Exclusive: AnnaLynne McCord On How The DAYS Cast Rallied Around Kennedy Garcia
Sarah going into anaphylactic shock after eating a scone from Sweet Bits — one that triggered a severe allergic reaction — paved the way for some intense scenes on Days of Our Lives, particularly when Xander blamed Felicity for the incident. And all the actors involved in them took special care to make sure that Kennedy Garcia, the young actress with Down syndrome who portrays Felicity, felt safe and supported as the drama played out.
“There was a major protectiveness, even in my natural body,” says AnnaLynne McCord, who plays Felicity’s big sister, Cat. “And also from Paul [Telfer] and Linsey [Godfrey], who play Xander and Sarah. They actually did a personal little bit of a redirect on the scene itself the night before. We all kind of talked about it because they were like, ‘This doesn’t have to be full escalation for it to be felt.’ Anything directed at Felicity, making it her fault, is not going to feel good for anybody in the group, especially Kennedy. And we wanted to be conscientious of her.”
A True Pro
McCord gives the young actress kudos for her work in the tense scenes. “She was so raw and so fully present, and that can feel really destabilizing on the nervous system,” points out McCord. “I was holding her the whole time, kind of the way you do with a baby. I was putting my heart against her head so that she could feel my calm energy, while Paul was having to play Xander’s hotheadedness. I could feel her body kind of escalating, but she was still present and showing up for the scene. She’s such a brave actress.”
After the scenes wrapped, Telfer immediately checked on Garcia. “Paul came up to her and was like, ‘I’m really sorry that I had to scream at you like that,’ ” recounts McCord. “And Kennedy, you could tell that she still was a little [affected by] it. So Paul said, ‘Do you want to give me a little sock? Do you want to sock me a little bit?’ And she just whacked him with her fist. She socked him right in the stomach. Paul went, ‘Okay.’ He laughed. Then she laughed. We all laughed.
“It was a beautiful team effort of making that moment what it needed to be for Kennedy without being gratuitous, without being more than it had to be,” continues McCord. “It was a moment of honoring Kennedy and how she shows up on our show, on set, and in the world. She’s very, very in touch with her feelings and very present with them. And that can feel really intense when you have a moment like this one with all the intensity that the scene brought. So I thought it was a really beautiful human moment that we all got to experience.”
McCord has become a huge fan of Garcia since they first began working together and creating a bond as TV sisters. “I’m obsessed with Kennedy,” she professes. “She is the realest, most darling, most loving and affectionate human you will ever meet. But outside of that, I think there’s this magic to kids and to individuals who aren’t tainted by our world’s conditioning and our social and cultural norms. And Kennedy is none of those things. She is completely who she is. She says it how it is, and sometimes you’re like, ‘Oh wow, you just laid some honesty on us all.’ And that really comes through in her character, Felicity. It’s a great dynamic that the writers have brought in, and Kennedy always just shows up for it in a beautiful way.”
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Soap Opera Digest does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.