Dante's Cove: August 2007 Archives

I first met actor Gabriel Romero maybe three years ago at a house party for The Trevor Project. He had a long talk about a lot of serious subjects and I found him to be quite insightful. So it was great so see him added to the cast of 'Dante's Cove' last season as the sexy Marco, owner of a club where a big chunk of the drama unfolds.
We talked last month about the upcoming third season of the gothic gay soap.
Says Gabriel: "The show actually has some great surprises coming up, major changes. You won't believe it. The first 10 minutes of it you'll be like 'What? What happened?' I can't tell you about it though."
So, will there be more of those steamy sex scenes?
"Of course it's a little sexy. I mean, c'mon, it's about having fun. It's the gay network. I have a very steamy scene with [new cast member] Jensen [Atwood]. It was very powerful and was supposed to be the biggest orgasm of my life."
Gabriel says he is pleasantly surprised at the show's growing international appeal: "Now that season two is out on DVD, I'm getting emails from places like China now! The fans have just been coming out of the wood work, now it's everywhere - it's around the world. They're watching 'Dante's Cove' in China. It's awesome. It's about reaching out and letting people know we are proud of who we are, that we're no lomger hiding. It's a guilty pleasure so come on and watch and have fun."

We will!

Gregory Michael is an actor-musician who has been one of the stand-out stars of "Dante's Cove." As Kevin, his topsy-turvy relationship with Toby (Charlie David) has the most heart of any of the male relationships. Amrosius (William Gregory Lee), however, will stop at nothing to come between them.
We chatted earlier this summer about the show's upcoming third season which debuts in September:
"This season is going to be, by far, the best. I guarantee it. If I'm wrong, you can come find me, hunt me down," he says. "We have some new faces this year like Jensen Atwood who moved over from 'Noah's Arc' to the Cove. And Reichen [Lemkhul] have some good scenes, good energy. You're gonna want to see Reichen, you're gonna want to see Jensen, you're gonna want to see it all. It just gets hotter. I don't know how that's possible, but it does."
So does Ambrosius succeed in finally winning Kevin over?
"We're naughty together this year. I don't want to say more."
Should be look forward to seeing as much nudity as we have in the first two seasons? You sometimes wonder if Kevin even owns a shirt!
"More clothes on but definitely sexier," he says. "It's always what you don't see. But I have to work out, do the routine, eat a lot of tuna, do crunches and squats and all that fun stuff."
Michael has been touring all summer with his band, my band, "Auxburn," at various spots including the Viper Room on Sunset Blvd.
"I have a great fan base and it's really helping out when it comes to my music, we've been doing a lot of shows and a lot of the fans from 'Dante's Cove' come to my shows. It's invaluable."

Last month, I conducted interviews with several members of the cast of "Dante's Cove" which will begin airing its third season on here! TV in October. I love this campy, sexy show and its supernatural elements. One of the main reasons why is the performance of William Gregory Lee who plays the 200 years old Ambrosius who is dong better and better at adjusting to the present-day goings-on at Dante's Cove.
Lee tells me "it's been an absolute blast" playing the very complex role on the gay soap.
"When we first started the series, I had very specific things that I wanted to bring to the character and here! [TV] has kind of given me the freedom to kind of run with everything that I ever envisioned. We sit down between seasons and I tell them some ideas I have for the character, like some of the transformations that Ambrosius has to make in the present day. They've been really gracious and kind of let me create this guy. I want to keep him as real as possible."
While Lee has plenty of love scenes with the hot men on the show, among the most delicious moments come when he is facing off with his nemesis, Grace [Tracy Scoggins], who cast a spell on him and had him locked up for two centuries. She was his fiancee when she walked in on him having sex with another man.
"We have a phenomenal cast we put together and we have a lot of fun with the show. That's the key. Tracy and I, we get along like two peas in a pod."
I wondered how Lee, who is straight off-screen, feels about not only playing a gay role, but one that requires among the more explicit same-sex love scenes that you'll see on television.
"When I made my mind up that this was what I was going to do, I was going all the way no matter what. Whatever they asked, whatever they expected, I was going for it. I have no problems with it and it's been fun."
Lee is sometimes taken aback by the show's tremendous fan base: "We've got an amazing cult following. I get anywhere between 50 to 200 friend requests a day on MySpace from guys all over the world. Tracy and I have some sci-fi conventions - we both have a sci-fi background - and the sci-fi fans, whether they be gay or straight, are watching the show as well. And it's really a trip for Tracy and I to see. It's been really exciting for us to watch because when we started, we were such a small thing. We were basically competing with "Queer As Folk" when it had just ended. But we weren't trying to be 'Queer as Folk,' we were trying to have our own identity and I think the writers have done a really good job of establishing this tone. It's fun and different and they like to bill it as a guilty pleasure."

I'd like to think my writing abilities are better than my photography but I did snap the above picture of Jensen Atwood last month (I can't believe it's August already!) at Outfest and it's pretty hard for him to take a bad picture. Jensen is best known for his role as Wade, Noah's on-again off-again love on Logo's "Noah's Arc" which after running two seasons, is now being made into a feature fiilm set to begin shooting this month. While Jensen is set to be in that film, he also managed to land a role as a regular in the third season on here! TV's sexy supernatural soap "Dante's Cove" which will begin airing new episodes in October.
Jensen, who I first met at Outfest 2005 when he was working as a valet at an after-party, is enjoying a bit of well-earned success and we had a little chat about it.
Here is our conversation:
Q. To go from playing Wade on "Noah's Arc" to a warlock on "Dante's Cove" must have been like culture shock for you.
A."It was an adjustment, very different from 'Noah's Arc.' It was like jumping on a moving train with them going into their third season. It was a matter of getting used to all of the erminology, all the magic, getting informed about the show. But it was a good adjustment."

Q. You were a newcomer to the cast along with Reichen Lemkuhl. What was it like to join a group of actors already used to working together?
A. "It was great and the cast was more than welcoming from when I made my first step onto the set. It was a great experience and being in Hawaii for four weeks, that's not a bad job at all."

Q. What's it been like to be cast in the of the highest-profile gay-themed shows around?
A. "It's a blessing, to say the least. Just to be an actor and to be working is fantastic and then just to be a part of great projects is a great bonus, 'Noah's Arc' and 'Dante's Cove' both being that."

Q. Tell us about your character.
A. "My character's name is Griffin, a bisexual warlock and he has come to Dante's Cove to set things straight."

Q. Do you have your shirt off more than you had in 'Noah's Arc'?
A. "I don't think I'll EVER do a project where my shirt is off more than on 'Noah's Arc.' [laughs]. But, there's a pretty good amount of skin on 'Dante's Cove.'

Good to hear...yet another reason to look forward to the new season on "Dante's Cove." I also chatted with other cast members and will be sharing our conversations in the days and weeks to come.