People who believe that there is some kindness in everyone clearly haven't crossed paths with THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL'S Deacon Sharpe. Even soap veteran Sean Kanan has been startled by just how nasty his new character is. "Deacon is a pretty reprehensible individual," he admits. "I really haven't found any redeeming qualities in him at all."

Whether barking at girlfriend Carmen or using his son to extort money from the Forresters, Deacon clearly is diabolical. "I don't think this is some bad guy with a heart of gold," muses Kanan. "He seems pretty bad through and through."

Still, it's not hard to see why the late Becky would fall under Deacon's spell. "He's got sort of a dangerous charm," says Kanan. But he's a rattlesnake."

SAVED BY THE BELL
When B&B first approached Kanan about taking on the role, the actor nearly dismissed the offer on the spot. Having been a regular on GENERAL HOSPITAL (as messed up A.J. Quartermaine) and SUNSET BEACH (as the debonair Jude Cavanaugh), he confesses, "I had little to no intention of coming back to daytime. I had just finished two films for HBO. Things were clicking.

"There is a perception that when one returns to daytime, it's because of lack of work in the outside world," he continues. "That was anything but the case with me."

When his manager asked him to meet with B&B executive producer Bradley Bell, Kanan was about to fly to New York to film a romantic comedy. "I said, 'Why go in there and waste his time and mine. I don't want to jerk his chain around."

Nevertheless, he reluctantly met with Bell. "I don't know Brad very well, but he really impressed me. We just clicked."

MOVIE MAGIC
Kanan's B&B contract affords him the flexibility to continue outside film projects - which is particularly important to him, he notes, considering that he just started his own production company. Last summer, he completed his first film project, March, in which he co-stars with GH alum Rena Sofer (ex-Lois).

"It's in the vein of American Beauty," he explains. "It's a suburban family that from the outside looks like this perfect Rockwellian portrait, but we soon find out it's a mess."

Kanan worked on the film with two grade-school friends with whom he grew up in Pennsylvania. "One wrote the script and the other directed it," he says. "As kids, we used to talk about coming out to Hollywood and doing a movie together. Our dream finally came to fruition."

CRUEL INTENTIONS
While Kanan's production company already is working on another project, he is just as focused on breathing life into B&B's newest bad boy. "In March, I played a straitlaced insurance salesman, so Deacon is a nice switch," he says. "If you magnified the absolute worst qualities in my personality 100 times, that's who this guy is."

Playing someone as mean as Deacon, Kanan admits he feels compelled to be extra friendly to his co-stars - particularly on-screen girlfriend Gladis Jimenez. "When we first met, I was a little ill at ease because of the way I had behaved to her during our scenes," he says. "I'm probably extra nice to her now because of it.

"Everybody has a dark side to them," he adds. "But Deacon is all dark side."