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| Photo Credit: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic |
SERIAL SCOOP: What did you think when Days decided to try pairing Shane with Kayla?
PATSY PEASE: This is where I am as an actor. I go in, and I know this might sound so totally clinical, I go in to work, and I don’t really care who I’m working with as long as we’re having fun and we’re being creative. I have no ego at stake, no dog in any fight. I was trained to go to work with words that have been written for me and to portray them the best way I know possible where I am at in the story. It’s not my story. If they tell me my part today is telling the story of a woman whose sister is now having an affair with her ex-husband then that’s my job today. They’ve told me. This is what your job is. I really try to keep it simple that way. I come in and do my work.
SERIAL SCOOP: That’s a great attitude to have. What riled me up watching the story at the time, and I hesitate to refer to Kimberly as a victim, but Kayla was quite mean to Kimberly. Kim was very nice to her considering the situation. I never understood that. Shawn (Frank Parker) certainly wanted Kim and Shane back together but no one ever called Kayla out on some of the nasty things she would say. Kayla basically said, "Shane is mine now, you're manipulating every situation to be with him, Kimberly; stay away, you awful horrible person." I kept thinking to myself, "Why does she think it's acceptable to be with her sisters ex-husband and be so mean at the same time?"
PATSY PEASE: This is interesting talking to you and seeing your insights. You’re a writer, correct?
SERIAL SCOOP: I am. I hope. [Laughs]
PATSY PEASE: Because you'e talking from the point of view of a writer. You talk like you’re writing, Michael. [Laughs] It’s interesting hearing your point of view because you’re looking at layers and layers of possibility of story, that maybe someone else was looking at it as more like fast food.
SERIAL SCOOP: Possibly. There were a couple of occasions where Kayla would say something vicious and someone would say something, but otherwise…
PATSY PEASE: She got away with murder. [Laughs]
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| Patsy Pease, Mary Beth Evans and Charles Shaughnessy. |
PATSY PEASE: You know that would have been an interesting thing to play, the history of jealousy. It could have brought up a history of you’re always the best and brightest. Why does It always have to be you? Why can’t I have something for once of my own? Why am I always in your shadow? To tie that together with their own personal history would have dovetailed nicely, don’t you think?
SERIAL SCOOP: I agree. All of the ingredients were there for an interesting story. Kayla lost Steve (Stephen Nichols), the love of her life. She latched on to someone very quickly who was safe and dependable like Shane (Charles Shaughnessy). Kimberly returned and wanted Shane back, which brought up feelings of anger Kayla might have felt towards Kimberly. But it never got to that level. It was very basic.
PATSY PEASE: You just pointed out something that is really fascinating to me. It could have enriched the relationship development of those characters. I mean, yes, it was a story, but sometimes a story brings out extra dimensions in the characters.
SERIAL SCOOP: Right. From a fan perspective, the rooting couple was always Kim and Shane but at the time Days was really pushing Shane and Kayla. It didn’t seem to matter though. Whenever you as Kimberly shared a scene with Charles Shaughnessy as Shane, the magic was there. Speaking of that time, what did you think of Kimberly and Laurence's (Michael Sabatino) relationship?
PATSY PEASE: What I was trying to play at that time was there was a certain dark side of Kimberly that had sold her body to other men. You could see the foreshadowing for the splintered personality about to come. Kimberly wasn’t exactly attracted to him as much as Claire would be. I look back at it and some of the choices she made were so odd for her. They were out of character. But if they were out of character, what other character could it have been? Ahh, it was a part of her that was choosing him that hadn’t expressed itself yet with Claire.
SERIAL SCOOP: I remember thinking there was a part of Kimberly that wanted to save Lawrence in a way that she wasn't saved herself. She wanted to believe so badly that there was good in him.
PATSY PEASE: She has kind of had a lot of rescue issues. Part of her self esteem depended on rescuing people. She would take it as a personal failure if she couldn’t prove what she believed, that he was good.
SERIAL SCOOP: Do you remember the scene where Kimberly was listening to the recording device of Lawrence (Michael Sabatino) admitting how he was manipulating Kimberly the entire time they were together, and Shane walked in? It was so raw.
PATSY PEASE: I do, I do. I remember thinking about the betrayal, but not of Lawrence to her; she was feeling her own betrayal to herself. What have you done? You stupid fool, you stupid stupid little fool. It was that little girl inside her who just couldn’t seem to get it right. She should have known better. All the signs were there. What was wrong with you? Someone who is a really harsh critic like Kimberly does just start beating the crap out of themselves.
SERIAL SCOOP: Kimberly never had a malicious bone in her body. But she always seemed to find herself in situations where she felt bad about herself.
PATSY PEASE: It's a fine line. I think my worst fear was turning her into a martyr. I don’t like self-righteous, indignant, arrogant martyrs. "Oh I’m long suffering, look what I've done for you." Somebody just roll me over and gag with me spoon. I'm going to drown in my own vomit when thinking about women like that. We have 12 step meetings for women like that; entire recovery groups for women who are long suffering martyrs. I can’t think of anything worse.
SERIAL SCOOP: Kimberly never did that. She was a strong woman. I never saw her like that.
PATSY PEASE: Thank God. That was my biggest fear, is stepping into that pile of poop. [Laughs]
SERIAL SCOOP: I was always drawn back to Kimberly's strength. It goes back to your portrayal of Kimberly and seeing how she took on Gillian (Camilla More), Eve (then Charlotte Ross), Gabrielle (Karen Moncrieff)...
PATSY PEASE: Emma! Don't forget Emma! Don't forget Jane Windsor. God bless her. Love her, love her, love her.
SERIAL SCOOP: I can never forget Emma! [Laughs]
PATSY PEASE: They brought in one after the other.
SERIAL SCOOP: At one point I wondered what it would be like if they all came back at once and formed a group. Of course some of them were dead, but it's Salem!
PATSY PEASE: Let me tell you, I've got an al-anon blackbelt. I will take all of them on; I can take on four perpetrators at once, without becoming a martyr. [Laughs]
SERIAL SCOOP: I like to think that Kimberly had it together and these women would just come at her because they were jealous. She always held her own.
PATSY PEASE: She’s hard to shake. But from a craftsman point of view, these were terrific actresses. I loved these women. We had a great time together. I think because we got along so well, there was none of this are you afraid if I talk nasty to you like that, it's because I really don’t like you? Is that going to offend you? There is sometimes that sort of thing where you tend to be overly polite. We would get in there, knew there wasn't any drama without conflict and went for it to find out the most wonderful vibrant conflict we could in that scene and play that. That is what makes the scene exciting. Having two people who are just civil, I can go down to the grocery store and listen to two ladies in the checkout line if I want to hear that. That’s not entertaining. When I go on my daytime show, I want to see something interesting, I want to see how people overcome obstacles. How do you overcome your struggles? What do you do when you are challenged? That’s why you have my valuable time as an audience member, you better fill it.
EDITORS NOTE: Coming up in Part 3 of our exclusive interview, Pease clears up why she left Days of our Lives, reveals what she's learned about herself by being a mother, and offers her take on Kim and Shane's 2010 reunion.
Michael Goldberg is a freelance writer, producer and actor based out of New York. He regularly contributes television and web series features to Serial Scoop.
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