Interview: Crystal Chappell Delivers with “Venice the Series”
December 7, 2009
Most of you already know this… but this past Friday evening marked the premiere of Crystal Chappell’s new webseries, Venice the Series. To say that there was some excitement leading up to the event would be quite an understatement. In September Chappell appeared on CNN and fans crashed the network’s website with their overload of questions for her. In May, Chappell opened a Twitter account and to date she has over 11,000 people following her. Venice premiered just 4 days ago and so far the YouTube channel that hosts it has received almost 90,000 views and 700 comments – the large majority of which are full of praise for the sexy, intelligent, and high-quality show.
Many of Chappell’s fans have been with her since her days playing Olivia Spencer (one half of the popular “Otalia” lesbian storyline with Jessica Leccia as Natalia) on Guiding Light. Lesbians, in particular, adored the characters and the actresses who brought them to life. When the long-running soap was taken off the air, Chappell decided to take her acting, producing, and writing skills, recruit Leccia and other veteran TV actors like Galen Gering (Passions), Lesli Kay (Bold and the Beautiful), Jordan Clarke (Guiding Light), Nadia Bjorlin (Days of our Lives), Gina Tognoni (Guiding Light), and others, join forces with long time friend and artistic partner Kimmy Turrisi and director Hope Royaltey, and create a web soap opera series that fulfilled the talented actress’s commitment to portraying strong, decisive, and real characters and, most importantly, embraced of the overwhelming fan support that came out of “Otalia.”
Here, we discuss the new series with Chappell, learn more about her return to playing Dr. Carly Manning on Days of Our Lives, and more.
Cherry Grrl (CG): First of all, we are so sorry for the recent loss of your fan club president and friend, Cathie Wagner. She was clearly an important person in your life and will be missed by many. What is it that you want people to know about her and what she meant to you?
Crystal Chappell (CC): Well thank you. Cathie was a very important member of the team. She has been my friend for a very long time. One of the things I loved most about her was her ability to make everyone feel welcome.
CG: Suffering a loss like that must be very hard, especially considering all that you are working on right now. You recently reprised your role as Dr. Carly Manning on Days of Our Lives, for one. What has that been like to return to the show and the character?
CC: I have been having a great time because the character of Carly was off the canvas for a long time and I was able to reinvent her. In my opinion, she is a lot more fun.
CG: Unfortunately, returning to Days followed the end of Guiding Light and your role as Olivia Spencer. Have you missed playing that role?
CC: Yea absolutely. I miss playing Olivia. She was just a fabulous bitch. Those kinds of characters are always the most fun to play. And certainly the Otalia storyline was exciting for me and I was sorry to see that send.
CG: What was your favorite thing about playing Olivia?
CC: She was a hard-ass, but with a heart underneath it all. She could be tough and vulnerable, and I liked her sense of humor.
CG: When you learned that her story would include a lesbian plotline, what was your reaction?
CC: Well I was thrilled. There wasn’t anything like it on daytime television. I was also pleasantly surprised that people were on board to tell that kind of story.
CG: Were you ever apprehensive about or uncomfortable with playing a lesbian?
CC: No, not at all. She was a very open person and the bottom line is I wanted them to tell a love story. It is my favorite kind of story to tell, whether you are gay or straight.
CG: What was it like to suddenly take on so many lesbian fans?
CC: Well look, this fan base has been absolutely terrific, supportive, bright, interesting and a lot of fun, so I consider myself very lucky to have such great people in my life.
CG: Clearly the character and the Otalia storyline was important to you, leading you to create “Venice: the Series.” When did you realize that you wanted to develop the series and why did you do it?
CC: I have always wanted to produce. Venice was born out of the end of Otalia. I have been writing a long time with my friend Kim Turrisi and we felt that a show like Venice would work considering how amazing and vocal the fans have been.
