Mere hours before this interview, Benjamin Hollingsworth posted a special video message on his Instagram account.
The “Code Black” actor’s latest project, Netflix’s charming TV series “Virgin River”, recently dropped its second season. The show subsequently ranked #1 on the streaming service in North America and other places across the globe.
A grateful Hollingsworth thanked the viewers for tuning in. Over the phone from Vancouver, British Columbia, Hollingsworth tells ET Canada that part of “Virgin River”’s appeal stems from it “filling a certain appetite” these days.
“In 2020, it’s been a landmark year for all the wrong reasons,” Hollingsworth says. “I think a lot of people have endured a lot of stress and trauma and anxiety. What ‘Virgin River’ does so well is it conveys stories that feel like you are getting into a warm bath. You feel reassured. You feel comfortable, relaxed. You feel like you can escape into the moment, without having any exterior stresses. It’s escapism. In a sense, it’s a good remedy for 2020 blues.”
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Based on the novels of the same name by Robyn Carr, “Virgin River” follows Melinda “Mel” Monroe, a nurse and midwife who relocates to the small town of Virgin River. Mel simply wants to put the past behind her and move on to the next chapter of her life. But this remote community offers up plenty of secrets and lies, as well as love and drama.
Hollingsworth portrays Dan Brady, nicknamed “Shady Brady” by audiences. A young veteran who served in the Marines alongside bar owner Jack, Brady struggles to adjust to civilian life. He cops attitude, is late for his job and rubs folks the wrong way. In essence, Brady represents the resident bad boy, which suits Hollingsworth just fine.
“First off, as the ‘bad boy,’ there isn’t any responsibility to carry the morality of the show,” Hollingsworth notes. “Your character doesn’t need to make obvious choices. In fact, quite the opposite. They are given the permission to make interesting choices because their choices are not filtered by morality. What I mean by that is that I can be more spontaneous. I can act from an instinctual place. I’m given the freedom to exist more in the moment instead of governing whether or not I am verging into being unlikeable.
“Meryl Streep has a famous quote,” he continues. “‘Acting is not about being someone different. It’s finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.’ Even though I am playing someone who makes choices that are shady, I always try and find the similarity between this character, who has such a different moral fabric than I do, and me. I try to find what is it about someone who is cast to the outside, who has gone through a difficult period, and makes choices based on finance and trying to survive.
“He’s not supported by anyone else,” adds Hollingsworth. “What is it to bottle your anger up, and what happens to that when you release it? And do you always release it on the right people? For me, that’s a lot of fun and there’s a lot of great things to mine out of that. For me, playing a bad guy is more interesting than playing the hero.”
Some “Virgin River” characters received less narrative in the books, only for the show to flesh them out more and etch out larger arcs. Brady falls under that category. Even in the TV adaptation, Hollingsworth started out in a recurring capacity before being bumped up to series regular this year.
That increased screen time allowed Brady to make one questionable decision after another. In season two, after Jack fired him from his position at the bar, Brady accepted employment with the shifty Calvin, despite Jack’s warnings that this guy was trouble. As it turned out, Calvin ran an illegal operation and Brady soon found himself in way over his head.
“I think Brady is already too far in it when Calvin says, ‘I’m running fentanyl,’” Hollingsworth explains. “I think Brady knew something was up and it wasn’t just logs they were selling. He knew it was something to do with trafficking fentanyl, which is a huge problem in America and globally and is lethal. That carries a lot of weight to it. You are essentially helping people kill themselves through the disease of addiction. You can see the wheels turning in Brady’s head. ‘Oh shit. I’ve dug a hole too deep.’”
That hole just kept getting deeper, too.
Spoiler alert…
To test Brady’s loyalty, Calvin tasked him with killing Spencer, one of his henchmen who proved to be a snitch. The insinuation was that either Spencer ended up in the grave… or Brady did. Ultimately, Brady deceived Calvin, faked Spencer’s death and sent him and his family into hiding. Calvin won’t be so forgiving if he finds out, but that duplicity could possibly signal the beginning of Brady’s redemption.
“That action says that deep down, Brady is lost,” Hollingsworth says. “He has hit rock bottom. He has an opportunity to succumb to it or start climbing his way out of it. I don’t think it’s a situation where anyone is like, ‘I’m done with being a drug dealer. I’m just going to walk away and become a lawyer.’”
“Obviously, Brady has to climb out of the grave he’s dug himself,” he adds. “The first step is making the right decision and doing what was right in the moment and taking some initiative. At his core, Brady is a living, breathing human with a bleeding heart, like we all are.”
Season two culminated with a water-cooler moment: Someone shot Jack and the identity of his assailant remains unknown. Fans have thrown Brady’s name into the list of usual suspects, but Hollingsworth hopes that’s not the case… especially after Brady saved Spencer.
“It just doesn’t make sense,” Hollingsworth offers. “It seems improbable to me and showrunner Sue Tenney hasn’t told me yea or nay. But I am sure Brady will have some part of all that. And I can’t imagine a show without Jack. That’s why we need a season three…”
Besides the storytelling and talented ensemble cast – including Martin Henderson, Annette O’Toole, Alexandra Breckenridge, Colin Lawrence and Tim Matheson – one of “Virgin River”’s not-so-secret weapons is its landscape. The series is filmed in awe-inspiring Vancouver, where the mountains, forests, wildlife and pathways are the real deal.
Hollingsworth happily reports shooting on location in such gorgeous environments definitely creates an aesthetic and vibe that can’t be replicated by production design or CGI.
“It certainly is breathtakingly beautiful out here,” Brady acknowledges. “My family and I go on walks. We split our time between Vancouver and our home in Los Angeles. It makes for a nice contrast. Specifically, for the show, it has a lot to do with that warm bath feeling. It kind of looks like a painting sometimes. All the shots of the deer in the background, that’s not stock footage. Those are deer. ‘Get the deer. Get the waterfalls.’ That’s what we are acting around.”
“Your relationship to nature is a big part, and a theme, of ‘Virgin River’,” he concludes. “There is fishing, hiking, and they are running the trails and driving pickup trucks. There’s lumber. We are so blessed in Canada to have such natural beauty. It’s certainly showcased here and appreciated by fans around the world.”
