Working with someone for over 20 years surely creates the bond of a lifetime. It's absolutely impossible not to overlap with someone after so long on the job. This goes double when you're actors and your characters are as intimate as they are. For Steve Burton, life without Kelly Monaco is something he still doesn't seem ready for yet.
Videos by Wide Open Country
Recently, Steve Burton spoke with Bradford Anderson on The Daily Drama podcast for an interview. There, the General Hospital star gets candid about what it feels like to lose someone he's worked so closely with in Kelly Monaco. "I was really at a loss in the sense of I wasn't sure how to play this. Obviously, we have a huge history," Burton says. "Obviously, we've worked together for a long time, so there was all of these things going on, but I didn't have a clear vision."
Steve Burton Still Feels Disoriented by Not Working With Kelly Monaco Anymore
The pair have been close since first shooting together in 2003. Given the character's fate in the show, everything felt incredibly surreal up until their final scenes. Moreover, they filmed Kelly's passing and Steve had to react to it as Jason first. Then, they would move backwards throughout the episode accordingly. "It was very sad because Kelly was obviously leaving, and then the emotion of the character passing and all these things, and I just thought everybody really did a wonderful job," Burton explains. "It was really interesting to have gotten all that emotion out and then have to go back. I know people in movies do this all the time, but as an actor, it's not your favorite thing to do."
The only way that Steve gets through that episode in one piece is through the advice of his co-star Maurice Benard. He offers Burton some sound advice on how to get out of his own head. Benard tells him, "whatever happens in there is supposed to happen. You don't have to force anything. Just let it work."
