Focusing on the drama at the heart of the small-town Duffy Wrestling League, Heels follows brothers Jack (Stephen Amell) and Ace (Alexander Ludwig) as they adjust to conflicts that erupt in and outside of the ring. During an exclusive interview with CBR, Heels Executive Producers Michael Waldron and Mike O'Malley discussed what appeals to them about the series. Waldron also shared what he brought from Heels to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Waldron, who also serves as the writer of much of the first season of Starz's Heels, was quick to reveal that he grew up as a dedicated fan of wrestling. For him, Heels was the perfect chance to bring that passion to the small screen. "It's a dream come true, truly," Waldron stated. "It's a dream come true to get any show made but to get to make a show about a sport in a world that I've been taken with since I was a little kid... It's very exciting, very full circle. It makes my parents feel better about all the time they let me stay up late, watching wrestling."
For Waldron, it was important to showcase more about wrestling than just the physicality of the sport. "My hope is that through the show, we can celebrate some of the beauty of wrestling, the comradery of it," he shared. "And what we tried to really show is that this is ... Wrestling's an artistic endeavor, these guys and girls are storytellers in the ring. And that's the thing you don't know. If you just turn on Monday Night Raw, you might not really put that together, but they're so talented, these wrestlers. And the writers working with them are so talented and the directors making these things -- it's theater. It's show business. I love that. I love that we're getting to shine a light on that world in another way, in hopefully a way that makes people who are part of that world, feel a little more proud to be part of it."
O'Malley, who also serves as Heels' showrunner and portrays rival wrestling league owner Charlie Gully in the series, has a great deal of experience both in front of the camera as an actor and behind it as a writer. The upcoming Starz show gave him an implicit connection with Jack, who has to juggle his time in the ring with his responsibilities as the primary writer for the Duffy Wrestling League. "I think that's one of the things that I really related to when I read this script," O'Malley said. "I think that I really relate to Jack Spade in that I grew up playing sports. I love sports -- when you're an actor, you're on a team, you're playing with the other teammates. You're part of something bigger. When you are a writer, showrunner, director, producer... There is emotional involvement, but you're making decisions."
"You're apart from it, as much as you are a part of it," he continued. "If you're on a team and you have a play to run or you have a position to play, all you can do is play that position and play it as well as you can. You can't really control where the quarterback's throwing the ball, to strain the football metaphor. When you're an actor, you can learn your lines. You can be as prepared as you are and you can do your thing and you can try to be great, but you have no control over what everyone else does."
Reflecting on his time as a writer, O'Malley further shared, "When you're a writer, creator, showrunner, you feel a responsibility for all of it to come together. It's something that we, despite people saying, it's a hard thing to do... It's a hard artistic endeavor to be a writer. We say to ourselves, 'That doesn't matter, I still have something that I want to say.' I think that level of engagement in a creative thing is what I love about writing and making television. Michael creates this show, we're able to get together with these great actors and then actually make it, and then you guys get to see it. Hopefully, in a second season, all the things that we want to talk about, even more about America writ large, we're able to do that."
After joining Rick and Morty as an intern, Waldron has significantly risen in prominence in just a matter of years. Most recently, Waldron served as the executive producer and Writer on Marvel Studios' Loki. Revealing he began the process of writing Heels years ago, he shared, "I wrote the first draft of the pilot when I was an intern on the first season of Rick and Morty, back in probably 2013. What I took from Heels... Whether you're telling a story about an Asgardian God fighting a time agency or an ultra power wizard or just small-town folks chasing a dream as professional wrestlers, ultimately what makes something work is the humanity in it. Can we see ourselves in these struggles?"
"I would say I had the benefit of starting to work with Mike O'Malley, who has so much more experience than me in this world as an actor, as a writer, as a showrunner," he added. "We started working together halfway through my tenure on Loki. I absorbed a lot in a hurry from him. That really helped me as I went through the rest of Loki into Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, to being on the set of that and everything. So I've been really fortunate with how this whole thing has played out."
O'Malley was quick to return the compliment, adding, "What Michael brings to this, other than his big mind and experiences, is that he really listens and absorbs what it is that people are either bumping up against or want. He thinks about it, and then tries to turn it into something better."
Created by Michael Waldron, Heels premieres on Aug. 15 on Starz.
0 Comments