How do you like the Nick/Sally/Adam triangle? “I’m honestly having a blast. My very favorite storyline was Nick’s triangle with Sharon and Phyllis. It was great television, great writing and I got to work with the amazing Sharon [Case, Sharon] and Michelle [Stafford, Phyllis]. The story took a really nice amount of time and wasn’t rushed. At the risk of sounding self-serving, I just thought it was the best triangle we’ve had since I’ve been on the show.”
So, how does that relate to this one? “I thought that our show needed another really strong triangle. So if this is done properly, and the writers and production trust me, Mark [Grossman, Adam] and Courtney [Hope, Sally] enough to give us the right amount of leeway to tell it, this could be a great story.”
You sound very confident that Courtney is up to the task as the person in the middle. “I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for her to really show how difficult, painful and exhilarating this kind of situation is. Nick was in Sally’s position with Phyllis and Sharon and it was just a circus of emotions, and up and down, and the struggle and the sexiness, so that difficulty of the triangle was just amazing to play. Sally is in this position and it’s a chance for Courtney to show off some fireworks.”
Nick and Adam have fought over Sharon and Chelsea. You’re okay with going to that well again over Sally? “Oh, yeah. I like the dynamic of Nick and Adam as brothers and sort of enemies. Nick has tried to accept Adam, but he’s fallen for Sally and Nick knows that Adam still loves her and Nick’s trying to be respectful but he wants this woman, so I’m having a blast. I love working with Courtney. She’s a breath of fresh air and it’s like a brand-new experience for me. I haven’t gotten to be in a story like this in a while and it’s been really fun. A big part of that is obviously getting to work with her and Mark on pretty much a daily basis.”
You’ve always said you enjoy working with Mark. “He’s a great dude. He really takes his work seriously and I admire him for really caring about it and wanting every note and every beat to be spot-on and authentic. I really respect how much he wants to do a good job. He’s really taken a completely different path with the character and my greatest compliment to him is I now can’t imagine anyone else doing Adam. Grossman plays Adam as a searcher, somebody trying to find his footing. He’s got this mischievous glint to his eye, so he’s very Newman. He’s kind of a scoundrel under that armor that he wears of being the black sheep. Mark has done a great job. He’s very watchable.”
So your take on this triangle is that it’s got legs? “Yes and I really hope Josh [Griffith, co-executive producer/head writer] and the rest of the writers and production take their time with it and make it as messy and complicated and painful as possible.”
Do you think there’s a future for Nick and Sally? “I don’t for one second believe that Nick and Sally have this incredible love story ahead of them because I watch Adam and Sally together and I get it. They’ve got a great connection and it’s very complex. Even though Sally is with Nick now, she can’t shake Adam and my job as Nick is to make this decision as hard for her as possible.”
