Soaps - Jonathan Jackson//Lucky Spencer Appreciation #2: It was our "lucky" day when JJ came home - Page 11

**Cristofle** · 11-07-2009, 01:28 PM

I think he wanted to try his hand at other things. Movies, more time for his music, etc. Had they not recast the role, he might have come back sooner, but he was wary at one point about coming back after the part had been recast. He sent Jacob Young a very sweet note at one point wishing him luck and thanking him for giving the role of Lucky new life (which...LOL, but it was a nice gesture). However, he also wanted to raise his kids out of LA for awhile, he said in a recent interview that he might not have wanted to move back to LA while they were any younger than this.

Scheming Star · 11-07-2009, 01:36 PM

Really?! That's what I thought so when I saw him in other films, but mostly actors can do both with soaps and movies at same time.

Look at Steve. He did a movie few years ago while he was still on GH.

So yeah, from his interview, he didn't want his kids to be raised in LA at younger ages so that's probably why he left right? So I can't believe that he would give Jacob to take over Lucky when he should have known that he literally killed his character, lol.

**Cristofle** · 11-07-2009, 01:40 PM

Jacob didn't come in until about a year after JJ left. The original plan was that Becky was going to leave at the end of HER contract, and JJ was going to come back briefly so L&L2 could leave together. That's why it was so clear to the audience that Lucky was alive at the end of JJ's run, even as Port Charles believed he was dead. But then Becky re-signed. Even then, had Guza been head writer, the role never would have been recast. That was done under McTavish. Guza straight up said once he would not have recast Lucky, that he didn't want the character without JJ. But when McT did it, it was already done when he came back.

Scheming Star · 11-07-2009, 01:45 PM

Yeah I heard about that LL2 was supposed to leave together when JJ decided to leave the show with Becky. But I am sure that Becky needed her job so she couldn't leave like that. And I don't want to be downer since JJ was the ONLY true Lucky I know but I am glad that Lucky was recasted because let's get it straight, if Lucky was not recasted, only god knows what Elizabeth would have done on that show without Lucky. Hell she would be...with Jason that's something I DO NOT want to know or even think about it considering that she had his baby, oh god. And then what if she married someone else, let's say, Nik? All because Lucky wasn't in the picture. So I am kinda glad that Lucky was around to keep some things not happening at all because you know how soaps work that Liz would have married someone else and have his babies and then JJ comes back to deal with Liz's more than two kids with other men. No freaking thank you.

**Cristofle** · 11-07-2009, 01:49 PM

Yeah, I do think Lucky being recast enabled the audience to maintain a connection to the pairing, where it's seen as one of the show's very few lasting OTPs- characters who will always go back to each other. Had they not, it probably would have been more like a Jason/Robin situation.

Scheming Star · 11-07-2009, 01:52 PM

Exactly. Even though I know that many are not thrilled with other actors playing Lucky, but they gotta keep in mind that having him around is only thing to keep Liz be with others from happening. So I am glad that with JJ back, we have full LL2 without dealing with some ugly history, but few.

Mich · 11-07-2009, 03:32 PM

Jon always saw GH as a jumping off point for his foray into films. He said it a lot in his early interviews after he left the show. Jon went to LA and got into show business so he could work in the film industry. GH was his first steady job as an actor, and he proved very impressively that he was able to compete and hold his own with heavy hitter actors like Tony and Genie. He also had an appeal for the audience that rooted for him as Lucky and he was given the kind of material that made it easy to stick around for as long as he did. Also, a personal reason was because he didn't want to leave his GH family and especially Genie and Tony, who practically raised him as a son and fellow thespian.

But GH also limited the outside projects that he could take on, and he couldn't do all the roles that he wanted to because of his schedule. Lucky was an integral part of the canvas, and Jon was on screen a lot. The pace of soaps is faster but it's also more time consuming so there were only a few times Jon could book other projects. One of them was his movie, Deep End of the Ocean, which he won so many accolades. He was even critiqued at having trumped Michelle P. in the scene at the juvenile detention center.

I think Jon was hurt when they decide to recast Lucky because that character is a part of him and it encompasses so many of the same values and trademarks of himself. He'd also been told before he left that he would not have to worry about a recast--Tony, Genie, Guza, and everyone running the network assured Jon that he could come and go as he pleased. The problem was that they had no control when McTavish took over and decided no role was sanctified, so she decided Lucky belonged on screen. They went to Jon with another offer, but he'd been gone less than a year and he wasn't ready to return yet. He was already in discussion to come back for Becky but she also had another year left on her contract. So he didn't expect to go running back so quickly. So they moved on without JJ, and it kind of forced Jon into closure with Lucky.

This is no different than what happened with Amber--she swore that she'd never, ever return if they ever decided to recast Emily. She expected that if she molded Emily into the character she was then she also deserved the right to be the only one who played her. She was disappointed and angry when she found out that they were going to recast and she signed off on ever being on GH again. It's just the nature of the business that roles have to be recast but since the actors put so much of themselves and heart and soul into their performances then they also feel entitlement and a sense of pride in creating such an iconic figure, so I completely understand their disillusionment and wanting to cut ties altogether with that character. I think the only difference between Amber and Jon is that Jon never declared that he wouldn't return someday because he still held hope of once again playing Lucky but he also has no desire to come back until he'd accomplished what he wanted with his film career.

I think Jon's a lot older and wiser and he's now a war veteran about handling this industry (he's had success with his film roles and he's made himself recognized in the industry--they wanted him as the original Anakin Skywalker, after all), so he knows that working in films is a tough business and it's not always as glamorous as it seems, which seems to be why he took a long break to pursue his music and not to pursue acting. Music is as much the love of his life as acting is and having a family and his faith. I think he needed to explore other avenues with his life--he also created a production company with his brother where he produced films and directed some short films--before he knew he was ready to go back to his childhood roots. And that's essentially what returning to Lucky and GH is for Jon, a way to go back to his history and re-evaluate it as an adult and to experience those highs and lows all over again but with more wisdom and experience and a renewed sense of excitement.

ETA:
Since, we're discussing JJ's film career... I recently found this trailer for a movie, Kalamity, that JJ recently worked on. I have no details on it except for what was said with the note attached to the YT clip. He seems to have filmed this in 2009 and it hasn't been released yet.

Check it out:
YouTube - Kalamity Trailer (2009)

**Cristofle** · 11-07-2009, 04:20 PM

From what JJ has said about his feelings regarding playing Lucky since returning, I also wonder if he hasn't missed that feeling, of stepping into a character like a second skin. You don't get to know your characters as well in movies. You don't even get to do that in primetime. One of the reasons I've always loved him so much is that I don't see "Jonathan Jackson acting Lucky Spencer". I just see Lucky Spencer. He embodies Lucky. I think part of him really enjoys that.

Scheming Star · 11-07-2009, 04:26 PM

Edited

ThisLullaby · 11-07-2009, 05:31 PM

I didn't know that about Amber, but it makes sense. As much as I wish they hadn't recast Lucky, I really wish they hadn't recast Emily. GV was a good actor, whereas, imo, the only time NL was any good was in the rape storyline. And even then, not nearly as good as Becky had been in hers.

I really need to find some of JJ's movies. I've seen clips and trailers and stuff, but never a whole movie - not even Tuck Everlasting, because I hated Alexis Bledel so much when it came out that I couldn't even watch it for JJ. While he will always be Lucky Spencer for me first and foremost, I am really interested in some of the more "messed up" characters he's played - like that serial killer movie or whatever it was.

**Cristofle** · 11-07-2009, 05:39 PM

I'd recommend Insomnia and Deep End of the Ocean, definitely. One of the movies where he's a serial killer is A Little Thing Called Murder.

ThisLullaby · 11-07-2009, 05:47 PM

Awesome, I will definitely check those two out. I remember being like, 10 and really wanting to see The Deep End of the Ocean, but my mom watched it and said it was too sad or something?

Cristofle, your icon is ridiculously cute.

**Cristofle** · 11-07-2009, 06:02 PM

It's not wrist-slitting sad. It has a happy enough ending, lol. It's an intense movie, because it deals with kidnapping. I think Jon's character is the most layered, actually- he's the older brother of the child who got kidnapped, and he's an absolute mess as a result.

Thank you!

angel_wings05 · 11-07-2009, 06:12 PM

^^^^^ OMG your icon! So jealous!

LOL! I love it SO much!!

**Cristofle** · 11-07-2009, 06:18 PM

Thank you!

This is a great scene from Deep End of the Ocean.

YouTube - The Deep End of the Ocean (Vincent and Ben)