One of the sweetest things about the series premiere of Fox’s “Red Band Society” was the friendship that developed when Leo (Charlie Rowe) took Jordi (Nolan Sotillo) under his wing at Ocean Park Hospital.
As Jordi was gearing up for a surgery that would remove his leg, Leo became a mentor — someone Jordi could talk to frankly — a friend who would help him through the tough times, and even the type of person who was OK with it when Jordi got close to the young lady Leo previously had a romantic connection with — Emma. Leo’s confidence and welcoming nature (after that initial ‘He can’t move in here’ moment passed) set him up as a real leader of the Red Band Society, the group of young people dealing with serious illnesses as they put their focus on embracing and enjoying life.
“I think he is a leader because he needs it. He really needs the Red Band Society to get better,” Charlie told Access Hollywood of his character. “He needs that group of friends and that idea of power because he is very — he’s very lonely, I think. … I just think he’s a really nice guy and I very much enjoy playing him.”
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Charlie moved stateside from his native UK for the role, and he spoke to Access about adjusting to life in a new country, the friendships he’s already made with his cast, and how visiting children’s hospital wards in the run up to filming gave him a real perspective from which to build the character of Leo.
AccessHollywood.com: What made you want to come over here and do an American TV show?
Charlie Rowe: They sent me a script and I thought it was good, so I filmed myself doing it and I sent it to America and they said yes. So it was crazy, really.
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Access: Had you ever done a pilot season in America before?
Charlie: No, never. This is the first pilot I’ve ever auditioned for.
Access: Who was the first person you met on your cast?
Charlie: I remember I got off the plane and I went straight to the hotel and it’s a long flight. It’s like a nine-hour flight and my dad was with me because at the time I was only 17, so we went to the gym straight away because, you know, long flight. It was still early on in the day, so we wanted to strut it all out, you know, get going again, and Rebecca Rittenhouse, who plays Nurse Brittany was on the treadmill and Astro was sitting by the pool and then Zoe [Levin] came into the gym. It was really weird, like, the minute I arrived, three people from the show were there and it was a really nice little moment… and then rest I all met at the read-through.
Access: Has working on a show about these kids who form friendships made your own transition to another country easier?
Charlie: Yeah. I’m very grateful that they’re such a lovely cast and crew and they’re willing to show me the city and take me out. … Certain aspects [of the U.S.] are very, very different and I miss my home and I miss my family and I can’t wait to see them and it’s making it a lot easier having these great people surround me.
Access: You had to shave your head for this role. Was that hard for you?
Charlie: I like the hair I had before and it was, I guess, you know, kind of quite liberating. Suddenly, Atlanta got 10 degrees cooler when it all came off, which was a [relief], because it’s boiling here. And it was scary because we didn’t know whether I had a nice head or not. I could have had a really, really grotesque head. … Luckily, it was smooth and it was relatively round and everyone, I think, had a sigh of relief and I really like it now. I get shaved every morning on set and it just means that it’s growing back quicker and quicker and quicker, you know? So it’s good. I actually had my first day last week of having to shave twice in one day, because it was growing too quickly.
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Access: Tell me about the work and the research that [went into playing Leo]. Did you have to talk to people who have similar illnesses to your character, or visit children’s wards?
Charlie: Yeah, we went to children’s hospitals around the country. We went to Morgan Stanley in New York, we went to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia… and we went to Dallas and Atlanta and Orlando and Chicago and Boston. We went to all these different cities and met kids there and it was just so fantastic and you know, to tell these kids what we were doing and the show we were making, their faces lit up and they were so excited. It really does mean a lot and I hope… we just have to tell these stories truthfully because it matters to so many people, do you know what I mean? And when we were there at those hospitals, I guess, the research that really stood out was the fact that these kids are just – they’re just living. They’re not thinking about what’s going to happen, because what can they do? They’re in this hospital, they’re young, so they’re going to try and enjoy themselves and I was chatting to a girl who had osteosarcoma, the same thing as my character, and she didn’t have a leg… I said… ‘My character has got osteosarcoma,’ and she goes, ‘Oh right, have you played hockey yet?’ And I said, ‘What?’ and she said, ‘You know, hockey? With the crutches,’ and I was like, ‘Oh no, I haven’t,’ and she said, ‘Oh, it’s great fun. … And this is a jersey I made for the crutch,’ and she knitted this jersey for the crutch and it’s crazy what these kids are doing and how much they, you know, how much they’re enjoying themselves.
Access: Tell me which relationship you’re most interested in exploring this season.
Charlie: I always love the scenes with Octavia.
Access: The ‘scary b****.’
Charlie: Right, yeah, she is the ‘scary b****,’ but for Leo there’s the sense of I want her to be scary. She provides a sense of boundaries, you know? And there’s that thing of teenagers like to break rules, but at the same time they need those boundaries and there’s that sense with Leo and Nurse Jackson that although we clash and although I get into trouble, I need her. I really, really need her to be there to support me and I like that idea of playing those two things at the same time. It just makes a really fun, exciting kind of deep scenes. I like those.
“Red Band Society” airs Wednesday nights at 9/8c on Fox.
— Jolie Lash
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