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The old musical classic, You and Me Against the World, seems like the new theme song for General Hospital’s, Dante and Lulu.  You see, the young couple, played by Dominic Zamprogna and Daytime Emmy winner, Julie Berman, did the unthinkable to their corrupt family members, who had been covering a murder, and lying to the court system for months.  Dante turned in young Michael Corinthos for the murder of the evil Claudia Zacchara.  Thus Dante’s dad, Sonny, gets off the hook from a murder charge and the law, once again!  Poor Michael goes to the lock-up and people want payback.  Add to that, Carly’s utter distaste for what she views as a family betrayal by Lulu.  Things aren’t looking too good right now, and by summer there is plenty more to come!

However, it’s not all doom and gloom for the lovebirds.  On Wednesday’s air show, Dante and Lulu finally, after many postponements, made love for the very first time in one of the most highly anticipated love making romps in soap history!  So much so, that the ABC Daytime promo and publicity machine circled it, highlighted it, and lit sparklers for it.  In fact, a new cupcake was created named Lante, as the acronym for the duo and many fans got their first taste of one, in honor of the big day.

On-Air On-Soaps chatted with Dominic Zamprogna and Julie Berman to talk love scenes, courtroom scenes, family betrayal, summer in PC, and to find what makes these two the hottest duo on General Hospital.

MICHAEL:

The blessed event happened on Wednesday’s air show, when Dante and Lulu finally made love.  How was that?

DOMINIC:

Does everyone have a camera rolling for their first time? (Laughs)

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/ABC

A lot of times on soaps, when couples hit the sheets for the first time, it isn’t always “called out” to the audience as such an event.   Why do you think GH did it for Dante and Lulu’s?  Was it because there was so much ‘interuptus’ along the way?

JULIE:

I think this is a little bit longer than the average couple, and it gave the fans time to respond to this couple.  We are really well received, so they decided to make this a big event, and it is a big event for the fans.

MICHAEL:

Julie, what happens when your real life husband, and Dominic, your real life wife, decide to watch the episode of the two of you making love?

DOMINIC:

I mean, I wouldn’t want to watch it if it were me, but sometimes curiosity gets the better of you.  Look, I hope my wife doesn’t want to watch it.  She is a grown up, and she knows it’s part of the job.

JULIE:

Yeah, I ditto that answer.  I don’t think my husband, Mike, has any interest in seeing it. But who knows?  He could ‘You Tube’ it in the next day or so, for all I know.  But in general, he does not watch General Hospital. He likes the people, the actors, more than the characters.

© JPI Studios

MICHAEL:

So do you at least tell your spouses, “I am going to have a love scene with Julie, or I am going to have a love scene with Dominic tomorrow?

JULIE:

Oh yeah, he knows.  I am eating a lot healthier and cutting back on alcohol!  So, it’s kind of obvious what is going on.  Something is up!

DOMINIC:

And he starts working out more… (Laughs)

JULIE:

You know, if this was a new relationship for me, and if this was a new job for me, then I think this would be a different conversation.  Mike and I have been together for a long time.  He knew what he was getting into when he got involved with an actress, and especially when I started working on General Hospital.  So, this isn’t really anything different, except for the fact the soap itself is talking about it more than some of the other love scenes that I have done.

MICHAEL:

I thought what was interesting, was at times, their make-out attempts were clunky, and something got in their way.  Julie, when it was time to finally tape the sex scene, were you at all nervous?   I know you have done other sex scenes, as you have stated.

JULIE:

I wasn’t nervous.  The only thing I felt a little anxious about was: the directors have a point of view, the editing has a point of view, and there are so many different points of view at work.  You hope it lives up to this hype.

MICHAEL:

You don’t want to disappoint the fans!

JULIE:

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Exactly!  Everything that was in my control, I was totally happy with in the love scene itself.  It’s just more anxiety about the final product.

MICHAEL:

So the Lante Cupcake was created in honor of the physical union of Dante and Lulu, and Wednesday 200 lucky fans walked into Santa Monica California’s, Vanilla Bake Shop at 9AM, and got the mouth-watering, fattening delight. (Laughs)

JULIE:

Yes, there were 200 cupcakes for the first people.  We went to the bakery and made some…

MICHAEL:

And you did decide to go with the acronym “Lante” for the duo and for the cupcake?

DOMINIC:

Well, it’s either that or it’s called DoLu, which sounds like Dodo, and Julie did not like it. (Laughs)

MICHAEL:

As the story is playing out now, Dominic and Lulu have become the town pariahs in Port Charles, thanks to Dante turning Michael in for killing Claudia Zacchara.

DOMINIC:

Oh yes, for sure, and it’s already starting to happen.

MICHAEL:

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So Dominic, how do you see Dante’s rationale when he went to court and had evidence that Michael killed Claudia, which then in turn got his father Sonny off on murder charges?  Did he want to protect his father?   Did he want to do the right thing in the name of justice?

DOMINIC:

He thinks that Sonny might still get off without anyone coming forward.  The jury might have come back and acquitted him.  If Sonny is acquitted, then no one is held accountable for this crime, and if he gets thrown in jail, which is the other option, Michael would come forward, anyway.  So Dante was trying to save Michael from having to do that.  He is not trying to dictate Michael’s life.  But, this is the best way, in Dante’s eyes, for Michael to get away from the family business and try to blaze his own trail, and not follow down the same path his family has.

MICHAEL:

Does Dante want to bring Sonny down, or not, knowing that he is his father?

DOMINIC:

He wants to bring Sonny down, but for a crime he committed.   I mean, it’s difficult.  Everyone is going to say, “Yeah, sure. Why did you do that?  Because he shot ya!”  Dante had his own reasons for that.  He honestly blamed himself for creating that situation, which had that outcome anyway.  And at that time, Dante was sure five or six months ago while working on this case, that it would just cloud the issue.  It created a mess instead of keeping the eye on the prize, which is Sonny, and with Sonny going down for what he thought Sonny did.

MICHAEL:

Chad Duell, as the new Michael Corinthos, performed the courtroom scenes that just aired.  With Drew Garrett (Ex-Michael) leaving and Chad having to step in and deliver the emotional performance and admission in court, he must have had a tremendous amount of pressure on him.  Plus, having to look out and see his cast mates all in a room watching him act.  How do you feel he did, since the two of you were in the courtroom scenes with him?

Courtesy/ABC

JULIE:

I think it’s exactly what you said.  There is a lot of pressure on him.  He worked very hard, and he is learning a lot in a short period of time.  I think he was great.  And for us, we did not hear the rehearsal.  We just went straight to tape on it.  So, as actors we were hearing it for the first time as he was saying it.  All of our reactions were genuine.  It was pretty amazing to do it all in one take without having to rehearse.

DOMINIC:

Everyone was pulling for him, too.   He had five pages that day, and it was unbelievable.

MICHAEL:

Now we are seeing an emergence of a side we have not seen between Carly and Lulu.  Carly is going to make Dante and Lulu pay, and she feels completely betrayed by her own family, namely Lulu.  Julie, how do you like playing this new wrinkle in the relationships for the gals?  You must love it!

JULIE:

I absolutely love it, and I love Laura Wright (Carly) to death.  I love playing anything that is different from the norm.  There is a different dynamic now, and different sides of these characters are going to be brought out and exposed.  It gives her and me some great meat to bite into.

MICHAEL:

There is a twist coming in a few weeks when Brook Lynn is called to Port Charles by Carly.  And that sets the stage for the return of Adrianne Leon (Brook Lynn) to GH.  How is working with Adrianne?

DOMINIC:

We have only had a couple of scenes so far.  Dante and Brook Lynn knew each other from back in the day, and he just thinks she is back in town because of prior connections and the people she knows.

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MICHAEL:

So, he has no clue that she could be in town to break up Dante and Lulu?

DOMINIC:

On the contrary, he is happy to have someone from his hometown there, because he only has two people in the whole city that likes him right now, and one more can’t hurt.  (Laughs)  To my knowledge, they never had a relationship in the past.  Brook Lynn has always been like the little sister kind of relationship for Dante.  He can’t fathom that there would be any ill will from Brook Lynn. However, I can tell you over the summer you will see lots of stuff.

MICHAEL:

But Lulu is a smart and savvy Spencer; she will have to have a clue of what Brook Lynn is doing back in PC?

JULIE:

No, nope, nope!  Not at all!  She knew Brook Lynn before she left.  She thinks it’s great that Brook Lynn is back, because it makes her man happy, and all she wants is to keep her man happy! (Laughs)  There is no tie that it would trace back from Carly.

DOMINIC:

But something has to be up, though, because Carly went from super pissed off to being nice to us almost overnight.  If that happened in real life you would have to take it, but also think, ‘Wait a minute! What is that person up to?’

MICHAEL:

Julie, do you feel this coupling with Dominic is thee guy for Lulu, once and for all?  I mean, she has gone through the young men in Port Charles pretty rapidly! (Laughs)

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JULIE:

It’s not something where I can say one is more important than the other.

DOMINIC:

She is just trying to cover her ass, in case she gets put with one of them again. (Laughs)

JULIE:

I am not trying to cover my ass.  I just know there are fans out there for a lot of different couplings on soaps.  I think this one is very well received, hence all the publicity we have been doing just getting to bed together!  We will see!  Talk to me in a year and we shall see.  I think if we are still together, it’s a pretty good sign.

MICHAEL:

So coming up for summer, what can Lante fans look forward to?

DOMINIC:

Like Julie said, more sex… (Laughs)

JULIE:

I think with Brook Lynn, we will see where that goes, and what happens to that.

MICHAEL:

Julie, as pretty much a veteran of the show now, wouldn’t you say GH is in a good place right now, where all the stories seem to be extremely interesting and there is not a weak link among them?  At times in the past, GH has not had things firing on all cylinders.

JULIE:

Absolutely!  But I honestly live in a bubble.  I don’t know when ratings are up or down, and I don’t really follow that stuff.  I think we have strong stories on the canvas.  I think right now GH is a great show.

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MICHAEL:

Dominic, what kind of scenes are the most difficult for you to play since being on the soap?  My bet for you is certain points in the courtroom story.  Am I right?

DOMINIC:

You are right.  I found all those courtroom scenes really tough when you have all those people in there, and time is always of the essence.  You need to come prepared, and you need to know your script like the back of your hand.  I always find scenes when you are with a group of people much more difficult, for some reason.

MICHAEL:

What I thought would be difficult for any young soap actor, is that you have to look out and there is a sea of GH veterans in the cast sitting there during your performances.  I myself would find it daunting.

DOMINIC:

Well, sort of, but it’s in the characters they play, all spewing this hatred toward you that gets you. You just have to stay in the moment.  But it worked out, and I watched the material that aired the other day.  I was pretty pleased with my stuff, and if I can look at not finding a way I could have done it better, then I am pretty happy.

MICHAEL:

Dominic, after being on the show for quite some time, how has it been working as Maurice Benard (Sonny) and Lisa LoCicero’s (Olivia) on-screen son?

DOMINIC:

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They are awesome people!  From day one, I have been blown away with everyone on the show welcoming me, and bringing me into the show.  Obviously, the people you work with the most you get to know better.  We have a lot in common.  We have grown to really love each other, and outside of work, too.  I am lucky to be here and to be with them.

MICHAEL:

Julie, would you love it if this summer Genie Francis (Laura) would return as your mother for another run?  Bob Guza (head writer, GH) is talking about it, again!

JULIE:

I would always welcome her back, and whenever she comes back that means good stuff for me.  And when are they are not saying she may come back?  Yes, of course, I wish she would be here.  It would be wonderful.