Courtesy/NBC

If you caught the fall-out from the wedding of Salem’s Nick (Blake Berris) and Gabi (Camila Banus) on Days of our Lives, you know that hell hath no fury when a man’s plans are thwarted by his nemesis, Will Horton (Chandler Massey), and wedding wrecker Chad DiMera (Casey Deidrick)!  And with this, what the writers have been building with the twisted character of Nick Fallon is about to take even more drastic turns!

After a successful run as nerdy Nick turned obsessive lover to prison inmate from 2006 to 2009, Blake Berris left the canvas to pursue roles in television and film.  But when in the spring of 2012 DAYS came knocking one more time, no one was happier and more surprised than Berris!  But with just some ties to the canvas being the extended Horton family, and hardly anyone left from his last round of mischievous behavior, Nick would end up being DAYS truly homophobic character, who stirs the pot for fan favorite same-sex couple Will and Sonny!

It is hard to refute that when Blake is on-screen you know something is brewing, and is about to happen, and as the talented actor tells On-Air On-Soaps is this interview, playing those interesting, dark characters that are not so easy to predict, and that are just a bit off, are parts that he relishes!

So what does the future hold for Nick and Gabi, and the unborn child she carries whose bio-dad is gay Will?  What propels Nick’s homophobic behavior … will it be explained?  What does Nick have in store for Will and Chad? Could Nick’s mental issues end up being hereditary?  Let’s not forget his mother Jessica Fallon (Jean Bruce Scott) at one time split into multiple personalities!  For the answers to these and more of our burning questions, let’s hear from the man himself!

MICHAEL:

Let me start about by saying, “Nick is a prick!”  What happened to you, Blake? (Laughs) Did you know that Nick was going to end up being homophobic when you returned to Days of our Lives?

Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins

BLAKE:

It was very vague.  I did not know how homophobic he would be.  That was a surprise.  I knew they were going to toy with whether Nick was good or bad.  I knew there was going to be a question mark over that for a while, and that was super interesting to me. And I might add, I don’t think that answer has been resolved.  I think we are going through a bad period with him.  But what I love about the character is that he is all over the place.  Nick has a lot of unattractive qualities, but also some virtue.

MICHAEL:

When I initially started watching your return, and Nick’s integration from prison back to the Salem canvas, I did not know whether he was supposed to be a good guy or a bad guy!  Of course, I knew they were not just going to bring you back to washes dishes at the Brady Pub! (Laughs)  Was it harder for you to play Nick at the beginning, towing the line between him being good or bad, as to not tip the audience on what was going to happen?

BLAKE:

No.  I loved playing with that, because to me the way I crafted it was the way I see Nick.  He means good and wants to do good, but he kind of has this obsessive side to him …

MICHAEL:

…. You think?  (Laughs)

BLAKE:

He can’t control it, and it’s like this monster inside that is hungry, and when he sets his eyes on something he has tunnel vision, and he pursues it ruthlessly.

Courtesy/NBC

MICHAEL:

Can I just tell you how fantastic the episodes of the disastrous wedding of Nick and Gabi were?  What did you think when you read the script and all that was going to happen in it?

BLAKE:

Oh, my God, wasn’t that a great episode?  When I read the whole script, I was like this is fantastic because everybody is waiting for the climax of the wedding, and is it going to come out that Nick is not the father.  And just reading it, it was a page-turner, and great television.  Then we filmed it.  We had so many scenes to do, and we had so many people on set.  It was one of those days when everybody was pulling their hair out!  I can tell you the stress levels were really high, and you just kind of go for it.  We were going straight to tape on a ton of the material.  No rehearsal, we just did it.  I did not know what to expect when the episode was put together, and I kept thinking, “I hope we didn’t blow it?”

MICHAEL:

After Will revealed that he is the father at the wedding ceremony, Nick’s world was totally turned upside down, and everything he was trying so hard at that time to cover-up!  When you, as Nick, threatened Chad and delivered those threats to him, it was pretty ominous!  And next, Nick overheard Will and Lucas’ big cover-up from years ago!  Nick is now armed with info!  But since he is so homophobic, do you know why and where this stems from?

BLAKE:

I can’t say too much, but the show will investigate that and you will learn something. Even before I knew anything about where the storyline was going, I think we all know what happens to people in prison.  It was kind of a confluence of things.  I don’t think there is one thing that makes somebody homophobic.  You have to probably culturally be pre-disposed to it, but also events can change things.

MICHAEL:

Photo Credit: Adam Campbell

How is working with Chandler Massey?  I love the scenes between Nick and Will! They are some of the best “snot-off’s” I have ever seen between two characters on daytime!

BLAKE:

Totally! (Laughs)  Chandler is one of my favorite actors I have ever worked with.  He is one of those people who when you get into a scene, and I am sure we work differently, but our working styles gel really well on set.  We will run our lines, but when we go to tape, both of us are totally up for everything being totally different than the way we rehearsed it.  We love surprising each other and sort of letting life play out in the most organic way we possibly can.  Certain people make you feel really present, and Chandler is one of those people.

MICHAEL:

How is working with Camila Banus?  What did you think about how fast Nick and Gabi were thrown together?  And on that note, do you think Nick truly loves Gabi? Or, does he love what she represents?

BLAKE:

I think he definitely loves Gabi.  He is very much in love with her.  I think underneath everything is that he wants to be with Gabi and raise a family with her.  The way that it manifests, and what he has to get out of the way to get what he wants, is where I think malevolence comes in.

MICHAEL:

I have to say that Nick Fallon is one of the most interesting younger characters on a soap in a long, long time.

BLAKE:

Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins

Thank you very much for saying that.  I find him interesting, too.  I love playing him. When they first told me the character was going to be homophobic, I was really upset.  I was like, “This is not who this character was.”  He was rooted in science, and his first time around on DAYS you certainly would not peg him for that.  As it has unfolded, the writing team had done such a good job at writing him.  I really started to see it as a story that needs to be told, the storyline in general, and the storyline the way Nick relates to Sonny and Will.  It starts to become an argument about a nuclear family and what a family truly is … and how that is changing, and how people have trouble with that.  I think that Nick represents the part of the country that is having trouble adjusting to new definitions of family.  And, that isn’t just gay people, but now divorce rates are incredibly high.  People now do have these incredible families that were not what they were in the 1940’s and 1950’s.

MICHAEL:

Has the LGBT community taken Nick to task, and called him out on his homophobic behavior in articles you may have seen?  Or, on your Twitter account? What are fans saying to you?

BLAKE:

Yeah, on Twitter I get a lot of crap about it, but a lot of people are supportive, too.  A lot of people know how to decipher between the character and me.  Some people go, “I want to throw something at the television when Nick is on, but Blake Berris is doing such a great job.”  A while ago when the storyline started, some people said, “Well, from the way he is acting, it seems like Blake Berris himself hates gay people.”   So I sort of send out a tweet about how I support gay marriage and that I have lots of gay friends, and this is a character I am playing, etc, etc.

MICHAEL:

Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins

Just to clarify!  You are not against gay rights?  You, Blake Berris are 100% supportive of LGBT community?  I hate to even have to bring this up, but since there may even be some doubt from people who cannot separate fact from fiction, let’s address it here!

BLAKE:

Totally!  Some of my best friends are gay!  I have always been involved in LGBT causes. I think it’s cooler to tell this side of the story.  I like playing characters that are different anyway.

MICHAEL:

What did you think when you have read the scripts about how Nick is going to seemingly continue to dismantle Will’s life? This is really low!  Were you like, “Right on. This will be fun?”

BLAKE:

I thought it was exciting when I read it.  I am all for characters that are so singular in vision and an obsessive.  I can relate to that in a very different way, and yet I can imagine somebody who wants something so badly can relate to that.  I think if you know what a character wants, and you see them basically do anything they can do get it; it is very definitely compelling and fun to play.  So, I was all for it.

MICHAEL:

What was like for you coming back to DAYS this time, as opposed to your first time around?  Was there any hesitancy to decide to come back to a daytime soap?

BLAKE:

It was a big decision for me.  I left the first time never imaging that I would find myself back in Salem.  It was something that my team and I talked about a great deal.  It was a not an instant decision.  When we did eek out the deal, I was told in good faith from DAYS casting director Marnie Saitta and some other people to, “Trust us.  This is an amazing storyline.”  Also at that time, I had just done a bunch of independent films, including Meth Head and House of Last Things.

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/IMDB

Tell me about the films?

BLAKE:

House of Last Things is going to be premiering in France, this week actually, at the Gerardmer Festival.  It is an international film festival.  We weren’t able to work out the schedule with DAYS for me to go to that one, which I was bummed about.  I think I can make it to the next festival it’s playing at in Brazil.  This film is a fantasy thriller.  What happens is: this house possesses this karmic power, and Lindsey Haun (who has been on True Blood) is a wonderful actress and is in it with me.  In the story, we move into this house and I start out as this jerk…

MICHAEL:

Not you ….. playing an asshole? (Laughs)

BLAKE:

Like a douche bag (laughs) … and I want to steal things, and drink, and screw all the time, and all those things.  I just want to have my way with this house.  But slowly, this house is transforming us is into the previous owners of the house.  This incident happens, and it’s this awesome arc where I start as one character and end as a totally different one!

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/IndieWire

Meth Head is the one I am very excited to see your performance in.  I hear it is riveting!

BLAKE:

Meth Head will be premiering in the DC Independent Film Festival.  I will be going out there for that in March.  I totally play a meth head.  Oh, my God, playing this role was amazing.  We were so excited that Lukas Haas came on, and he is a great actor.  It is hard-core stuff as an actor, and that is the stuff that turns me on.  I like stuff that is a challenge, and I love comedy.  But, I love hard-core drama, and that is what this is.  In the film, I am the one who gets Lucas’ character into meth.  I play a guy who goes into the clubs and is sort of a small time dealer.  But then we befriend each other, and then we start prostituting ourselves, and it evolves from there.

MICHAEL:

I honestly did not think Nick Fallon would ever return to DAYS once they shoved him into prison?  When did you make the decision to make the comeback?

BLAKE:

Basically, it was at the end of April 2013 that they told me we got the offer.  DAYS wanted me to start May 17th.  It was two weeks of me not knowing for sure what was going to happen, but in the end I am so glad this all worked out.

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/NBC

Have you stayed in touch with your former Salem love interest Molly Burnett (Ex-Melanie)?

BLAKE:

I am in touch with Molly, and it’s funny.  I came on originally, and a couple months then she came on, and then I came off.  Then when I came on this time, she was off.  So we have been ships in the night both times.  I love acting with her.  I think Molly is so talented. 

MICHAEL:

TV Guide recently named you one of the sexiest soap stars!  How do you feel about that?

BLAKE:

Yeah, that was cool.  I thought it was awesome!

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/NBC

Do you see yourself as a “sexy” star?

BLAKE:

Sure.  I can get down with that!

MICHAEL:

If you were writing the show, what would you like to see happen to Nick?  What would you like to tackle?

BLAKE:

I like investigating where all of this is coming from, and the root of it.  I think there are certainly things that happened in prison, and to be honest, I still don’t know how thoroughly the show will delve into it.  But someone brought this to my attention when I had scenes when I returned with Jean Bruce Scott, who plays my mom, Jessica.  They were telling me that her character was schizophrenic, which has always been an idea that has affected me.  I know that a mental illness like that can have its onset in your early to mid-twenties.  I think there is a lot of evidence that Nick has a borderline personality disorder.

MICHAEL:

Nick’s mother, Jessica, actually developed DID.  She had three personalities – Jessica, Angel, and Angelique!

BLAKE:

Courtesy/NBC

Interesting!  It can manifest in so many different ways.  I saw this play called Tribes that is coming to LA via New York, and it investigates a lot of things like deaf people being one of them, but also the onset of schizophrenia.  I think it would be really cool, and that would be my wish, for DAYS to investigate the mental condition of Nick Fallon.

MICHAEL:

What have people in your life: family, friends, and colleagues, said to you about your recent performances as Nick?

BLAKE:

My parents, and my family, and friends, they all dig complex storylines.  I think they were excited to see me doing something like that.  I think they were like, “You are playing the homophobe?”  And I went excitedly, “Yeah!”   Now they think it is kind of cool.

MICHAEL:

Is your goal to act in more films?

BLAKE:

Yes, but I like doing everything.  I don’t care what the medium is.  I am just drawn to interesting, and complex, and psychological material.  I feel what I bring is something different, and a different approach to a character you may have seen before, but I do it in a different way.  I like to add some element that I think that will surprise people.

MICHAEL:

Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins

Tell me about working in scenes with Freddie Smith (Sonny) who clearly on-screen you have a very contentious relationship, and working with Casey Deidrick?

BLAKE:

Freddie and I have some great stuff coming up.  We have a good time together.  I can tell you Sonny is totally on to Nick.  Will can almost like spiral into depression, and he slinks into himself.  There was some look that Freddie shot me during Nick’s totally upsetting bachelor party.  I think I said something along the lines of, “Oh look. I have it all. Something every guy dreams of … a beautiful wife and a family on the way …”  And Sonny says, “Not every guy dreams of that.”  And I look at him and say, “Yeah, well the guys that I know!”  Then I walk away and Freddie’s look was so priceless that he wanted to kill me!  Stuff does get very confrontational between us in upcoming episodes.  But, sometimes it becomes so confrontational in rehearsal that we can’t stop laughing.  I love working with Freddie. And with Casey… I love that guy!!  I still don’t know how they are going to bring that storyline full circle yet.

MICHAEL:

As we alluded to earlier, Nick did make that threat to Chad at the church after the wedding broke-up.  So one would assume Nick will do something to pay him back?

BLAKE:

Oh yeah!  I think that’s how it will go.

Courtesy/NBC

MICHAEL:

Nick has so many to pay back on his little list now!

BLAKE:

The list is getting so big! (Laughs)

MICHAEL:

Maybe we will find a piece of paper, and we will see him checking names off the list while he splits into multiple personalities!  Wasn’t Nick originally this brilliant, nerdy guy?

BLAKE:

I think that is what makes Nick so dangerous.  This time around, we are kind of seeing his intelligence manifest in more of a manipulative way.  I think we saw that with Melanie the first time around, and they kind of locked into that.  From talking to directors and producers, they have talking to me saying, “We have not had a character on here that has been smart.”  That is one of the identiable things of who this character is.  Even though many of the characters are smart on Days of our Lives, it is Nick’s hyper-intelligence, and the way he manipulates that is so stunning.  Now he is using his intelligence for evil.

MICHAEL:

Did you have an idea during your initial run on DAYS that he was going to end up from geek to messed-up-guy in prison?  Did anyone, at that time, have a clue as to the path they were going to take with the character?

Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins

BLAKE:

No. You know we went through so many administrations the first time I was on DAYS.  At that time, because my character was new, it was one of those characters that nobody knew what to do with the first time around, but this time around that is what I love about this.  It is very deliberate, and our co-head writer, Gary Tomlin, has a very specific idea of what they wanted to do and they are doing it.  That is why I think this time it’s translating on screen a lot better.

MICHAEL:

What warning would you want to give DAYS fans about Nick that they should watch out for in the coming months, as we wrap up our chat?

BLAKE:

Look for Nick to wreak havoc, and to ruthlessly try to get what he wants… and Will and Sonny are definitely in the way.