Tag: arrow


Oct 17, 2013
0
Jen

First Wednesdays on CW, then the world for Amell cousins

Tomorrow is now for the Amell cousins.

“We were shooting a promo for ‘Amell Wednesdays,’ and they had us doing this back and forth with our last name, Amell-tastic and all this stuff,” recalls Robbie Amell, star of the new series The Tomorrow People. Robbie’s cousin, Stephen Amell, is the star of Arrow.

“And we were sitting there and we were going over the lines they gave us, and we were like, ‘This is insane,’” Robbie adds. “It’s crazy for one of us to be the lead of a show, but the odds for both of us to be the lead of a show are astronomical.

“Same network, same night, back-to-back, same executive producers, same genre. It’s unbelievable.”

The Tomorrow People debuted Wednesday, Oct. 9 on CW and CTV. Also Wednesday on those same two channels, Arrow returns for its second season. Both Robbie, 25, and Stephen, 32, originally are from Toronto, so this is quite the family-focused Canadian invasion for a pair of high-profile series that originate on a U.S. network.

“It’s a massive step for me — I told Stephen when he booked Arrow that it was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Robbie says with a laugh. “I’m very excited about it.

“The people I’m working with are great, (executive producer) Greg Berlanti is incredible, I worked with him a while ago on Brothers and Sisters. And that was kind of my first adult role coming off of Drew Patterson (Robbie’s role in the 2008 made-for-TV movie Picture This with Ashley Tisdale). So it’s nice that the person who gave me my first adult role off of a kids’ show also is giving me potentially my big break.”

It’s a small world, though, so if you’re a good guy to work with in the acting game, people remember.

“And if you’re an a——, they’ll remember you even more,” Robbie points out.

Based on a British series of the same name, The Tomorrow People has Robbie Amell playing Stephen Jameson, a supposedly normal teenager who begins hearing voices and teleporting in his sleep. Turns out he’s not imagining things, and he’s not alone.

“The closest thing to (The Tomorrow People) was Heroes, and that was a while ago,” Robbie says. “And while there are some little similarities, the two shows are very different.

“One thing that’s nice about this show is that the people making it want it to feel as if it’s grounded in reality. So no matter how amazing those super powers are, or how incredible the fight scenes are, they want it to seem like, what would happen if this really were happening in real life? Would people be able to accept someone with super powers?”

As for the Amell invasion, I have to ask, are there any more cousins? Are we looking at a Kardashian situation here?

“Stephen and I both have sisters,” Robbie says. “He has a younger sister and I have an older sister.”

Well, for now we have The Tomorrow People and Arrow. Stayed tuned for Keeping Up With The Amells.

Source: St. Albert Leader