Chandler Massey and Zach Tinker
Chandler Massey and Zach Tinker are reprising their roles as Will Horton and Sonny Kiriakis for Days of our Lives: A Very Salem Christmas. The stand-alone movie drops on Peacock Premium today. There’s a story within the story as the tale of the film has Will needing to write a movie script in one evening!
“That’s the least realistic part of this,” Massey chuckles when he talks about Will writing an entire script in 90 minutes! What took even less time was shooting the holiday-themed movie. The actor says the entire film was shot in one day and their part took around only an hour.
How do the actors deliver all that material in such a short amount of time? “Recording it on my phone and running it over and over either with myself or friends [helps],” Zach Tinker tells Soap Hub. “You get to set and hope it goes well. You trust yourself and your partner and you do it. I asked if we could do a scene again and it was ‘Nope, on to the next scene.’ You throw it on the table and hope it goes well.”
“Ron [Carlivati, head writer] wrote it in only an hour and a half,” deadpans Massey, poking fun at the speed with which Will completes the script. “I thought it was really well-written. Will and Sonny are there, as you say, to give exposition that might confuse the casual viewer. The story was very well-constructed. The story has many DAYS favorites in situations that are familiar but different.”
For example, Kristen (Eileen Davidson) and John (Drake Hogestyn) are together while a widowed Marlena (Deidre Hall) and Sami (Alison Sweeney) work at the Brady Pub as they try to make ends meet. There are couples who are together but the people in those unions should be with other people. The fun comes from watching how it’s all going to play out. Watch for holiday film tropes to make their way into the story with nods from such classics as Love, Actually and It’s A Wonderful Life.
While Sonny and Will mostly set up the different stories as they talk, they do make an appearance later in the film during a big musical number. “It was a blast,” says Zach Tinker. “It’s a bit of an arduous process to get into the outfit. Once you are, you’re free and you get to dance. It was a blast.”
Tinker was seen in some social media photos from Christian Le Blanc’s (Michael, The Young and the Restless) on-set 30th-anniversary celebration. Does that mean we might see him pop up as Fenmore on the CBS soap? “As of now, no,” Tinker shares. “I would love to. I love Christian and Tracey [Bregman, Lauren] and everyone over there. They have a very special place in my heart [but] I haven’t heard from anything from production over there.”
How about a return for both Zach Tinker and Chandler Massey as their DAYS characters to the broadcast series on NBC? “Possibly,” teases Tinker. “I will say there’s a possibility.” Adds Massey, “Yeah, whenever my schedule allows, definitely.”
Days of our Lives: A Very Salem Christmas is available on the Peacock Premium, a paid subscription service. To sign up, click here. Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Salem, check out all the latest that’s been posted on DAYS spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.
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