With James Patrick Stuart (Valentin, GH)
■ Laura is back! How was your reunion with Genie Francis? “Oh, boy, that was so great. First of all, I love her. I have been creating mischief with her ever since I short-sheeted her bed with Jean Leclerc [ex-jeremy, ALL MY CHILDREN, on set when Stuart and Francis played Will and Ceara, respectively, in the early 1990s]. But she had some payback! When
Laura and Valentin first saw each other, there was a moment where Genie was just bubbling up. You could see her just boiling and I said, ‘You want to hit me, don’t you?’ And she said, ‘Yeah,’ and I said, ‘Do it! If you feel it, do it!’ And she goes, ‘No, no, no, no, no,’ and I said, ‘If you feel it, hit me. I can take it.’ And she whacked me! Frank [Valentini, executive producer] called me up and goes, ‘What the hell was that? Next time let me know, will you?’ But it was really a wonderful group of scenes. It was so good that I was practically begging her to deck me! At the end I just hoped that she didn’t go to the hospital with a broken bone in her hand.” So, Nina and Valentin are officially divorced. Could you imagine any other woman in this town catching his eye? “I think he’s so caught up in thinking that the only thing he needs to be happy is to get Nina back into the bedroom, I don’t think he’s thought that far ahead. We all know that he’s still got the hots for Anna and always will, which makes him so incredibly uncomfortable. Could you imagine if that wound just never healed? It would just be a nightmare!”
Despite Nina divorcing him, he was kind enough to hire Curtis to track down her daughter. “Yeah, the connection between Curtis and Nina has been sort of strangely acceptable to Valentin up until this point. But in truth, why the hell would it be? If I’m losing my girl and she’s very fond of this exquisite other man, how the hell would I be okay with that?”
According to the DNA tests, Sasha is really Nina’s daughter. But this being a soap, fans are wondering, “What’s the catch? Did Valentin rig the whole thing?” “I don’t know anything! That is my question, too: What ulterior game is Valentin playing? I suspect he’s got plans for Nina and for Curtis, as well. There have actually been moments where various directors have run downstairs [onto the set] and said, ‘Are you aware of what’s coming up?’, because [the powers-thatbe] are playing it so close to their vest. But I told Donnell [Turner, Curtis], ‘I have a feeling Valentin is gonna piss Curtis off pretty badly!’ ”
Some friendly advice: If it does turn out that Valentin used Curtis to manipulate Nina ... maybe don’t tell Donnell, “If you want to hit me, do it.” “Yeah — no kidding!”