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Stephen Amell says Arrow producer Greg Berlanti convinced him to join Heels, a series about professional wrestling, as his first, post-CW show.
Heels star Stephen Amell shared that Arrow executive producer Greg Berlanti helped convince him to take the role in the upcoming Starz series as his first post-Arrow project.
“I hadn’t made any overtures out into the industry,” Amell said during a new episode of the Hero Nation Podcast, as reported by Deadline. “And my manager called me up and just said, ‘You’re gonna have to pay attention to the scripts that I’m sending you because Starz is going to make an offer. And, you know, the character’s great, the writing is great. And you can give it a look-see?”
Amell added that when his manager told him the role was a lead in a new television series, however, he was hesitant to commit to another long-term project.
“I said, ‘Are you out of your mind, really?'” the actor said. “But 15 minutes into the first script, I was just like, ‘Oh, shit. Oh, man, if we get anywhere close to a deal on this, and then the numbers line up. And, and moreover, and more importantly, I jive with the showrunner and the network and what they’re trying to do, this is gonna happen…And it did.”
Amell also shared that connecting with Heels showrunner Mike O’Malley and noticing similarities between Starz CEO Jeff Hirsch and Mark Pedowitz, CEO of The CW, helped seal the deal for him.
“You know, I don’t know a ton about Jeff’s career prior to that. But I know that he was new at Starz in the same way that Mark was new at The CW,” Amell said. “One of the first shows that Mark greenlit, I think the first show was Arrow. And I think one of the first projects that Jeff turned his attention to [at Starz was Heels], a project that they had tried to cast back in 2017, I believe, and they just couldn’t find the Spade brothers. So then everything just felt, I felt this sort of serendipitous moment.”
When it came to his conversation with Berlanti, Amell added that the producer “had the funniest line,” noting, “Stephen, is this the first thing that you’ve been approached about?’ And I said, ‘Yes. And he goes, ‘Well, Stephen, take my advice on this one. You’re newly single don’t go home with the first girl that winks at you at the bar.”
However, when Amell revealed that Heels was written by Mike Waldron, is about professional wrestling and featured an “awesome” character, Berlanti responded, “Oh, well, you buried the lead there. You should definitely do this.”
Heels was created by Michael Waldron and stars Stephen Amell, Alexander Ludwig, Alison Luff, Chris Bauer, Allen Maldonado, James Harrison, Kelli Berglund, Mary McCormack and David James Elliott. It is set to premiere Aug. 15 on Starz.
Source: Deadline
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