"DIE HARD," PINE VALLEY STYLE
TV Guide Magazine - May 19, 2008

How the soap world has changed! When All My Children's Angie and Jesse (Debbi Morgan and Darnell Williams) got married 25 years ago, it was a simply little affair with a justice of the peace.  But their remarriage (which begins airing May 21) is a badass überevent complete with a kidnapped bride, a shooting and emergency surgery (Tad), a heavenly apparition (Dixie), a musical performance by Ne-Yo and state-of-the-art effects by Stargate Digital.  That's the company that makes the Petrelli brothers fly on Heroes and created the epic ferryboat disaster on Grey's Anatomy.

For AMC, Stargate has staged a fight high in the sky that finds Jesse hanging from the side of a helicopter as he tries to stop the nefarious pilot Robert (David Rasche) from flying off with the abducted Angie.  The sequence -- which has Angie taking control of the chopper while the guys duke it out -- was shot against a studio green screen but, thanks to CGI magic, will look like it's happening above the skyscrapers of Pine Valley.

The actors are stoked.  "Angie piloting a helicopter? When I first heard the idea I thought, 'Soaps can't do this well.  How hokey is that going to be?'" Morgan says.  "But it turned out fantastic!"  Adds Williams: "This is very pioneering stuff -- the cutting edge of daytime TV -- but it's what needs to be done these days to keep soaps in the game."

The airborne battle marks the end of the road for the fabulous Rasche, best remembered for ABC's 1986-88 cult hit Sledge Hammer!  The writers will leave the door open for his return, but the actor doubts that he'll be back any time soon.  "I may have caused a bit too much mayhem and bloodshed," Rasche says with a laugh.  "They'll be mopping up after me for months to come!"