Thore Scholermann and Jo Weil of Verbotene Liebe: Are you also obsessed and hooked?

Thore, left, and Jo


I've been following this drama since day one and now have watched more than 90 episodes of this top German soap/drama series. What's there not to love about this series? Great storyline, great acting and great cast. And I am learning German.

So you are also hooked and obsessed with Verbotene Liebe (Christian & Olli Story)? Thore Schoelermann and Jo Weil star as the ueber- popular Christian and Olli on Das Erste's VERBOTENE LIEBE. The show has become an internet phenomenon.

Mark the date: August 28*- and make sure your nearest newsstand carries reFRESH Magazine! The September/October issue of this UK magazine has something for you: A photospread and extensive interview with our boys! Who could have foreseen the global phenomenon the two would become when Christian said 'Und du hast hier auch mal gekellnert?' (So, you used to work here?) and Olli answered: 'Uh-huh, da sah der Laden aber noch komplett anders aus.' (Yep, the place looked completely different back then, though.) when the two met in the episode that aired November 8, 2007? THE GAYS OF DAYTIME can already give you a little sneak preview!

Verbotene Liebe's Jo Weil and Thore Scholermann chat to reFRESH Magazine about their life on the soap, being the world's most popular gay couple, dealing with fame and what they think of each other off set.


Jo on Fans
"When I played Olli for the first time for example there was an older male fan who wrote me long letters and wanted to invite me to go on holidays with him. I always politely declined. But he didn’t want to hear it and kept on inviting me. In one letter he even asked me if I wanted to marry him and asked me where I live, because he wanted to move close. That was a little bit too much for me and so I stopped answering the letters."

Jo on Media Attention
"Of course it’s brilliant that our story now becomes known all over the world. It’s not the case though that I cannot go outside without being ‘attacked’ from some paparazzi. In Cologne, people are used to meeting ‘actors from TV’, so in this respect I can live here comparatively undisturbed.."

Thore on Gay Characters
"I gained inspiration from the movie Brokeback Mountain. I know that might be a little exaggerated but I try to aim high. After watching that movie I was surprised in a positive way. The movie showed how realistically and beautifully you can portray the love between two men, without making prejudiced viewers... “I’m not gay” – that was one of the most beautiful sentences in the whole movie. The two characters love each other and it doesn’t matter what they call it."

Thore on Playing It Gay
"A very important question was if I could make it convincing....I considered the storyline as a challenge and a big chance to learn and grow as an actor."



AfterElton is looking at gays on European TV- and has found the grass to be greener on the other side. But is it really? Sure- Ollian are awesome, JP/C and or JP/K are lovely, DeRo are hot, Max and Iago are great... but what about the 40+ European countries WITHOUT significant visibility of gay characters (e.g., two popular soaps in the Flemish part of Belgium, even though the country allows gay marriage AND adoption, being completely void of gay characters, Polish censors removing certain 'Daffyd' sketches from LITTLE BRITAIN etc.).

And - can you really judge an entire continent by a couple of shows that broke out on the internet? Yes, Europe in general is more tolerant towards gays and lesbians than the US (mostly because their governments seem to have the 'separating religion and state'-thing down) - but that doesn't mean that there isn't still a SUBSTANTIAL amount of output on European TV where you can just shake your head and go 'Oh no, they didn't.'

American TV is definitely lacking when it comes to LGBT visibility right now- but hey, it wasn't the worst of runs so far: Thanks to premium channels like HBO and SHOWTIME and trailblazers like BROTHERS & SISTERS and DIRTY SEXY MONEY creator Greg Berlantini, we have definitely seen some very interesting characters over the years. Shows like SIX FEET UNDER, BROTHERS & SISTERS, GREEK, THE WIRE, SLEEPER CELL: AMERICAN TERROR, QUEER AS FOLK, THE SOPRANOS, AS THE WORLD TURNS, THE SIMPSONS, FAMILY GUY, REAPER, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, UGLY BETTY, GOSSIP GIRL, DAWSON'S CREEK and oh so many others have all introduced us to more or less stereotypical LGBT characters within the realms of their possibilities.

Don't forget the impact all those 'everyday' homos were and are having that appear on reality shows. Pedro Zamora, anyone? And if one of those (closeted?) gay execs over at the networks would FINALLY find his balls back, I'm sure we'll be able to see a lot more...
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