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Hudson & Rex’s Justin Kelly: “I get to really play with these quirks”

I first became aware of Justin Kelly’s work back in 2015 when he was part of the ensemble cast of YTV’s cancelled-way-too-soon family drama Open Heart, playing a sarcastic scamp named Wes. Followed by roles on Citytv’s Between and Space’s Wynonna Earp, Kelly has returned to his old Citytv stomping grounds on Hudson & Rex.

Kelly plays Jesse, described in the show’s press materials as “the quintessential millennial: young, driven, more than a little awkward, and right at home in front of a computer.” What should be added to that logline is one more word: unlucky. With just four episodes broadcast so far, Jesse has been shot, drugged and almost drowned. We spoke to Kelly about his dangerous new gig.

So far Jesse has been shot, and in the latest episode, he was roofied and almost drowned. What’s going on with this poor guy?
Justin Kelly: I mean, that’s what happens when he decides to leave the desk. He gets into trouble. A lot goes down in the first few episodes with him. And we later learn that he might just be better behind his desk than being out in the field. But the field stuff is fun, so hopefully, we can expect more of that.

St. John’s is particularly special to me. What about you?
JK: Absolutely. It was a bucket list thing for sure, wanting to get out there. And I’m just lucky enough that I was able to get out there for work and for such a long period of time. It’s a beautiful, beautiful city. We’ve been shooting there throughout its winter, which can be pretty harsh, especially this winter has been a little crazy, there are still so many reasons to love it in spite of that. And I had the opportunity to really explore the city and walk around and do what the locals do. Yeah, I love the city, it’s great.

Tell me how you ended up being on the show in the first place. Did you go through the usual audition process?
JK: I did, yeah. It came out of nowhere. It was presented to me as this opportunity, that is like, ‘Come in and audition for this role of Jesse.’ I read one of the scripts, and it was something I hadn’t done before. I loved the idea of working for a major crimes unit in a police station. That was last summer, and it was around the time I was working with Shaftesbury on an episode of Frankie Drake Mysteries. I had gotten to know a few of the producers from Shaftesbury through that first, and then I auditioned. And about probably a week later, I found out I got the part, and the next thing I knew, I was out in St. John’s. It’s been a bit of a wild six months.

What goes into your thinking when you’re choosing a role? On a show like Open Heart, Wes was funny. On Wynonna Earp, Robin was a little bit strange and funny as well. Jesse’s a little bit offbeat, definitely the youngest guy in the team. What do you look for in a role?
JK: I think that’s exactly it. I’m a huge fan of comedy myself. One thing that these roles have in common was there was a place to go in terms of finding these quirks in these characters. I feel like every character needs to have something quirky and something off centre about them. That’s something I saw in Wes when Open Heart happened, was that he was the sarcastic Chandler Bing character that I grew up watching.

Robin was very similar. Robin was hilarious and this amazing damsel in distress, and was weirdly unaffected by all this crazy stuff that was happening around him in Purgatory. And with Jesse, I get to really play with these quirks and explore the nerdy comedic side of him, because he’s the youngest one on the team. He’s the millennial. He makes the jokes that the older folks don’t quite understand. That’s something that I just always latched onto and always really enjoyed.

The interesting thing about Hudson & Rex is that this group of humans are really tight. These characters don’t feel as though they’re the straight men to the dog. It’s great to have a dog on the show, but you also want to have characters that interact well with each other.
JK: Completely. You’re absolutely right, and that’s really important to me as well. When you deal with a certain formula of TV, where every episode is a different case, and you’re not necessarily following a linear pattern, you’re watching these characters grow within each episode. We’re so lucky that we have a great cast and that we get along really well. That happened right away, and that’s something that we’ve been playing with. A lot of these scenes that we have in the bullpen is really our opportunity to see how these four, and the dog, all react with one another. That’s the thing that keeps us going as well, is wanting to learn more about these characters as well as the dog.

What’s it been like working with Diesel?
JK: Having Diesel on-set is almost like … it’s almost like having Al Pacino on set. He’s so good, and he’s so well trained. He’s this presence, that as soon as he’s on set doing his work, everybody’s in awe of him a little bit. He’s this regal dog and is just there to do his job and is in it for the roast beef. And he’s all business, and it’s great to see. The episode that we just watched, ‘School Days,’ he’s pulling me out of a pool. To see how that all panned out and how it all worked was pretty amazing because they obviously did tests before, but he’s pulling me out. I’m wearing wet clothes and adding up to probably about 175 pounds. He’s just panting, trying to get me out. It’s really neat to see him work, and it really brings a bit of the camaraderie to the set, and everybody’s really just happy to have him there.

You just spoke about being in the pool. Was that a long day of production for you? 
JK: I think I was in and out of the pool for about five hours. I didn’t have to do a whole lot in terms of swimming, or anything. You come to find after about an hour, that treading water with wet clothes on is a lot harder than it seems, and it can really knock it out of you. I remember going home that day … I was finished by one o’clock, and I just konked out, and was like, ‘Wow, that was tough.’ I mean, I just watched the episode on video with my fiancée probably about an hour ago, and I was like, ‘I’m really happy with how that cut together and how it looks.’

Jesse is described as being this quintessential millennial. He’s young, driven, more than a little bit awkward, and right at home in front of a computer. What else are we going find out about this guy?
JK: Not to give too much away, but we really learn about how much his work means to him. I like to think that he’s going home and he’s still working, and he has that personality. So we really see how invested he becomes in this job and in working with these people. And that just continues to grow and grow.

Hudson & Rex airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on Citytv.

Images courtesy of Rogers Media.

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Hudson & Rex’s Kevin Hanchard: “This guy felt different, and it felt right”

Kevin Hanchard has played a lot of authority figures, including doctors, lawyers and police officers. Many police officers, on such shows as, most recently, Orphan Black, Cardinal and Cavendish.

Hanchard can currently be seen on Hudson & Rex, Citytv’s human-canine cop drama, portraying Superintendent Donovan. But unlike the officers he has played in the past, Hanchard describes Donovan as “different.” We spoke to him to find out exactly why, and we get a sneak peek into an upcoming episode where viewers learn more about Donovan.

How did you come to be on Hudson & Rex in the first place?
Kevin Hanchard: It was providence. I was offered the role of Superintendent Donovan. We thought about it and it made sense. I’m sort of at a place in my life, where I’m a little bit older, and I play a lot of doctors, lawyers and cops. And I have played a few cops in the last few years, but this guy felt different, and it felt right. It felt like there was a maturity and gravitas and weight to this guy than other cops I’ve played. It made sense for me to do this. I had been to Newfoundland before to shoot Republic of Doyle, I think going on eight years now, and I remember having a great time out there, loving the people, loving the landscape, the vistas and the sights, the restaurants and all of that. I was thinking, this is just a great opportunity to spend some time in a part of the country I don’t know if I’m going to get a chance to visit.

I’m impressed at how much Hudson & Rex is about the team investigating these crimes. I love the interaction not just between Rex and Charlie, but the team dynamic too.
KH: I really do think it’s an ensemble. Charlie and Rex are the heart of the series, but the four of us really seem to work together as actors and the characters seem to work well together. I think that’s good and bodes well for the future of the show. It just feels right, you know? The balance is where it should be. Even though I’m the superintendent, I’m not there with an iron fist like the guy from Beverly Hills Cop going, ‘Foley!’ That’s not his nature. He’s a little more like a mentor, which allows for some comedic moments and levity in the face of, you know, a murder each week. I think those are the things that allow for the audience to care for the characters and give the show some legs. I don’t think there could be three better people for me to work with than Mayko, Johnny and Justin. They’re super-talented actors and they’re good people. We genuinely enjoy spending time together. They may tell you something different about me, but I’ll at least take the high road. [Laughs.]

How do you feel about Diesel?
KH: Diesel is the only one of us to consistently hit his mark and never forgets his lines. He’s so smart and intelligent and has such a great spirit about him. You can see it in his eyes; there is a wisdom and a depth there that allows him to be the heartbeat of the show. Even though he is a dog and most people are watching for the dog, it’s not exploitive. It’s not a dog getting dressed up in a tutu and going undercover. He’s fantastic. And, for someone who has wanted to own a dog his entire life, this is a great consolation prize.

Looking forward to the episode entitled, ‘Haunted by the Past,’ we’re going to get a bit of a peek into Donovan’s personal life.
KH: We get to find out about his family situation and the fact that he has a teenage daughter. I’m the father of a child that has just gone through his teens and another about to go into his teens and these are every dad’s worst nightmare. Is my child doing drugs or, even worse, is my child hiding something from me? Donovan is human. He isn’t just a cop who is detached from his kid and is all about the work. He truly has an interest in her well-being. All of those fears and hopes and dreams that every parent has is delivered in this guy as well. It’s a wonderful little side story in that episode.

Hudson & Rex airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on Citytv.

Images courtesy of Rogers Media.

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Citytv’s Hudson & Rex takes a bite out of crime

An age-old adage says that you should never work with kids or animals in the entertainment business. But for actor John Reardon, it’s been a dream being part of Hudson & Rex … and a case of coincidence or maybe fate.

“My wife and I, we just had a little boy named Hudson,” Reardon says with a laugh from St. John’s. “He was probably about 10 months old when I first received the script.” The actor, a Halifax native who has appeared in shows like Arctic Air, Continuum and Van Helsing, stars alongside a German Shepherd named Diesel vom Burgimwald.

Debuting Monday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Citytv, Hudson & Rex follows the partnership between Major Crimes detective Charlie Hudson (Reardon) and his partner, Rex (Diesel vom Burgimwald), a canine with heightened senses. Based on the Austrian drama Inspector Rex, the drama also stars Mayko Nguyen, Kevin Hanchard and Justin Kelly. In the premiere, Rex proves himself as a member of the Major Crimes team when he tails a kidnapper. We spoke to Reardon during a break in production.

How has production on Season 1 been going so far?
John Reardon: It’s been going great. We are just finished up our twelfth episode right now of 16. We had a nice long break over Christmas and I got to go back and see my folks in Halifax. We’ve been having a great time filming in St John’s. We’ve shot a lot of the famous locations here, like Signal Hill and along the row houses. And we’ve been really lucky with some amazing locations, the landscape here is really unique and beautiful. We’ve been braving the winter elements, as well.

I think you also ran in that little park just by the Terry Fox statue as well, in Episode 1.
JR: That’s right. That was actually one of our very first locations. Episode 1 was actually the third episode that we shot. But yeah, it was one of our first locations down there, it was beautiful.

The classic adage is not to work with kids and not to work with animals. Despite that, here you are with a canine co-star. How did Hudson & Rex all come about? 
JR: I got a script … my wife and I, we just had a little boy named Hudson. He was probably about 10 months old when I first received the script. And my wife and I had just bought a place in L.A. We’d been living at Venice Beach for a lot of years and then we bought a place more in the suburbs when Hudson was born. We were in the process of moving the bags into our house, we had been there for I think maybe two days when I got the script. And I remember my wife read the script first because I had to run out and do a few errands and I came back and she said, ‘I think you have to do this show because your character’s name is Charlie Hudson.’ There was definitely a little bit of—I don’t know if serendipity’s the right word— but it definitely got my attention and then I read the script and I loved it.

And yeah as you say, people say working with animals definitely can be a challenge but that actually was a huge plus for me, because I love dogs, I grew up with them. But I’m just so impressed with what he’s capable of doing and what the trainers are capable of having him do. He keeps you on your toes a little bit because, you know, he’s a dog and he will sometimes do things that you just completely don’t expect. It makes it fun, it makes it a lot of fun.

Can Diesel only work a certain number of hours and then you have to shut things down, or he has to take a break? 
JR: I’m not sure what the restriction is. They make sure that he has plenty of rest during the day. There are actually three dogs, so they make sure that Izzy or Ico, who are the other two dogs who are actually his nephews. They will come in at times to make sure that he is having breaks, that he’s not on set for too long. That he’s getting rest, and often times they’ll do a lot of the more stunt type stuff, just to protect him to make sure because he has been trained the most thoroughly. They’re very careful about that, they take really good care of him and we very often see him in his downtime having a little nap over in his trailer. [Laughs.]

He’s got a better life than the actors.
JR: Yeah, he lives well.

What I found very interesting and very different, is that the show just starts with the crime, and you don’t learn about how Rex and Hudson got together until midway through the episode. I enjoyed the wait.
JR: That’s exactly what I think the writers were going for, something where the action kicks off right away, and the relationship component of the story I think is much more interesting once you do know the characters a little bit. It’s kind of nice that we get into the story, we see the characters working together at the police station and Rex, and then as you get to know us you start to get the backstory and people care about it. We like to have a large component of action and then a large component of the relationship stuff, which we call action with heart.

I was also surprised at how quickly we’re introduced to the rest of the team. Again, I was expecting that the focus was going to be Charlie and Rex when the reality is in the first episode they spend very little time together.
JR: It’s really a show about a team and everybody has their strengths and brings something unique to the team. You see all the people that you’re going to start to get to know and have them be together and see their relationships from the start.

The showrunner for Hudson & Rex is Ken Cuperus. I know him mainly from children’s programming. What’s he been like to work with?
JR: He’s great, I love working with Ken. One of the things I love is he’s very collaborative and he likes to get to know us actors, and he watches us on set to see how we interact with each other. And then he will often write to that a little bit, so he likes to find little things in our relationship that we have in real life. Not a lot, but he will just add little things here and there. And it’s nice because then you’re like, ‘Oh this character has more and more of me in it each time I read the script.’ And he’s a great a writer and mixes action and more of the relationship stuff really well.

Going through this guest cast, you’ve got Greg Bryk and Jeremy Ratchford and Tamara Duarte in Episode 1, I know that Lauren Lee Smith is in an episode later, as well as Anastasia Phillips, Tony Nappo and Kristin Booth. This is a who’s who of Canadian talent that’s dropping by to play in your sandbox.
JR: Every single episode, every single character, we were so fortunate to have these great actors come in. First of all I feel very thankful to have the opportunity to work with them. And then it’s just fun because we have been based on the West Coast for so long, I haven’t had an opportunity to work with a lot of these actors. I know them so well but I hadn’t had a chance to work with them personally because so many of them come from Toronto. It’s great to meet the actor behind the characters, and the great thing too is that all the actors that come in are obviously very talented but they’re great people.

Hudson & Rex airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Citytv.

Images courtesy of Rogers Media.

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Jessica Lucas to star in new original crime drama The Murders, coming to Citytv 2019

From a media release:

Jessica Lucas (Gotham, Cloverfield) is set to star as Detective Kate Jameson in new original crime drama The Murders, coming to Citytv in 2019. Produced by Muse Entertainment in association with Citytv, the eight-part, 60-minute episode season began shooting in Vancouver on October 9, 2018.

The Murders is a police procedural crime drama that features an episodic case of the week coupled with serialised character elements and a powerful soundtrack. Kate Jameson is a rookie homicide detective who searches for redemption in her investigative work after her negligence is the cause of a fellow officer’s death. In the pilot episode, Detective Kate Jameson is partnered with Detective Mike Huntley (Lochlyn Munro) as they navigate the case of a mysterious serial killer who uses music for destructive ends. Joining Lucas and Munro are star-studded cast members Dylan Bruce(Orphan Black), Terry Chen (Jessica Jones), Luvia Petersen (Ghost Wars), and Venus Terzo (Arrow).

Muse Entertainment produces The Murders in association with Citytv, a division of Rogers Media. Creator, Showrunner, and Executive Producer is Damon Vignale, followed by Executive Producers Jesse Prupas and Michael Prupas of Muse Entertainment, Shawn Williamson, Jamie Goehring and Jessica Lucas. Arielle Boisvert is the Producer. Lucas is represented by LA-based The Gersh Agency and Thruline Entertainment. From Rogers Media, Nataline Rodrigues is Director of Original Programming, Hayden Mindell is Vice President of Television Programming & Content, and Colette Watson is Senior Vice President of TV & Broadcast Operations.

The Murders will be distributed around the world by About Premium Content, a Paris-based distributor headed by Emmanuelle Guilbart and Laurent Boissel.

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Rogers Media and Vice Canada agree to terminate joint venture

From a media release:

Rogers Media today announced it has agreed with VICE Canada to terminate their joint venture in VICE Studio Canada and VICELAND.  As a result of the termination, Rogers Media has transferred its interest in VICE Studio Canada to VICE Canada, and VICELAND will cease broadcasting on March 31, 2018.  VICELAND content will continue to be available to Canadians on VICE.com.

In this crowded content universe and as audience habits change, we continue to evolve our strategy to deliver unique content to Canadians.

We plan to redirect our Canadian content funding to other Canadian content initiatives that better align with our portfolio and brands.  Content ownership remains a core part of our strategy and we will be actively exploring new content opportunities that appeal to a broad audience.

We are excited to work with Canada’s talented creative sector to create compelling Canadian content that resonates with viewers here at home and around the world.

 

 

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