USA Today
By César G. Soriano
USA Today
July 2000 (uncertain date during week before July 12) [orginal article no longer online]
BALTIMORE — Inside a gritty warehouse in the city's industrial marina district, a glamorous teen TV drama is being manufactured.
Meet Young Americans, the WB network's latest foray into teen consciousness, premiering Wednesday (9 p.m. ET/PT).
"I think they made soap here," says show creator and producer Steve Antin. Now, they're making a soap opera here: The rusting building by the railroad tracks contains the lavish mahogany set of the fictional Rawley Academy, an elite New England school for boys.
The show is being shot in Baltimore partly to keep costs down, and partly because the city already had an experienced crew base left over from Barry Levinson's Homicide: Life on the Street, the NBC show that was filmed in Charm City for seven years.
Young Americans is the first show from Antin, 35, a former film and TV actor who has appeared in The Accused and NYPD Blue.
The show's premise was born two years ago when he was driving through New England. "I came upon a gas station and there were three girls working there. A convertible pulled up with these young prep school guys. The imagery was so beautiful in this bucolic little town. I just thought, 'Oh, my God, this is the show. It's town vs. gown.'
"I wanted to write a show about what it felt like to be a teenager, that tiny window between 15 and 17 when the possibilities seemed endless and I felt invincible, when everything seemed so monumental and melodramatic" Antin says.
Antin has been involved in everything from casting to makeup and hair. "The kids are always asking if they can do this or that with their hair, and my answer is always an absolute 'Not!' It crosses my mind with what happened with Keri Russell on Felicity," he says, recalling the negative fallout after the actress cut her trademark mane. "I wouldn't want my characters to do that, and they know better."
Like Antin's characters, the show's actors come from blueblood-meets-blue-collar backgrounds:
Mark Famiglietti plays Scout Calhoun, the rich, attractive, popular kid. Famiglietti's background isn't much different. The New England native was raised on theater, was class president of his Clinton, Conn., high school for two years, and was captain of the baseball team. He's best known for his role as the popular kid on Hang Time, NBC's Saturday teen sitcom.
Rodney Scott, 22, isn't far out of his element. He plays Will Krudski , the local boy attending the school on scholarship. In reality, Scott is a local boy who grew up in Berlin, Md., a small town outside the beach resort of Ocean City. "I only took drama in high school because my girlfriend and friends were in the class," Scott says. Two years ago, he fled to Hollywood to search for stardom. He started at the bottom, working at Mann's Chinese Theatre. "If I ever do a movie that premieres at Mann's Chinese, I can be one of the few who say I used to work there," Scott says. On Friday, he throws out the first pitch at a Baltimore Orioles game.
Katherine Moennig, 22, plays a girl who masquerades as a boy, Jake Pratt, to gain admission to the all-male school. Sound familiar? Moennig also was up for the starring role in Boys Don't Cry, which earned Hilary Swank an Oscar. "I'm a little worried about being pigeonholed," says the self-avowed tomboy with short black hair. To play the part, Moennig has to wear a constricting sports bra and bodice. "I'm not hugely well-endowed anyway, so I don't worry about it."
Ian Somerhalder, 21, who plays the dean's son, Hamilton Fleming, is no stranger to the camera. The Louisiana native has modeled for 10 years for such labels as Guess and Versace. "It was just a job. . . .I don't want to be one of those model-turned-actors." The future filmmaker spends his off-days writing scripts, not sightseeing. "I don't mean to badmouth the city, but the restaurants stink."
Ed Quinn, 30, was a professional rock musician for several years. "All the kids on this show probably have more experience than I do," he says. Now he plays Finn, the teacher and mentor. "We don't know if Finn is his first or last name. He's a bit of a rogue, bit of a romantic, a bit of a renaissance man."
Kate Bosworth, 17, says it's sometimes hard being the show's only true teenager. "All the cast think I'm a baby. It's hard when everyone is going out to bars and I'm like, 'Awww, man. I gotta be by myself,'" says Bosworth, who plays Bella Banks, a gas station mechanic. The first feature you notice are her striking eyes: one is blue, one is brown. Bosworth has appeared in three films, including The Horse Whisperer with Robert Redford, while trying to maintain a normal teenage life. Bosworth is a junior at a Boston public high school, but she missed her junior prom. "That was an issue!" she shrieks. "I couldn't go because we were shooting. In my contract, I'm going to have that in next year: Must have time off for senior prom!"