Interview: Rachel, James, and Daniel dish about homeless chic and on-screen lip-locking.
Tortured love triangle alert! Rachel Thevenard, James Newman, and Danny Flaherty (Michelle, Tony and Stanley, as you surely must know by now) sat down yesterday to dish about their characters and what the first season of MTV's Skins has in store for them. If you're a fan of the original UK series, you know we can expect some major drama from these three! Also up for discussion: personal hygiene, PDA, and that ever-burning question: What do their parents think?
What do your parents think of your role on Skins?
Daniel: My parents are actually really proud of me. They loved the original version of Skins and they can’t wait to see this one.
Rachel: My parents are ecstatic. They’re also very proud.
James: My parents don’t actually know what the show’s about. I didn’t tell them. [Laughs] No, they’re really happy about it and they’re really excited for me. They like the show, as well.
Has there been anything you’re uncomfortable to film?
Rachel: There’s definitely some stuff that might make us uncomfortable, but the crew is very professional so there’s never been any problems.
James: There are certainly things that are harder to film than other things. The thing about Skins is you always feel like whatever you’re filming has a purpose within the plot of the show. It all makes sense, so you never really feel like you’re being exploited or anything like that. Certainly a nude scene is harder than just walking down the street, but at the same time you always feel like you’re doing it for a reason.
For a lot of you guys this is your first acting experience, is that right?
James: It’s a little different for all of us. For me, this was my first audition. I never acted before. It was something brand new for me.
Michelle: For me, I did have an agent and I was auditioning, but I just hadn’t gotten anything and I’d been signed for like a year. I went to the open call and got it!
Daniel: I’m kind of the same. I have an agent and was auditioning for a really long time and never really got anything but then I got this. I went to the open call but I didn’t get called back. I went there, I waited all day, they finally took me in and they said go home. I got a call a month later and I got a pilot audition and it was great. That’s where I met James first.
Is it fun having two guys fight over you on the show?
Rachel: It’s lovely. I just love it. It’s art imitating life really. I’m totally kidding...
If you had to choose between Tony and Stanley in real life, who would you choose?
Rachel: Stanley. He’s so much nicer. Tony’s not nice!
Do you think you go for the Tonys or the Stanleys in real life?
Rachel: I think every girl kinda searches for the bad boy. It’s unfortunate but we always fall for the worst ones.
Can you tell us about all the relationships between you three?
James: From my perspective, Stanley’s my best friend who I love torturing and he’s kind of a tortured soul to begin with; I love that and I’m amused by that. I really do care about him, but I don’t always realize it and sometimes I have a weird way of showing it. For Michelle and my character, it’s kinda that classic grimy relationship. It’s those two kids and they think each other is the most attractive of their sex at school and because of that they think some arrangement has to be made. They must be boyfriend and girlfriend and walk around high school making out. It’s that type of relationship. I think they like each other but it’s in some ways a business deal: "This makes sense, let’s do it."
Rachel: I think it’s a little bit different for Michelle. I do think she really loves Tony or maybe she just likes the idea of Tony, but it’s almost really the same thing. When it comes to Stanley, Stanley’s been her best bud since she was 9 or younger… I love Stanley but he’s also kinda my brother in a weird way.
Daniel: Stanley’s perspective is very different from theirs. [Laughs all around] I’m drop dead in love with her and there’s nothing I can do about it. Tony’s just always an asshole to me, basically, and bossing me around. I’m going everywhere for him, doing things for him, whatever he asks basically, driving him around, picking up his girlfriend who I’m in love with. I’m tortured in every situation.
How much of your performances are based on the British version?
James: For me I would say basically none. The show is very different as it goes on but in the beginning the storylines are basically the same, so watching it you may be able to pick out little bits and be like, "Oh, that was really similar to the old Tony." But from my perspective as an actor, nothing that I tried to do at any point had anything to do with what I had seen in the UK.
Daniel: I didn’t take anything from the UK for this version of Skins. I actually stopped watching Skins once I got the part. I definitely feel like I created a new character in a way. It’s based off the same characteristics as Sid. I mean, you’re playing a lazy teenager who doesn’t like going to school. But I’m not playing that the same way Mike Bailey played it.
Rachel: The UK characters were complete characters; they were great characters. I think it was important for all of us to not encroach on that. That’s why we all stopped watching the UK version once we got the part. That’s not to say that we didn’t love the UK performances. We were just trying to make an American version of the show, and already as it’s given, there are going to be enough similarities. It’s a similar style show, a lot of the storylines start the same, so already there you have an homage to the UK version. Our element of the show is where it really lends itself to be different and even exciting for people who have seen the UK version. We felt like that was almost a responsibility to make the show different in that sense.
Are you nervous about being compared to the UK version?
Daniel: A bit. We don’t know what the fans are going to say, especially people who have seen the UK version. But we hope they love it as much as they love the UK version.
James: It’s kind of a double-edged sword. On one hand it’s not our favorite thing to be compared to the UK version, because you know, we’re trying to do our own thing. But on the other hand, you get to start with the show that has established success. If we were on a new show that no one knew about we wouldn’t have to deal with this, we could just do our own thing. But we know that this is a type of show that people have become attached to and we believe in the quality of the work. It goes both ways. After a while, hopefully after people watch the show, it will go away.
Rachel: I was a huge fan of the UK series. It was my favorite show. We want to do the fans of the UK series proud at the end of the day. But we are doing our own thing.
Besides from your performances, what do you think will make you stand apart from the UK version?
Daniel: It’s just different. We don’t have heavy British accents, that’s one. We look different, the locations we shoot on are different, a lot of the storylines are different. I think people will either love it or hate it, but I don’t see why they would hate it because it’s definitely not the same. It’s definitely not a carbon copy as people have been saying. I think they have to just watch the first two episodes and then you’ll see.
James: Almost equally as important as us being new actors, it’s a whole new writing staff of Americans. We started with the character interactions with each other and that was written by Bryan, who obviously created the UK series. But once that was given, Bryan hired a number of young American writers and kind of let them go to town with these characters’ stories. So that’s just as big, if not bigger than new actors, is the fact that it’s literally being driven by Americans and the teen advisory group who they spoke to about teen life are also American teens, so it’s really almost entirely American show now and we’ve been able to start from scratch with that engine.
What do you think of the styling of your characters?
Daniel: Stanley’s a messy guy. He picks up anything off his floor and wears it that day. Most of the shirts he wears his mom has brought home for him and just given them to him. He definitely doesn’t go shopping by himself too often and when he does he just buys the most vulgar t-shirt he can find. Stanley’s style’s very grungy and he’s just a dirty boy.
How does it compare to your own style? It looks like Stanley might wear what you’re wearing…
Daniel: [Laughs] Yeah, I’m like Stanley in that sense. I dress very grungy, kind of messy every once in a while. I’d like to say I’m a bit more clean. I take showers every day and make sure I smell good, unlike Stanley.
Michelle's style is very of-the-moment. How is it different from your personal style?
Rachel: Michelle’s very girly. She tries hard - she’s got Tony to impress and Stanley to torture, so that’s a full time job and she’s gotta look good. I look like a homeless man the majority of a time. I live in sweatpants. This is a $2 shirt. I’m very unfortunate in my looks...
Tony seems to always look good. Is he like you in real life?
James: Tony’s on a constant quest to make sure he looks more mature than everybody else in his group of friends. It almost looks like he went and raided his father’s closet. He dresses a little bit older than he actually is. He wears some vintage stuff and some polos and things like that. He tries to dress nice, always very clean. The opposite of Stanley.
Do you think it’s going to be weird to be in your underwear on national TV?
James: There’s going to be a moment where I’m watching that and will say - wow, this is going to be seen - hopefully this is going to be seen by lots of people. So yeah, there’s going to be a moment but It’s so a part of the job and it’s so a part of my character and it so makes sense for who my character is that it’s kind of cool.
Do you think the show’s a good representation of teenage life?
Daniel: Definitely. It’s more real to teenage life than any other show out there right now. It’s definitely a lot more imaginable to teenage life than say, Gossip Girl is, and shows like that.
James: A lot of times it can be unrealistic in the sense that as teenagers we don’t go to some massive rave every night and have some crazy experience where somebody overdoses. That’s not really realistic to teen life but it’s television, so we’re doing stuff that’s more fun to watch. But I think what is realistic about it is the emotions. The fact that teenagers do have problems. The ages of 16, 17, 18 can be tough years for teenagers. They do have vices to help them get through those issues, they also do rely on their friends to get them through those issues, especially the friends aspect of it - the depiction of really how important friends are to people our age. I don’t think that’s something you see that often on television, not necessarily in the way that we’re showing it.
Rachel: I do think that regardless of the drugs, sex, rock 'n' roll, the relationships and the way that they’re portrayed [are realistic]. When we see the scripts, they’re written as conversational and you feel like you know these characters on the page and that’s for me what really makes it relatable for teenagers.
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