Janet Gough / AFF-USA.COM / MEGA
Stefan DiMera is living the high life on Days of our Lives . After months of going it solo, his soulmate, Gabi, is out of prison and back in his bed. Brandon Barash chatted about the happy turn of events, working with new Gabi, Cherie Jimenez, and his character’s future with Soap Opera Digest . “What happens when all is right in someone's world on a daytime show? What’s after that?” asks Barash with a chuckle. “It's a soap opera, so there will be drama.”
Soap Opera Digest: How do you feel about having the character of Gabi back in the mix?
Brandon Barash: I’m very happy. It was a long time coming. Those two characters, Gabi and Stefan, the way they’re written… It's a magical pairing. It transcends the actors. Camila [Banus, ex-Gabi] and I kind of struck lightning when we worked together, and it’s repeated itself again with Cherie.
Digest: Did you help fill Cherie in on Stefan and Gabi’s history?
Barash: Absolutely. As soon as she was cast, I reached out to her on Instagram and congratulated her. We tested together [during Jimenez's audition process], so we had a rapport going already. I said, "Please, it's baptism by fire on this show and in this genre. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out. If you want to get to work early, so we can run lines and it's not as jarring, let me know." Because her first day they put us up first, and we did two full episodes. She went from living on a ranch in Texas to doing 40 or 60 pages of material on her first day. It was a lot. So yeah, I told her, ‘If you need any backstory, I will fill you in.’ We spent a lot of time discussing that.”
Digest: Were there any tidbits about the couple that you specifically wanted her to know?
Barash: As we went scene by scene, anecdotes would come up. I would say, "Okay. This is what this means," and, "This references this." Overall, I told her that they fell in love through their hate for one another. There's that old adage, "There’s a thin line between love and hate." It’s cliché, but true in their sense. They really despised one another, but at the core of it was a deep-seated passion. It was just misguided in hate before they fell in love.”
Digest: What has it been like working with Cherie and recreating the Gabi-Stefan dynamic?
Barash: I don't think I could have asked for a better scene partner. She's everything I wanted and then some. It's every actor's dream to work with someone who is going to hit the ball back just as hard as you do. She showed up off-book [having completely memorized all her lines] every morning, which was very impressive to me, especially not having worked in the genre before. She would come down to my room first thing in the morning, and we'd have 40 pages of dialogue and she would not be looking at her script. That's a foundation. You build upon that. Then you have to have good instincts and be able to tell a story and do good work, which she’s done.
Digest: Do the two of you have a similar working style?
Barash: Yes, she and I work in a very similar way. It's always refreshing when you work with someone who takes things as seriously as you do, who shows up as prepared as you are, and it's loose. You're not wondering if your partner's going to be able to get through the scene. You're not wondering if they're going to know their next line. It's just the present. It’s been a beautiful experience working with her from the moment we started.
Digest: Do you think viewers will be on board with this new version of Stefan and Gabi?
Barash: I am not a message boards guy. I really try to read nothing online. The only stuff I do read sometimes is if people write me on Twitter or on Instagram. So I do see a lot of people are very, very cautious about this new person coming in to play Gabi. Camila did such a beautiful job portraying her and building that character from the ground up. She was really a force to be reckoned with, and because of that, people think that they're impossibly large shoes to fill. I think they're going to be very pleasantly surprised. From the moment that Cherie and I screen-tested together, from the second she stepped on the stage and we started working, I knew she was going to be the choice. There was no question in my mind. It was just the way we worked together and the chemistry. And I don't mean just intimate chemistry. There's a chemistry that you feel with another actor that is palpable and intangible at the same time. We had that instantly. So I knew the pairing was going to work from her screen test.
Digest: Stefan has a problem: His tryst with Ava is hanging over his head. Is he concerned about Gabi finding out about it?
Barash: He was so focused and [had] tunnel vision on getting Gabi out of prison. Then finally she got out of prison and there was that oh sh** moment of, like, "Oh, God. She's out and now she could find out about this." Gabi was insulated in prison. Now she's out in the world, and there are a lot of people in Salem that like to stir up drama. Secrets don't get kept in Salem.
Digest: Stefan kind of poked the bear when he told Harris about his tryst with Ava. Is he worried she might drop this bombshell as revenge?
Barash: At first, but I really think there is a kind of kindred spirit relationship between Ava and Stefan. At the core, she does get through to him when she says, "I'm not going to say a word. I'm not going to sabotage your marriage. That's not what I want to do. I'm not a homewrecker." Stefan wants to believe her, but he does get very neurotic about it at first.
Digest: Was it hard not having a leading lady after Camila left the show? Aside from Stefan’s dalliance with Ava, he was really flying solo.
Barash: No. Not to sound harsh, but I think if it [was hard], that would speak to my lack of ability as an actor. Do you know what I mean? There doesn't need to be a woman there for me to feel like I'm doing good work. Actually, some of my favorite work that I did on the show was with Gabi in prison and the whole storyline where Stefan was reluctantly working for Clyde. There was a lot of great push-pull. On the surface, Stefan was doing a really bad thing, but at the core of every villain is a human who's just in his or her mind trying to do the right thing. I really enjoyed playing that. So as great as it is to have Gabi back and to work with Cherie, I really enjoyed the time when [Gabi] wasn't there as well.
XJJohnson/jpistudios.com
Free Spirit: Barash's Stefan and Cherie Jimenez's Gabi are reconnecting following her release from prison.
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