Dan Feuerriegel is glad that his Days of Our Lives character, EJ, has been at the forefront lately in the baby drama storyline. The actor dove into EJ’s motivations, and praised his castmates and the story as well.
Sloan’s (Jessica Serfaty) stealing Nicole’s (Arianne Zucker) and Eric’s (Greg Vaughan) baby has gotten really complicated with the secret element that Eric is actually Jude’s (Oliver McLarty) bio daddy and EJ’s (Dan Feuerriegel) orchestrated taking the child for Nicole, and pretending he’s the father.
Feuerriegel spoke to Soap Opera Digest, discussing the complicated plot, declaring that he was happy to finally get a long story arc that’s full of twists and turns. Regarding the scenes where Eric had to give Jude to Nicole and EJ, he recalled, “There was an element of, ‘Whoops,’ or, ‘that’s a sh–y thing of me to [make Eric] do, but I’m going to care about myself.’ ” He remarked that while he’s playing a character who’s acting like he doesn’t know anything, EJ’s feelings for his wife are real. (Learn how Nicole previously felt that Jude was her dead baby.)
But the actor has no problem with his character’s shady actions because he realizes it’s all make believe, “And being able to play EJ for the amount of years that I’ve been able to play him, you get an idea of his mentality, which is, he will do whatever he can to win at any cost, regardless of who he runs over. It’s in his DNA. He was brought up that way.”
Having real-life infant actor McLarty playing Jude has also enhanced the drama for Feuerriegel, who explained, “Because it’s a real baby, all of us automatically went into this mode of, ‘Oh my God. There’s a tiny little human being!’ It 100% added to it.” He further explained that despite the fact that EJ knows the truth could come out eventually, he continues to cover things up.
Feuerriegel praised his scene partner, Zucker, stating, “Ari’s just the best. She’s so good to work with. She’s so easy to work with, and she’s amazing. So it was so easy in that regard.” He also likes the fact that the fans are split right down the middle as to whether they want to see EJ and Nicole together or Eric and Nicole. “That means I’ve done my job,” he proudly stated, adding, “It means Ari and I have done our job, and that’s what we needed to do.”
Overall, he praised the tricky plot, noting, “It’s been a phenomenal storyline, and it’s been an absolute pleasure to be a part of. I’ve loved doing the heavy lifting from time to time.” He enjoys it when he gets to reveal EJ’s vulnerable side, which hasn’t been done often. And working with his other castmates in the story’s bubble, he remarked, “It was a pleasure to work with Ari and Greg. They’re such fantastic people and fantastic actors that it was an honor.”
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