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| Ingo Rademacher (Jax) and Laura Wright (Carly) in a scene from “General Hospital.”
Photo: ABC |
Jax is back! Carly’s (Laura Wright) ex-husband and Joslyn’s (Eden McCoy) dad has returned to Port Charles. Yep, Ingo Rademacher returned to “General Hospital” last month to support his daughter after losing her boyfriend Oscar and has decided to stay. With a new business venture as co-owner of Aurora Media, Jax will cross paths with Nina Reeves Cassadine (Cynthia Watros) Could a romance be brewing between the two?
TVMusic Network and other reporters caught up with Rademacher at ABC’s Summer Press Day last month. Check out what he had to say about returning to the role as the corporate raider.
You’re back home on GH full-time. How is being back on the “General Hospital” full-time different from the time before?
Ingo Rademacher: “When I worked in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, it was pretty much 365. You got your weekends off and maybe a little bit of a break over the holidays. Now, we have dark weeks, which are just wonderful. We just had three weeks off. When you get those little breaks, you can go do stuff with the family. I like working and getting it all done. If you have scenes from three episodes and you’re on the same set, it’s great to bang them all out in one go. You get more continuity that way. I think it’s a better way to work even though sometimes it’s a lot of material.”
What is it like working with Eden McCoy and playing a father to a teenager?
Ingo Rademacher: “It’s wonderful. She’s evolved as an actress so much. I think she was 12 or 13 when she first came on the show, and I was doing a little bit of recurring when I was in Hawaii and flying in for little seven or 10-episode arcs. Wow! What a difference it is working with her now. I didn’t see it until I started working with her again. Laura told me. She said, “You wait until you start working with her.” I hope we get to do a lot more things together and really explore the father/daughter relationship.”
You might know Jax better than anyone. How do you describe him?
Ingo Rademacher: “Jax to me — and I’ve only just been able to put it into words since Captain America came out — he’s Captain America. He’s all about fairness. If he sees a bully, he will stand up for the person that’s being bullied. That’s who he is. He’s the guy who will always do the right thing.”
Jax just brought Aurora Media which puts him in back in business mode and in Nina’s orbit.
Ingo Rademacher: “When I heard that I was doing the magazine, I was kind of surprised, because that’s usually much too small for Jax. He’s more of a Richard Gere in Pretty Woman character, a corporate raider. He takes corporations apart and sells off the pieces. I think is really for his daughter. He’s thinking about the future, and also, it will keep him busy in an actual job that he might be good at. So, I think it’s a big change in lifestyle for him to not just concentrate on the businesses that he was doing before, which were much global, and actually having an almost 9 to 5 where he can just show up. It’s an interesting lifestyle change for the character.”
Could there be a romantic triangle be brewing with Jax, Nina and Valentin?
Ingo Rademacher: “Jax is attracted to Nina the first time he sees her. I have a feeling that he already knew who she was at the Nurses’ Ball because he’s been studying Aurora in order to decide whether or not to purchase it. So, he’s done the background. To piss off a Cassadine is just a bonus. Also, what I think is interesting for Nina is that she’s got two totally different guys. She’s engaged to this more mysterious man. Then, you’ve got this jolly upfront Jax. “Hey, is everybody having a good day?” He’s very confident, as well, but in a different way. Valentin’s a little bit more mysterious. I think it’s nice to be tugged between two completely different men.”
One of Jax’s longest relationship in Port Charles is with Sonny. How are things between Jax and Sonny these days?
Ingo Rademacher: “This is an interesting relationship. This has evolved over 20 years. They used to just hate each other and they still hate each other, but now they’re forced to get along because his wife and I share a daughter that he has helped raise, which must be like nails on a chalkboard to Jax. Now the relationship is they still hate each other but they have to get along and smile. So, anything that Jax can do, like the dig about buying the house next door, is fun.”
Catch Rademacher on “General Hospital,” airing weekdays on ABC.
