“They want something romantic, hot, passionate, solid, strong, powerful, devious, manipulative -- all those things come into what I think Max and Gabrielle are going to become.”--  Fiona Hutchison

Sex sell, plain and simple.  Maybe that’s why on any given day, on any of the 12 soaps, you can find a scene that in some form or another is intended to be sexy.  But sex is a relatively easy formula to create.  The difficult task comes when you want to present romance.  Building a romance on a soap is never an easy task.  Hundreds of attempts at creating a popular romantic couple are made every year with only a small handful actually succeeding.  That’s the reason why what is happening on OLTL these days is so phenomenal.  On a show that in recent years has been known mainly for it’s unusual storytelling and out of this world adventures, a feel of romance seems to be taking over,  Why there’s Cord and Tina, Clint and Viki, Jake and Megan, Bo and Sarah, and let us not forget Max and Gabrielle.

Actually after seeing even just one romantic scene between those two, no one in their right mind could forget them.  Max and Gabrielle simply ooze with the perfect blend of sexuality, sensuality, passion and humor -- all essential elements in building captivating romance.

Proving that romance does not have to fizzle after marriage, OLTL recently invites Soap Opera Update to witness their newest married couple, Max and Gabrielle, as they shared a romantic romp in, of all places, the bathtub!
 

“You hope for the best when you recast and we got the best.  I don’t mean Nicholas is better than Jim (DePaiva), but we lucked out when the writers rediscovered a way of writing for Max and Gabrielle.  That was inspired by the way Nicholas makes me react -- because I react differently off of him and I think that’s why they suddenly saw this could work.”-- Fiona

Recasting is a tricky business, and more times than not the person following in a successful star’s footsteps never quite reaches the level of success as his or her predecessor.  When looking at the success of the Max and Gabrielle relationship, the fact that Nicholas Walker has been playing Max less than six months may be the most startling aspect of all.  “I did not want to look at James DePaiva’s work at all,” Nicholas admits.  “I think the weakest thing to do is imitate someone else’s work, and I wanted to be an original.  I studied the character, listened to what the producers and writers were telling me, and then I proceeded to jump in the water with both feet.”

On this sunny Tuesday morning, jumping into the water with both feet might prove a little difficult.  the task at hand is transforming the bathroom of this cozy inn into the perfect spot for an afternoon tryst both Nicholas and Fiona approach their duty as professionals.  It is a few days after the Holden’s have become man and wife, and Gabrielle is tempting her husband into sharing a bath with him.  On the set, the actors seem very at home.  Scripts in hand they run through the scene with director Gary Bowen giving several suggestions as he blocks the scene for the cameraman..  The set is simple.  There’s a sink, a mirror, some floral wallpaper and... the tub.
 

“This is a gift, Fiona and I approach work the same way.  She is an all or nothing type woman.  She has passion and she gives 150% to her  work.  And that’s a gift -- two actors who basically approach work the same way to be paired together.  It is affirming.  We felt very at home from the start.  We’re lucky that we like each other.” -- Nicholas Walker

 

Rub-a-dub-dub, what the OLTL stage manager  (Ray Hoesten)
doing in the tub?  Betcha didn’t know Max and Gabrielle
were involved in a steamy triangle!

The camaraderie is obvious to any observer on the set this morning.  As Nicholas holds Fiona in a clutch, she is busy thinking of ways to make the shot even more romantic.  her suggestion is for Gabrielle to kiss Max’s chest when the camera is taking a close-up of the two.  Luckily, the director agrees.  He seems used to these improvisational comments and is ready to consider any suggestions the actors might make along the way.  After all, who knows what these characters do better than the actors that bring them to life every day!  Nicholas shares Fiona’s enthusiasm for spontaneity.  “She’ll kiss me in a particular way, that will totally throw me, and it’s great,” Nicholas says.  “But it takes guts to do that, to be on the edge.  And that’s why I’m an actor -- I love to live on the edge.”

“I think it’s obvious to play a sex scene as a purely sex scene.  It’s far more interesting to play against the obvious and to fill up the scene with subtext.  I like to explore the sensuality rather than the sexuality of the given,  I think it’s far more interesting to play the sensuality and the eroticism.  The best sexual organ is the mind.” -- Nicholas

“The one essence that is definitely there is passion.  In fact there may even be more passion now, with Nicholas, mainly because passion isn’t always about sex, it’s about everything -- wanting to be strong together, wanting to be powerful together, wanting to be happy.  Wanting to make love is only part of the passion that these two characters can bring into every scene.” -- Fiona

That passion is something that the writers seem very aware of, considering how quickly the couple married after Nicholas took over the role.  “I was surprised at how quickly Max and Gabrielle got married,“ Nicholas is honest to say.  “I was told when I first came on that we would probably get together in a year and a half, but they said the demand from the audience simply forced them to marry them,  And that surprised me.”
 

“Romance is not a thought process, it’s not to be analyzed.  That’s where we get all bogged down.  If anything, it’s to be felt, and it’s got to be visceral and there’s got to be no taboos and you have to honor the mystery, because the minute you try and take the mystery away, the romance is gone.” -- Nicholas

Both actors are gracious enough to take some time between blocking and dress rehearsal to talk about what makes Max and Gabrielle so appealing to viewers.  “What’s wonderful about these characters is that they are wonderfully decadent,” says Nicholas as we sit in the dressing room he shares with fellow heartthrob Joe Lando (Jake).  “It gives us full-range to play all the colors and all the ranges.  So one day we can be in a bitchy mood, another day we can be all lovey dovey with each other, and then next we can almost be sadists toward each other.  It’s an interesting, interesting relationship.  I think it will be interesting to see what the writers do now that they’re married.  We’ve been told that Llanview will never be the same and the Buchanans will be quaking in their boots.

“I don’t know what chemistry really is, except you know when it’s not there and you know when it is...and with Nicholas it’s there.” -- Fiona

When asked how it feels to finally have Gabrielle enjoy a happy family life, Fiona practically bubbles (no pun intended): “I love it.  I don’t feel alone anymore.  It’s great.  I can go out and fight my battles for the strength of the couple.  Now instead of Gabrielle against Llanview and the Buchanans, it’s Max and Gabrielle.  There’s strength in numbers.”

That’s something that OLTL is absolutely finding out.  There is strength in numbers, especially when that number is a romantically captivating two -- twosome Max and Gabrielle.