Deidre Hall is returning the love after Ryan Gosling praised her—and soap actors overall—in a recent Happy Sad Confused podcast interview.
In a video shared by Josh Horowitz, Hall said the cast and crew of Days of our Lives were “thrilled” by Gosling’s comments, even replaying them in the dressing and makeup rooms.
“We work really hard, as you acknowledged,” she said, before inviting Gosling and Horowitz to visit the set. “Nobody will be possessed,” she joked. “And if they are, I’ll keep an eye on you.” Gosling had singled out Hall’s performance as Marlena Evans—especially her infamous demonic possession storyline—as an example of the demanding work soap actors handle daily. He also praised the genre’s fast pace, noting actors often memorize large amounts of dialogue and shoot scenes in a single take.
He recalled first seeing the storyline during the ’90s supernatural TV boom, sparked by shows like The X-Files, and being struck by Hall’s performance.
Marlena’s possession, originally tied to Joseph Mascolo’s Stefano DiMera storyline in the mid-’90s, remains one of the most iconic moments in soap history—and was even revisited in 2021.
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