CarolynTopolTalk.com had the privilege of interviewing fan favorite, Martha Madison!  Days of Our Lives fans know her as Belle Black Brady, but Martha is involved in more projects we will be seeing soon.  In addition, fans hope to see much more of Belle in Salem as new Head Writer, Ron Carlivati, takes the helm for Days.

Carolyn Topol Talk:  Fans missed you on Days of Our Lives and are wondering, with the custody battle storyline, will Belle get a little bit more involved and get more air time?

Martha Madison:  I never know exactly what you’re watching at this point, but this particular storyline comes and goes pretty quickly. You’ll see me, at least, through the middle of February.

CTT:  Do you think we are going to see a little more of Belle coming in the future, or will she be back in Hong Kong?

MM:  I haven’t been back since then. I certainly am open to it. Now with the writer change, it’s possible. We’ll see.

CTT:  We’ll be crossing our fingers, hoping to see you back on soon. Fans will keep sending out messages, as much as needed, to get Belle back on screen.

MM:  Thank you. People are so nice to me on Twitter. I’ve gotten so many great messages from people wanting the character to stay. I would just encourage those people to always be tagging the execs in those tweets because — I love to read them and I’m glad to get them — but to make a difference you have to tag Greg Meng, Ron Carlivati, and Steve Kent at Sony. Those are the people who need to hear from you.

CTT:  I know you also completed Ladies of the Lake. Do we have a target date for when that’s going to be coming out? (Pictured above with Jessica Morris, Lilly Melgar, & Marie Wilson)

MM:  They are working on a distribution deal, and have been since they finished everything last summer. I don’t have any news yet as to where or when it will go, but it will go somewhere, and you’ll get to see it sometime in 2017, as far as I know.

CTT:  That’s great news.

MM:  We’re very excited about seeing it. It was such a fun experience.

CTT:  And it’s such a great cast. That’s going to be amazing!

MM:  I think so.

CTT:  I also saw that you recently did the film To the Beat. (Pictured with Eric Martsolf, Avery Hewitt, and Jayden Bartels)

MM:  Yes. It’s a tween, dance comedy that was written by Susan Bernhardt and Jillian Clare. Jillian used to play Abigail on Days of Our Lives. They casted the movie with a lot of incredible teenage social media stars and fabulous dancers. I get to play the lead role’s mom who is just kooky, wacky, and very southern, and obsessed with Paula Abdul. [Laughs] It’s a hilarious movie and a hilarious role for me. I play opposite Eric Martsolf. He plays my husband, and he’s equally as ridiculous and hilarious. We had a lot of fun shooting this movie.

CTT:  Will you and Eric be singing and dancing in this?

MM:  I wouldn’t call it singing and dancing. [Laughs] But, we’re giving you our all! [Lots more laughs] It gets pretty crazy. I think they’re hoping to have it ready by this summer.

CTT:  Is this going to be a TV film?

MM:  Yes, it’s made as a TV movie. I don’t know what channel it will be on yet, but they are planning to release it this summer.

CTT:  We’ll definitely be looking out for that one! How was it, going from playing Eric Martsoff’s sister to playing his wife? How did that work out?

MM:  [Laughs] Honestly it wasn’t that different because this is a kid’s movie; there wasn’t a lot of romance. There’s lots of high-fiving. It was lots of fun. Eric’s one of my favorite people to work with. I think we’ve always had kind of a natural, easy chemistry. I think you’ll see that in this movie too.

CTT:  That’s wonderful A lot of people are looking forward to it. When fans were seeing the photos of you popping up on social media we were all very excited. I know you said it’s going to be marketed as a teen/tween film, but there are a lot of adults, myself included, who enjoy those kinds of movies. We like movies that feature young people. They’re usually very upbeat.

MM:  This is a very happy movie. It’s got a lot of sass, teen issues and problems, and great dance numbers. It’s an all around pretty upbeat, fun movie. In times like these, we need some laughs.

CTT:  I agree with you.

Can you please tell us little bit about the restaurant Pata Salada?

MM:  We unfortunately [recently] had to close the restaurant.

CTT:  Oh no!

MM:  It was four short months, but long enough for us to determine that the subway construction across the street was too much for us to compete against. The traffic and the road closures were just too much for us at such an early stage in building the business. It’s been very sad.

CTT:  I’m so sorry.

MM:  It feels like a loss in the family. To build the business that you spent over a year building and marketing — to have it go away so soon was a profound moment in my life.

CTT:  I am so very sorry to hear about that.

MM:  It was a great restaurant, but just opened with bad timing.

CTT:  Will we be seeing you soon, or can you share any new additional projects coming up?

MM:  It’s anybody’s guess at this point. I have no idea what I’m going to do next or when it will come around, but I will do something next. Something will come around so I just put one foot in front of the other right now. I am optimistic about the prospects of this To the Beat movie. I think that there is potential for a series there. And I am optimistic about the potential of going back to Days of Our Lives now that Ron is the head writer. So I’m hopeful.

CTT:  There’s a lot of excitement about Ron coming aboard as the head writer. Have you ever worked with him before?

MM:  I haven’t. I’ve never met Ron, but I was huge fan of General Hospital when he was writing for it. I think he did a fantastic job weaving in a lot of very well known legacy characters and writing for the core demo, which is my age group. I’m optimistic that he’ll bring those same talents to Days of Our Lives. Whether or not I’m a part of it, I’m still very happy for everybody in Days. I think this is a big get for them.

CTT:  As an outsider looking in, I think, and hope, this is a plus move on their part.

MM:  I don’t know that they could’ve done any better than someone like Ron. Of all the head writers on the market, he’s certainly one of the best.

CTT:  Is there anything particular you would like to share with your fans?

MM:  I always want to relay to the fans of Days of Our Lives, and the fans who follow me on Twitter, or are interested in anything I’m doing, is that I am grateful to them. I appreciate their support and love interacting with everybody. If they [the fans] want to voice their concerns about Belle being in Salem, either write to the show or tag those powers-that-be on Twitter, and let them know how you feel.

*****

Thank you to Martha (pictured above with her husband, AJ Gilbert and daughter, Charley) for sharing your time and candid answers.  Your fans look forward to seeing you and we will certainly contact TPTB [the powers that be] to let them know how we feel!

You can find: Martha Madison on Twitter @Marth27

Ron Carlivati on Twitter @carlivatiron

Steve Kent on Twitter @SteveKentSony

(Photo Credits:  Barbara Caruso Photography, JPI for NBC, Brad Everett Young, and Martha Madison)