The scenes where Johnny not only learned how he came into existence but also how he confronted EJ about it were both heartbreaking and riveting on Days of Our Lives. Assaulting Sami wasn’t the only crime EJ’s gotten away with, and the citizens of Salem finally got so fed up with his machinations that someone put a bullet in his chest. Dan Feuerriegel opened up about how spontaneity was a factor in how he played those tragic scenes.
He Didn’t Know the Backstory
Feuerriegel revealed to Soap Opera Digest that he was not well-versed on the details of what happened between EJ and Sami (Alison Sweeney) when actor James Scott played the character in 2008. When Johnny (Carson Boatman) entered EJ’s living room and yelled at him about his past actions, the actor remarked that it was the first time the tale had been laid out for him.
He said that as a result, “I was kind of like, ‘Well, I don’t need to research it.’” Feuerriegel explained to the outlet that his not knowing about the original story served him well. He stated, “The fact that I didn’t really know too much about it and didn’t really research it [added to] the spontaneity of the scene.”
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There Was No Excuse
He used the British term “He was on the back foot” to indicate that EJ wasn’t expecting what Johnny had told him. “It made that a lot more natural and easier to play,” he stated, remarking that the actor himself was astonished to hear the whole story. “Oh. I did that, huh? Sh*t,” he quipped, further explaining, “I was finding out all of this in the moment.”
READ THIS: Find out how the reveal of Johnny’s origin helped Boatman as an actor.
Feuerriegel stated that EJ really had no defense for his indefensible actions. So, instead, he tried to divert the accusations away from himself. But the former district attorney of Salem explained to his son that Stefano had coerced him to take advantage of Sami because he needed the stem cells of the child that would be created. The actor explained, “The challenge was that EJ had to really firmly believe that he was, shall we say, backed into a corner to get Sami to do something like that.”
