Daytime alum Vivica A. Fox had her own motives for making the noirish thriller Motive -- and they included gathering some old YOUNG AND RESTLESS pals for a little fun.

"It's an interesting, high-end suspense thriller that is very exciting," teases Fox (ex-Stephanie, Y&R; ex-Maia, GENERATIONS). "We don't get to make a lot of thrillers for the African-American community. It's always comedy or bang-bang, shoot 'em up 'hood movies."

After reading the script -- a murder-mystery in which a man has a sexy fling that spirals out of control and leads to murder -- Fox got the ball rolling by calling up a few friends and asking them to help. Shemar Moore (ex-Malcolm, Y&R) plays the man, and Fox portrays his wife.

"I'm the private detective who tries to unravel the murder," explains Victoria Rowell (Dru, Y&R). "It was a lot of fun working with them on location in Atlanta. It's a great town and the attitude from (producers) Rainforest Films and Vivica had an atmosphere of optimism that trickled down to everyone. We'd go out to a Cheesecake Factory and hang out. It was wonderful."

Motives was released on DVD/VHS Feb. 24.