Highlight Reel
DAYS’S Robert Scott Wilson (Ben) looks back on four memorable storylines.
THE NECKTIE KILLER, 2015
What were your thoughts when you first learned Ben was going to be the killer?
“Oh, man. At first it was a shock, because I was like, ‘Wow! This might be the end of Ben.’ I had that thought for a split second, but then, as soon as I really thought about it, it was like, ‘I’ll have an opportunity to show a little bit more of my range.’ They hadn’t written me a lot of wild rollercoaster moments up until that point. It was an opportunity for me to open Ben up, dig through the trauma of who he really is, and play the bad side of him, bring that to light and give him some more dimension. I saw it not really as a door closing, but an opportunity.” What stands out to you most about that storyline? “Strangling Will, because it was his friend. It was the first moment that Ben was conscious about what he was doing. He knew he had to do it. It wasn’t something where he blacked out. And everybody liked it, because we did [the scene] again with another actor. We re-created it as best we could. Guy Wilson was playing Will, and he was fantastic. Playing Ben at that moment may have been some of the darkest [work I’ve ever done], for sure.”
Any other memorable moments?
“The thing that kind of stirred me up the most was the confession scene. Ben confessed to his father about the murders, mainly killing Will.”
What about the scenes where you kidnapped Abigail and took her to the cabin?
“Things started changing in the way [the producers] handled the story. They really took a lot of care and time with what we did and gave us our space. They were really complimentary about what was happening with myself and Kate Mansi [Abigail]. Billy [Flynn, Chad] was involved, especially in those scenes at the
end. I love working with Billy, and I love working with Kate. We were just in our zone, and we were doing our thing. You put that all together with the fire and the real baby, it changes things.”
Ben set the bed on fire with Abigail and Chad chained to it. Were those scenes scary to film?
“Ben is a wild guy, so we’ve had that pyro team in quite a bit with flames and explosions.
They had a flame bar at the end of the bed, which we’ve brought back and used in other scenes.
It’s not scary. You just want to focus on the work, but when a stunt is involved you have to pay more attention to the stunt.
It’s hard to stay completely committed in a scene. There are other responsibilities over just having a really great performance, per se. It was awesome. I love doing all that stuff.”
How did you feel when the necktie killer story wrapped?
“I was proud of it. I was proud of everybody involved. Granted, it was tough because I knew my story might come to an end for a while at DAYS, but the work itself was great and everybody was happy with it. I was like, ‘If I’m leaving, I feel good with this.’ I left on a high note, even though it was a wildly awful, horrible thing for him to do. I was happy to get through it. It was a heavy storyline. It was really dark. It was nice to finally get through it. It was almost like you can breathe again and get that weight off your chest.”
BEN ESCAPES FROM THE SANITARIUM TO TORMENT ABIGAIL, 2016 Were you excited when you got called back for that plot? And what were your thoughts about it?
“Oh, absolutely. It was kind of like throwing gas on a fire. He came back and interrupted Chad and Abigail’s wedding. She had dreams of him, and he was kind of haunting her character. When Ben finally showed up in the flesh, it was a nice entrance. That was another really dark, wild moment, when Abigail flipped out, took him upstairs, strapped him to the bed, and doused him with gasoline.”
Is there anything in particular you remember about that scene?
“Working on my legs for three hours with makeup, [putting on the] burns and everything. I just remember screaming through the fire saying, ‘I love you.’ Even though Abigail was doing all of this, there was this moment of him still screaming, ‘I love you’ through it. There were a lot of cool moments. Ben escaped. He lived through it. Then he came down the stairs, Chad found him and punched him, and Ben got knocked out.”
When that story wrapped and Ben was sent back to the mental hospital, were you thinking that was the end of the line at DAYS?
“Yes and no. I thought, ‘This is who he is now. He comes back to throw gas on the fire.’ If they wanted to do anything else with him, we’d see. I wasn’t expecting anything long-term. When it turned into everything that it is now ... It’s been really fulfilling. I’m super-grateful.”
Ben was declared sane and freed after Marlena evaluated him and put him on medication. What were your thoughts going into this redemption story after having played a murderer?
“Trauma changes everybody. [Having] Ben go through all of this just adds many layers and complexity to him. It’s just more fun to play. But Marlena, having her blessing, is everything. Marlena has become Ben’s main confidante and almost a mother figure in a weird way. They’ve developed a great relationship. Coming back, a lot of my scenes were with Deidre Hall [Marlena], getting her clearance. I remember those were big scenes, having her have Ben’s back and believing in him.”
Did you know the show was planning a Ben/ Ciara coupling?
“No, they didn’t tell me any of that. Ben had never had any interaction with Ciara. And who would ever think he’d be with the commissioner’s daughter? So I didn’t approach it as, ‘Oh, we’re going into a romance. Let’s build this love story.’ ”
How did you approach it?
“I approached it as Ben on his road to redemption, trying to be a better person. He was back to having this good heart. He found himself. Whether he found Ciara on the side of the road or anybody else, he was going to do the right thing and be a good human. He didn’t look at it like, ‘Oh, there’s this pretty girl on the road.’ He was like, ‘There’s this human being that needs help.’ ”
When the Ben and Ciara story started, were you concerned about how fans were going react?
“I love my fans. I have amazing fans. I’m so grateful for them. When they saw the turn, they were on board. Then it was just about getting the rest of the fans on board. I’m just grateful it happened so quickly. People were really supportive of the idea right away. They wanted to see the story play out. I didn’t expect it to become as big as it did. Ben and Ciara caught fire with the fans. It was crazy.”
Do you remember the point when you knew it was working?
“Right away, when we started shooting the scenes. It was a week or so in after Ciara finally woke up and they were having conversations in the cabin. I just felt the energy change. The producers and directors were loving everything and were really complimentary. Everything was going really well.”
What stands out from the early stages of their romance?
“Everything in the cabin was monumental. It was the foundation for Ben and Ciara and what ended up as ‘Cin’. I remember when Ben was hallucinating his father, and Ciara talked him down and took his hand. Those were epic scenes. James Read [Clyde] was involved, and Victoria [Konefal, Ciara] was incredible as always.”
BEN’S SANITARIUM RELEASE, REDEMPTION AND PAIRING WITH CIARA, 2018
After the time jump, Ben was in prison. What were your first thoughts when you read that in the script?
“I was like, ‘Damn, did I do something wrong? What the hell? I thought things were going so well.’ Then I thought, ‘Okay, I’ve just got to dig into this. We’re jumping forward. Let’s ride it out. It’s a change ...’ We’ve repeated stories and done everything a million times. This was something new, and it was fun.
And the whole story inside the prison
... I love stuff like that. Having James back in the mix was incredible. I got to work with Chandler [Massey, Will] more and that developed into a friendship between Ben and Will. That ended up being awesome. It [added] another nice layer to redeeming Ben. I especially loved the time jump.”
Does anything stand out from the prison scenes?
“I felt grateful, because they gave me such meaty stuff. And I wore orange for a long, long time. I loved it. The scenes are super-heavy. There were some where really James Read had the heavy legwork — the one when Ben said good-bye to his father, and the last meal when Clyde opened up and you could see the empathy in him for the first time in a long time and his love for his son. Also, the scene right before that when Ciara came in and told Ben his appeal was denied. Those were big moments, the gravity of knowing your life is over and there is no other option for you.”
Was the execution scene one of the hardest you’ve had to do?
“Unbelievable. Marlena was there saying, ‘Stay calm, Ben. It’ll be all right. It’ll be over soon, pal [laughs].’ But no, I loved it. I’ll never forget those moments. We caught lightning in a bottle again between Marlena being there, and Will, and Ciara busting in saving the day. It was just an awesome, awesome storyline. The stakes for Ben had been through the roof for a long time. You can’t get much closer to the edge than getting two out of three pumps of a lethal injection in your arm. We got to play that out, his heart actually stopping and being brought back to life by his love [for Ciara] and his will to live.”
How did you get into that mindset when Ben was about to be executed?
“It was a long day of shooting. I kind of was in my own zone for a little while. I was strapped on that board for a long time.”
Did you choose to stay on that board in between scenes?
“Yeah. I didn’t really eat that much that day. I didn’t drink that much. I kind of let myself fall into that space of what Ben was going through as best as I possibly could. I tell you, when all the elements come together, you feel them strap you in, you have the machinery and the medicines around you, and everything is lined up, it propels it all to where it needs to be. I was really happy with how it turned out.”
Fortunately, Ciara stopped the execution, leading to Ben’s exoneration. Was there a major exhale moment when that finally wrapped?
“For sure. I mean, it was epic with Ciara busting in. Victoria killed it and just really worked her ass off. That day, in particular, I was even more proud of her. Everything came together perfectly.”
BEN’S CONVICTION FOR JORDAN’S MURDER AND NEAR EXECUTION, 2019-20