A creator of and two actors from web series Tainted Dreams dished on realizing their vision for the soap-within-a-soap and lots more! All My Children alums Sonia Blangardio and Alicia Minshew, and Impact Wrestling star Jessie Godderz, offered insights into many Tainted Dreams topics.
Into the Amazon
Amazon recently picked up Tainted Dreams (TD), where fans can see episodes 1 through 8 of this web series about what goes on behind the scenes of a soap, Sonia Blangiardo told Michael Fairman.
“The platform is great. It has visibility, and it just gave us what we needed and wanted, once we realized this was an option,” said Blangiardo, one of All My Children‘s (AMC) most prolific directors.
A Passion Project About the Soap World
Blangiardo created TD almost entirely based on personal experiences culled fromher long career in soaps.
“This story isn’t just based on me personally. It’s many, many stories and things I have witnessed throughout the years…There is very little that is made up,” Blangiardo offered.
From Bad Girl to the Glue that Holds Everyone Together
On AMC, Alicia Minshew (Kendall Slater) played a bad girl turned good. She still had an edge, like her mom, Erica (Susan Lucci), however. On TD she plays supervising producer of the soap the show is based on, cleverly titled “Painted Dreams.”
“It was fun for me not to play the actor, but play the boss, and the one who tries to hold everyone together, and tries to keep everyone sane and doing their jobs correctly, and the one that you could talk to,” Minshew said.
Soaps and Wrestling
Blangiardo and Minshew both said Godderz, well-known in the world of Impact Wrestling, did a stellar job in the role of TD‘s Dylan.
“I was surrounded by such talent from the get-go,” Godderz said. It inspired him to be his best. “It was the most fun I could ever have.”
Blangiardo noted that that soaps and wrestling share important commonalties. One example is that their fans, who often overlap, develop relationships with the characters and personas they meet in both those entertainment genres. Those relationships solidify and strengthen over long periods of time, making for super-passionate fans.
In Memoriam
Minshew and Blangiardo both expressed deep sadness at the passing of Larkin Malloy (Travis Montgomery, AMC). Malloy also played the seminal character, Henry, on TD.
“A low point for me is that he will never have an opportunity to see how much the audience, and his colleagues have responded to him in this role,” Blangardio lamented, as Malloy died while TD was still in post-production.
The two AMC alums were similarly emotional about the passing of soap industry giant Agnes Nixon. Minshew said she cried and felt profound sadness for many days, especially because she hadn’t seen Nixon for several years.
“I owe Agnes my entire professional and personal identity. There are just no words that can do her justice. The only solace we have is that she lived an amazing life,” Blangiardo said.
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