It’s rare (though not so as to be wholly surprising) to see Eric Martsolf and his alter-ego let lose and loaded for bear — but anytime such an event transpires, you can count on Martsolf to sink his teeth into the material and sell, sell, sell it.
Eric Martsolf — Performer Of The Week
Hot off a fiery exchange with Stacy Haiduk’s Kristen, Martsolf bellowed across the set for his character’s daughter. While Kristen stooped to pick up the custody agreement that Brady had delighted in shredding and tossing into the air, Martsolf hovered over her and hissed that she didn’t get to just kidnap his kid.
“Our kid” pointedly pointed out Kristen, but Brady was on too much of a rage-induced roll to give her much heed. Finally, reaching his limit, Brady reached for a gun. That got Kristen’s attention.
With a fire in his eyes and a scowl on his face that would give even the most hardened man pause, Martsolf explained that the firearm in his hand was, “My father’s, and it’s loaded, and that’s all you need to know.”
When Kristen wondered if Brady would actually shoot her in cold blood, Martsolf shouted out that he was thinking about it, and when Kristen continued to hem and haw and hedge Brady rushed her. Jamming the (prop)gun into his co-star’s gut, Martsolf declared, rather authoritatively, that he was calling the shots now. (Pun intended?)
Martsolf and Haiduk’s confrontation was blistering and raw. Martsolf’s subsequent interaction with pint-sized thespian Finley Rose Slater was equally as grueling, requiring as it did Martsolf to contain Brady’s escalating fury in the face of Rachel’s stubbornness.
In the end, Eric Martsolf had us rooting for a character who we’d just witnessed do a very, very bad thing because he made Brady so darn relatable. Who wouldn’t go above and beyond (and a little overboard) to protect the flesh and blood from corrupting influences?