His time on General Hospital has come to an end, but this June, Bryan Craig is checking into Grand Hotel, an ABC nighttime sexy, sudsy soap. The serial is set against the backdrop of a family-owned hotel in Florida!
Soap Hub caught up with the Emmy-winning Craig to chat with him about his role as Grand Hotel’s rebellious Javi, a war hero, who had part of his leg amputated.
He’s the son of patriarch Santiago Mendoza (Demián Bichir), the charming owner of the hotel, which is home to mystery, action, forbidden romance, and family drama!
The 13-episode summer series is executive produced by Eva Longoria (ex-Isabella, The Young and the Restless; ex-Gabi, Desperate Housewives).
Soap Hub: The special effects are amazing that make Javi look like an amputee. What went into your research for the role?
We did a lot of I did a lot of research and did some training. We went to a prosthetics lab in Miami. We walked on the ramps people who have prosthetics used. We spoke to a lot of amputees.
I spent a lot of time with a prosthetic on my leg. It’s not a green screen [or special effects]. It’s a prosthetic. There’s a lot of work that went into making it accurate. A lot of people think [it’s real].
In the pilot, we see that Javi’s sensitive about being touched near the amputation.
What we learned with amputees is that sex is a very hard thing to kind of get into again and comfortable with again.
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That’s one thing I think we’ve done there that hasn’t been done before. We have taken a character with a disability and we’ve sexualized him. We see Javi start to become comfortable in his own skin.
What’s it like working with and for Eva Longoria?
She’s incredible. I’ve become close with Eva; you never know how involved someone of that caliber is going to be. Sometimes, you’ll see [a big name] as a producer, but they never show up on set.
Eva has been completely hands-on with this project from the pilot on – producing, acting, directing — she’s been there for it all while doing a million other things. She’s an incredible person.
Can you talk about love interests for your characters?
There’s a love interest off the top. There’s a lot of love interests. [Javi’s] the guy who sleeps with everyone. (Laughs)
The show’s coming on in June, which is great because there aren’t as many new shows debuting at that time.
The plan for the show was summer all along. It’s where it fits. I remember them talking about having The Bachelorette lead us in. It just makes sense. It’s that demographic. We think it will do well there.
Morgan is still referenced on General Hospital. Is that flattering?
It is flattering. I can’t believe that character made the splash it did. The creator of Grand Hotel tells me that when he posts something about me my fans come running. I had a really good role [in Morgan] and I had a lot of fun [playing him].
General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC. Check local listings for air times. Grand Hotel debuts on June 17 on ABC at 10 p.m. ET.
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