‘The Bold and the Beautiful’: John McCook & Thorsten Kaye on Soap Feud, Eric ‘Dying’ and More
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John McCook and Thorsten Kaye might play on-screen rivals on The Bold and the Beautiful as father and son Eric and Ridge Forrester, but their real-life friendship is unbreakable.
“I absolutely love working with him,” Kaye told Soaps.com in a recent interview when asked about acting alongside McCook. “What’s not to love about him? On top of everything else, we hate the same people,” he joked, though he refused to name who those people were.
Eric and Ridge have had many conflicts over the years, particularly when it comes to the running of the family business, Forrester Creations. However, things took an emotional turn in recent months after Eric came down with a life-threatening illness that left him comatose.
Kaye said he was told early on that McCook’s character wouldn’t actually be killed off, but he still had his doubts. “Storylines change,” he explained. “So when we got the script saying Eric collapsed at his big party, I thought, ‘Wait, is this really happening?'”
McCook felt the same, telling Soaps.com last month, “There was a point where even I had my doubts.”
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“It can drive you a little nuts,” Kaye said about working on a daily soap opera. “Because you know where things are going, and there’s a right turn coming up. And just when you’re thinking about how good your hair will look in the wind from the angle, Brad [Bell] will see something unfolding and think, ‘I’m going to make a sharp left instead.’”
“And your first instinct is to say damn it,” he continued. “But then a few days later you realize he was right. And with this story, he was definitely right.”
There was plenty of speculation over whether the long-running soap was going to say a permanent goodbye to Eric, but on the December 22 episode, Eric had a miraculous recovery. With his family gathered at his hospital bed, his ventilator was removed, and he started breathing on his own again.
While this is great personal news for Ridge, it could add further conflict to his professional life, especially if Eric decides to get more hands-on with the business.
“The dynamic between Eric and Ridge is complicated, and it dives into our deep emotional feelings about our own fathers and our own histories,” Kaye explained. “When we turn the page and come upon scenes like some of the ones we were given, we celebrate it.”
He continued, “It’s a good story because John is in it. And you tell better stories with people you love. You’ve got to have a certain amount of admiration and respect. And there’s nobody I respect more.”
McCook is also excited to see where the story goes next, recently stating, “There’s so much to explore in the aftermath. Especially if Eric’s recovery isn’t what he hoped it might be or as quick as he wants. The fact that he’d told Ridge what he wanted, and yet Ridge went against his wishes, could have a major impact on their relationship down the line.”
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