By Chris Castillo

Special to the News

Antonio Sabato Jr. had to “ugly himself up” to play the role of a serial killer in “Drifter: Henry Lee Lucas,” recently released on DVD.

Sabato, who may be best remembered for his roles on “Melrose Place,” “The Bold and the Beautiful” and “General Hospital,” said he was elated when he was offered the role of Lucas. It gave him the opportunity to stretch his wings as an actor. After reading the script he said he had to meet the director, Michael Feifer, who directed “B.T.K.”

Sabato only had two weeks to prepare for the role. During that time, he listened to recordings of Lucas, watched videos about him and read everything he could get his hands on, Sabato said in a telephone interview. He had a dialect coach working with him to get down Lucas’ accent just right.

If you’ve seen a photo or footage of Sabato that image quickly slips away while watching the film, and all you see is Lucas on the screen. It was a “dark and scary” role for Sabato, but it stretched his acting skills like no role before.

“Drifter” earned three major awards at the Beverly Hills Film Festival: best director (Feifer), best female performance (Caia Cole, who portrayed Lucas’ mother) and best male performance, which went to Sabato.

“This is really a role that will show people what I can do as an actor,” he said. “It was well performed and has a great story. It’s dark at times, and at moments it’s comical and humorous.”

Lucas was convicted and sentenced to death for 11 murders. His sentence was later commuted to life. Lucas eventually confessed to 350 murders, most committed with his partner Ottis Toole (Kostas Sommers). Police officials are unsure how many people Lucas killed because he got into the habit of confession to murders, then recanting confessions.

“I’m really happy that I had the opportunity to stretch my acting skills,” Sabato said. Initially, it was difficulty for him to get into the character, but studying Lucas really paid off. “I think people are really intrigued by him,” he said about Lucas.

As an actor, he said, he enjoyed the experience of portraying Lucas. But he admits Lucas “was a very bad man.” Lucas was a psychopath who was tormented by all kind of things, he said. Sabato did his best to understand Lucas, but never tried to justify any of his horrible actions.

If audiences come away with a vision of Lucas, and not of Sabato portraying the killer, he said, he will be happy. “As long as people see the performance and don’t see me I would have succeeded,” Sabato said.

In addition to starring in soaps, Sabato had a guest role on TVs NCIS and starred in the studio blockbuster “The Big Hit.” He hopes the new film will open doors or at least a window for him, as an actor.