21 Thunder premieres Monday, July 31 at 9 p.m. on CBC.
North Vancouver actor Andres Joseph is playing the role his dad has always wanted him to – academic prodigy.
“Do your studies well,” Joseph’s father would tell him growing up.
While Joseph’s brother went off to medical school, he pursued acting instead.
“I’m sort of the one who is chasing my own dreams and ambitions outside of the academics,” says Joseph, who pulled over at the side of the road Tuesday by Centennial Theatre to take the News’ call. In a few days he’ll be in Toronto for the glitzy premiere of his new TV series.
Fortunately, his father can relate to Joseph’s pursuit of happiness.
Joseph’s dad desperately wanted to be a pilot. But his father pushed him towards engineering, which ended up being his path. It gave Joseph’s dad perspective when his son came to him and said he wanted to be an actor.
“He’s really proud of me. He’s really backed me,” says Joseph, who also has a business degree from the University of Victoria.
Joseph himself is backing a team of testosterone-fuelled soccer players in his latest role as team captain, goalie and academic prodigy Alex el Haddadi in CBC’s new original drama 21 Thunder, which kicks off on July 31.
Set in Montreal, the fictional series goes behind the scenes into the private lives of pro soccer players. Storylines laced with themes of love, crime, race, sex and athletic glory are woven into the show, which follows the Thunder U21’s star players on and off the field.
The drama unfolding in their personal lives is left behind once the players step onto the field and unite as a brotherhood.
Joseph says 21 Thunder joins a new wave of programming for CBC and the series is a departure from what the national broadcaster traditionally has aired, adding they have been pushing the boundaries as of late.
“And it’s exciting to see,” says Joseph. “I think it just tells a story from a perspective we don’t often get to see. There’s a storyline for every generation in there.”
But the show’s main focus is Millennials. A real and honest perspective of some of the issues young adults in Canada face today is presented.
“And a lot of it has to do with ethnicity and race and economic issues,” adds Joseph, whose character comes from Arabic ancestry.
Joseph’s character Alex is pretty much an alpha male.
“I am sort of the glue that keeps the team together and drives the energy and gives everyone the pump-up, or breaks up the fights. So I’m always there supporting everybody,” he explains.
But Alex’s personal life lacks that support. There is cultural push and pull at home and both of his parents are always working.
So how did a business graduate and actor wind up emulating a pro soccer player?
Joseph, who grew up playing competitive tennis, says his athletic foundation allowed him to step into this role and “handle the demands” of the sport.
“Luckily I am the goalie so I don’t need to do a whole lot of technical stuff,” he concedes.
Joseph underwent a lot of one-on-one training on set by professional soccer coaches and trainers, from whom he learned diving and saving techniques.
“I actually found it a lot harder to not save the ball than to save the ball,” says Joseph with a laugh.
The film crew found themselves resetting the scene, because Joseph’s natural instinct after all that practice was to save the ball. However, the storyline called for him to be scored on.
The two main soccer players on the show were high level soccer players in real life. Other actors on the show bring a different sporting background including baseball and hockey.
Some of the filming was done at the minor league soccer team Montreal Impact’s home field, called Saputo Stadium.
Thunder U21’s away games, meanwhile, were shot at different sporting venues around Montreal.
Because most of the actors have played sports somewhat competitively, they lend some authenticity to the series.
“One of the biggest issues that young adults face is the realization that ‘I’m not going to be able to go all the way with this,’” says Joseph, adding injuries can throw a huge wrench in the plans to go pro, a storyline which plays out in the show.
At its core the show accurately depicts what young athletes go through, explains Joseph, with some added drama for TV.
“Which is the icing on the cake I think,” he says.
There’s also some levity – especially in the locker room scenes.
“And if you’ve ever played sports or been around guys who play sports – hockey, soccer, whatever it is – you’re always going to find some jokes, some goofing off, some hooliganism,” says Joseph. “And the stuff we get up to in the locker room is pretty … there are some pretty funny scenes in the locker room. You guys wait and see.”
For many of the 21 Thunder actors, this is their big break. And they are experiencing that euphoria together.
“I don’t think I’ve worked with a group of people that were so cohesive and so collaborative,” says Joseph of his co-stars.
Veteran Canadian film and television actor Colm Feore (House of Cards, Bon Cop, Bad Cop) guest stars as Declan Gallard, a powerful, big-city crime boss now imprisoned for life. He’s a “phenomenal actor,” says Joseph.
Filming for 21 Thunder started last August and went on for about four months in Montreal, a city Joseph says he fell in love with.
“The artistic and cultural energy you get in Montreal you don’t really find that anywhere else in Canada because it’s very expressive and very open and kind of has that European flair to it,” describes Joseph.
Joseph took private acting lessons with Vancouver-based coach Andrew McIlroy, who taught late Canadian actor Cory Monteith of Glee fame.
Joseph’s first big audition, a small principal role for Arrow, didn’t go as planned.
“I bombed it,” recalls Joseph with a laugh.
He had been working two or three jobs and coaching tennis. The night before the Arrow audition, Joseph threw out his back.
“I had to take some sedatives or whatever, some painkillers – and I just wasn’t in my right mind,” says Joseph, who was auditioning for the role of an uptight military guy – and he just couldn’t play it straight.
“It’s kind of funny. You win some and you lose some,” says Joseph.
