WRAPPED IN PLASTIC
Lulu and Maxie breaking into The Invaders offices clad in Hazmat suits on GH was a blast for Emme Rylan (Lulu). “All I want to do is shoot episodes like that with Kirsten [Storms, Maxie],” she declares. “That is seriously all I want to do! I want my entire storyline to be, ‘How much trouble can Lulu and Maxie get into?’ I went in for my fitting and Shawn [Reeves, wardrobe director] was like, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’ as he’s bringing out this giant yellow onesie. I was like, ‘No, this is my dream wardrobe! Say you’re sorry when it’s, like, a sexy lingerie piece. I want to wear a Hazmat suit! It’s all I want to wear!’ It’s seriously my favorite outfit. And not only did we look insane, but the suits were made out of plastic and when we walked down the hallway, you could hear us coming from the moment we walked out of our dressing rooms. Kirsten and I loved it. We kept it together pretty well, but whenever we had to put on the masks and try to talk to each other through them, we would start cracking up. We’ve been trying to convince them to write more episodes for us in those outfits.”
SECOND TIME AROUND
Nadia Bjorlin (Chloe, DAYS) is happy that she got to share scenes once again with Bryan R. Dattilo (Lucas). “Bryan is awesome and so fun to work with,” she raves. “Our camaraderie and energy is different than it was when the characters were married like eight years ago, probably because we’re such different people in real life, as well. We both feel grown up and our work is different and our energy is different and Bryan’s energy is different, so it’s been fun to work with him the second time around. I like the stuff that they’ve been writing to his strengths, too, being funny and self-deprecating.” She also appreciated the fact that the writers had Chloe be there to support Lucas during his battle with the bottle. “It was nice to not be the one who was the emotional wreck all the time,” Bjorlin muses. “It was nice to have a break from that. But I really felt for him as Nadia and as Chloe. It was heartbreaking watching him go through what he was going through. He made it easy to be supportive and be there for him and be his friend, and pick him up off off the floor literally and figuratively.”
BOOK IT
During his time away from B&B, Sean Kanan (ex-Deacon) has been working on a new book. “Years ago, I was asked to be in this book called American Pride, along with people like George W. Bush and Anthony Robbins and all these people who were way out of my league,” he recalls with a laugh. “Well, on my last birthday [in November], I got a call from Jill Liberman, who wrote the book, and we were talking and said that we should collaborate on something else. So, we came up with the idea of a coffee table book tentatively called, The Secret To My Success. We’ve gathered 50 celebrities from all types of various fields of endeavor and asked them to share the best advice they’ve ever been given, or have to give, about success.” Kanan has already had a great response. “Within one month, we accumulated this spectacular list of people which, so far, includes Mark Cuban, Warren Buffett, Run-DMC, Jason Alexander and from the world of daytime, we have Susan Lucci [ex-Erica, ALL MY CHILDREN] and Kate Linder [Esther, Y&R]. We’ve got world-class baseball players and football players. It’s an amazing who’s who from all these different fields. So, Jill and I are compiling the book together now and we’ll be doing some of the writing and we’re hoping this will be out sometime in the next six months.”
HIT PARADE
Despite the on-air melodrama between Graham and Dina, their portrayers, Max Shippee and Marla Adams, have had their share of lighthearted moments on the Y&R set. “When Dina slapped Graham was a pretty funny day,” smiles the actor. “Between Marla trying to make it look good, but not wanting to really slap me, and me fighting the urge to dodge the slap, it made for a few laughs. We also had a great time when she was being frantically wheeled into the hospital after Dina’s minor stroke. Marla even hollered, ‘Wheeee!’ during one of the rehearsals! As actors, most of us are excited to support each other because it makes everyone look that much better. So, if I have to take a little beating from another actor for it to look great on-screen, I’m all for it. We have high fives and hugs after a pretty feisty scene.” Shippee credits Adams for keeping the mood from getting too heavy. “While our scenes together on-screen may have tension and drama, I’m happy to say that the drama for us stays there,” he praises. “I’m grateful to call Marla a colleague and friend.”