Dominic Zamprogna knew that putting Dante and Liz together on General Hospital was going to get people talking, especially with both characters carrying enough romantic history to fill a filing cabinet. What he did not want to do was walk into those scenes trying to manufacture chemistry. Instead, Zamprogna said he and Rebecca Herbst played what was actually on the page and let whatever was there take care of itself.
Key Takeaways
- Dominic Zamprogna did not want to force chemistry between Dante and Liz.
- He and Rebecca Herbst played the scenes as written and let the connection develop naturally.
- Zamprogna suspected the show might be testing whether Dante and Liz worked as a pairing.
- Zamprogna knows any new Liz pairing will stir reactions from fans of her past relationships.
He Let Dante and Liz Find Their Own Rhythm
Zamprogna discussed the pairing while appearing on That’s Awesome! with Steve Burton (Jason) and Bradford Anderson (Spinelli). He admitted he did not even know exactly how the latest Dante and Liz material started. However, he remembered that he and Herbst had worked together years earlier and thought those scenes were awkward enough to laugh about afterward. That probably was not the chemistry test either of them expected to ace.
As the newer scenes began to appear, Zamprogna understood what might be happening. With Sam gone and Dante no longer with Lulu (Alexa Havins), he wondered whether the show wanted to see if something clicked with Liz. “Maybe they want to see if this works,” he recalled thinking.
Still, he did not want to start playing toward a romance before the writing actually supported one. “I didn’t want to like get scenes with Becky and be like trying to find the chemistry,” he said. He wanted the connection to emerge from the material rather than announce itself before Dante and Liz had earned it.
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Zamprogna Wanted Dante and Liz to Feel Honest
For Zamprogna, the bigger issue was honesty in the performance. He said it had become very obvious to him when actors were playing to something rather than simply living in the scene. “I just wanted to kind of play like whatever honestly was written and came across for both of us,” he explained.
That approach makes sense, given the audience associated with Liz’s past relationships. Zamprogna pointed out that Herbst still had devoted fans invested in Liz with Jason and Ric (Rick Hearst), which meant any new direction was bound to annoy somebody. As he put it, “You’re going to piss somebody off.”
That may actually work in Dante and Liz’s favor. Rather than selling viewers a romance before the characters know one exists, the show has allowed their connection to develop through conversations, friendship, and one spectacularly unfortunate misunderstanding by Ric. If the chemistry keeps growing, Zamprogna seems perfectly happy to let Dante and Liz get there without forcing the issue.
