With such love and recognition – from both men and women – comes a lot of pressure and expectation. Playing a character that is practically the gold standard of all leading men is as fun as it is challenging. Challenging because rarely is a fairytale figure associated with having a depth or a complex. And fun because, well, he gets to interact with “Oncers” at fan events like PaleyFest and ComicCon and experiment with “oldschool Hollywood” fashion on the growing number of red carpets he finds himself walking on (“classic and timeless” is how he rolls). “But at the end of the day,” he concludes, “I’m an actor, and we can only go in and play what’s written on the page, and hopefully we bring that to life...You have to play him for the man that he is on the page, for all of his hopes, his dreams, his desires, his happiness, his sadness. You have to look at that as opposed to, ‘I’m going to just play Prince Charming.’” And when he’s not playing one half of Storybrook’s starcrossed supercouple? “There’s a couple of projects I’m looking at,” he teases as we discuss his summer plans, which also include some renovations on his home back in L.A. (“it’s the best place to unwind and hang out before we jump back into fairy tale land”) – and surfing. That’s right, Oncers. Prince Charming likes to hang ten.
BELLO