DC EXCLUSIVE:Lawrence Saint-Victor Talks Ugly Betty and Guiding Light's Remy and Christina!
Submitted by Jamey Giddens on March 19, 2009 - 5:57pm

Anyone who thinks Guiding Light hunk Lawrence Saint-Victor is just another pretty face should think again. As Remy Boudreau, the loveable lug, who has been there for practically every distressed Springfield damsel from the late Tammy (Stephanie Gatschet) to Ava (Michelle Ray Smith), Remy has always been the dashing knight, who never quite got to ride of into the sunset with the girl of his dreams. That could all be about to change, now that things are heating up between Remy and Christina (Karla Mosley), the quirky, fellow med student who married him for student loans, if not convenience. Could it be love for this cute pairing?
Saint-Victor recently shared his thoughts about that very subject with Daytime Confidential. He also gave us a sneak peek of tonight's Ugly Betty (8 pm ET/7 pm C), which features him in a steamy role opposite Mode's vicious fashionista
Wilhelmina (Vanessa Williams). Will Willie be drooling over Saint-Victor's pecs like DC's Jillian, Nicki and Mel?

Daytime Confidential: Congrats on booking Ugly Betty, it's one of my favorite shows. Tell me about your role.

Lawrence Saint-Victor: Thank you! It's a funny role, it's really funny. I play a nanny who is hired by Vanessa Williams' assistant, because he feels she needs to get over her past love and he thinks a new, attractive nanny can help relieve her of some of her...issues...You know what I'm saying?

DC: Oh yeah! So will there be any romantic scenes between your character and Wilhelmina?

LSV: Well, you'll have to wait and see!

DC: Okay, okay! Could the role turn out to be recurring?

LSV: As of right now, it's a one-day part, but you know, the role could always come back, so you never know.

DC: We may have to wait until your episode of Ugly Betty airs to see if you and Wilhelmina get it going on, but what about at your day job. Is it love for Remy and Christina on Guiding Light?

LSV: They're an awesome couple, if I can even say they are a couple yet, because they are bound by this marriage, yet they're slowly getting to know each other, and dare I say it, almost loving each other. It's very iffy and shaky. Within the next couple of weeks they are going to be hit with some serious trials!

DC: I can't wait! What about Ava? Is Remy really over her?

LSV: I don't think he'll ever really, really be over her, just because they went through so much together, but since she was so hung up on Bill and the lifestyle she could have had with him, that romantic spark you saw between Remy and Ava never got to be established.

DC: You have such a ready, realistic chemistry with everyone you work with, from Yvonna Kopacz-Wright who plays Remy's sister Mel, to Montel Williams who plays your dad.

LSV: Thank you!

DC: I loved the recent scene where Remy told Natalia (Jessica Leccia) he should have been the one she had her one-night stand with!

LSV: I've been blessed to be part of an amazing cast and I play a character who for awhile didn't have a major story, so I got to play with everybody. Me and Jessica worked together a lot when she first came on the show, so I kind of have a vibe with everybody there and we all get along and play so much. When you're having fun it feels easy!

DC EXCLUSIVE: Robert Newman, Tragic Hero
Submitted by Melodie on March 28, 2009 - 10:46pm

The cast of Guiding Light recently spent some fun in the sun at Universal Orlando, filming on location episodes to air later this spring. Robert Newman took time out of his busy schedule to visit with me about Guiding Light, the investment of the network in the show, the impact of the new production model and what the future might hold for one of daytime’s legendary couples, Josh and Reva (Kim Zimmer).

Daytime Confidential: Now I understand you aren't filming here?

Robert Newman: No. I'm just here for the PR part of it.

DC: How have you adjusted to the new production style?

RN: Well, it took me a while. I'm not gonna lie about that. I've been in this game for a long time and I've been through a zillion changes. This one by far has been the most extreme. I think it was hard. I've heard Alan say before that one of the most difficult things was that we had to go through these changes in front of the audience. We couldn't just shut down for 6 months and figure out how to do this. It was a lot of growing pains, adjustment, and difficulty.
For a while I felt really kind of out of sorts with it. I couldn't figure it out. One of the biggest changes for us as actors was zero rehearsal. I mean we had no rehearsal whatsoever. There's something that's kind of exciting about that and then there's something kind of really scary as hell about that. You just don't know. I mean you start a scene and you really don't know where it's going to go.
Now in the past, Kim and I have had many scenes like that. I mean we've surprised each other, we've surprised the director, and things happen that didn't happen in rehearsal at all. And some of those were some of the best moments and most memorable moments between those two characters. But to do that full time on every single scene is kind of a scary concept. But now, I'm down with it. I love it. I think I actually enjoy shooting outside more than inside. Which is a big change. There are so many things that changed for us. I mean for years we shot proscenium style so we have this line and the camera and booms are there and here's my space and we do our thing. But now they’re just here and here and here. And you’re just surrounded by people. And yet you’re still trying to keep this sort of focus here and do what you need to do. And that took a little while.

DC: Was that the hardest thing for you, to switch over?

RN: No rehearsal. I'm a huge fan of rehearsal. I mean I do a lot of theatre work and I'm a big believer in rehearsal. I feel like there's a purpose to the process. Each time you rehearse something it evolves and evolves and hopefully by the time the red light goes on and your taping, it's gotten to the place it needs to be. Or at least it's, I like to think of it as you get it to 75 percent of where it needs to be and that other 25 percent comes from any surprises that are gonna happen when you actually shoot something. So I miss that process. But even that I've sort of adjusted to. And I always find my other actors in the scene I'm about to shoot, you know Jeff [Branson], Jordan [Clarke], well Jordan I've always done this with, and we just sit in the dressing room and run through scenes. It just helps you get a feel for how the rhythm of the scene is gonna work. That's how Jordan and I have always sort have worked out that Josh/Billy banter over the years. That's where we do most of our work; sitting in a dressing room. And then we get on camera and just do it.

DC: Just let it flow.

RN: Yeah. But I feel like we've gotten through a lot of different growing pains, and the such, but I think the show looks great. I really do. I think it looks terrific. We're still tweaking, I mean we’re always tweaking.

DC: I think it has come a long way from when it started the new style.

RN: Oh yeah. Compared to a year ago, it's much better. It's great. I also think we have a phenomenal cast with good people and nice people and great crew and everybody is good at what they do. And we've all been challenged in different ways. And everybody has stepped up and we're just making it work.

DC: What does it mean to you that Guiding Light is shooting here?

RN: First of all, I see it as a really positive thing. I mean this genre is fighting

DC: For its life.

RN: Yeah, and it's not just our show it's all of them. I'm on the board of AFTRA, which is the actors union that represents soap operas. I was in negotiations with the producers a few months ago so I've heard all sides of it. We're fighting. We're all in this fight together. You’re in it, I'm in it, the fans are in it, we're all in it. I hate to repeat myself, but it's definitely a genre worth saving.
There's been a lot concerns about this show, but I think the very fact that were coming down here and shooting at this time says that we have CBS behind us, we have Proctor & Gamble behind us, they’re putting money into the show. I mean if we were going off the air why would you be putting money into something like this, why would you be doing something like this? So, it gives me a really good feeling and I think were in a very positive place. I'm reading more positive things about the show and we need that.

DC: It's gotten so much better. The show is on fire right now.

RN: We've got great people. Jeff has been a great addition to the show. Having Grant [Aleksander] back has been great. It's been great to be with him and watch him work. And then it's combinations of people. Jeff and Gina [Tognoni] together have been phenomenal. Having David [Andrew MacDonald] back for a while was fun but he's off doing theatre again. He's a terrific guy.

DC: So what do you think about your current storyline?

RN: There's stuff coming up that you haven't seen yet that we've shot with Edmund that's really kind of cool. I feel like right now I'm sort of sitting back a little bit and I'm okay with it. I mean Josh has been in the spotlight lots over the years. Right now the nice thing about what I'm doing is that I'm working with a lot of different people. Sometimes I open a script and see that I get to work with people I normally don't work with. Like maybe I'll have a scene with Justin [Deas] or maybe something with Crystal [Chappell].
They have this odd chemistry together. It's such a weird relationship. Here's the current husband of my ex, ex, ex, wife. I love working with Bradley [Cole] and he's such a calming presence. He's obviously so good at what he does. We just get along and enjoy working together. You know, I've had a couple of scene with Liz Keifer, a while back. That's the nice thing about this. Then of course working with Jeff, Kim, and Jordan. Every time I open a script it's like "Oh I get to work with this person, or this person" That's the good thing about it.

DC: Can you give us any insight into your character's future?

RN: I don't have any.

DC: Oh come on.

RN: No, seriously I don't. I don't know what I'm shooting next week. I have no idea. I used to make a point of sitting down with Ellen or one of the writers or something, about maybe three times a year just to see what's going on and what's coming up but the last year or so I haven't been doing that. I don't know what that's about. I just feel like I don't need to know. But whatever they do, like I don't know where they will go romantically with Josh, but I want the writers to be sure they know where they want to go with him. I don't want them to test the waters here and try that. I want them to really take the time to get whatever they need to figure out where they want to go with this guy next. Then, go out and do it. I'm okay with that. I got no complaints.

DC: Any chance of Josh and Reva?

RN: I haven't the faintest idea.

DC: You’re like "I don't even know."

RN: I don't. I really don't. Every time I talk about Josh and Reva I get in trouble with the fans. So I'm always hesitant to comment on them. The only thing I will say is that Kim and I have both talked about a fourth wedding theme. It just seems like whatever they do they’re clearly not good at being married. So they probably shouldn't consider that as an option. I don't know if the writers are planning on getting them back together.
It's an interesting relationship now. I see Josh as, actually, really sort of lonely right now. He'll probably throw himself too heavily into his son's life or too heavily into Jeffrey and Reva's life because he doesn't know where he's going. His life as a minister didn't go to well. Then, he kind of made one last ditch effort to get Reva back the day she got married to Jeffrey. Then he kind of chose to step back and say "Ok this is what's best for her now". Then he got hit with Reva's cancer returning while she's pregnant. There's all that stuff he's sort of dealing with and his own life is sort of sitting on the back burner. I don't know. He seems like sort of like a tragic character.

DC: Yeah, he's kind of like that tragic hero. That's why we love Josh.

Rob Bogue and Mandy Bruno, Reel Life vs. Real Life
Submitted by Melodie on March 30, 2009 - 11:28pm

Real life couple Rob Bogue and Mandy Bruno spent some fun in the sun swimming with dolphins and visiting with their fans during the Guiding Light location shoot, at Universal Orlando. They took some extra time to visit with me about Mallet and Marina's relationship, the adoption of their character's new son Henry Cooper Camalletti and if a reunion between Cyrus and Marina or Mallet and Dinah might be possible.

Daytime Confidential: What do y'all think about what's going on with Mallet and Marina right now? I mean they just adopted a baby and that's huge.

Rob Bogue: I think I can sum it all up in once sentence: They’re happy, so look out.

Mandy Bruno: I agree. I mean I think that's the best way to say it. Every time everything falls into place it becomes ultimately boring and you have completely to explode it.

DC: I've been waiting for it to happen with Mallet and Marina because they've been happy for a minute.

MB: It's coming, It's coming. I mean, Mallet and Marina are trying as hard as they can to keep it that way (being happy) but this is a soap.

RB: "Don't touch my baby.”

MB: Yeah, it's amazing how much you change as a human being when there's a little one around. Drama definitely does come up. I mean you turn into a momma bear on the playground if someone comes messin with your child. So, happy go lucky people can become very protective and do things that we may not expect them to do in order to protect their young. So, there's some drama.

DC: So can y'all give any scoop about what's coming up for them.

MB: We really don't know.

RB: I like to play things not knowing. Some people like to know and I don't. It's kinda like life, you can't really control it.

MB: It's been fun to try and figure it out. We know that once you get this happy something has to go wrong. It's like every script you get, you start looking around and it's kind of like real life. You always have someone around you that you may not be able to trust. You don't know anymore. It's very dramatic and it's been fun. We've had fun playing some light fluffy stuff but I think now we're ready for some drama.

DC: Ok, so I have to ask this for me, Cyrus and Marina, Mallet and Dinah, is there a chance? Is there hope?

RB: I think so, sure.

Guiding Light's Otalia Fever
Submitted by Melodie on March 31, 2009 - 12:04am

During the Guiding Light location shoot in Florida, I had a chance to chat with Frank Dicopolous, Crystal Chappell, and Jessica Leccia about their current storyline featuring Otalia. All three actors were very excited about being apart of such a different story for daytime. They also were very surprised by the fan response to the storyline and didn't expect it to be so huge. The Otalia line for autographs was almost as long as Josh and Reva's line. To me, that spoke volumes, so when I saw a group of Otalia fans gathered chatting about their couple, I grabbed one for an interview. Brenda was so kind to tell me all about her Big Purple Fever for Otalia.

Daytime Confidential: What brought you to Otalia? Why do you like them?

Brenda: Well, back in October I heard they were gonna move in together, but then I read where the idea of them being a couple was shot down so then I didn't watch it. But then I saw them kiss on the CBS website, and I thought, "Well let me give this a chance". So, I went toYou Tube and watched all the clips and saw the slow buildup, the old fashioned storytelling like it used to be. It was like Bo and Hope or Patch and Kayla on Days of Our Lives and other couples, and it was just beautifully written. It was subtle, slow, and just told in a normal light and not sensationalized like All My Children did with Bianca and the wedding, and then they break them up the next day.

DC: "Our lesbians are better than yours"

Brenda: Yeah, GL doesn't want to label it. They just want it to be beautiful and have gotten alot of straight fans from it. So, that's great to see and any good press the gay community can get is fabulous. It's a positive storyline rather than the usual negative, "Oh it's a pregnancy or oh it's a shooting" or something like that. It's just great. You have beautiful storytelling, two great actresses who love the storyline, and we appreciate that too. It's just wonderful.

DC: Now, did you watch Guiding Light before Olivia and Natalia?

Brenda: No, I never watched it.

DC: Well that's interesting because I've seen many people in your situation.

Brenda: Yeah, alot of people on the board are brand new fans. But I knew Crystal from Days of Our Lives.

DC: Oh so you used to watch that one?

Brenda: Yeah I used to watch that one and All My Children with Bianca but then they ruined that a number of times especially with Lena. Ugh, that one really killed me. I tried to give it another shot with this go around with Reese but once again it was terrible. So I flipped over to Guiding Light with Otalia and all I can say is "Halleujah!"

DC: Now, are you enjoying the other stuff too?

Brenda: Yeah. I love all the other characters now. That's how I was with All My Children before. I started watching for Bianca and ended up loving all the other characters. But any who , I'm not watching because gay couple it's for all the characters. I mean Phillip coming back is great. The show is getting tons of new fans by doing thestorylines that people want to see.

DC: What do you want to see from Otalia in the future?

Brenda: I just want to see them together and happy for a while before the writers do something to them. I want to see all the other couples in Springfield supporting them and just you know and being behind them. I like the everyday scenes where their just sitting them around doing nothing like folding the laundry. I just want to see them as a normal couple with of course their gonna throw in some soap opera angst.

DC: There's the Frank thing coming up.

Brenda: Frank told us the next two weeks are gonna be good and I think he meant for us.

DC EXCLUSIVE: Blake Berris Talks The Mentalist, The Starter Wife And DAYS Exit
Submitted by Jamey Giddens on April 7, 2009 - 6:51pm

From his first appearance in Salem, USA in November 2006, Blake Berris stole the hearts of legions of Days of Our Lives fans as lovable geek Nick Fallon. No matter whom the UCLA alum—he graduated in just three short years with his acting degree—shared screen time with, his commitment to his craft was evident. Whether the storyline called for Nick to pretend to be someone else to woo the girl of his dreams, Chelsea Brady (Rachel Melvin), or bed her cougarific mother Billie (Julie Pinson), Berris sold it every time. He even brought believability to storylines that saw the heroic Nick acting out of character for the affections and/or approval of some of the most annoying bad girls in recent soap memory. Willow (Annie Burgstede) and Melanie (Molly Burnett) anyone?

Through it all, Berris and Melvin's chemistry kept Nick and Chelsea fans tuning in to see if the geek would ever get his girl. Unfortunately, in the end he didn’t. Instead, Nick's exit storyline saw the character going off his rocker after killing his girlfriend's father, a plot twist the actor reveals was the “coolest” he experienced during his run on the soap when I recently caught up with him for Daytime Confidential.

Berris also talked with DC about his dramatic exit from Salem, what it was like working with real-life pal Melvin, Emmy-winner Suzanne Rogers (Maggie, DAYS) and Debra Messing, who Berris reoccurred opposite during three episodes of the short-lived USA dramedy The Starter Wife. He also gives us a sneak peek at tonight's episode of the hit CBS drama The Mentalist (8 pm C/9 pm ET), where he plays a British film actor who shares scenes, and perhaps a kiss (and more?) with Rebecca Rigg, the real life wife of series lead Simon Baker. Then the passionate thespian shares how thrilled he is that Barack Obama, whom Berris infamously dropped to his skivvies in support of during the Boxers or Briefs for Obama campaign, is now in the White House.

Daytime Confidential: On DAYS, Nick Fallon was pretty unlucky in love. What did you make of the character's taste in women?

Blake Berris: I think Nick was just such a good kid. He grew up really sheltered, and then in college he focused everything on academics. Once he moved to Salem, he finally was able to take a deep breath and find out who he was. Nick was always a bit of an outsider. He didn't fit in with the cool kids, so of course he ended up falling for Chelsea who was his complete opposite; she sort of made him feel alive. She was his first love and he tried to get her for a really long time, but over time he just became resentful and shattered. Willow was the same kind of girl for Nick, he wanted to rescue her, be her protector. Melanie was, I guess, a super-sized version of those girls. She was the straw that broke the camel's back.

DC: I'll say, since becoming involved with her landed Nick in the crazy house! One of my biggest gripes with the storyline, is that it totally would have been believable for Nick to kill someone over Chelsea, because she was his one true love, but Melanie?

BB: I think the trap that some actors can easily fall into is trying to figure out whether or not what's in the script is something they would do or something they think the character would do. Basically my job was to take what was written on the page and do the best with the material I could. You have to make it work. I asked myself, 'Why would Nick do these things?' and then committed to making it work.

DC: Well it definitely showed in your performances. As much as I hated to see the character written into a corner you totally sold Nick’s breakdown.
BB: Thank you very much. I loved playing it! I've always liked playing dark characters, ever since I was a little kid; I liked pretending to be the bad guys! I don't know what that reveals about my personality [Laughs], but yeah it was by far the coolest material I had since starting on DAYS.

DC: I've read that you and your former DAYS leading lady Rachel Melvin are good friends in real life. I know she recently left the show as well, are you two comparing battle stories from the auditioning circuit?

BB: Well, I don't know if I'd say battle stories! [Laughs] No Rachel is an amazingly-talented girl. I'm not worried about her finding work at all.

DC: In addition to your scenes with Rachel, fans really loved any occasion where Nick had story with his Aunt Maggie. Do you miss working with Emmy-winner Suzanne Rogers?

BB: Definitely. I had a great time working with Suzanne, especially a lot of the juicier stuff at the end. She's just one of those phenomenal actresses who are incredible to work with.

DC: Like Debra Messing? You worked with her on The Starter Wife. What was it like working with the A-list star?

BB: It was a blast actually! Debra was great. We did a lot of bickering in our scenes which was fun. We would do improv to warm up for our scenes. I was really surprised to hear it got cancelled. It was a fun show.

DC: And now you've booked The Mentalist, tell me how that role came about?

BB: When my manager called me to tell me they wanted me to play a British character, an actor who is doing an American film, I decided to go in to the audition using a British accent. I studied a little bit at Oxford, so I thought it would be good and I pulled it off and got the job! They didn’t realize I wasn’t British until I had the role!

DC: That's amazing. Well, not to spoil too much. What can you tell me about the episode?

BB: Well, I share scenes opposite Simon Baker's real life wife, Rebecca Rigg. All I can say, is there's a kiss and a slap!

DC: Sounds like fun. Can't wait to see who gets to do what! I know you were very vocal in your support for now President Barack Obama, even going so far as to drop to your underwear for the Boxers or Briefs for Obama Campaign. How do you feel now that he is in the White House?

BB: I'm really excited, really excited about the change President Obama is going to bring. He's an icon for the rest of the world and for us here in America. He has shattered so many stereotypes and notions, not only as an African-American, but as an American. He is always so elegant and well-spoken, and I think he is doing an amazing job under the immense pressures we are currently facing with the economy and everything else that's going on in the world. I really can't wait to see what the next four years bring