Interview With Freddie Smith, Guy Wilson and Christopher Sean
Interview by TV Guide Magazine posted at Soap Opera Digest
Warning. Watch today's (Janurary 8th) episode before reading this article.
EXCLUSIVE: DAYS’S WILL AND PAUL HAVE SEX - AND THE STARS DISH!
By SOD • Posted: Jan 8, 2015
TV Guide Magazine’s Michael Logan got the inside scoop on today's shocking Will/Paul hookup on DAYS, straight from the actors themselves. Here, Guy Wilson (Will), Freddie Smith(Sonny) and newcomer Christopher Sean (Paul) weigh in on the triangle that has fans buzzing.
Boys will be boys…but who saw this coming? For several weeks, fans of NBC’s Days of Our Lives have been led to think that Sonny Kiriakis (Smith) might succumb to the lusty advances of his ex-lover, Paul Narita (Sean), a closeted baseball player who came to Salem for surgery on his “billion dollar arm.” Some hot sex takes place all right - in episodes airing January 8 and 9 - only it happens between Paul and Sonny’s husband, Will Horton (Wilson). Can Will and Sonny’s marriage survive?
By Michael Logan
TV Guide Magazine: How did you react when you heard about this wild development?
Smith: This is not the way anybody thought this story would go - least of all me. [Laughs] It really threw me for a loop. It’s a super-crazy twist and when Sonny finds out what Will has done, it’s going to be insane. It was the last thing Sonny is expecting, to have this young stud, Paul, come to town...and now this! I think it’s just incredible. Not incredible for Sonny but, as an actor, it’s amazing. It just blew me away.
Sean: Before this Paul-Will thing started to show up in the scripts, I questioned [co-executive producer] Lisa de Cazotte as to what was going to happen. She hinted at a romance between Will and Paul and I was, like, “Whaat? Why would Paul ever do that?” I was just as shocked as the fans probably are. I think this may turn into quite a contest. It’ll be like those teen vampire-werewolf fan rivalries, with Team Paulson and Team Wilson fighting it out.
TV Guide Magazine: Then again, is it really a surprise? The Will-Sonny relationship seemed doomed back when they started suspecting each other of Nick’s murder.
Smith: I think things did start to go south then. They had about three months of the honeymoon phase, then it started declining. It’s been really rough. They’ve been trying to work things out but it just gets worse and worse. There was the exposé article Will wrote, then he took off for months to work in Hollywood, then there’s Sonny’s financial secrets. But this thing between Will and Paul creates a real trust issue. This isn’t like keeping little secrets to protect somebody in the family. It’s not about money. This is a breaking of their vows. It’s a different level of trust being broken. This is life-changing. Will and Sonny will either grow and learn from this or call it quits. But first there are a lot of twists and turns with the story because neither Will or Paul knows who the other one really is…and that’s when the plot thickens.
Wilson: What we have here is like a perfect storm. Will took that writing gig in L.A. and it just blindsided Sonny. I think that was the point of no return and, in time, Will might come to realize it. That, coupled with the arrival of Paul, set all this in motion. And, really, it’s not surprising if you consider that Will is Sami Brady’s kid. [Laughs] He comes from a legacy of shocking behavior! The audience reaction to Will is going to be scalding. To be fair, it’s not like he pursued this affair in any way, but he certainly gave into temptation. He is going to deeply regret this.
TV Guide Magazine: Well, we certainly can’t blame Paul.
Sean: No, Paul is not the villain in this triangle. Sure, he has animalistic urges and he pounced, but it’s Will who was easily swayed. Will has bitten off more than he can chew. He wanted that forbidden fruit! The only thing Paul is guilty of is wanting human connection. He wants love. That’s why he reached out to Sonny and now he’s seeking comfort from Will and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a basic human need. He has no idea he’s having sex with his ex-lover’s husband. Paul thinks Will is single. He’s not wearing a wedding ring. [Laughs] Will’s the bad guy!
TV Guide Magazine: Was Paul flirting with all the chicks at Salem U. Hospital just a bulls--t act, or is he possibly bi? Sean: Well, after I kissed Jen Lilley [Theresa], I think he’s probably bi. [Laughs] No, Paul is fully homosexual and he’s in love with Sonny. That is his only love.
TV Guide Magazine: Guy, why the hell does Will take off his wedding ring every time he goes to interview Paul for his magazine article? Seems pretty sleazy.
Wilson: He removes it on the advice of his editors, so that Paul will not learn anything about Will, just to keep the whole business encounter objective.
TV Guide Magazine: Hmm…I must have missed that class in journalism school. So, Freddie, what exactly is Sonny feeling about Paul right now? Could a Paul-Sonny hookup still happen?
Smith: Paul was Sonny’s first love and he wanted to be with him forever but couldn’t get over the fact that Paul didn’t want to come out. It wasn’t that they didn’t love each other anymore. Nobody cheated. It was never that they were incompatible. When they broke up they were still in love. In the coming months, you’re going to learn a lot more about their relationship, and about Sonny. Being secretive with Paul was fun for a little while…until it wasn’t.
TV Guide Magazine: Some fans, especially in the LGBTQ community, are disappointed that such a history-making soap couple didn’t stay happy very long. Is there a double standard here?
Smith: It’s important that Will and Sonny be treated like any other couple. We want to tell an authentic story. Whether you’re gay or straight, you have rough patches in a relationship. We’re just being honest here.
Wilson: In the medium of daytime drama, serenity is death.There has to be some kind of villain, some malevolent force, or at least a third party. If not, things become a bit stale. You lose your immediacy and the relationship begins to lose its importance. By introducing this twist, it reinvigorates the importance of the Will and Sonny relationship. Everyone is capable of being dishonest, of making a transgression, of being human, and there shouldn’t be a different spin here. Will and Sonny have had a wonderful relationship, courtship and marriage, and they’ve survived a lot of trials and tribulations. That’s wonderfully true to life, but so is conflict and scandal. If anything, it would be doing a disservice to Will and Sonny, and to the gay community, if they did not have the same kind of challenges straight people do.
TV Guide Magazine: Christopher, you’re half Japanese. How is your family dealing with what they’re seeing on screen?
Sean: My mom is Japanese and my dad’s military - an Irish-German from Ohio. [Laughs] What would you think with that type of background? “We shun you!” No, in actuality, my parents have been very supportive, loving and respectful. They support me no matter what choices I’ve made. I’ve always tried to make sure I’ve walked the correct path. They think I’m doing a good job on the show and they’re very proud. I love them, they love me. and we constantly high-five on that.
TV Guide Magazine: But…
Sean: But my dad fast-forwards through all the fun stuff. My mom turns away from the screen. My sister is the one who antagonizes them. During all those flashbacks of Paul and Sonny having sex, she was, like, “Look, look!” But my parents won’t watch. Then my sister has to say, “Okay, they’re done. You can look now.” I don’t know how they’ll react to the sex scenes between Will and Paul, which are pretty hectic. They’re very sexual. There’s lovemaking and then there’s sex - and Paul and Will are having the latter. It’s tough. It’s awesome.
TV Guide Magazine: So, then, this thing with Will is just sexual? No love blooming here?
Wilson: When a good-looking person comes on to you, it’s always flattering and a little intriguing, and it’s always fun to entertain those questions of “What if?” But that is the extent of it for Will - just being flattered that this very handsome, very successful pro athlete was making a pass at him. The connection and the magnetism Will and Sonny have for each other is not about to falter. But it will be challenged in a very serious way.
TV Guide Magazine: Word is, Paul will agree to come out in Will’s article, but then start to waffle out of fear of what his family will think - not what a ruthless journo like Will wants to hear. Does Will get his hot scoop?
Sean: Paul has been portraying a straight male probably ever since he was a child. In the Asian culture, it’s all about family and respect and honor. Sure, gay sports figures are slowly starting to come out and that will become more and more commonplace in our world, but fear is fear. Paul’s afraid of what will happen if he says, “This is who I am.” That kind of emotional vulnerability can scare the heck out of anybody - gay or straight. We’re going to find out whether he does or doesn’t overcome that. So stay tuned!
Original Post: http://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/exclusive-days%E2%80%99s-will-and-paul-have-sex-%E2%80%93-and-stars-dish
Warning. Watch today's (Janurary 8th) episode before reading this article.
EXCLUSIVE: DAYS’S WILL AND PAUL HAVE SEX - AND THE STARS DISH!
By SOD • Posted: Jan 8, 2015
TV Guide Magazine’s Michael Logan got the inside scoop on today's shocking Will/Paul hookup on DAYS, straight from the actors themselves. Here, Guy Wilson (Will), Freddie Smith(Sonny) and newcomer Christopher Sean (Paul) weigh in on the triangle that has fans buzzing.
Boys will be boys…but who saw this coming? For several weeks, fans of NBC’s Days of Our Lives have been led to think that Sonny Kiriakis (Smith) might succumb to the lusty advances of his ex-lover, Paul Narita (Sean), a closeted baseball player who came to Salem for surgery on his “billion dollar arm.” Some hot sex takes place all right - in episodes airing January 8 and 9 - only it happens between Paul and Sonny’s husband, Will Horton (Wilson). Can Will and Sonny’s marriage survive?
By Michael Logan
TV Guide Magazine: How did you react when you heard about this wild development?
Smith: This is not the way anybody thought this story would go - least of all me. [Laughs] It really threw me for a loop. It’s a super-crazy twist and when Sonny finds out what Will has done, it’s going to be insane. It was the last thing Sonny is expecting, to have this young stud, Paul, come to town...and now this! I think it’s just incredible. Not incredible for Sonny but, as an actor, it’s amazing. It just blew me away.
Sean: Before this Paul-Will thing started to show up in the scripts, I questioned [co-executive producer] Lisa de Cazotte as to what was going to happen. She hinted at a romance between Will and Paul and I was, like, “Whaat? Why would Paul ever do that?” I was just as shocked as the fans probably are. I think this may turn into quite a contest. It’ll be like those teen vampire-werewolf fan rivalries, with Team Paulson and Team Wilson fighting it out.
TV Guide Magazine: Then again, is it really a surprise? The Will-Sonny relationship seemed doomed back when they started suspecting each other of Nick’s murder.
Smith: I think things did start to go south then. They had about three months of the honeymoon phase, then it started declining. It’s been really rough. They’ve been trying to work things out but it just gets worse and worse. There was the exposé article Will wrote, then he took off for months to work in Hollywood, then there’s Sonny’s financial secrets. But this thing between Will and Paul creates a real trust issue. This isn’t like keeping little secrets to protect somebody in the family. It’s not about money. This is a breaking of their vows. It’s a different level of trust being broken. This is life-changing. Will and Sonny will either grow and learn from this or call it quits. But first there are a lot of twists and turns with the story because neither Will or Paul knows who the other one really is…and that’s when the plot thickens.
Wilson: What we have here is like a perfect storm. Will took that writing gig in L.A. and it just blindsided Sonny. I think that was the point of no return and, in time, Will might come to realize it. That, coupled with the arrival of Paul, set all this in motion. And, really, it’s not surprising if you consider that Will is Sami Brady’s kid. [Laughs] He comes from a legacy of shocking behavior! The audience reaction to Will is going to be scalding. To be fair, it’s not like he pursued this affair in any way, but he certainly gave into temptation. He is going to deeply regret this.
TV Guide Magazine: Well, we certainly can’t blame Paul.
Sean: No, Paul is not the villain in this triangle. Sure, he has animalistic urges and he pounced, but it’s Will who was easily swayed. Will has bitten off more than he can chew. He wanted that forbidden fruit! The only thing Paul is guilty of is wanting human connection. He wants love. That’s why he reached out to Sonny and now he’s seeking comfort from Will and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a basic human need. He has no idea he’s having sex with his ex-lover’s husband. Paul thinks Will is single. He’s not wearing a wedding ring. [Laughs] Will’s the bad guy!
TV Guide Magazine: Was Paul flirting with all the chicks at Salem U. Hospital just a bulls--t act, or is he possibly bi? Sean: Well, after I kissed Jen Lilley [Theresa], I think he’s probably bi. [Laughs] No, Paul is fully homosexual and he’s in love with Sonny. That is his only love.
TV Guide Magazine: Guy, why the hell does Will take off his wedding ring every time he goes to interview Paul for his magazine article? Seems pretty sleazy.
Wilson: He removes it on the advice of his editors, so that Paul will not learn anything about Will, just to keep the whole business encounter objective.
TV Guide Magazine: Hmm…I must have missed that class in journalism school. So, Freddie, what exactly is Sonny feeling about Paul right now? Could a Paul-Sonny hookup still happen?
Smith: Paul was Sonny’s first love and he wanted to be with him forever but couldn’t get over the fact that Paul didn’t want to come out. It wasn’t that they didn’t love each other anymore. Nobody cheated. It was never that they were incompatible. When they broke up they were still in love. In the coming months, you’re going to learn a lot more about their relationship, and about Sonny. Being secretive with Paul was fun for a little while…until it wasn’t.
TV Guide Magazine: Some fans, especially in the LGBTQ community, are disappointed that such a history-making soap couple didn’t stay happy very long. Is there a double standard here?
Smith: It’s important that Will and Sonny be treated like any other couple. We want to tell an authentic story. Whether you’re gay or straight, you have rough patches in a relationship. We’re just being honest here.
Wilson: In the medium of daytime drama, serenity is death.There has to be some kind of villain, some malevolent force, or at least a third party. If not, things become a bit stale. You lose your immediacy and the relationship begins to lose its importance. By introducing this twist, it reinvigorates the importance of the Will and Sonny relationship. Everyone is capable of being dishonest, of making a transgression, of being human, and there shouldn’t be a different spin here. Will and Sonny have had a wonderful relationship, courtship and marriage, and they’ve survived a lot of trials and tribulations. That’s wonderfully true to life, but so is conflict and scandal. If anything, it would be doing a disservice to Will and Sonny, and to the gay community, if they did not have the same kind of challenges straight people do.
TV Guide Magazine: Christopher, you’re half Japanese. How is your family dealing with what they’re seeing on screen?
Sean: My mom is Japanese and my dad’s military - an Irish-German from Ohio. [Laughs] What would you think with that type of background? “We shun you!” No, in actuality, my parents have been very supportive, loving and respectful. They support me no matter what choices I’ve made. I’ve always tried to make sure I’ve walked the correct path. They think I’m doing a good job on the show and they’re very proud. I love them, they love me. and we constantly high-five on that.
TV Guide Magazine: But…
Sean: But my dad fast-forwards through all the fun stuff. My mom turns away from the screen. My sister is the one who antagonizes them. During all those flashbacks of Paul and Sonny having sex, she was, like, “Look, look!” But my parents won’t watch. Then my sister has to say, “Okay, they’re done. You can look now.” I don’t know how they’ll react to the sex scenes between Will and Paul, which are pretty hectic. They’re very sexual. There’s lovemaking and then there’s sex - and Paul and Will are having the latter. It’s tough. It’s awesome.
TV Guide Magazine: So, then, this thing with Will is just sexual? No love blooming here?
Wilson: When a good-looking person comes on to you, it’s always flattering and a little intriguing, and it’s always fun to entertain those questions of “What if?” But that is the extent of it for Will - just being flattered that this very handsome, very successful pro athlete was making a pass at him. The connection and the magnetism Will and Sonny have for each other is not about to falter. But it will be challenged in a very serious way.
TV Guide Magazine: Word is, Paul will agree to come out in Will’s article, but then start to waffle out of fear of what his family will think - not what a ruthless journo like Will wants to hear. Does Will get his hot scoop?
Sean: Paul has been portraying a straight male probably ever since he was a child. In the Asian culture, it’s all about family and respect and honor. Sure, gay sports figures are slowly starting to come out and that will become more and more commonplace in our world, but fear is fear. Paul’s afraid of what will happen if he says, “This is who I am.” That kind of emotional vulnerability can scare the heck out of anybody - gay or straight. We’re going to find out whether he does or doesn’t overcome that. So stay tuned!
Original Post: http://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/exclusive-days%E2%80%99s-will-and-paul-have-sex-%E2%80%93-and-stars-dish