Handsome, Rugged, Suave and packs no punches, those are just a few
of the words that immediately pop into my head when someone mentions
the name Eric Braden. For over 20 years, Braden has been
entertaining daytime viewers as ruthless businessman with a heart of
gold, Victor Newman on CBS’ The Young and the Restless.
Like many other daytime viewers, I vividly
remember watching as Victor broke the hearts of a plethora of Genoa
City beauties. Ashley, Nikki, LeAnna, Hope, Sabrina…..well you get
my drift and the list goes on and on (and we will go more into
detail on that later).
But on this cold, blustery December afternoon
it is another role that Braden and I start out discussing. “It was
an amazing project to be part of and I am very thrilled that it is
now being released,” he shares.
Okay, so I bet you find yourself a tad bit
curious and wondering what project Braden is talking about. Well
that project is none other than the movie, The Man Who Came Back
and stars Braden, supermodel Carol Alt, George Kennedy (who played
Braden’s father on the show), Titanic’s Billy Zane and
countless others.
The Man Who Came Back is set in the Deep
South during the labor wars of the 1870’s. “One of the things that
drew me to this and any film I’ve done actually is the historical
nature and significance of it,” he shares.
Braden plays the role of Reese Paxton in this
film “Reese is a guy who is not afraid to kick ass,” Braden says
with a laugh. “He is actually a combination of myself and Victor
Newman and much like Victor, Reese will do whatever it takes to
protect his family and keep them safe.”
While Braden had one of the lead roles in this
film on screen, he took on an even greater role behind the scenes,
that of producer. “I remember reading the synopsis for this film and
it just jumped out of me and I just had to do it,” he
says. “Everyone was
so great to work with and I was able to have a
voice and control in casting, filming, etc.”
Producing and starring in a film of this
caliber and being a leading, veteran cast member on the hottest show
on daytime….how did Braden find the time to do both?
“When the opportunity for this film came up, I
went to the producers of the show, sat down and talked with them to
see what upcoming storylines they had planned and how my absence
would affect them.”
“Daytime and film are so different,” he
explains. “With daytime you film 50-60 or more pages of dialogue a
day, while with film it may be a few pages and then going back and
tweaking or reworking what needs to be corrected. In daytime,
storylines are planned out and filmed so far in advance.”
Well fate was on Braden’s side, as the
storyline they had planned would culminate in his character being
off screen and out of Genoa City for a while. Unless you were living
under a rock, then you were very much aware that Victor buried and
mourned the loss of his wife Sabrina, thus giving Victor (and
Braden) an open door to film this movie.
“I enjoyed working with Raya (Meddine,
ex-Sabrina) but I did not like the Victor/Sabrina pairing,” he
shares. “Honestly, I felt the show moved to fast with the whole
romance and marriage between the two of them.”
However,
it wasn’t very long until Victor found love again this time with
former wife, and mother of his
daughter Abby, Ashley Abbott. “It is GREAT to have Eileen back on
the show full time,” he says. “Ashley and Victor have a long and
GREAT love story that has never truly been explored and I’m glad
that the writers are revisiting and focusing on that.”
But Ashley is not the only one of Victor’s
former wives still floating around Genoa City. Does the name Nikki
ring any bells. “Oh Melody is a delight to work with,” he shares.
“We’ve had a lot of great scenes and our characters have so much
history with one another.”
Of course, another triangle between
Ashley/Victor/Nikki could be revisited with one of them (or someone
else perhaps) winning the coveted role as Victor Newman’s spouse.
Hmmm I wonder who Victor’s next wife might be? “That is a good
question and even I don’t know the answer to that,” he says with a
laugh.
Eric Braden is truly soap opera royalty and I
could not think of a better way to start the Christmas holiday week
(and break) than talking with him. I would like to thank Eric and
his publicist Charles Sherman for taking time out of their busy
schedules and
holiday plans to put this interview together.
To purchase your copy of The Man Who Came
Back please visit your nearest Blockbuster, NetFlix or video
distributor or you can visit
amazon.com and order your copy today.
The Man Who Came Back is the #1 dvd rental among non-theatrical
releases and is the #10 top selling video according to Video
Business under Movielink which you can can find in the
www.videobusiness.com site. For more information on Eric and his tenure in
daytime and film, please visit
http://www.ericbraeden.com
