy, what are you doing? I'm like, what are you
doing, man? But then that was kind of like. You
know, there was sadness too, because I didn't
want them to break up. But then there was also
kind of a sense of being invigorated, because
those are exciting and intense scenes. Those
are interesting. People latch onto those. I latch
onto that kind of. heartache you know that it's
something people everyone's gone through everyone's
felt that you know everyone's felt the sense
of loss or losing someone and trying to keep
it together and and just not being able to so
um so i you know it was also i was very excited
you know i was like okay now we got something
to kind of now we got some issues because um
you know there's there's no good story if everything's
just Good to go. I was excited to see what that
was going to look like and how it was going to
play out with Jen. I think Jen has done an amazing
job. After we did that scene at Uptown where
where I proposed and, you know, it seemed like
maybe she was going to say yes, but it's kind
of everyone kind of knew she not going to say
yes. This is hasty. You're not. You didn't really
think this through. Those things we both kind
of left to set and. And we both started crying
like personally, you know what I mean? It was
it was like I was fighting it so much in the
scene because, you know, you're public. I'm the
man. I don't want to cry in front of you this.
I got to keep this. But this my heart's breaking.
And then we walked out and I was like, it all
just came down and all. And then I see her and
she's the same way. So it's like that kind of
that's what that's what I love about what we
do. You know, I love that, you know, being able
to. to challenge our emotional maturity here.
Maybe this is not how I would act, but have I
ever acted this way before? Have I ever felt
this way before? What would I do in this situation?
And how would it feel to go through something
like this? Because getting down on your knee
and proposing is... and a massively vulnerable
place to be. You know what I mean? And to do
it to someone that you care about so much and
her be so impassioned about, hey, now's not the
time. It's hard to wrap your head around that.
To make that be okay. You know what? It's hard
to just be a mature person about it and be like,
you're right, it's not the right time. Let's
pause. It's like, no, most people take stuff
like that personally. You know what I mean? They
take that as a hit. Well, why? Why? Why not now?
Why not me? What is it? Is it someone else? Is
it me? Is it really just because I was kind of
a slob? You know what I mean? Because me personally,
I do relate to Derek and Nat. My wife is amazing.
She's very together and neat. You know what I
mean? And I haven't always been. Um, but that
was something that she had to adjust and we had
to adjust and kind of met in the middle. You
know what I mean? Um, so it's, it's, uh, it's
something that I can relate to, but, uh, but
like I said, getting down on your knee and asking
someone to marry you, um, in my opinion, you
should be sure. You should be sure before you
get down what's going to happen. But you know,
Derek really wanted to push the envelope here.
He really wanted to say, Hey, look, you know,
let's, let's make this official or, or not. You
know what I mean? And then soon as it was not,
I think he really kind of like relaxed a little
bit, being like, okay, this is not happening.
But let's see what else is out there. And Lord
knows Shanice is right there to jump on top of
it and make sure Derek is taken care of, which
I think people are really enjoying seeing that.
So I'm happy. I'm happy about it. Yeah, we're
loving it. She's like, here I am. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. That scene when they walked into uptown
and where I'm just there, I'm like, I ain't going.
So my last question for you, if you can really
quickly for what's upcoming for your character
is three words. Give me a second. OK. I always
stump people with this one. Yeah. Love, pain,
and triumph. Oh, in that order. Yeah. Okay. Sounds
so good. I'm so excited for that. Thank you again
so much for joining us. Hey, absolutely my pleasure.
Thank you so much for having me. Guys, we're
going to have you back when he chooses a girl
or the girl chooses him. You'll have a few things.
Don't hesitate to hit me up. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much. Have a good one. You too.