Maurice Benard, who plays, Sonny, on General Hospital, stars in The Ghost and the Whale

 THE GHOST AND THE WHALE

The Ghost and The Whale movie poster.

General Hospital (GH) soap fans know actor Maurice Benard as Sonny Corinthos. He has portrayed a mob boss for 20 years on the ABC Daytime television show. 

What he has in common with his real life, his character on GH, and his new movie, The Ghost and The Whale, is that he is bi-polar. He tackles the mental illness on GH, and now he's taking it to the big screen.

Maurice's wife, Paula, is the executive producer of the film, a project she has been working on for quite some time.

             


This is an excerpt from the movie:
The Ghost and the Whale, a Gaudioso Twins Film, tells the story of Joseph Hawthorne (Maurice Benard), a bi-polar man who went off to sea with the love of his life and returned back to the sleepy town of Bodega alone. His wife Annabel Lee’s (Madeleine Hamer) disappearance and his subsequent exoneration creates a divided mystery among the town and moreover her bloodthirsty family. 

One year later, acclaimed journalist Ed Hale (James Gaudioso) has been called to Bodega to cover Joseph’s mysterious and still untold story. A toilsome proposition, now that Joseph has relapsed into an untreated state, alternating between hysterical mania and crippling melancholia. Often times Joseph will seek sanctuary down by the water with his only friend, a massive Gray Whale (Jonathan Pryce). 

Ed recruits the help of a gregarious townsman and wanna be writer, Mitch Captree (Bryan MckKinley) to help navigate the terrain and local customs. After ten years of incarceration, the most diabolical of her brothers, Jack Lee (Anthony Gaudioso) returns home to exact his revenge. Now, both Ed and Joseph must survive long enough to unveil the truth before the Lee’s bury them both.
http://www.theghostandthewhale.com/

Cast

• MAURICE BENARD as Joseph Hawthorne
• JAMES GAUDIOSO as Ed Hale
• MONICA KEENA as Sweetie
• DOMINIC BOGART as Ruddy Lee
• KELLEY FLYNN as Dusty Lee
• BRYAN MCKINLEY as Mitch
• TIMOTHY BRENNEN as Tom
• MADELEINE HAMER as Ghost
• ANTHONY GAUDIOSO as Jack Lee
• JONATHAN PRYCE as The Whale
• TIPPI HEDREN in a special cameo appearance

• MATT SCHULTE as Dane
• ASHLYNN YENNIE as Anne
• RON HALE as Father Reinhart, (also played Maurice's father on General Hospital)

Maurice talks about living with bi-polar disorder.

    

You can also learn more about Maurice in his interview with BP Magazine: Maurice Benard “This Rebel Has A Cause”. 

Meet and Greet with @MauriceBenardMB! Aug.1, in LA. includes QandA panel with the directors and actors from the film!

The Kickstarter page is located here .