DAYS’s Eric Martsolf Is 'Always Chomping at the Bit' For Brady’s Downfall

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After years of sobriety, Days of our Lives’ Brady Black has turned back to the bottle. While it’s bad news for Brady, it’s a welcome twist for his portrayer, Eric Martsolf, who relishes his character’s occasional downward spirals. Soap Opera Digest chatted with Martsolf about the storyline and the acting challenges it presents.

Soap Opera Digest: Brady’s off the wagon. Is that a story turn you had hoped to see?

Eric Martsolf: Oh yeah. There's no mystery surrounding it. I'm always chomping at the bit for Brady to have that kind of downfall. Only in our crazy soap world can I feel comfortable saying that, because we as actors love to play the problematic natures of our characters instead of the happy moments. At least I do. When he falls off the wagon, I know that there's lots of adventures that are going to follow and lots of mistakes that are going to be made. And in true Brady fashion, he's just going right down that path that I love so much.

Digest: Did you lobby for this or are you one of those actors who just waits and hopes?

Martsolf: If you want to define lobby as when Soap Opera Digest asks, “What would you like Brady to do?”, I usually suggest that he fall off the wagon. So I guess that's my lobbying. But no, I'm not the guy that has conversations with the writers in the hallway. I let them do their job. If they feel that the time is appropriate for Brady to have a slip, then so be it. This seems to be an appropriate time.

Digest: Theresa was the catalyst of all of this, having lured Brady into bed only to dump him for Alex. Does Brady hold any animosity towards her?

Martsolf: When you have someone in your heart, maybe you hate the way [they make] you feel. Maybe you hate the scenario, but you never hate the person. You never have animosity towards them. The man is constantly desperate for that love factor that escapes him so frequently. It's just another example of a very frustrating situation. He wanted that happy picture — Tate and Theresa and himself — but she was definitely pulling him in all kinds of directions, which is applicable to why he has started drinking again.

Digest: You and Emily O’Brien (ex-Theresa) developed a nice chemistry and rapport through your characters’ bonding as parents. Did you feel like the writers were maybe toying with putting Brady and Theresa back together?

Martsolf: Emily's entrance as Theresa was just unprecedented; the way they had her as Gwen one minute and literally three seconds later, she was Theresa. So it was an uphill battle to get the audience to appreciate that this was going to be a new portrayal. Back when Jen Lilley portrayed Theresa, it was more of a frolic. Brady and Theresa were almost the anti-couple that walked around high as kites and drinking all the time. The [more recent] writing did reflect a maturity in both Brady and Theresa. I believe they still had their history, but they have an older son now, and all the circumstances are different. [As two people] who admittedly have substance abuse issues, they're praying to God that their son doesn't fall under this umbrella. They understand that they have to work together in order to make that happen. The maturity of the storyline helped blend the characters together, bring them back to life and put some more oxygen into them, which I enjoyed as well. I can't say enough about Emily. She's just terrific, and she handled the transition with a lot of class.

Digest: Do you think Brady is more interesting as a character when he's not sober?

Martsolf: Maybe interesting is not the right word. I don't know how to answer that. I mean, for an actor, it's more fun to play the troubled, tumultuous time in your character's life. I love when Brady is trying to get himself out of a hole. He certainly gets himself into enough of them, and it's interesting to watch someone try to climb out and regain their humanity, so to speak, and their stability in the world. Brady needs to be shaken up once in a while. The fact that he just can't hold down a loving relationship to save his soul is completely interesting to me too. How many times can you fall down and dust yourself off and keep trying again? But I guess that's what we do here.

Digest: What's the hardest part and the easiest part of playing inebriated Brady?

Martsolf: The simple answer is just not to go over the top with it. Soap opera has been plagued for generations to be a forum where we need to go over the top to display emotion and to tell a story. I think the tide is changing in a sense with 4K [higher-definition video resolution]. The subtlety is simply captured better. As we zoom in even further on these faces of these characters, we literally see the tear ducts well up in actors’ eyes. You can internalize more and know that the camera will capture those emotions and those things are going to be emitted through the television. Back in the day when it was grainier, you almost had to play harder to show people what you were feeling.

Digest: Is that the hard part or the easy part?

Martsolf: That's the hard part, because in my natural life I'm a little too animated and over the top. That's because, first of all, I've raised two boys. We love to sing, dance and joke around. We love to be loud. I have a loud home. To come to work and have to be subtle and underplay things is a challenge for me. I'm also from the theater. I grew up in it. I spent years on a Broadway tour, and what they teach you there is to make it big or go home. You have to make those people in the mezzanine and Row Z feel what you're feeling. [Daytime] is a completely different genre that requires a different skill set.

Digest: Do you ever watch Young and Restless ? Because someone who’s mastered the art of playing drunk is Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki).

Martsolf: You read my mind. That's exactly who I was thinking about recently. I most certainly watched her. She's terrific. She's one of the best in our genre doing this.

Digest: Is there something you'd say was easy about playing Brady drunk?

Martsolf: It's not easy. That's what I like about it. There have been a lot of poor portrayals of inebriation out there, and people who really have a problem and are alcoholics are masters at hiding it. It goes undiscovered for years and years. That's when it becomes really painful when people, especially family members, can't detect it and it goes under the radar. The problem by then has just manifested into something that you just can't kill. So it was important for me to understand how to mask it and not make it so obvious. It's a delicate balance. I like the challenge of portraying it. It's a fun ride. When Brady has these issues, it's not a subject to be taken lightly, of course. But I certainly welcome it when he has these problems because it's important to show and to tell when it's done right. I've seen a lot of my fellow soap opera brethren take on these important issues, and I’m always proud when we do it right.