A powerful short film starring Wally Kurth and Kassie DePaiva, who both tackled roles on Days of our Lives and General Hospital, is making the rounds at various film festivals.
Wally Kurth On Short Film
The independent flick, Common as Red Hair, opens with an emotional funeral and sees a grieving father (Kurth) and mother (DePaiva) reexamining their early life decision to have gender normalization surgery performed on their intersex infant.
During an exclusive chat with Soap Opera Digest, Kurth detailed that he made the acquaintance of Red Hair‘s director, Robbie Robertson, while the two were enrolled in a screenwriting course over a decade ago.
“It was during my unemployment years in between soaps. I was guided to screenwriting and I was taking a course at UCLA screenwriting and it was all online. I met Robbie, I think, in the second year. I was just a fan of his writing. He was always sharing material with me.”
On the film’s script: “Maybe that’s because he was also the director, but I just thought it was a really compelling story. I loved the twist and also I was sort of educated. I had no idea what intersex was and that it’s a real thing and it’s one of those things where we all kind of go, ‘What is it?’ Not really knowing what it means or anything.”
On DePaiva and corralling her into a meeting with their future director: “Kassie and I worked for just a little while on Days of our Lives. We felt like we never worked long enough because we knew each other when I was on General Hospital and she was on One Life to Live [as Blair]. We actually sang a few duets together at the ABC Super Soap weekend down in Orlando over the years so we knew each other…
“Kassie and I were doing a [public appearance] in Myrtle Beach I invited Robbie over from Columbia, South Carolina, and we all went to lunch. We just sort of fell into it….
“We love the fact that we could play a husband and wife. You know, just trying to be good parents. We both can relate to that.”
On carving out time for the shoot and the fringe benefits: “I’ve never done an independent film like this little short film for anyone and I’m just so glad I did. Of course, and it wasn’t all that easy. We had to fly to South Carolina, but boy, he [Robertson] put us up in a wonderful Bed and Breakfast. A Civil War Era home which, evidently, is where some generals stayed. I think I want to say that President [of the Confederate States of America] Jefferson Davis might have been there with one of the generals.
“It had all these wonderful bookshelves full of old books, some of them at least referencing the 1800s. It was just an incredible three-day weekend that Kassie and I stayed at. And then we would go over to the house and shoot this film. I thought that just was very, very special.”
On the feedback from film festival attendees: “People come up to me and they don’t know who I am. They don’t recognize me from soaps or anything. They’re like, ‘Oh, we really liked your film.’ That was really, really lovely.”
On the message, he hopes the short engenders: “It’s a lesson of moving beyond parental decisions that maybe weren’t the best ones at the time, but the best ones they thought they were at the time.”
Might you add Kurth and DePaiva’s movie to your “Must Watch” list? Let us know in the comments section below.
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