Paul Telfer Dishes on DAYS Brotherhood: ‘J-P Is Absolutely Hilarious’ (Exclusive)”
All In Good Fun: Paul Telfer (l.) says he’s having a blast sharing a storyline with John-Paul Lavoisier (Philip).
Xander and Philip’s brotherly love story came as a pleasant surprise on Days of Our Lives. After years of mutual loathing, the Kiriakis siblings unexpectedly developed an appreciation and respect for each other while working side by side at Titan — that is, until it all crumbled to pieces when Xander learned his brother had bamboozled him. Paul Telfer spoke to Soap Opera Digest about the rise and fall of the Kiriakis brothers and how it was enhanced by his real-life friendship with co-star John-Paul Lavoisier (Philip).
Soap Opera Digest: When you saw the bond developing between Xander and Philip, were you all in?
Telfer: Yes. I absolutely loved it. I’ve never really had a consistent male scene partner outside of Matt Ashford, who plays Jack, and with that we were friends. There was never really any conflict until later. The friendship came first, whereas this is the opposite. Xander’s just always kind of despised Philip. And in a rare case for Xander, I’ve always felt that he had a pretty good reason for not liking Philip. The kind of character Philip is is a bit weaselly, a bit sneaky, and his own worst enemy. He’s kind of similar to Xander in a lot of ways, except [that] Xander is aggressive and violent, while Philip is a bit more backstabby. I hate to use the word weasel, because J-P [John-Paul Lavoisier, Philip] is such a handsome, lovely guy, but I’m purely talking about the character. So it was really fun, because J-P was one of the first people I ever met on DAYS.
Digest: Where did you two originally meet?
Telfer: I did a fan event when I very first was on the show here in L.A., and he was there. He wasn’t on the show at the time. I guess neither was I at that point. It was back when I was recurring. So it was fun to meet somebody outside of the show that was attached to it. Years and years later, he was brought back as Philip.
Digest: Wasn’t that for Nadia Bjorlin’s exit as Chloe?
Telfer: Yes, that was the first storyline we had. It was when Xander and Chloe were together and were about to get engaged, and the story about Sarah lying about who was the father of her baby blew up. That’s when J-P’s version of Philip returned. That was my first interaction with [his version of Philip]. Previously, it had always been with Jay [Kenneth Johnson]. The way Jay played Philip and the nature of the story at that time, it just made a ton of sense for Xander to despise him. Philip had always been given all these opportunities that Xander felt he was never given, and Philip squandered them. Then, on top of that, when Xander finally healed his heart after losing Sarah and things not working out with Gwen, he was about to run off with Chloe and get married, and here came Philip to ruin everything.
Digest: Things dramatically shifted during John-Paul’s current stint on DAYS. What was it like creating Xander and Philip’s brotherly bond?
Telfer: What’s been fun is, because J-P and I hit it off really well in real life and already had a little bit of fondness for one another outside of work, we were able to take that and bring it into the show. We were able to have a nice banter and just a real rapport with each other. So even with the tension that’s developed, it was really fun to have, underneath it, this actual possible affection. Then, for the writers to give that to us — to have the two [characters] actually working together and becoming loving brothers and essentially a good team — it’s just been a joy, honestly. It’s the first time I’ve really been able to build up a male relationship and smash it apart like that in much the same way that I’ve done the romantic relationships [in Xander’s life].
Digest: That’s a great comparison.
Telfer: We went from conflict and we hate each other to, “Oh, maybe we’ll get along. Oh, maybe we love each other.” Then, “Oh, it’s all collapsed. Oh, it’s all terrible.” And it’s all because this big lie has been revealed. To do it in this fraternal way, especially with J-P, was so fun, because he’s absolutely hilarious. It’s allowed Xander to be a bit more mature and a bit more of the straight man. I’ve always played Xander as kind of zany and over the top, because I didn’t want him to just be a mustache-twirling villain. I wanted him to notice when things were silly and notice when things were funny, and J-P does the same thing. So having J-P come on and [be] so madcap and wild in some of his choices, just by Xander not being that way gives a sense of maturity by comparison. So that’s really worked out great.
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