I would like to give a BIG thank-you to my JJaholic friend Erin for typing out this and letting me use it on my web page. She actually recorded the interview and was a kind soul to type it out.
Check out Erin's Jonathan Jackson Web Page!!!!
First they announced that Jon won the soap chat award for outstanding younger
actor, and they asked for a big round of applause.
SoapDish: And joining us here right now live is Jonathan Jackson, hi Jonathan.
Jon: Hi.
SD: Thanks for coming by, we do appreciate it.
Jon: Thank you. How are ya doing?
SD: Great, it's great to have you here. Congratulations on this year's honor.
Jon: Thank you very much, I appreciate it.
SD: We have quite a few fans here this evening that would just love to hear
from you and they are looking forward to chatting with you tonight. Before
we get to the questions, we'd like to hear if you have anything to say to the
fans about this award.
Jon: Oh, just thanks, I mean, uh, I've uh, since I left GH I have even more
appreciation for the fans, how they've supported me through the five and a
half years that I was there, so uh, thanks for everything that they've done.
They've been really cool.
SD: Do you want to talk about the movie you were just recently in?
Jon: Uh, The Deep End of the Ocean?
SD: Yes
Jon: Yeah, um, it's with Michelle Pfeiffer, and I play her son. It came out
earlier this year, and uh I think it's a really really great film and I was
very fortunate to be involved, and I think it should be coming out on video
later this year. So go out and rent it, it should be pretty cool.
SD: People say you have to have a box of Kleenex with you when you see this
film? That's what I hear.
Jon: Yeah, it's that kind of movie.
SD: Well, that's great, and I know in talking to folks about you that you had
occasionally somebody has what you could say is the Hollywood dream. They
go, Gee, I wish I could be part of Hollywood and all this, and it's almost
like a one in a million thing sometimes, and you're the one who did it,
Jonathan! You wound up, and you.. everything fell into place for you at an
early age.
Jon: Yeah.
SD: What do you think it was? Why do you think that the fates stepped in and
came down from the sky and finger-pointed, said, "THIS one, I want this one
here. That one's going to have his road paved for him, to easily get into
the Hollywood system.
Jon: I don't know, I think, uh it's all part of, uh, God's plan, what he
wants from my life, so this happens to be the road He's taking me on and I'm
going for it. If it happened to be something else, then I'd be happy to do
that. But this has been great for me and hopefully I'll just be... I'm just
gonna have to get out of His way and let Him do His work.
SD: Now, not only since leaving GH have you been doing major motion pictures, but I've got here with me a CD you've done with your band, Scarlet Road. And before you think for a minute and say, "Oh gee, they probably gave this guy a
CD and he didn't hear it," I listened to every single song. I liked the
first instrumental, and this number 4 song, Kelly Lane. I don't know why.
And tell me if I'm wrong, but did your parents play the Beatles a lot when
you were growing up, by any chance?
Jon: You know, there's a little bit of that influence in there. Because my
dad and my uncle are also in the band, so you get that 60s and 70s influence.
And there's 16 tracks on there and different kinds of music, so there's
something for everybody I hope.
SD: Scarlet Road is the name of the...
Jon: ....album is God Candy.
SD: God Candy.
Jon: Yeah.
SD: And can you find this in stores right now?
Jon: Um, yeah, it's over on Amazon.com on the internet, um, you can go to a
record store and uh ask them for Scarlet Road or Jonathan Jackson and they'll
be able to uh order it.
SD: Let's hear a little bit of Scarlet Road. This song is called "Only when
the rain slips in." You know, this is one of these albums that not
only can people who are young folks listen to, but baby boomers will like
this. And obviously you're aware of this. You know that there are these
influences in there that it's like, "Gee, older people like out music too"
Jon: Yeah, it's kinda fun to sneak in there because younger people won't
even know it, but the music nowadays is a lot of what it was 30 years ago. I
mean, I've been heavily influenced by people like U2 who have been around
for, you know 20 years, and Pink Floyd and The Who, Led Zeppelin, and people
like that as well.
SD: Pick it up, folks, I'm telling you, baby boomer head of the show here..
listened to the whole thing, and I was going, Geez, I hear Beatles influence,
I hear a little bit of country influence.. it's like this has an appeal to
many different generations, so try it out for yourself. It's available at
all the major internet places, right?
Jon: I think so, uh, it's also at www.soundtracks.com, as well as my fan club
on the internet.
SD: Okay, let's pull up questions, I know there's a lot of them waiting for
Jonathan.
Question 1: Most of the Lucky and Liz fans are dismayed with the direction of Liz's character since Lucky's *demise* ...is there any chance you might come
back and help to rectify this?
Jon: (laughs) Um, I don't have any plans in the near future to come back, but
I love working at GH. I miss the people already, and if there's some way in
the future that we can work it out, I think it'd be pretty fun.
SD: Terrific.
Question 2: I live up in your hometown of Washington. Is your Dad still
running for a political office, which one is it? Also, how is your band doing?
Jon: My dad ran for Congress I think like 2 years ago, the last election.
And uh, we didn't win that one, but some stuff in the future might be coming
up. So look out for that. And my band's doing good, like we talked about,
we have an album that's out, which we're very excited about, and we're
probably going to be live around here soon, and it's going good.
SD: Okay. Let me pull questions off the phone now.
Phone: Louise, from Bronx, NY.
SD: You are on the phone with Jonathan Jackson
Louise: I am?
Jon: Hi, how are ya doing?
Louise: OH! Oh my God, I am the biggest fan of yours!
Jon: Well, thank you.
Louise: I love your work on GH. I've been watching it since I was small,
since I was your age.
Jon: Very cool.
Louise: Oh my God, I can't believe I'm talking to you!
SD: Do you have any questions for Jonathan? Now's your chance.
Louise, Do you plan on coming back to General?
Jon: Um, you know, it's not really a plan I have in the near future, but uh,
you never know, someday... I really loved working on the show, though.
Louise: I really loved your work
Jon: Thank you
Louise: The things you did with Rebecca Herbst were beautiful. You made me
cry!
Jon: (laughs) Cool.
Louise: How's your band going?
Jon: Good
SD: Have you picked up the CD yet?
Louise: I have Clash (I'm not gonna type all this.. SD tells her to buy GC)
Jon: Yeah you shoud [get GC]. It's pretty cool. There's 16 songs, and we
have lyrics to all the songs, and it's pretty fun.
Louise: I love you Jonathan!
Question: What is the latest project that you're working on, and how did you
like filming in Toronto?
Jon: Um, the latest project at the moment is called Purple Haze. It's a movie
for ABC, I think it's going to be retitled by the time it comes out, but it's
about a young guy who falls in love with a drug addict and gets addicted to
heroin in the process. So it's kind of an intense project and I didn't have
a lot of time to see the city much, but what I did see I enjoyed quite a bit.
I thought it was very neat.
SD: Wonderful, next question is..
Question: How do you feel about the recent rumors regarding Bob Guza
recasting the role of Lucky Spencer, a role that you originated? And also how
do you feel about Elizabeth's recent storyline changes regarding her being
paired with Nikolas?
Jon: Um, I really don't know if they're gonna recast me or not.. it's not
really.. I haven't really thought about it either way. And as of pairing
Elizabeth and Nikolas up, I don't know, I hope.. I hope it.. I hope the fans
enjoy it. I just, you know, whatever the fans enjoy, I hope works out.
SD: Next question is from Katie..
Question: Hi Jonathan!! :) How are you? I was wondering when True Rights and
Purple Haze will be released? How is Scarlet Road?
Jon: Um, True Rights is almost done being edited right now, and there's not a
release date yet. As soon as there is, hopefully we'll get it out there, all
over the internet and other places so you guys will know. And it's the same
for Purple Haze, I don't know an exact release date yet, but I'm thinking
later this year.
SD: Jon, just a quick question from myself. Is there any particular moment
in your time on GH that stands out in your mind as being the most memorable
moment?
Jon: I don't know, there's kinda been a lot of different stages since I grew
up on the show. The last year and a half is when I really had the lead
storyline for the first time, and that was kind of a memorable thing. The
show I did with Elizabeth, Becky Herbst, we had about 6 pretty intense scenes
after her character was raped on the show, and that was just kind of a day
that as an actor, I'll probably remember for a while.
SD: That's wonderful. We have another question here. The fans really want
to know if you're coming back to GH to finish the Lucky & Liz storyline.
Jon: Uh, it's not in the near future. I hope to kinda go off and do other
projects that will equally entertain them, and hopefully they'll get as much
enjoyment from that. I'm doing my best.
SD: Well, it seems to be a very popular question. And I assume that people
just ask you that off on the street, too, Jonathan, whether you're going to
do that. I want people to hear .. I really like this song.. Kelly Lane. I
want to play a few seconds of it. What is it about?
Jon: It's about a girl named Kelly.
SD: Well, I listened to the whole CD, and I went hey wow this number 4 is
great. (plays Kelly Lane - the "hold you til dawn, taste you til dark" part)
Do you spend a lot of time recording and playing instruments and so on?
Jon: Yeah, I've been playing guitar for um probably 7 years, and I write
pretty much everyday. it's something I can't.. I write a little too much.. I
get a litttle overwhelmed with it. But yeah, me and the band, we record as
much as we can, and we just love it. It's a great outlet.
SD: What do you like to do for hobbies?
Jon: That's one of them, music., I like writing, my brother and I write
scripts together, and um, let me see, basketball. I love basketball. We're
in the city league right now. And uh, pool, I like pool, and watching movies.
SD: Who are your favorite musicians, actors and actresses?
Jon: My favorite band is U2, um I'm a huge huge fan of theirs, I think
they're great. One of my favorite actors is Daniel Day-Lewis, Gary Oldman, I
like him, Anthony Hopkins, and Michelle Pfeiffer.
SD: And here you got to star with her in a movie.Jon: Yeah that was pretty cool.
SD: Now you got on GH when you were about 11Jon: Yes.
SD: You'd done some commercials before that?
Jon: Yeah, just a few. But I was pretty green when I got on GH. It was one
of my first big jobs.
SD: And.. one of your songs is about Hollywood. I'm asking this.. you're a
young person, and you've had a very interesting life so far. What do you
think about Hollywood and the way it impacts on society and youth. Do you
there's too much violence, that maybeyou'd like to see them bring back more
romantic films? What are some of your thoughts you've been kicking around?
Jon: Yeah, I think, um, we could definitely do a little better with what kind
of products we put out there. I think there's not enough movies and TV shows
that talk about God in general. Morals, families, abstinence, all that kinda
stuff that I believe in, that I think most people out there do believe in.
Hollywood would kinda like us to think otherwise. So yeah, I think with the
recent violence that has been happening it's kind of made Hollywood wake up a
little bit to, you know, assume the responsibility that they do have whether
they like it or not. So yeah there's a lot of issues like that that
hopefully we can keep moving in the right direction with.
SD: Obviously you have been doing some thinking about this. That is quite
apparent. Well this has been great to have Jonathan live here with us in
beautiful downtown Burbank. Congratulations on your outstanding younger
actor soap chat award this year.
Jon: Thank you very much, thank you all, I really appreciate it.
