Charles Shaughnessy on Playing “The Villain You Love to Hate” on GH
When Charles Shaughnessy took over the role of Victor Cassadine on GENERAL HOSPITAL, he had no idea just how evil the character was going to become! While the actor was thrilled to reunite with Emma Samms (Holly) on the soap (he had previously played Holly’s cousin, Alistair, back in 1984), their on-screen relationship this time around was much more contentious!
“I mean, I knew I was bad to the bone,” Shaughnessy admitted to Soap Opera Digest of his character’s villainy, “but the way Victor was around Holly was absolutely horrible! If he was irredeemable before, he’s really gone overboard now. He was truly awful to poor Holly.”
In fact, Victor has been truly terrible to pretty much everyone in Port Charles, but his portrayer is delighting in playing the bad guy. “He’s just making trouble for all of the fan favorites!” Shaughnessy enthused. “He’s just making their lives miserable. He’s the guy who killed Luke Spencer. He’s the guy who put Anna in jail and tried to break up her relationship with Valentin. He’s just dreadful! But it’s such great fun! I mean, the more dreadful, the better, really. He’s the villain you love to hate.”
Of course, Victor’s master plan for Port Charles remains a mystery, but that’s probably just the way he likes it. It’s harder to stop someone when you’re not sure exactly what they’re up to! And because the scheme involves the entire town, it means Shaughnessy gets to mix it up all over the canvas.
“The wonderful thing about playing Victor is that they seem to find ways to insinuate him into a lot of different stories,” he explained, “so I’m working with a lot of different people. I had these little bits with Lucy, I have my little bits with Spencer, and Nikolas, and Ava, and crossing swords with Robert and Laura. All of the relationships are different, but they are usually hostile and combative!”
So keep watching GH as the story continues to unfold to see if the good guys win or if Victor might just have a few more tricks up his sleeve!
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