INTERVIEW: On the Set of ONE LIFE TO LIVE with Rob Gorrie

ONE LIFE TO LIVE's Rob Gorrie

Rob Gorrie will star as Matthew Buchanan in ONE LIFE TO LIVE when the show returns (April 29 on The Online Network, available on Hulu, HuluPlus and iTunes). His previous credits include roles on shows like THE GOOD WIFE and LAW & ORDER. He was also a victim of the Oakdale Slasher when he played Nate Bradley in AS THE WORLD TURNS. We Love Soaps spoke with Rob about his career and what's ahead on ONE LIFE TO LIVE in our new interview. Read it below:

WE LOVE SOAPS: (after some discussion of his 2006 AS THE WORLD TURNS role) Oh, the Slasher!!
ROB GORRIE: That was my first gig. To be back on a soap after working in a couple of different genres, and growing a little bit more as an actor, is definitely a blessing for me. I feel like I didn't really get the most out of that experience and now I'm getting a second chance.

WE LOVE SOAPS: You're playing the child of two iconic characters, and a role played before by Eddie Alderson. Did you look back on any of his work?
ROB GORRIE: I did. I've seen a bunch of clips, not whole episodes. Although I did watch the last episode. Eddie brought him from adolescence to his teenage years. And I'm looking forward to bringing him from the teenage years to adulthood, growing up as a man, and growing in a relationship with his parents. It becomes a different kind of dynamic.

WE LOVE SOAPS: What's it like working with Hillary B. Smith (Nora)?
ROB GORRIE: She's very loving, and tremendously generous on set. Before the first day we worked together, we spent half an hour hashing out the scene and making different choices.

WE LOVE SOAPS: She's done so many things in this business.
ROB GORRIE: Yes. And to learn from her, and Bob [Woods, who plays Bo], I'm in awe and couldn't ask for anything more. Especially at the point I'm at in my career. I hope to be where they are someday.

WE LOVE SOAPS: Are you from New York?
ROB GORRIE: I'm originally from Rhode Island. I moved to New York to go to NYU. I live in Jersey right now, just outside the Lincoln Tunnel, so I come into Times Square and take the train up here [to Stamford].

WE LOVE SOAPS: What are your goals?
ROB GORRIE: Ideally I want to get into film. My degree at NYU is in Production so I see myself writing and producing in the future. I freelance with a production company now and that is fun because I get to use a different part of my brain. My dad owns a business and I have a business brain and I enjoy that. But right now my passion is acting, until my looks go. [Laughs]

WE LOVE SOAPS: As a trained expert, are your excited about the ONE LIFE scripts?
ROB GORRIE: I am! It's completely different than WORLD TURNS, working for a network versus working for this production company. They are free for input. They love you to bring your own stamp to the role. I had Jeff [Kwatinetz, CEO of Prospect Park] come up to me and say, "If you don't like the dialogue just change it. We want it to be current. We want it to be you. We want it to represent the youth." To have that freedom is incredible.

WE LOVE SOAPS: I've been watching TV many times and felt the dialogue wasn't authentic, especially for the younger characters.
ROB GORRIE: For example, it's very easy for me to say, "screw off" to somebody.

WE LOVE SOAPS: You can say "screw" on TV?
ROB GORRIE: I can on this show because I say it. [Laughs] I think we get one F-bomb per episode.

WE LOVE SOAPS: Have you done a web series before?
ROB GORRIE: I did a pilot for a web series that didn't go anywhere. We were supposed to sell it to MTV but they didn't buy it. It was called UNDER THE ARCH about a bunch of NYU kids. It was 2008 or 2009.

WE LOVE SOAPS: What can you tell us about where Matthew Buchanan is at in life now?
ROB GORRIE: He's becoming an adult, moving out of his house and getting an apartment.

WE LOVE SOAPS: He's living with Dani (Kelley Missal)?
ROB GORRIE: Yes. And Corbin [Bleu, who plays Jeffrey].

WE LOVE SOAPS: It sounds like a sitcom setup.
ROB GORRIE: It could be a sitcom because our dialogue is really quick, really witty. We all get along great. It's boom-boom, and feels very much like a sitcom. What I can give away is there some's tension in the household, from a number of different angles. Destiny (Laura Herrier) and Dani are good friends so I'm not sure how happy Destiny is about Dani living in an apartment with her baby daddy. There's definitely some tension there. It's a good feeling to be fought over as an actor. [Laughs]

WE LOVE SOAPS: I've been happy with the promotion for the show so far, and the stories sound relatable.
ROB GORRIE: I am excited for this. The sets are amazing. It doesn't look like a soap. They spend a lot of time lighting the shot before they shoot. Their attention to detail is unlike anything I've ever seen except for film, and film is like that because you have more time to do it. Here they really are incorporating that, the lighting is current, and the stories are relevant. The younger generation, because of the emphasis on the younger cast, is going to tune into this and they're going to love it. It's really no different from something you would see on ABC Family.

WE LOVE SOAPS: I hear there's a lot of dancing at the nightclub Shelter. Are you a dancer?
ROB GORRIE: Not like Corbin! He can move.

Roger Newcomb is a producer and writer in New York City. Aside from co-hosting WE LOVE SOAPS TV, he has written and produced a full-length indie film, Manhattanites, and two radio soap operas, SCRIPTS & SCRUPLES and ROCKLAND COUNTY. He has also made acting appearances in indie web series IMAGINARY BITCHES and EMPIRE. He has consulted on numerous indie soaps, worked as a producer on the first two seasons of Emmy-nominated THE BAY, and is executive producer on the indie short May Mercy Lie, which is currently making the rounds at film festivals.  He appeared in FRANCOPRHENIA and the documentary SOAP LIFE in 2012.