Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
Going Hollywood: Thorsten Kaye (Ridge) and Rebecca Budig (Taylor), once fellow Pine Valley residents, meet again on B&B.
The shockwaves are still reverberating through the Bold and Beautiful fandom over the reveal at the tail end of the show's August 6th episode that Rebecca Budig (ex-Michelle, Guiding Light ; ex-Greenlee, All My Children ; ex-Hayden, General Hospital ) is the new Taylor Hayes, succeeding Hunter Tylo and, more recently, Krista Allen in the role. But what does Thorsten Kaye (Ridge), who will surely be heavy in storyline alongside Budig now that she's playing his character's ex-wife and the mother of two of his children, think about the casting move?
Piques And Valleys
"I am excited," Kaye declares. "I am excited for a couple of reasons. Number one, she's a friend. Number two, she's really good. And number three, I never really worked with her before. I would have to try to look past the mass that is Cameron Mathison [Drew, GH, who was Budig's leading man on AMC, where he played Ryan Lavery] to even see the little munchkin [Budig] behind him! We never really had one-on-one scenes, so I'm excited to see how this goes."
Above all, Kaye feels it's important that the character of Taylor, who is so deeply rooted in the history of the show, be in the B&B mix. "I think Taylor is needed," he notes. "I'm glad she's back. It brings a lot of potential for a lot of people. I think it's great for Steffy's character, and for Thomas, who is in Paris — there's just a lot of stuff that she brings as a character to a lot of different characters, so I think it's good that she's back."
Kaye was not surprised that Budig impressed B&B's brass as the show went through its casting process. "I think they looked at maybe 15 or 20 people, and it just makes you realize that what we do for a living every day really is impossible on paper — but we get it done! It's a special skill set, and you almost need an actor that has done this [genre] before because it moves so fast and you have to think through storyline so quickly," he says. "It takes a certain kind of training, and I think that's why somebody like Rebecca was at the front."
On AMC, Kaye's character was married to Alicia Minshew's Kendall, the sometime rival, sometime best friend of Budig's Greenlee. Budig and Minshew remain tight in real life, as do Kaye and Minshew; Kaye introduced Minshew to her husband of nearly 16 years, Richie Herschenfeld, who is one of his best friends. Has Kaye talked to Minshew about Budig's move to B&B? "She stayed at my house last weekend, so no, I didn't talk to her," Kaye teases. "She was just lying in bed and doing makeup and whatever she does. No, she's really excited for her friend and is excited about the two of us working together. And maybe other people who watched All My Children feel the same way — maybe people will want to see how it works with two people that worked together before as different characters. The good thing about this is, all my characters are exactly the same," he grins. "So I think that's gonna make it easier to watch."
Of course, a lot has changed since 2011, when Kaye and Budig were last castmates — not the least of which is that Kaye is now a two-time Daytime Emmy winner for Outstanding Lead Actor. "I do carry them with me wherever I go, and I think they might be taller than Rebecca! So that may be something she needs to adjust to," the actor jokes. "I hadn't seen her until I saw her on a Zoom thing we did [as part of the casting process]. And it went well! I think it really helped that we know each other. It was really nice to see her and it felt familiar. It's hard to start over with someone new."
Kaye understands that recasts, particularly for a role with decades of history behind it like the role of Taylor, can be jarring for fans, but says, "I always compare it to a sports team. There are some great stars and they get to a certain point when they retire and it changes the game a little bit, but you're still a fan of the team, you understand that sometimes you have to change players."
And whether you're Team Ridge and Brooke or Team Ridge and Taylor, the timing is perfect for Taylor's return to shake things up, Kaye says. "Whenever Ridge and Brooke get closer together, somebody else shows up male or female. And that's what you want! That's what you watch for — love in the afternoon."
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