Soap actors aren’t typically shocked by the twists and turns thrown their characters’ way, accepting that paternity switches, affairs and returning from the dead are par for the course. But the latest twist that landed “Days of our Lives’” Eve (Kassie DePaiva) and J.J. (Casey Moss) in bed together had both of their portrayers’ jaws dropping!
“The fans knew it, but we didn’t know it,” Moss says of the storyline turn that’s sure to devastate Paige (True O’Brien) — J.J.’s girlfriend and Eve’s daughter. “I was absolutely surprised, because we didn’t know we were going to go there for like a month into our scenes. And then the director was like, ‘Oh, you guys need to turn up the heat here. You’ve got to kiss, you’ve got to grab her right here and really look at her and kind of get off on her,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh? Why?’ ‘Well, your storyline is going that way!’”
“I was shocked,” DePaiva also admits. “One of my first scenes was with Casey. I took my shirt up, and I did not know that was going to be the story. I had lunch with [co-executive producer] Greg Meng about a month into my role, and I was going, ‘You know, I want to make sure I’m doing everything [right],’ because it was so weird to play a role and not have any connection to a guy or have a love interest. And he didn’t drop the bomb, didn’t tell me the story! He was just like, ‘Yeah, we still haven’t figured out who we’re going to put you with,’ and then he goes, ‘What do you think about Casey Moss?’ And I was still [lost]! I said, ‘He’s great. Paige and J.J. are the future of the show, they’re the supercouple that you fight for.’ And he knew [all along that] I was just going to be the aging ho!”
The damage has been done, and there’s no turning back — which affects both characters in very different ways. As fans saw, Eve’s immediate response to sleeping with her daughter’s boyfriend was pure disgust. “She was so grossed out,” DePaiva says. “She just wanted to go and do what I call the ‘Silkwood shower’ and just get all the ick off. Very painful.”
J.J. seems disgusted, too. But Moss says it’s not necessarily the case. “I think they both don’t actually feel that way,” he guesses. “They’re just saying that because that’s the way they’re supposed to be feeling afterward, to block out the feelings. Like, ‘I didn’t feel anything for you. You’re gross.’
While neither actor could reveal whether or not the characters will find themselves sleeping together again, both muse that it’s definitely possible. “When you make a mistake like that, I feel like the natural outcome later on is to possibly just say ‘Screw it. I’ve already done it, I’m already this piece of crap, I’m already this person, so might as well just do my thing now, because I’ve proved to my self that I’m bad. I have confirmation now.’ When you’re dealing with a lot of pain, and you don’t know how to deal with it, it almost becomes comfortable, and you kind of just want to stay there… It’s a cluster of emotion. So will it happen again or not? I can’t say that. I think you can probably judge that based on how it looked on camera!”
“It’s exciting to watch, because it’s good drama, but there’s an ick factor to it, you know? But you understand it,” DePaiva adds. “When I watch the scenes this week unfold, I felt Eve’s pain. You saw J.J .struggling with his thing. And she was looking for love in all the wrong places and for the comfort, and I think J.J. is somebody that kind of understands her. They understand each other musically, and they’re both kind of misunderstood, they act out, they have no impulse control.”
All of which, both actors say, leads to an exciting couple of months ahead. “The next five months, it’s good stuff. Really, really good drama.”