Gays of our Lives (January 05, 2009)

Last year soap operas brought us a number of gay romances, but none captured audiences’ attention quite like Forbidden Love’s Christian (Thore Schölermann) and Olli (Jo Weil), which found fans worldwide and left viewers wanting to know more about the actors who play the roles. This week we correspond by email with Jo Weil for his thoughts on Christian and Olli’s relationship, the duos popularity, the future of the couple and more.

AfterElton.com: How do you feel about the way Christian and Olli’s story has been told?
JW: I’m very happy that I’m part of this wonderful love story. When I first heard [about it], I never imagined that Ollian/Chrolli would be accepted by so many of our fans. I’m very proud of that. I have received so many wonderful letters and e-mails from fans that I’m now aware of this fictitious couple’s meaning for so many people from all around the world. It gives them courage, strength and hope and makes them believe in love (again). The fact that I and my colleagues can cause something so wonderful with our work, hey, that makes me damn happy!

AE: What was your favorite moment or scene from this past year?
JW: There are many scenes that I liked – not only those that dealt with special problems, but also those that showed the couple’s everyday life: those moments in which the viewer can simply see that the two men are in love, without using too many words. One of my favorite scenes still is the one when Christian finally confesses his love to Olli. Director Nicole Deppé drew attention to these three minutes in a very nice way.

JW: Another highlight for me is the outing in the boxing ring and the following kiss in front of the cheering crowd; that was very exciting to shoot and resulted in a really good scene.

AE: You’ve been interviewed by publications all over the world and you’ve even made the pages of the American soap press. Did you expect that this love story would strike such a chord with the audience and why do you think that it did?
JW: When I was asked to return to Verbotene Liebe in summer 2007, the producers told me about the plans with Olli and Christian. I liked the idea and when I first met Thore we quickly recognized that we are on the same wavelength – which was very important for me. From that point on we tried to create a pure love – we didn’t want to focus on the love between two men but between two human beings. We wanted to create a couple without clichés and without a focus on the bisexuality of the characters.

Christian and Olli in the early days when Christian
still had a girlfriend, Coco (Mariangela Scelsi)

JW: Concerning that point, we all (Thore, me, our producers, directors and authors) were of the same opinion. And that’s exactly the reason for the storyline’s success. The audience sees two normal boys who fight for their love. They face up to the dangers of the outside world, accept risks and are there for each other without reserve. And the fact that Thore and I get along very well in private life probably adds to the effect on the viewers. And you should never forget that it’s the great fans who made this story popular beyond Germany. We owe our success to them and I’m very thankful for that!