THE TOLL OF SECRETS | OUTER RANGE

The neo-Western series Outer Range debuted in 2022 on Prime Video starring Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men, Avengers franchise, Dune franchise), Imogen Poots (Roadies, Jimi: All Is By My Side, I Know This Much is True), Tom Pelphrey (Ozark, Love & Death, A Man In Full), and Lili Taylor (Six Feet Under, Manhunt, Perry Mason). In the 1st season we're in the present day and we watch as the Abbott family navigates the changing times of a farm and life that is always within moments of being pulled away from the family. In addition to these concerns, we realize that Royal Abbott (Josh Brolin) has found a portal that takes you through time, and we know that he has first hand experience with it. Throughout the first season, we learn more about this portal, what it does to the town, and how it brings additional people together and apart.

In the 2nd Season, the portal and its powers are even more evident and we see others who have become exposed to it and what it does to their lives. We also see how the Abbott's as a family come to terms with it as well! The importance of time, secrets, life and death converge in this epic story.

We sat down with the Showrunner and Executive Producer of Outer Range, Charles Murray (Sons of Anarchy, Luke Cage, The Devil You Know) to talk about the kinds of stroytelling he enjoys; how he came into the Season 2 of this show; his thoughts on this season; and what he hopes viewers takeaway from it.

If you have yet to watch Season 1 you can stream it now as well as the current season.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We have been a fan of your work since Sons of Anarchy, Luke Cage, The Devil You Know! What draws you to storytelling as a writer, producer, and showrunner?

CHARLES MURRAY: You know, oh thank you – I love this question!

AM: We know!

CM: I like stories that live in the crevice of society. What I mean by that is – one of my favorite movies is 12 Angry Men!

AM: Yes!

CM: That’s written by Reginald Rose (Crime in the Streets, Man in the West, Somebody Killed Her Husband) and directed by Sidney Lumet (Serpico, Network, Murder on the Orient Express). It’s about 12 guys sitting in a room trying to decide through their prejudices and biases and disbelief if a Puerto Rican kid killed his father. While that’s going on, right now, there is some case being decided right when you and I are having this conversation. They’re talking about things that are going to be seen worldwide. There’s a little spot where things like the stories that I’m drawn to exist at the same time. It’s that kind of stuff that draws me to storytelling.

AM: What drew you to this neo-western series Outer Range? What are the challenges that you navigated as you became the Executive Producer and Showrunner in Season 2? Were there things that you were mindful of since Season 1 already took place and you were coming into this one?

CM: You know, you’re mindful of being respectful of the audience that got you into Season 2 and you’re mindful of the larger narrative of whether you should follow it, shake it off, or try to do a combo of the two. Thankfully, we didn’t have to shake off anything because Season 1 set such good groundwork, it was just my job and the writer’s job to expand on what was already there. Because the narrative was left so open at the end of Season 1, I feel like we had a great shot, at expanding the show and still staying true to the larger story point was which was – here’s a guy that knows about this hole, not only knows about it, but came through it and he’s kept it a secret, but he can’t keep it a secret any longer! That to me, is good conflict.

AM: It was amazing. When we saw the first season when it debuted, it was gripping and compelling. We enjoyed watching all of the screeners ahead of chatting with you and it certainly didn’t disappoint!

While watching it, there were so many themes that kept coming up about the concept of time, the extent of freewill, and the weight of responsibility of those who come before you and after. What do you want viewers to be able to walk away with once they have finished Season 2?

CM: You know, this is going to sound strange. I think that a lot of the show on a metaphysical plane is how people deal with their own timeline. How you can get trapped by your timeline, how it can propel you, and how other people can live in the same space that you’re living in and see things completely differently. I think that the bigger question kind of spins off of Season 1 which is, what happens when you can’t keep secrets anymore? Secrets get a lot of people in trouble.

AM: Oh yes they do!

CM: So then it’s, how do you deal with it when you have to expose those secrets! That’s what Season 2 is about! Season 2 is about telling the truth and then burying the weight of telling the truth. It’s looking at what that could mean and at times, should you? Right?

AM: 100%.

CM: On a metaphysical plane and again on a spiritual plane, we all have to deal with that. What do therapists say? There’s a hole in each of us. Some of us have to fill it up and some people have to examine it. So, if you bring all of this stuff to light and you’re watching this show, I would say that by the time that you get to the last episode, you should be rooting for the main people, but you should also be saying, well – should he have told the truth or not?

AM: It was amazing. When we saw the first season when it debuted, it was gripping and compelling. We enjoyed watching all of the screeners ahead of chatting with you and it certainly didn’t disappoint!

While watching it, there were so many themes that kept coming up about the concept of time, the extent of freewill, and the weight of responsibility of those who come before you and after. What do you want viewers to be able to walk away with once they have finished Season 2?

CM: You know, this is going to sound strange. I think that a lot of the show on a metaphysical plane is how people deal with their own timeline. How you can get trapped by your timeline, how it can propel you, and how other people can live in the same space that you’re living in and see things completely differently. I think that the bigger question kind of spins off of Season 1 which is, what happens when you can’t keep secrets anymore? Secrets get a lot of people in trouble.

AM: Oh yes they do!

CM: So then it’s, how do you deal with it when you have to expose those secrets! That’s what Season 2 is about! Season 2 is about telling the truth and then burying the weight of telling the truth. It’s looking at what that could mean and at times, should you? Right?

AM: 100%.

CM: On a metaphysical plane and again on a spiritual plane, we all have to deal with that. What do therapists say? There’s a hole in each of us. Some of us have to fill it up and some people have to examine it. So, if you bring all of this stuff to light and you’re watching this show, I would say that by the time that you get to the last episode, you should be rooting for the main people, but you should also be saying, well – should he have told the truth or not?

After talking with Charles, we wanted to talk with Tamara Podemski (Reservation Dogs, Murdoch Mysteries, Monster High) who has been in both seasons of Outer Range. We have watched her character navigate town politics, her ambitions, and her personal life. We wanted to know what drew her to playing Sheriff Joy Hawk, where we catch up with her this season, and more.

ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s such a pleasure to connect with you! What drew you to Outer Range?

TAMARA PODEMSKI: It’s a crazy world that was so far away from my own world and so far away from anything that I had ever done. I felt my character to be quite challenging! Every time that you’re given on paper, someone who doesn’t really exist in real life, when you take an Indigenous queer woman that is a sheriff and put them in a small white town that is in mountain country – it’s just that she doesn’t exist. I looked around and I did the research, there is no one like her! So that’s always a really fun challenge as an actor to figure out how someone like that, ends up there.

AM: I have to say that your character is one of our favorites from the series. Everything about her just really draws you in and watching how she’s exploring what’s going on. What did you draw from to approach playing her?

TP: Well I had 2 very important of a few people that I turned to that were deeply connected to the world of what I would say Indigenous/Political circuit who were running for a position in government as well as someone that was deeply embedded in American Indian Police Academy who has launched and had so many different recruits that have gone through the program. This allows them to find their place in a sheriff office or in a local police department.

So I needed to base it in truth, I needed to base it in real people that have chosen this journey which is a very difficult road. That’s how I kind of pieced her together.

AM: That’s really great to hear!

Where did we leave Sheriff Deputy Joy Hawk last season and where do we pick her back up again this season?

TP: We leave Joy – I love her so I don’t ever want to say mean things about her, but I think that she has made some poor decisions in Season 1 for the sake of running for sheriff as well as to solve a murder investigation. These things, it cost her! To see her in Season 2 and taken out of that world and to be put into a new environment and to be given an opportunity to reconcile her actions and to be given an opportunity to grow and to surpass the person she was, the person that she thought that she could be, I think of it as Joy’s coming of age story. She gets to be the hero that she was always meant to be.

AM: Last season was so good and we had the pleasure of watching all of the screeners in prep for this interview, what do you want viewers to take away after watching Season 2?

TP: I hope audiences still believe in complex storytelling. I think particularly in a time where we are consuming so much content and some of it is in all degrees of digestibility, I would really ask for our audiences to work and put in the effort to provide their undivided attention. I hope that our viewers are reminded of that longer arc of storytelling and investing their time! I promise that we will take them on a ride and I hope that they fall in love again with the landscape, the genre – I think that we deliver a lot of real rich vibrant genres whether it’s the supernatural, the metaphysical, the western, the drama – I think that we really deliver a lot there. I think that everyone should be very satiated!

IG @thetamarapodemski

After speaking with Tamara about her character and how she has evolved over Season 2, we wanted to know about another character who has also went through various changes.

Isabel Arraiza (Pearson, The Oath, The Little Things) plays Maria Olivares and we wanted to know how she came to the roll, her character's love story and what she wants viewers to take away with them at the completion of the Season 2.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We enjoyed watching how your character has evolved throughout both seasons of the show! What drew you to Outer Range?

ISABEL ARRAIZA: I went to school with Brian Watkins so I know the creator from back in acting school. I had always been a fan of his writing. He is an amazing playwright. So when I found out that he was involved in the creation of this show and the story, I was immediately drawn in. So I went in for this audition and I kept getting call backs and tested. The more that I read about it and just knowing who was involved in the project, I was like “oh My God, please God, just give me this opportunity!" I would say that that was what drew me in initially and of course, the story was so compelling that I just wanted to be able to keep doing it.

AM: Absolutely and what do you love about playing Maria Olivares and what was your approach to delving in to this character as it has been interesting to watch how she unfolds episode to episode?

IA: Initially what drew me was her simplicity of her storyline. But it doesn’t mean that it is less complicated. I mean, Lewis Pullman (Lessons in Chemistry, Top Gun: Maverick, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial; who plays Rhett Abbott) and I are in charge of telling this romantic love story and sort of this love in its simplest and purest way. I just felt fortunate to have this character that felt so grounded and in a storyline that was so riveting and complicated at times. Such straight forward relationships was just so refreshing for me.

In terms of how I approached playing her, the story seemed so straight forward, but what I was trying to connect with her. It felt so removed, it’s a woman in the west and then I thought, she’s not. You remember what it was to be a young woman in a small town in Puerto Rico having bigger than life dreams! Then I realized that I understood this completely and then I was able to navigate the challenges that that brings when you really want something to work out. Especially when that involves a relationship or those things that I can personally relate to and I know a lot of other people can. So finding the similarities between me and her and being able to make that present was what got me there.

AM: Where did we leave Maria in Season 1 and where do we pick up with her again in Season 2. After seeing all of the screeners I know viewers will be excited to see this and may need a bit of a refresher.

IA: We pick up Season 2 where we left off with the last episode of Season 1. You know, they’re trying to escape town, they’re trampled by a herd of bison, and we begin the season in the same place! They can’t really leave right now so they decide to go back and we sort of see her becoming an anchor for Rhett. She’s also navigating her own decisions you know? Will love conquer all or is it not going to go Maria’s way? We start seeing that transition slowly, but subtly happening in her.

AM: What do you want the viewers takeaway to be as fans of the show coming back from Season 1 and once they complete Season 2 to be?

IA: I want them to leave satisfied and that some of the questions from Season 1 were answered and sort of solved, but then, I want them to get excited because there are some wrinkles that have now been thrown into Season 2 which I hope will make them leave wanting more! I think that that that’s what they would want to take away! Also, because it just clicked for me when I was talking with you – the theme of love and fear is present in this show, but at it’s heart, I think that this show is about love.

IG @isa.arraiza

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | Prime Video/Outer Range

Read the MAY ISSUE #101 of Athleisure Mag and see THE TOLL OF SECRETS | Outer Range in mag.

NEW AGE OF LOVE | ANNE HATHAWAY, CATHY SCHULMAN, MICHAEL SHOWALTER, JENELLE RILEY, NICHOLAS GALITZINE, REID SCOTT, ELLA RUBIN

On May 2nd, The Idea of You debuts on Prime Video. This movie was adapted from the book of the same name by Robinne Lee. With a stellar cast, we see how relationships can ignite in many ways even when you don't expect it! When a 40-year-old woman falls in love with a 24-year-old man who is in the hottest band, August Moon, we get to come along on a global journey with her as she explores this reality. It's the perfect escapism that you'll enjoy reading as well as seeing it on screen!

We had the opportunity to attend the Global Press Conference of this movie with Michael Showalter (Grace & Frankie, The Dropout, The Eyes of Tammy Faye) who was involved in the screenplay, producer, and he also directed the film. He was joined by fellow producer, Cathy Schulman (Crash, The First Lady, The Woman King). Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada, Bride Wars, Ocean Eight) who is also a producer and star of the film, was also joined by castmembers Nicholas Galitzine (Bottoms; Red, White, and Royal Blue; Mary & George), Ella Rubin (Billions, Gossip Girl, Masters of the Air), and Reid Scott (Veep, Venom franchise, Law & Order). Moderated by Jenelle Riley is the Deputy Awards and Features Editor at Variety. We found out more about the film, how it came together, and what it was like to film this production.

JENELLE RILEY: Hi everyone, thank you so much for joining us, my name is Jenelle Riley and I am so thrilled to be here for this press conference with the Idea of You! Please join me in welcoming star and Producer, Anne Hathaway and we have star Nicholas Galitzine, Ella Rubin, and Reid Scott, Director/Co-Writer Michael Showalter, and Producer Cathy Schulman!

Congratulations on a fantastic movie! I want to start with Michael because you’ve really become known as such an actor’s director particularly coming off of The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Dropout, and this movie has an amazing cast! Can you talk about what not only excit ed you about this project, but working with this group of actors?

MICHAEL SHOWALTER: I mean, for me, that’s what it’s all about! It’s about working with actors, going off on the journey together into these stories and into these worlds and I couldn’t have asked for a better cast! It very much so set a bar for everybody in terms of the work that Anne was doing and Nicholas is incredible and from the very first minute that I met him I felt that we had found Hayes and Ella and Reid – for me as a somewhat failed actor, I think that you and I have talked about this Jenelle, I get to get my acting jones about by directing. So I get to play and I get to be in there with them. I have seen this movie about 1,000 times and we had just been impersonating all of these guys performances because I love their performances so much and impersonation is the highest form of flattery – it really is. I’ve loved working with all of them and seeing the work that they have done has been such a joy for me.

JR: Cathy, your company started developing this script I believe from the very start and I understand that you only had 1 actress in mind for the lead!

CATHY SCHULMAN: I did and I had Anne in mind from the very beginning of the development process and it’s this thing that I always teach my young executives not to do which is – don’t develop an entire project hoping that you’re going to be able to get 1 actress because it never works! Only in this particular case, she’s the only person that read it, she was our first choice, she said yes, and it was a dream come true that that actually happened and you know, we just felt that we wanted to take the character from the book and to continue to personalize her in a way that she felt that she could be any of us. And I believed that Annie would be able to bring that aspect to Solène’s character and she really did.

JR: And Anne, I have seen you do every genre and medium and this performance still feels so fresh and new. There have been a lot of questions from journalists and they keep using the word luminous for you in this movie. They just want to know, what brought you back to the Rom-Com genre because I’m sure that it had to be something special for you to want to be able to revisit that.

ANNE HATHAWAY: Well first of all, thanks that’s an awesome word! I really do want to tip it to Jim Frohna our cinematographer because he had a lot to do with it. I didn’t notice that it was happening, but I had received a lot of romantic scripts in my 20s and then in my 30s I was so focused on my family life, motherhood, and kind of trying to find whatever my path was gong to be in me being an actress while having this really really rich personal life, and so I didn’t notice that I hadn’t been sent a romantic script in a really long time!

So when this found its way to me, and I’m so honored to have been the first choice for this, it was such a beautiful character and such an amazing world – a part of me did ask the question, where have these stories gone and why do they stop? And then those questions, I saw all of the answers and the path to them in the script and in the story. And I just thought, woah, what an unbelievable sort of meta exploration that all of this can be. One of the first conversations that I had with Cathy was, you know, if we kind of hit our targets, we can start this when I am 39 and make this and I will turn 40 when we are filming. That’s actually what ended up happening. Without me or anyone else even designing it, it became so personal to me and then the way it came together!

I mean Michael Showalter, who is here, I never say his whole name in front of him, so it’s kind of weird. But anyway, it has to be said, Michael Showalter who does not like to admit the legend that he is, but he absolutely is and there is a reason why he keeps making brilliant film after brilliant film - some of my favorite movies because he’s just incredible! So when the cast came together, it was like game over. I could go on and on about it, but there are other people here!

JR: Nicholas, this is such a complicated role because you have to strike the right balance between maturity and worldliness and you also have to hold your own against Anne Hathaway. Oh and by the way, you’re going to sing and dance as well! Was it ever intimidating?

NICHOLAS GALITZINE: I mean, obviously, the dancing and the performing was tricky because it’s not something that I have ever done before and you know, you always want more hours in the day to be able to hone those skills, but when it came to sort of the human side of Hayes which I think is sort of the side that I was most interested in, you know, I just had such a wonderful partner and I felt the chemistry and the connection between us immediately and the sympatico. You know, that first day with Michael and Cathy as well, it was this 20 hour behemoth thing where we’re jumping in cold water and in France and in Italy –

AH: And in Savannah.

AH: Without ever leaving Savannah!

NG: Without ever leaving Savannah! It was just a feeling of excitement that I was filled with coming into work every single day and that’s not always the case!

JR: And this flawless ensemble is rounded out by Reid and Ella you really feel like a family for all of the good and the bad that it entails! I’m curious about how you went about building that chemistry and that history. Ella especially for you and Anne as you really feel this mother/daughter bond.

ELLA RUBIN: Well thanks, I feel that that is the best compliment you could get when you're playing family with someone. I have said this before, but it’s really true. When you meet Annie, she’s not such an interesting person – she is, but she is also interested – like the bond, at least for me felt really natural and really easy despite all of my nervousness. I think that she is such an inquisitive person in the most warm way possible and so just having the privilege of getting to know each other and just to talk and to kind of spend time together just by way of being able to be around her – a bond just naturally forms around someone that is just so willing to hear you and to try to see you. So, I just felt that for me at least, it was quite natural.

With Reid, it was very much so the same. It was him just making me feel really comfortable and welcome as well as willing to be ok with my mess up to nervousness!

JR: And Reid, bless you because you have a very difficult role here and you know there are a lot of people who are going to be angry at you. At the same time, how do you sort of approach the character and make him dimensional and complex when we’re sort of set up to want to boo your character!

REID SCOTT: I am embrace it! I think that part of the fun for me is the challenge of bringing more dimension to – I wouldn’t call Daniel the villain, but that kind of role can tend to lay a little flat. It’s necessary because there has to be this sort of obstacle to this love story. But just like in real life, everyone is more colorful than whatever you are getting out of a given moment. I love to give these characters as many colors as I can and I think that it is really important, especially for Daniel, that you have to like something about him because he is a bit of a reflection on Annie’s character. You would never believe that someone as warm and loving as Solène would ever fall for him if he was just purely an asshole. So you have to see that at some point, they must have connected and there must have been something that brought them together and also to produce this wonderful child!

JR: Exactly!

RS: Michael was really fantastic in being able to foster this environment of exploration and play that we could find this and Annie and I had these wonderful conversations late at night on the phone in between shooting and giving our characters some sort of backstory and just getting to know one another. It really helped and it lent to this wonderful, warm, and playful environment. That really allowed us all to thrive!

MS: I just want to say that I think that it’s a testament to Reid that people do want to boo him! I really mean that! I love Reid’s performance in this movie and it has really revealed itself to me. I know that this is sort of a weird backhanded compliment that I have given you before, but it’s unfurled more since we shot it. It’s sort of evolved in post and it has grown. I knew that he was great when we were shooting and everything but it’s really that he has created this really compelling villain – whatever you want to call it and I also think that at the end of the movie when Izzy wants to go to Daniel’s house and he’s waiting for her at the door, you see a very caring person there. You also see something between Daniel and Solène that I think is very complicated. The eye contact that they make with each other at the end is the eye contact that you see between 2 people that have a lot of history with each other and there is a lot of mileage between these adults and I just love what Reid has done and I really do mean it. It’s a huge testament to his performance that audiences are so riled up about him!

JR: Even the character that he is currently with in the film, she seems pretty cool to. There’s a reason why this guy attracts awesome women.

MS: He has a lot of positive qualities, but he needs to work on himself a little and if I had to imagine what the movie about Daniel would be, he’s going to spend a little bit of time working on himself.

JR: In therapy! I would watch that! I would watch a movie about Daniel in therapy.

For Anne and Nicholas, how did you work together to bring this romance to life in a way that feels authentic and to avoid feeding into stereotypes?

AH: It’s so funny, we have been asked this a number of times on what work did we do. The things that I think that we both like to approach things Is that we are very playful people. Once we got that down, we established a friendship really and so it kind of works in the way that a friendship would work. In that, it doesn’t feel like work at all and I’m really – I think that what is happening for Nick in his career is so exciting, but I’m really just so happy to have made friends with such a wonderful person and someone that is just so talented and who has so much ahead of him! I felt really really cared for and supported by him in this movie. I knew that whatever I was doing, he was just right there with me step for step. It was a really beautiful and very vulnerable experience, but we always kept it light with each other and we always kept it light with each other and we were allowed to make mistakes with each other. Nothing had to be perfect and it wasn’t tense in that way. Am I missing anything?

NG: No, I think that the communication was always really good!

AH: Yes!

NG: We always had open channels.

AH: We checked in with each other a lot.

NG: Yeah, exactly. It never – you know, it’s so funny, so much onus is put on the chemistry because it’s very palpable I think in the movie. It’s not so much something that I think you feel that you're consciously working or building to create. It’s just a human connectivity and it flows. It’s very water.

AH: Whenever we had that raw spark, it was shaped by Michael and by the entire production team. I think that sometimes actors get a lot of attention, but as everybody knows, this is a team medium. We have a lot of people that are experts at their field and they’re designing their whole talented selves towards making it believable so that the 2 of us have chemistry. So, we had good fighting odds and Jennifer Westfeldt (Younger, The First Lady, Will Trent) adapted a beautiful book. We just had so much working for us in our favor.

JR: Cathy, what were some of the biggest challenges in bringing this idea from the book to the screen and what is the main message that you hope to convey to the audience of this film?

CS: Well I think that you know, in starting the development process, the first thing that we saw was necessary was to age up the daughter from what she had been in the book. This is because, we wanted Solène’s character to have someone to speak to and to really be able to be open about the changes that were happening in her own life. And the reason that I bring that up is that the message in the end is that women shouldn’t be put in boxes. You can be more than a mother, you can be more than a grandmother, you can be between a mother and a grandmother – I don’t know what you are but you can be an other. You can work, you can do a lot of different things and it was really important that we could look at what it was like to go through one phase of mothering in a first marriage to possibilities of more happiness while also bringing a young person into her womanhood. I think that those are the messages that we hope that the movie will leave which is the possibility for happiness and the importance of keeping yourself vulnerable to allow happiness to come back in. I just think for women that you hit a certain point in age and it’s easy to say, hey I did it. I’ve been a mom, I’ve had a job, I’ve been a wife, and now I’m really happy to find and shut off a lot of other things to self-actualize in a yurt which is what Solène was about to do and that would have been fine. But in our movie, we wanted to say that it’s not done and there’s so much more and that was sort of the message. So the whole development process was in opening that story to get us there.

JR: I didn’t realize that you aged up the daughter. Ella that’s great news for you!

ER: I am 13, I just don’t look it ha! I’m very lucky that they aged it up. I remember I got a note or saw it on Instagram and it said, Anne Hathaway in this new movie or whatever. I read something about her having a daughter in it and I didn’t even know any information about it and I sent a screenshot to my agents and I said, “I have to audition for this,” and literally as I sent the text, I got an email in my inbox with the audition and then I realized that the daughter was 13 and they told me that they were aging her up and it was this serendipitous and very lucky thing!

JR: Had you been told over the years that you looked like Anne Hathaway?

ER: Yes and it’s the most flattering compliment that one can get!

AH: I’m so thrilled! I’m so thrilled that I look like you!

ER: I’m so thrilled that I look like you!

AH: I would just stare into screen and say, this is so awesome!

ER: Right back at you, my whole life I have been staring at you like that! It’s always been the most absolute greatest compliment and now I have some evidence to back it up!

AH: It was so fun when I saw Ella’s audition because I saw her audition tape before we met and I just remember turning to Michael and Cathy and I was like, “oh my God, that’s like aaa I didn’t know that I had a daughter!” But apparently – it was just so wild. Our timing was just so similar and Ella just has funny bones and just crazy crazy dramatic talent and I have mentioned it earlier here, but we just struck gold with this cast! It was insane to have someone like Reid come in to be able to build instant history with someone and it’s like chemistry, love, history, and all of these big things! Audiences are really smart. They know when there is air being let out. They know when something doesn’t hold water. So to have and to be part of this cast where everybody really meant it and to do just such incredible work, I’m really just so stunned.

IG @primevideo

@annehathaway

@nicholasgalitzine

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | Prime Video/The Idea of You

Read the APR ISSUE #100 of Athleisure Mag and see NEW AGE OF LOVE | Anne Hathaway, Cathy Schulman, Michael Showalter, Jenelle Riley, Nicholas Galitzine, Reid Scott, Ella Rubin in mag.

AMERICAN RUST: BROKEN JUSTICE

American Rust is based on the novel by Philipp Meyer. In its 1st season we were introduced to the town of Buell with a host of characters that see a frayed American dream in this Rust Belt town in Pennsylvania. We meet Chief Del Harris (Jeff Daniels) and Grace Poe (Maura Tierney). Throughout that season we see how people become compromised due to their interactions with others and how far they will go!

In it's 2nd season which streams on Prime Video on Mar 28th, we continue to see how choices that are made affect those around us as well as what it means to get justice in American Rust: Broken Justice. We had the opportunity to talk with Executive Producers Adam Rapp (Flesh and Bone, Vinyl, Dexter: New Blood) and Dan Futterman (Judging Amy, Capote, In Treatment) to find out more! If you have yet to see the first or second season, spoilers ahead.

ATHLEISURE MAG: I have been a fan of both of your work across a number of years! What as Executive Producers, were you looking for that drew you to this series?

ADAM RAPP: Look I, I just think that the characters are so rich! Dan brought me in! He gotten the rights to the novel and Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom, The Martian, Steve Jobs) was sitting beside him and they brought me in. I read the novel and I was just blown away by how rich and textured the characters were. The romance between Harris and Grace. The complexity, the nuance, and the mystery that is within that. Then of course, all of the different characters just kind of flow out of that. Billy’s (Alex Neustaedter) character – I mean, I always start from a place of character in my work. So it was really really easy to see how I could get in here and work on this with Dan. It was really fun!

DAN FUTTERMAN: Look, a lot of it was Jeff! He gave me the book and he had been trying to get this series made for awhile. He wanted to make this and I think that the world spoke to him very deeply. He’s stayed in Michigan his whole life, he grew up there and so this world is meaningful to him. Then yeah, what Adam is talking about, Philipp Meyer wrote a beautiful book. For me in particular, this relationship between Del and Grace and the question of can you love somebody and use them at the same time? That pervades the first season and it continues in a very different way in the second season.

AM: Of course, I watched all 10 of the screeners in prep for these interviews. How much time has passed between the first season and the second one? Where are we picking up these characters again?

DF: I think that we’re a few months in right Adam – would you say that?

AR: That’s correct. We always said 3 to 4 months. We were trying to figure out how much recovery time Billy could go through and be on his feet again. That helped and it also gave us some time for the fracking story to be established in the community. But it wasn’t a year or 2, it was just a few months.

AM: I really love that there is a lot going on in the S2. I watched it in 2 days – I felt that I wasn’t going to sleep and that was ok! You don’t think the events are connected, but then it funnels to a lot of connectivity between everything. What should fans of the show keep an eye out for in this season?

DF: I think that you bring up a great point about the different strands of this season. We made a very conscious decision that the first season kind of ramped up to the end. Then we just thought, well lets keep it going. Lets keep that motor running and lets get a lot of other motors going. All of those roads interweave. You may feel like a storyline is disconnected, but it’s not. All roads eventually lead back to Buell. The title Broken Justice, almost all of our characters are seeking justice in some way. Del has penance that he feels like he needs to pay, Grace feels like she’s owed something because of her son, Billy’s trying to get his life back together and what kind of justice can he find? Steve Park (Rob Yang) feels that he’s got a truth of what happened in S1, but no one will listen to him and all of these characters are colliding together against one another. That was a great thing to be talking about in the room and then to be able to see these actors execute it was amazing.

AM: I found this to be beautiful and intricate and I hope that there is a 3rd season! The finale definitely gave me pause. Being from the Midwest originally, a lot of the topics resonated for me when you’re talking about factory towns and I grew up in an automotive community and so to be able to see this and to watch the tensions that come around all sides as these communities navigate what’s around them and happening to them is interesting.

DF: Well thank you! Adam is from the Midwest as well.

AR: Where are you from?

AM: Born in Anderson, Indiana but grew up in Indianapolis.

AR: Ok, I’m from Joliet, Illinois.

Now that we know a bit about the background of the novel turned series, we wanted to talk with some of the actors involved in this season! We took some time with Alex Neustaedter (Colony, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Low Tide) and Mark Pellegrino (Dexter, 13 Reasons Why, The Class of '09) about playing a father/son in this series.

ATHLEISURE MAG: Mark and Alex, it’s so nice to meet you guys. I have enjoyed a number of shows that I have seen you in previously to American Rust! What drew you initially to be part of this show?

ALEX NEUSTAEDTER: Well I loved the book. I also grew up playing sports and I have always wanted to play an athlete. I played football in high school and pop warner and tackle football since I was a little kid. So I feel like having the opportunity to play a football player that is way more than just a football player and to kind of explore the livelihood of someone who didn’t go and chase their dream was really enticing and exciting!

AM: And Mark, for you?

MARK PELLEGRINO: Yeah, I read the book as well and I loved the book. I love complicated relationship stories you know? Family dynamics are very intriguing to me. You get all of that here and I wanted to explore coming from a fatherless home in my own world, I wanted to explore that dynamic from the other side and to see what it made me feel like and if I could get any closure in my own life, in my own world by playing this out.

AM: Can you tell us about the father/son relationship between Virgil and Billy?

MP: Yeah, I think that Virgil has been an absentee father. I think that he is basically a boy in man’s clothes and he wasn’t there for his son in the pivotal times and in the way that a son needs a father to be there. A son doesn’t need a father just to go to his games. He needs him there to grow up and face life and he wasn’t there for that. I think that in S2, Virgil attempts to make up for all of that lost time.

AM: Where do we leave you guys in American Rust and where are we picking back up with you again in Broken Justice?

AN: We leave Billy knowing that he goes into a coma and at the start of S2, he has made a semblance of a recovery, he’s not all the way recovered, but he can walk again. His surgery is healed. So, for Billy, at this point, it’s really recovering more mentally than it is even physically. He has the physical part down, he knows what to do, but the next chapter is how will Billy deal with his past and is he going to confront the demons that keep popping up into his life?

MP: Yeah, in S1, Virgil seems to have some suspicions of Del and Grace. He has some information that he is putting together that very well could topple everything that Grace and Del have built up from S1 and there is a kind of resolution in respect to that and an attempt on the part of Virgil to get back and to try to have a relationship with his son and to help him out in his tough time.

AM: Well, I enjoyed watching all 10 episodes of the screeners and the second season was so amazing. What are you excited for viewers and fans to see for this season?

MP: I loved the pace of it and that there were multiple mysteries going on at the same time and you see people in desperate situations who love each other trying to help each other get out of those desperate situations.

AN: I love and what I think that fans are going to love the most is how action packed it is and also kind of a new lease on life that a lot of these characters have and how they’re going to try to change what they have done in the past and how they will do this for the future and how they will continue to grow and to become better versions of themselves.

We talked with Luna Lauren Velez (New York Undercover, Oz, Dexter) and Rob Yang (The Americans, Succession, The Menu) who play police officers in this series. In their own way, they are looking to find the truth behind the mysteries that continue to pile up!

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ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s nice to connect with you guys! I have been a fan of both of your work! Rob, I enjoyed your episodes in Succession and Luna, I loved you in New York Undercover! I grew up watching that show and it’s great to see you in this series!

LUNA LAUREN VELEZ: We love that show didn’t we?

AM: Yup!

What drew you guys to American Rust initially?

ROB YANG: I think that the story and the people involved! I increasingly look at who is involved and who I am going to be working with is a big thing that attracts me to a project and then what I walk away from. It’s making new friends and working with people that I admire.

LLV: I got to see S1 right after it was shot and the characters are just wonderful in this show and the acting of course and the actors! I just thought that like what Rob said, after a certain point, what becomes the most important thing is who you’re working with, what you’re part of, I think that those things are the most important and so for me, that is one of the things that drew me to be part of the show.

AM: So Rob, where did we leave Chief Steve Park last season and where are we picking up with him in Broken Justice? You were incredible, I watched all 10 of the screeners and stayed up 2 nights in a row!

RY: You watched all of them? Wow!

AM: Oh yeah, I love this show!

RY: Even I haven’t seen it. I haven’t watched any of it.

You basically pick up after S1 with this – he’s got strong suspicions and he feels like he needs to prove it. That’s where S2 takes off. It’s off to the races.

AM: For Detective Angela Burgos she comes into Broken Justice. What can you tell us on what we should keep an eye out for from her?

LLV: I think that what you should keep an eye out for is just the way that perception starts to shift. She’s always looking behind her back and she is always aware of what’s happening, but as much as she expects what could happen, she is unprepared for what happens.

AM: What are you excited in general for what viewers and fans will see this season?

LLV: All of it!

RY: Thank you for watching!

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PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | America Rust: Broken Justice/Prime Video

Read the MAR ISSUE #99 of Athleisure Mag and see AMERICAN RUST: Broken Justice in mag.

BINGELY STREAMING

THE GODMOTHER

Novel + iHeart Radio

Spotify

We love a good kingpin podcast and in The Godmother, we are transported to the 1930s where Lucky Luciano is one of the most notorious mobsters of his time. He was taken down by a rookie prosecutor. Eunice Carter was one of the first Black women ever to be a prosecutor in America.

With her world and office being centered in the Harlem Renaissance, she navigates the world which is a blend of corruption that is rampant in downtown Manhattan politics along with the nuances of a racial and sexist pre-Civil Rights American social structure and society.

As a pioneer in what would be known as the “trial of the century” that has been previously lost to history.

In this podcast we learn how Eunice, a writer, social worker, mother, teacher, sister, socialite, political candidate, community organizer and previously known pioneer made her mark in this case as well as a far reaching legacy, search for justice and an undeterred ambition.

EXPATS

Amazon Original

Prime Video

In the limited series Expats, we are introduced to those who have taken residency in Hong Kong. On the surface, we see successful men and women at work, home, and at play. We watch as they engage in their surroundings and even enjoy the aesthetics of their wardrobe, homes, and the way they relax!

But throughout the episodes, we see that the goals and ambitions of the women in a multifaceted group are challenged by a series of events that bind as well as fragment them.

This complex web takes place between two friends with increased tension and a young woman who was initially there to assist their lives while becoming a catalyst to a chain of events that will affect all their lives as well as those that are related to them!

What is the balance between blame and accountability and where does forgiveness come into play - at what cost?

Although we hope that there will be a second season of this immersive series, you can watch all episodes in the perfect binge now!

UNTOLD: THE RETREAT

Financial Times

Apple

From the special investigations team at the Financial Times, Untold is a new podcast that we can't wait to see future stories. In Untold: The Retreat, host Madison Marriage looks at the Goenka network which promotes a form of intensive meditation known as Vipassana. Numerous people go on these retreats every year; however, there are those that attend and suffer while there as well as when they have returned. Some have described feeling terror or a break with reality that makes it difficult for them to cope and ultimately, they are no longer the people they were prior to going to the retreat. The investigative team follows the leads to see what is going on in this wellness space.

Read the FEB ISSUE #98 of Athleisure Mag and see BINGELY BOOKS in mag.

IT'S ABOUT THE STORY | MARIA STEN

This month's cover editorial is with actress and writer, Maria Sten. Throughout her career she has used her passion for creativity to navigate her interests whether it was being Miss Denmark 2008 and then representing her country at Miss Universe, working as a model and a dancer until connecting with her passion for storytelling!

For fans of Big Sky, she wrote for this crime genre series that took place in Montana; those who enjoy immersive podcasts, she included her voice work in QCODE's Narcissa; and she's currently in Prime Video's Reacher whose second season is streaming now and we're excited to see that not only is the third season greenlit, but it is already in production, and of course her character, Frances Neagley will be back!

We wanted to find out more about how she got into the industry as a writer and actress, the stories she likes to tell, how she gets inspired, being on Reacher, its success, working on projects she's passionate about, and more.

We also enjoyed our cover shoot with her at il Pellicano and Bijoux Lounge in NoLita which has been on our list to transport us as we navigate the winter weeks ahead.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We have been a fan of yours across the Narcissa podcast, your work as a writer with Big Sky and obviously with Reacher! But before we delve into that, in our research we saw that you were Miss Denmark 2008 and competed at Miss Universe as well, you were a dancer, and a model. What made you want to do that and to ultimately, dig deeper into entertainment as a writer and a producer.

MARIA STEN: You know, that’s a good question. I think that one thing that is true to my life and has always been true is that I have just zero chill. So I just want to do stuff all the time. I want to work, I want to challenge myself all the time and I want to grow. I came to NY when I was 18 to be a dancer and obviously when you come to NY as an immigrant, I did not have papers and I was working very hard to try and build my career and to build sort of a profile for myself so that I was able to get papers, and I was going back to Denmark and then randomly, Miss Denmark opportunity came up and I thought, sure why not? I won and then they said, do you want to go to Vietnam for 1 month and do Miss Universe? I thought, how could I say no to that? I think it was sort of a strange roundabout way as I don’t think that I consider myself to be a pageant girl per se, but it was such an incredible experience and I got to meet these amazing women from all over the world and I do still know a lot of people in that community. So you never know when these once in a lifetime experiences – how they can come about! For me, that was just something that I couldn’t say no to.

Then I think that from then on evolving into a dancer and then music, acting which I had done when I was a teenager and as a child a little bit. I sort of realized that these were the things that I wanted to do for my life. The desire to write came as a necessity to do so as I didn’t really feel that I could really stretch with the opportunities that were offered to me. Black women in the industry, at least at the time, it was more limited what we were offered. It still is in terms of opportunities, but of course, it is better now. I just wanted to write to play in the same roles that my other colleagues were able to play in as well. Then people apparently thought that I should be a writer! So now, I do both!

AM: I love that and to your point about the pageant system. In addition to my role here, as a fashion stylist, I have styled Miss America 2019 as well as Miss Ecuador 2018 ahead of her competing in Miss Universe that year. It is such an interesting world and that network is really amazing because the interest that a lot of the people do are so different. It’s literally that they could be rocket scientists, fashion designers, or other interests. It’s cool to see people that are part of that world!

MS: It’s really interesting and I think of course in America, it overlaps a lot. I’m still in communication with Miss Puerto Rico that was from my year, Ingrid who is also an actress, Meagan Tandy who was Miss California USA who was the year before me, and Miss Iowa from 2007 Dani Reeves is a good friend of mine. Not necessarily because we competed in pageants, but that network and you just find people like you do in any other industry that you connect with and you stay friends with! It’s really incredible. Meeting photographers like Fadil Berisha who is an amazing photographer did my very first headshot in New York when I was 19.

AM: I styled a shoot for an artist that he did the album art for – so talented!

MS: Yes he is and that was because of Miss Universe. I’m definitely grateful for that opportunity and it was only just a springboard for me to stay in the United States, to build my career, and etc. etc.

AM: I was such a huge fan of Big Sky and love that you wrote for this series. What drew you to this show?

MS: I am a huge Western nerd. I have been riding horses since I was 3 years old and I went to the US for the first time when I was 8 and spent a month with my family on a ranch in Arizona and I totally got bit by this Western bug because I grew up riding English and I had no idea that there was this thing that was called the Wild West and that there are these big wide open spaces with nature and cowboys with cool hats and six shooters! So I totally got obsessed with this world and watched all the westerns growing up and I had been wanting to write one for forever. I did write a pilot early on which was a spec of mine which was a period western. So when Big Sky came along, it was kind of an obvious choice for me. It was a Black female lead set in Montana and it’s a crime show and I thought – yes and of course, David E. Kelley (The Undoing, Love and Death, The Lincoln Lawyer) was attached! Generally, I don't do a lot of network television, but when it is David E. Kelley is doing it – that’s the parameters for it – that’s sort of a no-brainer for me.

AM: What do you look for in a project when it comes to you coming on as a writer?

MS: I definitely look for character and world and relationships. That’s definitely what I’m looking for and a lot of my projects are always born out of wanting to play in a world, but also what do I want to do as an actor? What could be interesting for me as an actor and also, what is the lack in the space? If I don’t see it in the space – female villains or Black people in the Western space – all of these things are things that I want to be playing in, but I don’t see – that is always a good incentive for me to start writing in some way, somehow. Definitely looking for things that are unique and have something to say. That is always important to me.

AM: What is your creative process like when you’re writing. It must be so interesting where obviously you’re thinking about the storyline and future seasons or how that character arc grows over a period of time. Where do you start with that?

MS: I definitely start with the pilot and I think about what is the pilot, who are the people that we care about, what is the central relationship, and what is the central theme of the show? Then, once I have a good grip on the pilot, what are we setting up with the world and the relationships with the characters – then I will branch out. I do that sort of organically. Once I’m flushing out the pilot, I’m thinking about when certain information will have to be revealed if you’re thinking about the season as a whole.

AM: Right.

MS: It’s an organic way and I don’t really have a way of going about it. I think that most things come to me in different ways. Sometimes I just know a scene, I know the beginning or the end, sometimes I just know the character and I just want to focus on that character and what interesting situation that I can put them in. Most of my own stories are like misfit families. Family dramas of some kind. So oftentimes, the central relationship will always be some kind of family relationship and how we can dive into these complicated relationships. Flawed characters are what I like to dive into. So that’s usually where it goes.

AM: I’m a huge fan of podcasts, generally true crime. But I really appreciate other genres in the scripted space. QCODE is one that I love with their immersive approach to storytelling and Narcissa was amazing and I loved hearing you in it. What drew you to that?

MS: Thank you!

AM: Oh it was so good!

MS: Yeah, I think that – what was happening at that time? Fun fact, I think at the time, I was home writing on something and I had just broken my wrist snowboarding so I was sort of just stuck at home and they said, “do you want to do this thing from your closet?” and I said yes absolutely because I really wanted to be able to do a project. That was one fun fact and also I think I really just wanted to dive into the character. That character is so interesting and not to give anything away, but playing something like that and the different dynamics that you have to sort of consider in playing a character like that, I thought it was interesting and to also look at AI and what’s to come in our society – I thought that that was interesting. For me, I thought that it was a fascinating dive into audio. I haven’t done a lot of voice work and I would love to. So I thought that it was a good way for me to get started.

AM: Over the holiday I watched the first season of Reacher and then watched the screeners of the 2nd season of Reacher. It's interesting that with as many shows that I watch and love there are always those that I haven’t gotten around to and I know I would love them! In prep for the interview, I wanted to see both seasons and it was so good and so fun to jump into. What was it about this show that you wanted to be involved in this series?

MS: Off the bat, it’s the action! I love the action, I love strong characters, kinetic characters, kinetic stories – Neagley, this word is so overused, but she’s a badass in a lot of ways and she also has this other kind of quirky quality about her. So to me, that was something really interesting to get to play with and to figure out how to make it interesting and grounded at the same time. For sure, to begin with. I knew it was going to be this splashy/action show and then when I got the job and I realized that there was this whole billion dollar book franchise that is behind it – I read all the books that Neagley was in and I got excited because there was so much to dive into and to explore that was about this mysterious woman that I got to play!

AM: Well beyond reading the books and the information that you were given, how else did you prepare to play her?

MS: Definitely kinetically. I was training just sort of on my own physique that we do as actors. Then I did kickboxing which I did when I was younger, shadow boxing, doing drills with a stunt team and then there was a lot of speaking to military veterans that had served – specifically women who had been in the army and the marines. I have a couple of friends that are veterans and so they put me in touch just so that I could understand what that life was like and the real things that you sort of have to endure day in and day out as being deployed and being part of this mahinery that is the US military.

I just love doing research and deep diving with characters so it was a combination of a few things.

AM: Obviously, not to have spoilers or anything, but where do we leave Neagley in Season 1 and where do we pick up with her again as we go into Season 2?

MS: You know, the good thing about the show is that each season is a contained story, right? We do 1 book per season so it feels quite satisfying where when we were in the first season, it was a limited series and if you’re watching the 2nd season, you don’t have to have seen the previous one to enjoy the next one. Of course, I think that you should so that you have an understanding of the character Reacher (Alan Ritchson), who he is and how he moves through the world.

But I think that we leave her and she’s come in to do her duty and to help save her friend. And now, we pick back up with her in Season 2 where there are bigger stakes for her and them because members of their unit have turned up dead. I think that is much more of a personal round and a personal story for all of our main characters this season. I think that the action and the scope of the season is indicative of that in terms of the action and the interplay between the characters and how stark it also is given that we shoot in the winter in Toronto.

AM: The final episode of the second season I was like, this is so exciting where everything ends. We know that it has already been greenlit for the 3rd season and we know that we will continue to see you. Do you know anything about the 3rd season that you’re able to share with us or what would you like to see if you were able to be in the Writer’s Room?

MS: I may or may not know things that I may or may not be able to talk about! So we can leave it at that ha ha! Of course, we will see Reacher do cool things in Season 3 and if Nealey shows up to lend him a hand again – hopefully that will be exciting for the fans as well as it has been in the other seasons. I think that the liberty of doing a book per season, we can dive into new stories as we adapt them for screen. The showrunners and the powers that be can fit it into what they feel is right for the TV version. So a lot more action of course, but the story changes in terms of scope, in terms of world, and I think that it will be interesting to see what comes next.

AM: Are there any upcoming projects that you have that we should keep an eye out for?

MS: I’m currently working on a few things on the writing side. I just finished a pilot which is a modern Western set in Wyoming where I also live. Right now, I also have 2 features in development, but they are in very early stages, but that’s what I plan to be working on for the writing side this year.

AM: When you’re not working on a project or in the throws of a project, how do you take time for yourself?

MS: I travel a lot. I love to go to different countries exploring different cultures. I specifically go to Mexico a lot, I go to Southern Africa a lot, I spend a lot of time on horseback in the bush in Southern Africa. There’s just nothing better than seeing wildlife from horseback. For me, it’s a great way to of course get inspired, reset, and step away from the hustle and bustle of our industry and just to have some stillness and to be off of our phones and to reconnect with nature.

IG @mariasten

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | PG 38 - 45 + 45 Prime Video/Reacher | PG 42 9LIST STORI3S + PG 118 NEW YEAR N3W YOU Image Courtesy Maria Sten |

Our shoot with Maria Sten took place on Mulberry street in NoLita at il Pellicano and Bijoux Lounge. Following the credits from this photoshoot, we delve into into this restaurant as well as the lounge so that you can plan your next night out in an epic way!

IT'S ABOUT THE STORY COVER EDITORIAL | TEAM CREDITS

PHOTOGRAPHER Paul Farkas | FASHION STYLIST Kimmie Smith | MUA Rebecca Restrepo | HAIR STYLIST Corey Tuttle |

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IT'S ABOUT THE STORY COVER EDITORIAL | CREDITS

LOUNGE LOOK PG 16-19 | BUCK MASON Molasses Lounge Wool Shirt + Pants |

FITNESS LOOK BACK COVER + PG 20 - 25 | COSMOLLE Air Wear Long Sleeve + High Waisted Legging Set | ATHLEISUREVERSE Varsity Jacket | NEW BALANCE 550 Sneakers |

OUT + ABOUT LOOK PG 26 - 29 | GREY BANDIT Adriana Coat | LNA CLOTHING Essential Cotton Kaden V Neck | MAVI Wide Leg Pant | ABBOTT LYON Curb Chain Necklace | SEQUIN JEWELRY Marleigh Evil Eye Charm Necklace | NAGICIA Braided Ring | SMARTGLASS JEWELRY Cube Gold Ring in Aqua and Antique Clear |

NIGHT OUT LOOK FRONT COVER PG 30 - 35 | FORE Dress | ALEX SOLDIER Silver Drop Earrings with White Topaz | LAGOS Caviar Beaded Ring, Black Caviar Silver Station Ceramic Caviar Beaded Bracelet, Black Caviar Single Station Ceramic Diamond Bracelet, Signature Caviar Silver Caviar Bracelet | STEVE MADDEN Evelyn |

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS

PAUL SHOT WITH | CANON Mark IV and Canon Lenses - 24-70, 70-200 + 50 1.2 | SIRUI Dragon Series Bendable RGB Panel Lights set of 2 of B25R*2 + DJ280 |

ATHLEISURE MAG: It was such a pleasure to have our cover shoot with Prime Video's Reacher star, Maria Sten. Tell me about the backgrounds of the co-owners of this restaurant from previous restaurants etc.

IL PELLICANO: Owner, Massimo Tabacco's journey from Rome to New York City in the mid-eighties led him to work in several esteemed Manhattan restaurants like Tre Merli, Azzurro Ciaobella, Coffee Shop, and Paper Moon Milano. In the early '90s, he opened Gilda near Saks 5th Avenue, where he forged a lasting friendship with Kyky Conille, who became a significant part of his citywide ventures. Kyky Conille is known for nightclubs in NYC like Provocateur, PM, the original Bijoux, and Lily Pond in the Hamptons. The restaurant is located above Kyky Conille and Dimitri Hyacinthe’s new club, Bijoux Lounge, which has become one of NYC’s hottest going out spots. Il Pellicano and Bijoux will be working together to deliver elevated dining upstairs and a late-night menu down for Bijoux’s patrons’ downstairs.

AM: When did il Pellicano launch and can you give us some background on the restaurant as I know you have a sister restaurant in CT.

IP: Popular, Fairfield, Connecticut Italian restaurant, il Pellicano, is opened its first NYC outpost. Known for their infusion of old classics with a modern twist, Il Pellicano will stand apart from the other traditional Italian restaurants on its block. Il Pellicano is located at 149 Mulberry, and encompasses a 50-seat dining room, a 40-seat front patio and 30-seat back garden. Owners Massimo Tabacco and Kyky Conilleofficially opened its doors to the public on Friday, January 12th.

AM: What is the importance of the Pelican?

IP: The Pelican (Il Pellicano) is a small hotel in Poro Ercole, Italy where Massimo (owner) used to ride to with his friends with motorcycles from Rome. Amazing ride on the coast of Tuscany, so it always had a sentimental meaning to him.

AM: Tell us about the design aesthetic of the restaurant and the meaning behind the name.

IP: The design is sleek and modern with green booths and gold light fixtures. The walls are filled with framed photos of Pelicans – drawing from the name.

AM: Who is the Executive Chef at il Pelicano on Mulberry St and can you provide information on their background and kitchens that they have worked in?

IP: Chef Saul Media is the executive chef at Il Pellicano on Mulberry Street. Chef Media’s heritage of Puebla Mexico is where the kitchen was his earliest classroom thanks to his grandmother and aunts. In his early twenties he embarked his journey to NYC, Connecticut, West Coast and then back to the East Coast making a mark in the world of culinary arts. With Chef Media’s first few years in the trenches starting as a dishwasher, then a line cool and then eventually cooking in renowned establishments including Gibsons Italia in Chicago, The Mark by Jean-Georges in New York, G’ios Italian and Cena’s restaurant in Tampa Bay, and the iconic steakhouse, The Forge, in Miami, among others.

AM: For those who are coming for lunch, tell us about 3 appetizers that we should try when dining with family or friends?

IP: Olive Oil Flight – three select styles of monini single harvest olive oil served with fresh baked herb focaccia

Caesar Salad – romaine arugula, croutons, parmigiano Reggiano, Caesar dressing

Heirloom Tomato Caprese – bocconcini mozzarella, basil oil, balsamic pearls, parmesan gel

AM: What are 3 main dishes that you suggest that we should have when we're coming in for lunch with family and friends?

IP: Chicken Milanese - arugula, tomato, cucumber, onion meyer lemon vinaigrette

Cacio E Pepe – Bucatini, Pecorino, Cracked Black Pepper

Tuscan Steak Sandwich – Shaved steak, cubanelle pepper, raclette cheese, carmalized onion

AM: What are 3 cocktails or wines that would be great to pair with our meal?

IP: Super Tuscan, Promis by Gaja, ITALY

Sancerre, Moulin Camus, ITALY

Barreled Negroni – Gin, Campari, Antica & Barrel aged in House

AM: For dinner, what are 3 dishes that you suggest to begin our meal?

IP: Forgmaggi e Salumi – rotating selection of curated meats and cheeses and house made accompaniments.

Carpaccio Di Polpo – thinly sliced octopus, roasted eggplant and tomato musarda, sherry glaze

Suppli di Riso Funghi – roman rice rice ball stuffed with mozzarella, parm, truffle dust, pistachio cream

AM: What are 3 dishes that we should have our eye on?

IP: Carbonara fettuccine - parmiggiano reggiano, guanciale and cracked pepper

Tartufo Al Funghi - pappardelle, wild mushroom blend, white truffle, pecorino romano

Pork Chop Scarpariello - cherry peppers, onions, white balsamic, crispy potatoes

AM: What are 3 sides that we should have with them?

IP: Rainbow Carrots, Mushroom Blend, and Asparagus.

AM: What are 3 cocktails that we should have in mind?

IP: Olive Oil Martini - tito’s fat washed with monini olive oil, cocchi bianco, brine, castelvetrano

Durazno Verde - tequila, ancho reyes, peach, lime, poblano ice, tajin

Amari & Aperitivo - a custom cocktail experience: select the bitter and the bartenders do the rest!

AM: What are there 3 dessert options that you suggest?

IP: The Almond Cake, The Smoked Burrata with Dried Figs, Infused in Truffle Honey, and the Chocolate Budino.

AM: As we navigate the winter and look towards the spring, are there any events that we should know about?

IP: Weekend truffle party brunches and a new truffle menu launching.

In Athleisure Mag's DEC ISSUE #96, Bijoux Lounge was featured in Athleisure List. We wanted to share a bit more about this hot spot!

As temperatures drop below freezing, venturing out for a night in NYC has become dreadful. The struggle of searching for a spot to stow away your bulky winter coat, spending ungodly amounts to Uber two blocks or enduring long club lines is very real. What if we told you there was a way to enjoy an entire night out without ever leaving a single location? In the past year, it has become increasingly common to bars/clubs or vice versa allowing you to complete the night out within the confines of one building. Il Pellicano & Bijoux Lounge is NYC’s newest restaurant and bar combination. Nightlife maven Lionel “Kyky” Conille, a pioneer and renowned for his NYC nightclubs like Provocateur, PM, the original Bijoux, and Lily Pond in the Hamptons, quietly marked his return to the scene with the opening of Bijoux Lounge at the end of 2023. This speakeasy-style, moody red-lit club has already hosted notable events, including the 21st birthday celebration of "Summer I Turned Pretty" star Lola Tung and Society Management's model-filled holiday party. Above the bar, Bijoux owner Conille and longtime friend Massimo Tabacco unveiled Il Pellicano a few weeks ago. The menu promises a seamless fusion of timeless and contemporary Italian flavors, echoing some of the beloved dishes from Il Pellicano's Connecticut location. Collaborating seamlessly, Bijoux and Il Pellicano are set to provide a can't miss elevated dining experience upstairs and a late-night menu downstairs.

IG @ilpellicanonewyork

@bijouxnyc

Read the JAN ISSUE #97 of Athleisure Mag and see IT’S ABOUT THE STORY | Maria Sten in mag.

NEW YEAR, N3W YOU

Read the JAN ISSUE #97 of Athleisure Mag and see NEW YEAR, N3W YOU in mag.

THE STATEMENT | ANDREA SALAZAR

Style is a very personal thing as it reflects how you feel and how the world sees you. These styles set the scene which in many ways we showcase in our photoshoots! SETA is a line that balances edgy cool that can work whether you're looking to have a dramatic or an ethereal look. It can be dressed up or down. This month. we hosted our THE 9LIST® Holiday Event where we sat down with Andrea Salazar, Creative Dir of SETA and finalist in Prime Video's Making the Cut S2. We talked about her passion for design, her creative process, being on the show, the brand's vision, and her suggestions for NYE depending on where you'll be watching the ball drop!

ATHLEISURE MAG: We are so excited to be able to talk with you as I have been a fan for the past few years and I know our readers will love hearing more about you, competing on Making the Cut, and of course NYE finds that we can take into ending the year and kicking off to the next! For those that are joining us, Andrea Salazar is the Creative Director of SETA and she competed and was a finalist in Season 2 of Making the Cut which you can stream now if you haven’t done so!

ANDREA SALAZAR: Thank you so much for having me! Where is your magazine based?

AM: We are based in NY. Athleisure Media is our baby and we have Athleisure Mag which is released monthly and you will be in our 96th issue and we have one of our heritage features that we really love which is THE 9LIST. It’s really about those must haves of shop, discover, and experiencing. So when I thought about a brand in thinking about my hat as a Co-Founder/Creative Director as well as being a fashion stylist and an Accessory Expert, your brand is amazing as its great materials, is embellished, has an edgy style to it, and it had accessories too. So having you in THE 9LIST Holiday Event made perfect sense so that we can get to know more about you and our readers are able to understand the brand and of course, show the looks, that they can shop their favorite finds as well! This is amazing and I enjoyed your time on Making the Cut as well!

When did you realize that you wanted to be a designer?

AS: I discovered my passion for design when I was young. I came from a family of fashion lovers! My mother is a fashion designer, my grandmother was a fashionista in her decade! So fashion has been in our blood.

When I was a teenager, I had the opportunity to live in London and I fell in love with the street style as well as European fashion. So since then, I knew that I wanted to be in the fashion industry absolutely!

AM: How did you hone your skills from where you trained or apprenticed?

AS: I have an International Business Administration degree because I always knew that I wanted to do that and to open a business. I knew that I needed to know how to manage it. Then I did Fashion Design in Marangoni in Miami. They opened their doors 4 years ago and I was one of the first students there. Then I also did Visual Merchandising and fashion courses in Milan, Italy. I also did styling courses with stylists in Miami. I did pattern making with a university in Columbia that had those courses online and so I have done different aspects of fashion as it’s what I love!

AM: I love that you love the business and you know it from the design, but also the structure of it and how to plan it.

AS: I think that it’s very important to know about the business first and then to specialize in the fashion part as well. It’s another thing about the business that is important.

AM: How do you approach designing upcoming seasons?

AS: So, I have inspiration from different sources. I love to travel and it’s one of the ways that I get a bit of therapy. When I travel, I am inspired in this way the most. So, I love to go to museums to get in touch with art, culture, and history. I also have personal experiences, friends who love the brand, so I love to be at the stores so I can be in touch with the customer. Their opinion is important for the feedback to see which pattern is working and which isn’t, the fabric, and fit! We always try to do cohesive collections, timeless pieces so you can shop in different seasons. But at the end of the day, they are timeless pieces that you can use all year long.

AM: That’s something that I have loved over the last decade or so that brands are focusing on a timeless collection that can truly be worn year around! You were talking about how you get inspired which is amazing. How would you describe your design aesthetic which I am so obsessed with!

AS: Oh thank you!

As I said, inspiration can come from different sources. My design aesthetic, I’d say that it is an element of sophistication and also a little bit edgy as well. It’s timeless and I try to be classic too! It’s a very eclectic brand where you can find romantic style, classic, rocker, boho – it’s a mix of things like a clash. So when we are with our customers, we try to tell them to take that risk, wear that jacket, be the center of attention as this will make you feel beautiful. We love to celebrate every woman and it’s about them enjoying their self expression too! We want them to express themselves with the pieces.

AM: Tell me about how the brand came about and what is the meaning behind SETA?

AS: The meaning behind the name SETA is S from Salazar because that is my last name. Also my second last name is Zapata so we wanted to get together the S and the Z. When I do my initials, I always do the ASZ and so I have S and Z always in my last name. It’s also an acronym, S – Sophistication, E – Edgy, T – Timeless and A – Attire.

AM: Oh, I love that!

AS: Yes, that is the acronym.

AM: What would you say is the ethos of the brand?

AS: Are ethos for this brand is that we strive to empower individual women to express their uniqueness through fashion. We offer pieces that not only standout, but embody quality and craftsmanship. I’m super focused on craftsmanship, items that are handmade, very unique pieces – we say that they are treasures from the closet.

AM: Love it.

I first became aware of you and your brand from your season on Making the Cut. Why did you want to be on the show and what was it like navigating those competitions?

AS: So, Making the Cut, was a very big decision on my career. It was an opportunity to be on a global stage and at the end of the day, if I didn’t do it, I would never know what would happen! I’m a woman that loves to take risk. I loved the first season, the judges, the way that they produced the show, and it was done very well in a high-end way. So, I think it was a very good platform to be on and it was a great way to learn professionally as well as personally. It was actually a great resource.

AM: Being able to get insights from Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn which we have interviewed previously, that must have been such an amazing resource. What did you learn from doing the show in working alongside them as well as the other designers?

AS: Working with industry icons like Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn was invaluable! It was a big opportunity – the feedback, the mentorship, these things were very important in staying true to my vision – that is what a real designer is. Also, Jeremy Scott says that the life of a designer is tough and you always have to be creating. You launch a collection, you’re already thinking of the next one. It is a non-stop industry that is also very competitive. It was also great to be next to big designers too that had a vision. We were all super different, no one was similar. So it was super interesting to have this cast and I really enjoyed it.

AM: It was so cool to watch you throughout the season as well as the other designers. Since the show, how has your brand grown?

AS: It has really grown! The presence has increased, we have a new clientele, the exposure opened our doors to have our own online channel, we also have Amazon Fashion as a customer. It was great growth and it has been a great year for us. Not only in exposure and publicity, but also for sales. Even after COVID and various things, we have really had a very good result! Being on Amazon has been a vision beyond borders. It’s just been a great opportunity.

AM: I really love that your brand, it has high visual texture, amazing embellishment that takes place and you really lean into that! Then there are the accessories which really rounds it out. Where does your love in those 3 areas come from?

AS: We love elevated looks! I don’t know, you can be a classic woman, but if you put on a belt, you’re already elevating that look.

AM: Yup!

AS: Accessories are the seal of the look. We really love that. That's something that we import because they are statement pieces and the belts are made super well and are handmade leather. We are very focused on that. We love the boots and the shoes and it’s a great way to diversify the business beyond just the clothing.

We’re also exploring the beauty industry – we have our fragrance. We want to do more research on this as we’re already a brand. We want to have candles and other kinds of products as well. So this will be something that is coming in future seasons as well.

AM: Tell me about your boutiques as I know you have a few – walk us though them.

AS: Our boutiques are carefully curated so it has the essence of the brand. From the moment you enter, you are immersed into the world of SETA. You’re surrounded by crafted garments and accessories. You can find our physical stores in Miami, Medellin, and Bogota. Those are our 3 stores. We have projects to open more and to franchise coming soon. But for now, we’re super good with these and of course, we’re available online too!

AM: That’s amazing and I hope you one in NY as that is where we’re based!

AS: We actually did a pop up last year there during NYFW!

AM: What’s your travel schedule like as I’m sure you personally maintain a presence in all 3 stores frequently?

AS: Oh yes. I think that that the pop ups are a very good resource to try different markets and we’re always looking at where the next place will be to open. But NY, that is our next target.

AM: That aesthetic for many of us in NY is just perfect!

AS: We feel the same way!

AM: Tell me about the SETA Gallery at the Sagamore Hotel in South Beach. It’s been fun to see the images on your IG.

AS: We really had this opportunity to have the space in this hotel. It’s a very traditional hotel in Miami Beach. It’s full of tourists and is in the touristy area of Miami Beach and we wanted to make it different. They wanted to expose art - different art pieces and to have it as a fashion exhibition. We are celebrating 10 years in the industry as a brand so that celebration allows us to showcase our most iconic pieces from the beginning! You can find our first pieces of the brand, it tells our story, and you can scan the QRCode and see the story of the piece and they are unique one of a kind pieces. It’s like an exclusive escape where they can see our pieces from our trajectory.

AM: What would you say are 3 core pieces from the brand that are essentials for people to have in their closets?

AS: So 3 essential pieces from SETA is definitely our classic Legend Military Jacket. That jacket has been a classic from the beginning and it’s a must. It’s very well fitted, it’s a statement. It’s good for the winter and the fall. It’s for that girl who loves to travel, so it’s a must. In our suit pants, we have our Baggy Suit Pants which are super super studded and they’re amazing too. They are showstoppers. A belt in general is a must. As I have said, a very classy woman wears classic pieces or basics, a belt adds that extra.

AM: You have a collab that you’re involved in. Can you tell me more about this and how it came together?

AS: Right now, we’re pitching some different shoe and accessory brands. I think that it’s very good to have a marriage and different strategies. But we have also had them in the past, we worked with a Spanish boot brand and we did a runway show in NY in 2022. We were sold out on all of the boots. People loved them and we had collabs with influencers in Columbia and from Latin American. It was amaz ing because they had their own influence and their own clientele. So we also sold super fast with those as well! We can tell that collabs work very well.

AM: In looking at your line, I love the color palette. Do you ever envision other colorways coming into the brand?

AS: Yeah, actually we do try to be more flexible with the colors. But to be honest with you, we only do that with little capsules. It can be a bit of a shocking position when we have colors in the brand and it’s a challenge because it targets a different kind of clientele. But why not?

This year for the holidays we did a bit of a lilac for the embellishment. People love it!

AM: It was pretty cool.

AS: A bit of a hint of color can make a difference.

AM: I can’t believe that we’re talking a few days out from the beginning of the year and when this is in our issues, it will be 2 days before New Year’s Eve!

AS: It’s unbelievable!

AM: For those that may still be planning what their NYE looks will be, I love that for this night, we all do different things.

AS: Yeah, I know it’s fun!

AM: So we reached out to you to give 3 NYE events and to present 3 looks that could be worn with accessories from SETA! So we’ll walk through each of the shown looks and get your thoughts on them (See the event stream here)!

The first one, we thought was amazing for a NYE Loft Party if you’re here in NYC or a roof top if you’re celebrating in warmer climates like Miami! I love that this look is really easy – tell us more about it.

AS: I really love this one because it is perfect for the winter. It’s a Mesh Turtleneck and pants and I love to put this bralette on top so that you can have that shimmery addition to your outfit. The mesh turtleneck, I’m wearing that right now.

AM: Loving the mesh!

AS: It’s like a layer and the Lumino Bralet – love it. The Luminous Collection is for Fall/Winter and is perfect for NYE. The cut, color, this one has the little lilac sequins that I talked to you about earlier. It’s a new color and the Lumino Pant is super comfortable and has a baggy style. It can be comfortable, yet beautiful for a rooftop or a dinner! It’s a very balanced look for the New Year.

AM: We also have a 2nd look that would be great if you’re doing New Years at home!

AS: Oh yeah, amazing!

AM: Not to say that you can’t dress whichever way you choose when celebrating at home, but I love the idea of still putting a great look together whether you’re enjoying it with friends or your significant other. It’s really fun with how relaxed it is – walk us through this one!

AS: It’s flawless. This is our Oversized Shirt in black, we also have it in white. I know a lot of people love to wear white for NYE. But we picked this one. This Alquimia Short is super baggy and is a bit of a Bermuda Short style. It’s embellished and it also has that lilac sequin that we’ve been talking about. It’s very special and these boots – you can wear hosiery or pantyhose with it if you’re looking for more coverage. But it’s the perfect outfit to be at home.

AM: I love this Rocker Boot! Does it slouch or fold over fully if you want to?

AS: Yes you can slouch them!

AM: It’s a sick boot!

AS: Yeah when you slouch them it has a great look!

AM: It looks like you’d have the perfect scrunch with them.

When we’re talking about the classic NYE bring it down with that epic night out, tell me about this!

AS: This is my favorite!

That Luminous Faux Coat! It’s perfect!

AM: Right?

AS: For NY it’s perfect and that catsuit, it’s my favorite of the season because I just posted a video using it and I was in NY because I went to Heidi Klum’s Halloween party and it was chilly. I wore it and I love it! I talked to the people and they loved it and it’s time that we shine in our own skin! People are loving this catsuit, it’s amazing because it’s all crystal and it’s super trendy right now.

I mean Kim Kardashian’s collaboration between SKIMS and Swarovski, I was happy to see that because I knew I was ahead with mine!

AM: When I saw the pieces from their drop, I instantly thought of your catsuit which you’ve already had! You’re so right that this is trending.

I must tell you that I really love your campaign shoots and videos as it lets me step into your world truly! Right now if you look at your IG table we see the pieces juxtaposed to glam elements of a tablescape with dinner plates and candelabras which is stunning. It ties back into the brand and is amazing!

AS: Thank you so much! You’re so sweet and thank you so much for all of this love! I think that when we do the things that we love, everything flows so we are really passionate and SETA is like our baby and it’s like our little daughter that never grows! We take care of her all the time and it’s our life project! It’s like a baby because we have been seeing all of the growth and we still have a lot to do.

It’s a lot of learning, it’s a lot of sacrifice, it’s a lot of bumps in the road but I love it – the success and the failure. It’s up and down, but it’s like life, but we love it as it’s the passion and it’s amazing to do what we love!

IG @seta_apparel

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | SETA

Read the DEC ISSUE #96 of Athleisure Mag and see THE STATEMENT | Andrea Salazar in mag.

BINGELY STREAMING

LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND

Netflix Original

Netflix

We have all seen a number of shifts that have taken place in the last few years; however, Leave The World Behind looks at what

happens when regardless of your social status, you find yourself in a situation where a cyber attack not only makes us disconnected, but even nature and the natural order of things gets disrupted. How do we interact with one another, and how do we navigate when the rules that we know and follow no longer exists.

REACHER

Amazon Original

Prime Video

Reacher is back with Season Two as we follow Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson), a veteran military police officer who ultimately wants to explore the country that he fought for. To that end, he wants to travel around the country with few things that tie him down; however, he finds himself in a number of situations that require him to have to fight to survive. If you have yet to watch the first season, now is a great time to catch up before delving into the 2nd season.

This month, streaming now, the second season finds him receiving a message that members of his former unit are being murdered and he must connect with former team members to find out what happened to them.

As they delve into what happened, they continue to unearth more questions - who set them up and who is the one that will die?

MY FUGITIVE DAD

Smoke Screen, The Binge + Sony Music

Spotify

We've been fans of Smoke Screen that focuses on those who are con artists, cult leaders, and those who are complex characters that bend the rules to navigate their lives. This season in My Fugitive Dad, we learn about a father and dad who have a close relationship where she felt that she knew everything about him. But it wasn't until she was 38, that she realized her dad wasn't who he thought he was.

She learns that her father's favorite movie, Thomas Crown Affair was the inspiration behind a robbery that he did in Cleveland and then he he spent half a century in a quiet New England town. His secrets unearth a number of other secrets in his life, his family's as well as other family's.

With his daughter seeking answers on how he got away with his crimes, US Marshal's looking for him, and finding out how he started over - this season has a number of twists and turns!

Read the DEC ISSUE #96 of Athleisure Mag and see BINGELY STREAMING in mag.

THE 9LIST HOLIDAY VIRTUAL EVENT | SETA APPAREL'S CREATIVE DIR., ANDREA SALAZAR (Copy)

Watch our THE 9LIST Holiday Virtual Event with SETA Apparel’s Creative Dir., Andrea Salazar. We loved seeing her line and artistry as she competed in Prime Video’s Making the Cut hosted by Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum!

Our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Dir of Athleisure Mag, Kimmie Smith chatted with Andrea to talk about how she got into fashion, her creative process in creating the line, competing on the show, what we can expect from it, showcasing curated NYE looks that we can wear just in time for the ball to drop, and what we can expect with the brand as we head into next year.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

THE 9LIST HOLIDAY VIRTUAL EVENT | SETA APPAREL'S CREATIVE DIR., ANDREA SALAZAR

The week before we head into the holiday season has quite a bit going on and we’re excited that our THE 9LIST Holiday Virtual Event with SETA Apparel’s Creative Dir., Andrea Salazar. We loved seeing her line and artistry as she competed in Prime Video’s Making the Cut hosted by Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum!

On Dec 21st, from 12pm - 12:45 ET, our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Dir of Athleisure Mag, Kimmie Smith will chat with Andrea to talk about how she got into fashion, her creative process in creating the line, competing on the show, what we can expect from it, showcasing curated NYE looks that we can wear just in time for the ball to drop, and what we can expect with the brand as we head into next year. We’d love for you to join us and you can sign up here (or click the invite above) and you’ll be able to get details on how to connect to the event.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

TAKE IT TO THE WAVES | MONICA MEDELLIN

We enjoy a great docuseries where we get to follow our favorite sports and get behind the action to find out how it all comes together. Prime Video's 4 episode series, Surf Girls Hawai'i follows 5 native Hawaiian females as they take their shot on obtaining a spot in the world tour. We follow Moana Jones Wong, Ewe Wong, Maluhia Kinimaka, Pua DeSoto, and Brianna Cope as we see them navigating their season, training, and interacting with their friends and family.

We caught up with Monica Medellin, Creator and Executive Producer of this docuseries. We wanted to find out more about how she became a fan of this action sport, being a surfer, working in the surf industry, and the importance of storytelling to amplify voices that are underrepresented but have powerful points of view.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We’ve personally been a fan of your work for awhile so it’s exciting to be able to talk with you to know more about you’re your docuseries, and what you’re working on that’s coming up!

MONICA MEDELLIN: Amazing! I’m so excited! I think that this is perfect because every body that knows me makes fun of me because athleisure is all I wear.

Thank you so much for highlighting me. I feel like a unicorn in this space. I just turned 30 and this all happened before then and it seems like the tides are changing and there are very few women that are like me in this position. So I really want to share my story and to hopefully inspire more storytellers in narratives like this.

AM: Absolutely!

Before we get into talking about the docuseries, we want to know more about you. What was the moment that you realized that you wanted to be a filmmaker?

MM: Oh, I mean, I feel like I was destined to be a filmmaker ever since I was a little girl. I couldn’t really identify that that was what I wanted until later in life. I've always been involved in sports as a child. My mom was a single working mom from Mexico and she raised me on her own.

Through that, she found different sports programs and extracurricular activities and that’s where I really fell in love with different sports and it started with more traditional sports like volleyball, basketball, and soccer. Then I moved into gymnastics and then we both discovered surfing while we were walking along the Santa Monica Beach and at that point, I had started skateboarding, surfing, and exploring these non-traditional sports.

I actually used her old camcorder to film myself skating! That’s what I did with my friends on the weekends, so obviously the production value was what it was!

You know, I started documenting sports from a young age and I started documenting myself as a young girl participating in those sports from that time. You know from there, I obviously played sports in high school – I was the team captain of the volleyball team, I would teach at surf camp over the summers and I moved to university and I studied Journalism at the University of Oregon. So, this theme of filming our experiences as women in sports has been something that has been a thread throughout my entire life!

AM: Wow! It also seems that a lot of your films as well as commercial work that you have done has also focused obviously on sports, but also covering underrepresented groups as well. As someone who is Black and has enjoyed sports such as snowboarding where people don’t think of us playing it, I like that you’re showcasing what is being done that people don’t necessarily think of.

MM: Right and I think that that’s something where you want to be niche, but not too niche where you miss out on telling other stories as well. I think that my main thing is highlighting and shining a light on stories that are underrepresented in the mainstream. That is the essence of my work. It doesn’t just need to be sports, it can be in anything. I mean, when I worked at the Los Angeles Times in 2015, I was helping launch a new platform that talks about this emerging American identity with race, immigration, identity, what does it mean to be American, but also never to really see yourself represented in the story in that way. So, I think that that time at the Los Angeles Times and producing documentaries around those topics really did shape the direction of how I approach my storytelling. Like sure, if I’m telling a story about an athlete, that’s in sports, but I want to uncover who the person is behind the athlete, what is the human experience that we can all relate to because ultimately, even when you see Surf Girls Hawai’i, it’s not just about surfing. It’s about coming of age, it’s about sisterhood, it’s about supporting each other through challenging times, and navigating life. So, I think that that is my approach through all of my storytelling that makes it universal whether you are interested in the sport or the topic itself.

AM: Absolutely!

What was the first project that you did that you realized that you wanted to do this as a career?

MM: Hmm, it’s actually funny, because my first film that I created was about a young Latina surfer in the Bay Area. She was part of a program that helped underrepresented youth get into the sport of surfing, get into action sports, and that film actually premiered at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival here in LA. That moment of seeing my work and my film, premiered at The Chinese Theatre, in Hollywood was such a monumental moment for me because I could see that this kind of storytelling was valued. I could see the reaction of the audience and I could see the emotion and I could actually feel the energy in the room. So, I feel like the LALIFF selecting my film to premiere at the Chinese Theatre in that way was a really defining moment for me. I knew that I could really make something out of this career and hopefully, tell more stories. At that point, I was still in my early 20’s so it was just the beginning, but I think that that was the moment that I decided to pursue this full time.

AM: We love surfers! This year alone we had the honor of speaking with Carissa Moore as well as Kai Lenny as covers for Athleisure Mag. You also surf – what is it about this sport that you enjoy so much?

MM: I think surfing is such a unique sport because it’s not just a sport. It’s a lifestyle, it’s a culture, it has deep roots around the world, and had I known that this sport is originated by people of color and women of color, I would have felt that I belonged in it sooner. (Editor’s Note: The origin of surfing can be found in various cultures as far back as the Incas in 1590 when a Jesuit missionary José de Acosta published it in Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias. In West Africa’s – Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Senegal and Central Africans in Cameroon have had various accounts of this activity in 1640, 1679, 1834, and 1861. In Polynesia in 1769 there is documentation of he’e nalu which translates to wave sliding by Joseph Banks as he was on HMS Endeavour during the first voyage of James Cook while the ship was in Tahiti.) I didn’t know anything about the history of surfing until I met another Latina surfer who shared with me this deep history. After discovering that, I made it my life’s mission to try to tell the world that this is the truth and that this is the history of this.

I think that with surfing, it’s so special for that deeper reason, but also I think that it’s a way of connecting with nature to get outside and get off your phone. You have no way of communicating with anybody when you’re out there. It’s your time to exist and enjoy yourself and I think that it resonates with a lot of people. I think that when I first started surfing in Los Angeles, the lineups looked a lot different than they do today. Today I actually paddle out and I see more women, I see more women of color and I actually see friends every single time that I go. I think that this surf culture has been defined by advertisements, brands, the industry, but we are reclaiming what it means to be a surfer and you’re seeing that happening in your local lineups. You’re seeing that happening through Surf Girls Hawai’i, you’re seeing that happen through different lenses, I think! I think that that is what makes surfing special. It’s just, there’s nothing else like it honestly.

AM: As the creator of Surf Girls Hawai’i, what drew you to telling this story?

MM: Surf Girls Hawai’i is what I have dreamt of ever since I was a little girl. We saw Blue Crush released back in 2002, which was my favorite film, and I really identified with Michelle Rodriguez (Fast and the Furious franchise, Machte franchise, Resident Evil franchise), who was another Latina and I mean, that’s just one part of it. When I was working in the surf industry, I noticed that major mainstream platforms just had more coverage of male surfers. You barley saw women and in advertisements, it’s still really common to see a surfer girl in a bikini and a man on a wave surfing.

AM: Right.

MM: You walk down to any surf shop and that’s still the reality of our time in 2023! Actually, while I was working at the League (World Surf League), I started a personal archive of my favorite surfers who were women, who I thought deserved the spotlight and I pitched an idea that would eventually push the company to promote men and women equally on our social platforms. I think that since then, we have seen a shift. I just really wanted to be able to highlight women that I felt didn’t have a seat at the table. I think that through Surf Girls Hawai’i, they are finally getting the recognition that they deserve. That’s really cool that I helped spearhead that effort and identified this talent early on.

AM: For those that have not seen this docuseries, can you give us the premise of the show, and also, how did you decide to select the 5 Native Hawaiian female surfers that are featured in the docuseries.

MM: Surf Girls Hawai’i follows the next generation of native Hawaiian, female surfers as they compete at an elite level to earn a spot on the world tour of professional surfing. Surf girls is about a sisterhood of native Hawaiian surfers who are on the cusp of becoming pro and this is the most elite level that they have ever competed on and they are competing against each other, but also together in a lot of different ways and they support each other through that. I think that what makes it special is the fact that oftentimes when you see shows that center women, you see maybe cattiness or drama between the women. You see this marketable yet damaging portrayal of female relationships.

I think that what’s different with Surf Girls Hawai’i is, even though they are fierce competitors, and they are competing for one spot, they all support each other through this journey. That’s because they all know that if one of them makes it, everyone makes it because this is more than just winning for their own personal gain, this is about representing native Hawaiian culture at the highest level of surfing. I think that carrying that responsibility, and that legacy, is what makes this highest stakes in a lot of ways. You don’t need that cattiness or drama between the girls. I think that that is the premise, but also what makes it different.

AM: From your perspective as a filmmaker, how do you go about creatively organizing all of this. As you said, they’re all there for that aligned goal, but they are also individual people. How are you weaving that story and kind of planning it in your head especially when it’s only 4 episodes! By the end I was wanting to see more about these women, wondering if there would be another season, would the same surfers be followed – so many questions!

MM: The response to this show has been so overwhelmingly positive and I have been told that it is over performing. It shows that there is a gap and this storytelling was absolutely needed and 4 episodes did the trick! I think that that worked and I think in going back to your question, this cast is so special because on the surface, they are all native Hawaiian pro surfers that share this bond and share their culture together. But what I wanted to really accomplish with this series was to show them as multi-dimensional, multi-faceted women. They’re all different and all have different interests and different mindsets. They’re all different because you have on the one hand, Maluhia who is 26 years old, considered older to be competing and is at the crossroads of deciding on whether she wants to be a professional athlete and fulfill that lifelong childhood dream or pursue her education. She did both. She got her degree from Stanford and she is pursuing her PhD at UH Mānoha – all while competing on the WSL tour. I think that that is super unexpected. That defied expectations and I think that each character defies expectations of what you would think of them on the surface. So that’s just one example of how we approached the storytelling around each woman. How do we paint them as more than an athlete? Because each character is more than an athlete.

AM: What was it like working with Hello Sunshine on this project?

MM: I’ll start with Hello Sunshine. Hello Sunshine was honestly a dream partnership. Like we were aligned in our values before we even made the show together. I think for me as a creator, it was really important that the team working on Surf Girls was women-led and women-run, that is the essence of what makes Surf Girls Hawai’i what it is. I think that Hello Sunshine’s mission of changing the narrative for women aligned with my mission well before the final product. I think that Surf Girls put this native female Hawaiian experience at the forefront and Hello Sunshine invested in that, believed in that, and they saw that from the beginning. I think that that’s brave. This talent, they’re low profile, lesser known names outside of the surf industry, but that didn’t matter to them and I think that they just saw the magic. I also think that the Hello Sunshine team was very collaborative and supportive of hiring women behind the camera and making sure to work with my recommended Hawaiian and Hawaii local creators and crew. I just felt like the set was forward thinking and they understood the importance of picking a team to tell a story and in the best way.

I actually created and directed the original digital series that sold the show, and the vision stayed true throughout the process. I think that that is really hard to do actually. I feel that the women were really portrayed in a positive light and the culture wasn’t sensationalized. That was really really important. That’s my bit on Hello Sunshine!

AM: That’s amazing to hear. What has been your biggest takeaway in doing this docuseries?

MM: Oh my gosh, so much! I mean, creating and executive producing my first TV show, was an experience that I learned a lot from. I think that a big takeaway from the series is that you see the reactions from people that watched this and people are hungry for this kind of storytelling and they’re hungry to see women and women of color in sports. I think it’s interesting because this was technically made for Gen Z young women to identify with. But you see women of all ages responding to this and you see men of all ages intrigued, interested, and inspired by this story. So, I think that this is a story for everyone and that’s the takeaway – this story is important and deserves a spotlight and we were the first to do it and that’s really, really special. We were the first female sports docuseries on Hello Sunshine’s platforms and this was the first female sports documentary on Amazon.

AM: That’s a pretty big first!

MM: That’s big!

AM: That’s awesome!

I’m sure you’re always working on different projects, is there anything coming up that you are able to share that we should keep an eye out for?

MM: Yeah, so 2 things! I just got back from Tahiti for a shoot with the Olympic Channel, so that’s coming up. Then, I have another underreported, but fascinating field that centers women of color and Black women in sport that is not highly covered that I am currently developing. I’m developing projects constantly so we can leave it at those things.

IG @monicamedellin_

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 52 Ryan Gladney | PG 54 Brie Lakin | PG 57 Katie McDonald | PG 58 - 63 Prime Video |

Read the AUG ISSUE #92 of Athleisure Mag and see TAKE IT TO THE WAVES | Monica Medellin in mag.

BINGELY STREAMING

SHELTER

Prime Video Series

Prime Video

Bestselling mystery and thriller author, Harlan Coben brings his book Shelter as a series as we find out the connection between a family, town, and whether death is as finite as we believe it to be.

We get to know about Mickey Bolitar (Jaden Michael) who goes back to his father's NJ suburban town after his death. Although there is something nostalgic about having his aunt, Shira Bolitar (Constance Zimmer) take care of him, playing basketball in the same school as his dad and making friends. There is something idyllic about this quaint town. Through a series of strange events, disappearances and secrets, he works with his friends Ema (Abigale Corrigan) and Spoon (Adrian Greensmith) to figure out how his dad's death is connected to the unease that continues to grow within him.

SURVIVE THE RAFT

Discovery

Max

We enjoy a good reality competition show that shifts the social experimentation paradigm! The premise of Survive the Raft is inspired by the 1973 Acali Experiment by Mexican anthropologist, Santiago Genovés. He curated a group of people from varying backgrounds to see how they would come together, live, work, and accomplish goals. The experiment had a lot of conflict and tensions.

With this experiment and the studies that resulted from it, this competition builds on that and is hosted by Nate Boyer (US Army Green Beret, NFL Seattle Seahawks, Mayans MC) who announces the challenges to the contestants who live on the raft and work together in order to win money for the group. The contestants do a series of challenges, navigate conflicts and even have opportunities to win money for themselves without the group knowing or to stay true to the assignment to build the pot for everyone to share equally. It's a game of the ultimate believe in unity as well as questioning whether those you came in with should stay or be swapped with those that are a better fit!

PAINKILLERS

Netflix Originals

Netflix

Painkillers, a Netflix Original Series focuses on the opioid epidemic that we have been navigating for the last few decades. The availability of these drugs comes with immense consequences and this series follows all who are involved from the companies that make the drugs, the victims that use it, those who are related to users who are also caught up the effects and the investigation of how all of these elements converge together.

Read the AUG ISSUE #92 of Athleisure Mag and see Bingely Streaming in mag.

WHO DO WE WANT TO BE? | THE PERIPHERAL

We love epic sci-fi shows and we were able to get screeners on Prime Video's The Peripheral which takes us on a journey between moments in time and the impact on how changes affect our humanity and it is out now. We talked with some of the cast and filmmakers of this show to dig into how this project came together.

We wanted to know how the actors approached acting and navigating these worlds that we are introduced to as we go between different time periods. They also talked about what they want the takeaway to be for viewers. JJ Feild, T'Nia Miller and Gary Carr talk about what it was to be part of this cast and a realistic look into a future that gives us pause on who we want to be.

We talked with filmmakers, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy and Vincenzo Natali who we have enjoyed in Westworld as well as other projects. They talk about how they worked with William Gibson's book to create the immersive show.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We’re so excited to talk to you as we watched all 6 of the screeners from this 8 episode series and we can’t wait to see the remaining episodes! We’re fans of your work. What drew you guys to want to be part of this project and to tackle the themes that are involved?

JJ FEILD: Well, they are layered on and they are not 2 dimensional. They represent these huge power struggles maybe villainous, maybe they are trying to save the world, but underneath, they’re just humans and they are trying to find order in all of this chaos.

T’NIA MILLER: Yeah and they’re challenging roles, aren’t they? I mean, the writing is intense and it doesn’t appear so when you watch it. But to get those roles, you ask yourself, how do I bring these elements to the surface because there are these huge weighted parts. On a personal level as an actor, it's a great challenge!

LISA JOY: Well, Vincenzo, the director, which I have been a fan of and have idolized his work as I had the chance to work with him in Westworld brought me this book by his buddy, Bill Gibson! So, if you’re a fan girl like me and someone says, “my buddy is Bill Gibson,” it’s like Sir William Gibson is that who you are talking about? Vincenzo was like, “I don’t know maybe you would like to work on this with us.” I was like yes, of course.

I didn’t even need to read it, there was Vincenzo and Gibson and then I read it and I was so blown away as I always am by Gibson’s keen understanding of the future which is now basically the present of our world, but I also wanted it in a way that not a lot of science fiction makes me feel, it really took me back to when I was a girl growing up in NJ. You know, the idea of, “am I ever going to have a boyfriend, what am I going to do with my life and how do I make a difference,” and right now especially in this moment where we’re kind of on the cusp of something. The environment is changing, we’ve just come through this pandemic and I think that so many of us are thinking who am I meant to be? Like, the future seems so overwhelming. How am I meant to interact with it? Can I make a difference? Does my life matter? All of these existential questions that we’re really having to confront now as society and as individuals much more heavily than we used to. We’ve lived through lucky times before the last couple of years and we’re realizing that now! To see characters like Flynne and Burton and their family and of course Will from the future grappling with these same issues was almost reassuring to me because I liked them so much and they were dealing with this shit too! So maybe there’s hope.

VINCENZO NATALI: I have a long storied history in trying to adapt Gibson’s work and failing. So when this one finally got into the hands of Lisa and Jonathan Nolan, I thought that this might actually come to fruition and of course, it has in the best possible way. I mist say that I was very keen to see if we could bring Gibson’s vision to the screen in a way that does justice to him and in a way that I don’t think that has been done in the past. Because he really gives a picture of the future that I think is believable. Whether it’s going to be or not, I don’t know but I believe it because it feels very much so rooted in the present and as Lisa was saying, very much rooted in a perspective of the street. Just regular people and how they would contend with an alternate world. Honestly, there’s a million reasons and one of them is that I just want to build that future. I want to see what it looks like and I want to be part of the conception of it. It was like being a kid in the candy store really!

GARY CARR: I think for me, the first thing was having the opportunity to work with Jonathan, Lisa, Athena – I have been a massive fan of theirs since forever. Jonathan in particular as well!

AM: Same!

JONATHAN NOLAN: Thank you! I’m blushing!

GC: That is the case so for me, it was such an honor to be part of this. I was so grateful for that and I get to sit here and talk about this now. Also the story itself, I loved the novel and it was the first time that I had ever read anything from William Gibson! I was like, “wow, I’m so late,” this guy is amazing. Then again, with what Scott and the team did with the script, I thought that it was so solid. There were so many highs and so many positive things. There were so many things that I found to be attractive about the project. I also loved the character and I have never played a character like this before. I found it challenging but I was looking forward to that challenge. All of the themes that the series explores - all the topics, I just thought that they were perfect and it's so right to be discussing this right now.

JN: First and foremost, William Gibson. Vincenzo Natali our director, came to us with the project, came to us with the book and I had grown up reading Gibson’s books and spent years shamelessly ripping off his ideas and putting them into our own movies and shows. So it felt like there was a debt of honor there, but then I read the book and it was brilliant.

It’s also one of his books that is the closest to the bone of William in terms of his childhood in West Virginia. You can feel the reality of that world – of Flynne’s world and then when you step through the looking glass, and you meet Gary’s character and you meet Wilf – you feel the reality of his universe. So the two worlds were both so beautifully textured and lived in that it was impossible to say no.

AM: How did you prepare to play these roles?

JM: It’s all about the page, isn’t it? The book is not very different from the plot, but is very different in its style as the book is abstract and esoteric in its text. But then they turned it – Jonathan, Lisa and Scott into a story where we care about the characters a lot whether they’re in Clanton, NC or London or wherever - we care about them and that’s a great achievement of this series. You take something that can be frightening or cold or futuristic – they’re humans. They’re trying to find their way in that world.

AM: That’s great and the styling of the characters with the power shoulders that yours has T’Nia and the vests that yours wears JJ. Just these little aesthetics that also have a powerful look to them is another great layer.

TM: Often when you get a script and you have to do a lot of prep, you have to find yourself and it’s generally because it’s not terribly well written. The story might be great, but it's not well written. This is very different from that, it was serving the words on the page and then also trying to understand the bloody book because it was very confusing! For us, I mean for me, I mean you were confused too right?

JF: Of course! Once you start seeing it, you were like “oh yeah!”

TM: I didn’t understand it we shot it in May of last year and then we did pick ups and I was like, “oh, I get that now!” It was during pick ups where it locked in!

JF: It was like, oh that’s what a stub is!

TM: I kept hearing this word stub, stub, stub. What is stub? Now I get it!

AM: Do you find it difficult to take something that obviously has source material and to make the show its own while still being tethered to the root of the book that it came from?

LJ: I think that one of the things that makes it easier is my respect for Gibson is so true and so deeply rooted that I think that all of ours is. I also think that it is reciprocated. He knows that we really respect his source material and his brilliance. He knows that we really want to make the best show possible, but every time – film, TV – it’s a collaborative media. There’s no one person that owns it. It’s a beautiful thing that it’s made truly by a group of people together you know?

Scott Smith, his writers, the actors bring new angles – there are new characters in this and there are new beats and new moments and at the same time, it feels so Gibsonian and it really tries to honor the brilliant book that he made and I think that honestly and deeply, all of us nerding out together in this way and trying to make this universe, it’s been a wonderful collaboration.

VN: I want to mention Scott Smith because he had the very challenging task to adapt the book and it doesn’t adapt directly into a narrative format. If Mr. Gibson was adapting it himself, I'm sure he would change it and I know he would. But he is very open to that kind of thing and I think that Scott cracked the code which is an intensely difficult thing to do and I want to be able to give a pat to him!

AM: We love the story and we love the visual texture that is in it. What do you want people to walk away with in seeing this series?

TM: Obviously we want them to be left with wanting more, but to also take pause and to think about where we’re headed. What kind of world we’re heading to and what it looks like for ourselves and how as a global community we have a responsibility towards each other. I hope that it gives people cause to pause and really think.

JF: I think that great sci-fi writing works as a warning on where we are and where we could be by projecting an image of ourselves into the future. We get to learn and as ourselves, “is this where we want to end up?”

TM: Yes Science Fiction – Science Fact. Let’s not go there. Let’s please not go there!

JN: Several years of Prime Video subscriptions!

AM: Yes, please!

JN: I don’t know Gary, what do you think?

GC: Nothing deep. I just want people to be able to enjoy it. Enjoy what’s being presented to them on all different levels from the themes, the aesthetics and a lot to what Jonathan said, a lot of amazing talented people have worked on this project to bring it to life. I think that it’s great high quality work and great TV. I love it and I just want people to enjoy it. Obviously, people are going to have questions about life and the world as well as the future. But I just want people to be entertained and moved as well as all of that good stuff.

IG @theperipheralpv

@tniamiller

@jjfeildtheofficial

@lisajoynolan

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | Prime Video/The Peripheral

Read the OCT ISSUE #82 of Athleisure Mag and see WHO DO WE WANT TO BE? | The Peripheral in mag.

THE POWER OF RELATIONSHIPS | BETTY WHO + ELAN GALE

We love reality shows and a number of our readers enjoy The Bachelor/The Bachelorette and even tweet along with us during each episode. We love seeing the social interaction, the dates, experiences and more. Prior to the pandemic, reality shows that focused on relationships went to the next level with an array of social experiments from Love is Blind, The Circle, The Ultimatum and more. These shows break new ground and really allow us to analyze how we interact with another.

On June 24th, The One That Got Away hits Prime Video. It allows people to look at their past to see if someone at that time could be a great fit for them. We caught up with singer/songwriter, Betty Who who is the host of this show. We talk about how she got attached and what we can expect. We also talk with Elan Gale who serves as the showrunner and executive producer delves into the intricacies of relationships with us.

ATHLEISURE MAG: It was such a great show to watch as who doesn’t love how we continue to explore social experiments when it comes to dating? What drew you to this show to want to be part of it?

BETTY WHO: I am such a fan of reality dating shows and it actually started with The Bachelor! I wasn’t really a fan of this and being in this sort of world. Then I got the chance to perform on The Bachelorette in Becca’s season. I was shooting it and I was thinking, “this is crazy – this world and this whole thing.” So I got super into The Bachelor and The Bachelorette and that’s how it introduced me to the world and now I feel like I’m a connoisseur and I’m all about it now! So when this conversation sort of started, someone came to me and asked if this would be something that I would be interested in. I was like, “guys, I don’t want to oversell it but, I would crush this job!” I think that this is a very powerful combination for me. I feel very lucky and yet very perplexed as to why they booked me, but I did what I could and I think that I showed up and showed out I think!

AM: I think that it’s such an amazing fit because in watching you, we’re used to the formats of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette where the host is interacting with the primary person and the people competing. In this situation, we have 6 people that are exploring themselves, you coming in and connecting with them and being able to interact with them when they’re broken down in the experience of it all! There are some intense moments and being able to see you in that way, what was your takeaway in watching all of this?

BW: I think that I really appreciated the opportunity to have conversations with those contestants in that moment. I think that as someone in my personal life, I really want to be warm and a safe space for my friends. I want to provide that warm energy with people and that’s something that I also like to do on stage as an entertainer. You want to create that safe space where people want to be able to come in and enjoy themselves. It was a new way for me to stretch my muscle in that way as it was 1-on-1, but still in this very highly curated environment where it’s still fundamentally about entertainment for us. I love to have a job, I love to entertain and I love to have all of these incredibly talented and creative people who know so much more about how to make a reality television show because what do I know? They’re like, do this and I’m like, ok this is such a fun adventure and I was in good hands! I think that that is a huge part of my enjoyment and experience on the show being such a positive one. I give that all to the people who sort of held my hand along the way. I feel very lucky.

AM: I saw the initial 6 episodes via the screener ahead of the launch on Jun 24th and I can’t wait to see the remaining 4! I really want to know as every episode I was transfixed!

BW: I’m so glad that you’re hooked! This is exciting!

AM: I am so hooked. As a reality junkie – I love this format.

BW: Oh, so you’re our target demo! So if you’re loving it, this is good news!

AM: For sure! At first when I heard the concept about the portal I was a little confused about it. But then I started watching it and getting how you guys delved into picking people from there past. Although at one point, I was like, wait they literally just got the guy that followed her on Instagram? I’d be mad too. To see you reasoning with her and asking her to go back one more time because there was a better person, was pretty funny.

BW: Um yeah, we’re definitely a little bit shady! But I think that that is my favorite part! I was watching to do some prep before I hosted a television show. I was looking at getting a lay of the land. I saw all of these hosts that did different things and I was watching Nick and Vanessa from Love is Blind.

AM: Love that show!

BW: I love that show and I was checking everybody out and I know that this isn’t a dating show, but I think that Jeff Probst – how shady Jeff Probst is on Survivor is one of my favorite things about the show! The way that he says, “so and so, I see you’re still having a tough time over there.” He is not afraid to stir shit up and I think that that’s especially amazing. I pray for a season 2 so that I can get even more. I just wanted to be nice the first time around and to have everyone like me as I was totally a fish out of water. But now that I know what’s going on, I’m ready to start some stuff up – you heard it here first!

If you have enjoyed watching The Bachelor/ette, Elan Gale executive produced both of these shows for a decade. A few years ago while we were tweeting along with others about these shows during a season, we noticed Elan talking about the episodes and providing insights.

With the launch of TOTGA, we talk about the power of relationships, what makes a good show and the impact of our interactions.

ATHLEISURE MAG: As long time watchers of The Bachelor/The Bachelorette, it’s amazing to chat with you and we love interacting with you on Twitter to hear your thoughts. Before we get into The One That Got Away, what is it about relationships that you love delving into as this is something that has been a large part of your career in creating these shows?

ELAN GALE: Great question! I think that the honest answer is that I have always felt that my relationships are the greatest things in my life. I have a hard time focusing on anything else if I’m being really honest. I always found that I only know what I know. I am only around the people that I am around, I only have relations with people that are in my life and generally from where I’m from because that’s where we are and that’s how we meet. Relationship shows have always given me an opportunity to just watch other people interact with each other and watch them build bonds that hopefully are life changing. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the relationship has to be permanent. I think that that is something that often we put too much emphasis on because almost all of our relationships are impermanent and it doesn’t mean that it’s not important or that it doesn’t change us or make us grow.

So watching people focus on things that are non-linear like relationships which are probably the most important aspects of their lives as well – I think it’s really interesting and it’s a window into how we interact with each other. I think that people are really interesting! I like watching them do whatever the hell they want to do!

AM: So what do you find to be the secret sauce in terms of putting that into TV as a medium? What are the dynamics that make a good show about relationships?

EG: I think that more than anything, we’re looking for people who are effusive. Anyone could be a good TV dating contestant really. What’s hard is finding people who want to explore their emotions in real time. When something happens to me, I process it. I take some time and I’m pretty shy about how I interact with my own emotional life. I would go so far as to say, almost a little cowardly in the way that a lot of people who come on this show aren’t. There’s an incredible bravery in being able to say that I am going to go through all of these intense emotions, but I’m also going to allow people into that and to let them into my world. So finding people who have specific points of few, strong emotions, strong desires, but simultaneously willing to be able to get it wrong because that’s what we usually do. We almost always get it wrong until we get it right! But it doesn’t mean that those are the most compelling relationships either!

Looking at relationships that are raw and based on feelings rather than logistics, I think that TV shows do a really good job of removing the logistics from relationships. I think that’s also one of the things that people find the most jarring about them. It doesn’t feel real to me because the logistics are taken away. But I have found personally, and maybe this is just me, I have found that when I am falling in love, when I’m in a relationship and when I am with people that I feel are important parts of my life – logistics do kind of take a back seat. If we’re going to continue to claim that relationships are the most serious driving force in our lives, then putting logistics to the side is probably a good idea. You can probably figure that out later. The weird magic of love and whatever is the stuff that you can’t do later and you can’t figure that out thoughtfully over time – I don’t think.

AM: I don’t think so either! What brought you to want to be part of this project. I watched the screeners and I’m obsessed, the fact that all of the screeners weren’t available at once made me mad because I’m so invested and I want to know what happens!

EG: I’m so glad you liked it. Thank you for watching!

AM: It was a great watch. I took a Sun and just let the storytelling unfold!

EG: That makes me so happy! Honestly, these 6 people just went for it. This is a terrifying show. You don’t know who is coming through that portal and who you are letting into your life. That is such a bravery that they had to step into this – I don’t have it! That’s part of what was so exciting to me. I have a similar relationship that I think that most of the people in the audience had – I wish I could do that to have the tenacity and the openness!

AM: I could never!

EG: For me, I have done so many dating shows where strangers meet strangers. There is such an interesting dynamic there and I love those kind of shows. I love watching those shows, but secretly probably the show that I am most addicted to is 90 Day Fiance. What I love about this show is that by the time you meet these people, they really have complex relationships. You have to peel it back like an onion as a viewer. So this – all the things that I love about dating shows, people meeting for the first time and adding this layer of complexity where you get to watch people who they were, previous iterations of themselves and for me, I really wanted to approach this show differently from any other show. I wanted to treat it like sci-fi. I wanted the portal to be like a real-time machine and if I’m being honest, this might sound really crazy – for me the show took more inspiration from Rick & Morty than any other dating show I have worked on in the past. Looking at this like one tiny sliver of the multiverse where you can suddenly live a life that you have never lived for a short amount of time and see what that life may have been like. Yeah, if those relationships can go back into the real world, maybe they do – I don’t know. But if they do, that’s really interesting and beautiful, but more importantly, this slice of life, this time and this place where nothing really exists is interesting. In the first episode, Jeff meets someone who he hasn't seen in 15 years. They were 2 people and now they're 2 different people just like everyone else is. Getting to watch them date for the first time, but also being able to come to terms with how they’ve changed and to see that through the eyes of someone that’s dating them, it’s really one of the most transformative processes for me as a viewer. At the end of the day, that’s what I am. Getting to watch them and these things that were happening and to be able to watch them and to really see them going through it! The thing that I am most excited about is that no one was focused on results. Everyone got a happy ending but it doesn’t mean that it’s the one that audiences were expecting. I think that we’re set up to believe that dating shows end like this. And maybe they don’t have to. Maybe dating is enough. Maybe moments with people and experiences that you share, looking inward on yourself through the eyes of someone who knew you back then – maybe that’s enough. I think it is and I think that that’s what makes the show so different.

AM: That’s so true. I think that when you look to The Bachelor/ette where you have a designated person that is available although in the upcoming Bachelorette there are 2 – but you have the designated person and then you have this whole group of people who are another dynamic. The idea that you have a couple of people for a certain person and how they interact with the separate house and the main house, that’s something because they’re also bringing in their own versions of the person that they know. That’s a whole other sociological study right there!

EG: I think you made a really good point. One thing that I think that this show does really nicely is that it plays up the dynamic friendships that the leads have with each other and of course with the arrivals as well. They’re going through this incredible process together and it’s something that no one else has ever been through before. The bonds are permanent and we don’t just revel in the rivalries on the show. Someone goes out on a date 2 days ago and their friends are hoping and wishing and praying that they come home happy and had a good time. Again, it’s all about building that universe. We talked about this on set. We called our location Lacuna. You never see it on camera – it’s just something that we talked about internally.

Lacuna is an unwritten piece of a story or a missing page in a book. We just kind of tried to build an environment where whatever story that person had been living, it was paused for a moment. They were encouraged to write a new story in this period of time and they go off into the world. Maybe it folds nicely into what you already have or maybe it doesn’t but it’s going to be interesting and it’s going to be messy. That’s what I love so much about the show too! Life is a fucking messy, disaster 90% of the time! Acting as if things are linear, perfect and meant to be – maybe they are, but there is also something about embracing chaos. I think dating is chaotic and I think that that is also what makes it fun. I’ve never gone on a first date and went, “it’s remarkably average and I can’t wait to do it again.”

AM: How did you go about finding the arrivals? There were those like the person from the confirmation, another who went to school together and then you had the one who just followed the lead on Instagram?

EG: Honestly, it was the most complicated process that I have ever been part of. Primarily, the way that our casting team did it was talking to family and friends of the individuals and trying to figure out people who they would be interested in. The leads also gave lists of people that they thought about, wondered about or were curious about. So there was some kind of dynamic combination of people that their mom or sister might have thought was perfect for them, a best friend or if they were close to their ex – someone that they thought that they knew. It could also come from someone from their very very long list or someone who was fascinated by them on their social media and felt more connected than maybe they actually were.

I think it also points out the way that we all create our own histories. We all tell our own stories or what part of our lives are important or not. I think that in a lot of the cases of the leads that they may have been more impactful on the lives of others than they realized. That’s really empowering for a lot of people where something that you said, or something that you did or a look you gave someone – even if it wasn’t meant in a romantic way, it stuck with them and made you important enough to go through a whole casting process, get on a plane, go to LA and then just walk through a portal to see someone. You had to have meant something to someone to fill them with a feeling and that’s a great place to start a relationship. Even if it doesn’t go somewhere because everyone can feel that a question that has haunted them, can be answered in a way that everything else is guessing. It’s fun to have a moment in life where you get to answer the many questions where I don’t know about you, but I’m haunted and plagued and live in a state of permanent regret! If I could go somewhere – can you imagine knowing what the sliding door version of your life is or lesser so the Butterfly Effect of Ashton Kutcher version? It’s a good movie, underrated – fun!

AM: Like you said, in watching this show, removing the dating/romantic aspect – you think about the coffee cart guy you see everyday on the corner and during the pandemic, you didn’t have it and you felt that there was a hole. The concept of relationships and interactions and what it means to you and the other person is an interesting dynamic.

What do you want people to walk away with in watching this. Should we all be digging into our past to find our relationships to figure our shit out?

EG: It’s such a good question! I’m not confident that the takeaway should be that we should go back into your past to find your future. I don’t think that’s the answer. I do think that the takeaway should be, that if you are actively looking for love, you should leave no stone unturned. I think that most people will not find their future from their past. A lot of people might. But if you’re curious about something and you have been looking for this long, maybe you don’t need a portal to do. Maybe you do and I’m glad that these people did, but these days you can pick up a phone. You can send an email and ask a question and it will probably lead nowhere because most things in life do. It might lead you somewhere really magical and you might find the one that got away and that would be pretty fucking cool.

IG @bettywho

@theyearofelan

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT | Prime Video

Read the JUN ISSUE #78 of Athleisure Mag and see THE POWER OF RELATIONSHIPS | Betty Who + Elan Gale in mag.

COLLABORATION IS KEY | MARK INDELICATO

When Ugly Betty first came out, it was definitely a must that you were watching this show. The cast had breakout stars, iconic actors, of the moment topics and the series delved into the world of Mode Magazine. One of the characters that was a fan favorite was Justin played by Mark Indelicato. As a young actor, we watched him in this show. After 4 seasons, this show ended and Mark decided that he would go to college to experience life.

After taking time for himself, he continued with acting and played in a number of TV shows and films. We caught up with him recently to talk about 2 series that are both back for their second season and are having major moments from HBO Max's Hacks and Amazon Originals' With Love.

He talks about what draws him to projects, the importance of collaboration and using his platform.

ATHLEISURE MAG: When did you realize that you wanted to be an actor?

MARK INDELICATO: I realized I wanted to be an actor when I was quite young. I can’t recall a specific moment where the lightbulb went off, I just remember how much fun I had. And 20 years later I’m still having fun.

AM: What are you looking for when new projects come up or are offered to you?

MI: Of course, first and foremost it’s the words that are on the page. Is this character well-rounded and multidimensional? And if not, does this character have an important function in the overall narrative of the piece. I'm not interested in projects where the character is "checking off a certain box” (i.e. “the gay friend” and things of the like).

AM: Our readers have enjoyed you in several roles from Ugly Betty, Dead of Summer etc. What is your process when you begin to work through playing your character?

MI: I really rely heavily on the writers, show runners and directors if I’m honest. With certain roles I find myself able to slip into them pretty easily and intuitively, but I definitely always have myriad questions throughout the entirety of a shoot. Even if I feel like I have a firm grasp on the character and their motivations etc, I always find it to be helpful to ask questions. Collaboration is key.

AM: Your character Justin in Ugly Betty was such a breakout role at the time; did you think at the time that that role would be so impactful?

MI: Of course not. I was so young I really didn’t understand what it was that we were actually doing, let alone how the show and the role were going effect viewers. I was too busy having fun and pinching myself that I was able to go to work every day. It’s only in retrospect that I can really appreciate what the show and Justin, in particular, represented and still represents to people.

AM: After the success of Ugly Betty, you took time away from acting to go to college. Why was it important for you to step away and what brought you back to the industry?

MI: In short, I needed a break. The entertainment industry is famously - or infamously - difficult to navigate and I was simultaneously navigating adolescence, so I think I just felt burnt out at a certain point. I also wanted to have a sort of anonymous life experience and going to NYU definitely gave me that. I’m so happy that I took that break because it also reminded me how much I love acting and allowed me to recenter myself regarding what I wanted to pursue as an adult.

AM: We enjoyed watching Hacks as it's a great cast. What was it about this series that attracted you to it and tell us about Damien?

MI: Like I said before its all about writing. When I read the sides of Damien I called my agent right after screaming: “I NEED TO BE ON THIS SHOW!” Although Damien has a pretty peripheral part in the first season and doesn’t necessarily speak that much, I was certain of his function in the larger narrative of the show, namely that he is a member of “Team Deborah.”

On top of that, I was very familiar with the creators of the show, Paul W. Downs (The Mindy Project, Broad City, At Home with Amy Sedaris), Lucia Aniello (Broad City, The Baby-Sitters Club, Awkwafina is Nora From Queens) and Jen Statsky’s (Hello Ladies, Parks and Recreation, The Good Place) prior work and was in awe of the incredible people attached to the series as well, both in front and behind the camera.

AM: The second season drops this month, where did we leave him and what can you tell us about the upcoming season?

MI: This season we go on the road! Team Deborah goes on tour, so we spent a lot of time together this season in quite close quarters. Damien picks up exactly where we leave him in season 1. He’s still snarky, still manic, and we get to see a lot more of him this season.

AM: You're also coming back for the second season of With Love. Tell us about this show which also has a great cast as well as Jorge?

MI: Yes! What I love so much about playing Jorge is just how different the world of With Love is from that of Hacks. It’s always intriguing to step into other worlds and contexts as an actor, so I’m very blessed to be able to do that for now two consecutive years with Hacks and With Love. Gloria Calderón Kellett (Devious Maids, Jane the Virgin, One Day at a Time) approached me with this character, and I just felt like I knew him. I related to him so much that it truly felt like she had written it for me. (She didn’t) But once we started filming the first season, I was so pleased to learn how collaborative she is and how much she really wants us - the actors - to have a seat at the table. And with that being said, she really handed me the reins when it came to what Jorge looked like, how he dressed etc, which is extremely rare. I really have to say that I’ve lucked out over the course of my career in working with people that value and respect my opinions.

AM: What can we expect from the 2nd season?

MI: You can expect that same uplifting vibe that you got last year, but this year one of the three couples gets engaged. There might even be a wedding.

AM: Over the past few years, being an activist allows people to find ways to use their platform to drive awareness. What do you use your platform for?

MI: I think that my activism comes from simply being an out and proud queer person on television. So, I would hope that my platform is such that it gives young queer viewers the ability to see themselves on television. I think I’m so passionate about representation in this context because of what I learned and saw from playing Justin on Ugly Betty. As ignorant as it might sound, I didn’t really know how powerful television and film were in uplifting those that feel alone or disenfranchised up until I really examined how much Justin has meant to people, so I hope to continue down that road.

AM: When you're not on set what can we find you doing to take time for yourself?

MI: If you can believe it, I’m such homebody! When I’m not on set you can catch me in the kitchen making a plethora of things or on the couch with a glass of wine bingeing any franchise of the Real Housewives.

IG @markindelicato

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT | PG 64 - 67 Hacks/HBO | PG 68 With Love Amazon |

Read the MAY ISSUE #77 of Athleisure Mag and see COLLABORATION IS KEY | Mark Indelicato in mag.

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING | THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

We love a good social experiment show when it comes to reality TV! Prime Video released The One That Got Away which focuses on 6 people who are looking to find love and are willing to look into their past to find it! All 10 episodes are streaming now! We screened some of the episodes prior to their release and will have an interview with the Executive Producer, Elan Gale (The Bachelor, FBOY ISLAND, Looking for Lenny) and recording artist/host, Betty Who (The Bold Type, The Bachelorette) in the JUN ISSUE #78 (dropping Jun 30th). To find out more about this show, storylines and more! Check out the trailer to see whose stories you’ll follow in the debut season.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

THE LEGACY CONTINUES | TITUS WELLIVER

We've been fans of Prime Video's Bosch where we follow along as Harry Bosch solves a number of cases regardless of how many feathers he ruffles in the process. On May 6th, the story continues on Amazon FreeVee with Bosch: Legacy. We see how Bosch continues to fight for victims as his daughter Maddie Bosch continues to walk in her father's steps and how he will reconnect with former nemesis, Honey Chandler.

We enjoy the way Titus Welliver leans into his characters and draws us in. Whether it's his work in ABC's Lost, FX's Sons of Anarchy, HBO's Deadwood and countless other TV shows and movies, we know that Titus is going to leave quite a memory with us in the characters that he plays.

We talked with him about becoming an actor, working in the industry and taking on Bosch which comes from a series of books written by Michael Connelly.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What was the moment that you realized that you wanted to be an actor?

TITUS WELLIVER: Oh boy, you know, I think I was born acting. I don’t know about that, I think it’s difficult or I can say, it was right after I realized I didn’t want to be a firefighter or a policeman anymore like all little boys do.

Actually, there was a filmmaker named Rudy Burckhardt and he made some films and he asked me to be in a film of his when I was about 5 and it was a very simple little bit where I played a little boy that had a shiny penny in his pocket and he was walking down a road. He had a hole in his pocket and he lost the penny and the penny was stolen from him by this stingy old man. I remember sort of thinking that it was kind of fun, but I didn’t really consider it any further than that. I did some little bits in school plays and things like that.

I really was initially trained to be a painter – a fine artist, that’s really what I wanted to do. But I always had an interest certainly in film and I watched a lot of television. I was spending a summer with my mother – she was living in Boston, but I didn’t go to school there so I didn’t have any friends there and I didn’t know any kids there. She was living in an area where there just wasn’t that kind of accessibility and I was sort of left to my own devices which meant I was just going to the Cineplex – to the movies all day long. She signed me up at a place called The Actors Workshop in Boston and I was 14 years old. I was reluctant, I wasn’t a camp kid, I liked sports camps and things like that. I went and after the first day, I came back to my mother and asked her if I could do more days of that. I ended up doing 5 days a week and it was a professional school for both adult and kid actors. I did that and I spent the summer doing that, but I still stayed on the trajectory that I was going to go to art school and I painted and I studied and studied.

I did a few productions in high school and enjoyed doing that and after a year of art school, I was left kind of cold to a certain degree and I had a conversation with my father who very directly said to me, “you know, when you’re not thinking about girls and drinking beer, what do you think about?” I said, “I think about acting.” My father said, “so not painting?”and I said no. He told me that I needed to be an actor. That was kind of it!

AM: What’s your process like when you’re thinking of attaching yourself to projects? We’ve enjoyed seeing your in Deadwood, Sons of Anarchy and of course Bosch – what are you looking for?

TW: Well, when you’re starting out, it’s about paying your bills, but also gaining experience. I mean, I did a lot of teeny tiny parts in plays, in short films and things because I was just trying to learn and gain that experience. So there’s that, but I think that more then anything, it starts with the writing. I've read a lot of bad scripts and I have acted in a few. But when the material is good, then it’s on! Then you realize that you’re in the presence of some material that’s going to challenge you and also that it will hopefully teach you something. Because I always say, I like to be in a constant state of learning and getting better. I think that with time, age and experience, the hope is that we evolve and certainly as artists, otherwise, you get kind of bored and you go and do something else. I’ve been extraordinarily fortunate that I have worked with great writers, producers and directors over the years – David Milch (Deadwood, NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues) and Steven Bochco (NYPD Blue, Doogie Howser, M.D., Brooklyn South) to name a few and here I landed with Michael Connelly (The Lincoln Lawyer, The Dark Hours, The Poet) and Eric Overmyer (The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, The Affair) and Tom Bernardo (Bosch, Bosch: Legacy) – a very gifted and dynamic group of people. To be given the opportunity to play this very iconic character, he’s kind of like Santa Claus for an actor, he goes down the chimney every time that I go to work and it’s nice.

AM: We’ve been a fan of Michael Connelly books for a number of years so when Bosch went to Prime Video it was exciting and then that you were going to play the title character, we knew that it was going to be so good. How did that come together for you to be part of this?

TW: Well, I was initially sent the script and I read it very quickly. I had only read one of the Bosch books many many years prior to. Unbeknownst to me, my younger brother had read and re-read the books and to this day possesses a kind of encyclopedic knowledge of Bosch as well as everything that Michael has written.

Through a series of mishaps, I kept trying to meet with Michael and the meetings kept getting pushed off and I was shooting Transformers: Age of Extinction which had me traveling all over the place in Chicago, Michigan and then Hong Kong. We just kept missing. I got a call a couple of months later from my manager who told me that I had a little window and Michael Connelly was in town and I would be able to meet with him. At that point, I thought that that boat had sailed as it had been a couple of months that had passed. I went in and met with him and the producers and the director and I was – as my grandmother would say, I was blessed at that moment. I left that audition feeling good, but you know, I have been doing this long enough and have enough humility to know that that’s all you can do. I got the call from my manager that I had been cast as Bosch and to say that I was thrilled was an understatement. It was just more realized after the first day of shooting that I knew I was part of something that was different. I’ve played other cop characters and I’ve done lots of procedural cop shows. Look, when you’re doing something from the ground up, it’s tricky but, when you have source material, like Michael Connelly’s books, you have to work really hard to mess it up. You know, in less capable hands, it could be very very messed up. The temptation to sex things up for a lack of a better word – to have him wearing Brioni suits, driving a fast car and jumping in and out of bed like James Bond, I was relieved that there was never any kind of consideration to do anything because I have always felt that if it ain’t broke, there’s no need to fix it.

Because of the ways that Amazon and the executives work which is at the beginning of the studios, they have a prime directive which is to get the material, but then to delegate the process to the creative people and not to micromanage. They delegated to people that they knew that they trusted. They really did that and they stood behind the show. When we needed things, they always showed up. Because we had such a great group of writers and producers, we were excited by the acceptance and the invitation into people’s homes for the show and the success of the show. But I think that we always felt that it speaks back to what I said in evolving and learning. I felt that the show just continued to get better and better and here we are now in Bosch: Legacy which is a continuation of the work we have been doing for all of these years.

AM: For those who might need a refresher, where did we leave Bosch in season 7 and where do we pick up with him again as we continue his saga in Bosch: Legacy?

TW: Well, Harry’s you know in the last season of Bosch, he’s so completely fed up and disenfranchised that he gives his badge to the Chief of Police and says he’s done. There’s a great line that Irving (Lance Reddick – Bosch, John Wick franchise, The Wire) says to him in that moment, he says, “who are you gonna be if you’re not a cop and you don’t have a badge, who are you going to be?” Harry says, “I guess we’ll find out.” In the final scenes for a little Easter egg scene, we find Harry filling out his paperwork to become a private investigator.

We pick up a little over a year later after that season and Harry is working as a private eye, but he’s doing divorce cases and things here and there. It’s not like he’s got this bustling business and Maddie (Madison Lintz – The Walking Dead, Bosch, Bosch: Legacy) has joined the force and has been on the force for awhile. She’s still working with a training officer, so she’s a boot and she’s trying to find her own legs, but she’s Harry’s daughter and it’s really in her DNA, she carries a lot of the work ethic and the same characteristics and has the same moral compass as well as independent thinker which places her at odds, but she’s out there doing it. We find Chandler (Mimi Rogers – Mad Men, Bosch, Bosch: Legacy) sort of reeling from the very serious PTSD from almost being killed and the person who orchestrated her attempted assassination and Maddie’s looks like he’s going to go free.

You find that everybody is in these states of being kind of fractured and broken. You know, Harry is untethered, he's kind of wandering and he's always been a kind of an isolated character, but he's more isolated than ever now. Maddie, as she’s navigating it, she’s also trying to come into her own because Harry’s legacy has cast a very, very big shadow and that’s not all great! Harry’s reputation was one of being a closer and a great detective, but he pissed a lot of people off because he was a very direct guy and not exactly user friendly. The name Bosch on her uniform is not necessarily a great thing and she doesn’t use her father’s reputation as commerce within the department. So we find these characters really navigating things at the same time and interacting so it doesn’t necessarily feel like it’s a triptych, everything intertwines. But it’s also not like you have Maddie, Chandler and Harry having dinner at the house together – it’s not contrived like that. They’re all living their different lives and they’re all finding their way.

AM: How excited are you in being able to continue this story?

TW: I’m very excited and the idea when we were shooting the final season of Bosch, there was a heaviness for everyone involved. We had become very very close like a family as productions do and we were all invested and were very, very connected and committed to our characters and to the show and so when the opportunity presented itself that we would continue, obviously with a smaller ensemble cast and the ability to focus more on 3 central characters, but still bring in the characters that people know and love that populate the Harry Bosch universe – it’s a thrill! I’m very excited for the show to come out there because the fans of the show that have been so incredibly supportive over the years are really eager and hungry and they want to see what it’s going to be like. I have confidence that we will meet and surpass their expectations.

IG @tituswelliverofficial

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT | PG 46 - 51 + 55 Prime Video/Bosch | PG 52 Amazon FreeVee/Bosch: Legacy |

Read the APR ISSUE #77 of Athleisure Mag and see THE LEGACY CONTINUES | Titus Welliver in mag.

S3. E7 | #TRIBEGOALS WITH PRIME VIDEO'S BOSCH/LEGACY'S TITUS WELLIVER

We've been fans of Prime Video's Bosch where we follow along as Harry Bosch solves a number of cases regardless of how many feathers he ruffles in the process. On May 6th, the story continues on Amazon FreeVee with Bosch: Legacy. We see how Bosch continues to fight for victims as his daughter Maddie Bosch continues to walk in her father's steps and how he will reconnect with former nemesis, Honey Chandler.

We enjoy the way Titus Welliver leans into his characters and draws us in. Whether it's his work in ABC's Lost, FX's Sons of Anarchy, HBO's Deadwood and countless other TV shows and movies, we know that Titus is going to leave quite a memory with us in the characters that he plays.

We talked with him about becoming an actor, working in the industry and taking on Bosch which comes from a series of books written by Michael Connelly.

#TRIBEGOALS is Executive produced and hosted by Kimmie Smith, Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director of Athleisure Mag and is Executive Produced by Paul Farkas, Co-Founder/Publisher of Athleisure Mag. #TRIBEGOALS is produced and mixed by the team at @AthleisureStudio.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

IF IT AIN'T ON THE PAGE, IT AIN'T ON THE STAGE | SOSIE BACON + JOE MANTEGNA

Premiering on Jan 21st, Prime Video dropped As We See It which follows 3 neurodiverse 20-somethings who are roommates as they navigate getting their lives together and figuring out what they want to do. Played by actors who are on the autism spectrum, we see them go to work, push past their fears, have relationships with family and friends and more. In addition, we also see how their friends and family navigate their independence as well as the importance of having guidance by their aide. If you have yet to see this 8 episode series that is out now, there are spoilers in this interview that we had with Sosie Bacon (13 Reasons Why, NARCOS: Mexico, Mare of Easttown) who plays the life coach aide Mandy and Joe Mantegna (Criminal Minds, The Simpsons, The Godfather: Part III) who plays Lou, a father to Jack who is autistic. We talk about the importance of representation as well as diversity. We also talk about the themes that are discussed in this comedic drama.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What attracted you to wanting to be in As We See It?

SOSIE BACON: It was a great pilot script at a time that there were so many scripts coming in, but none of them was something that I was connected to – but I was auditioning for all of them. When you find a good one, you just hope that it’s randomly the one that you get. In this situation, it actually worked out that way as it never does. I think that the relationships are just so clear and so funny as well as touching. Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights, Parenthood, Roswell) has such a way with writing and every scene has such an arc and it’s a dream for an actor to be able to work with him because it’s easy. It’s all there, it’s all written and all you have to do is be in the character and be in the moment and play. So dream job!

AM: How did you prepare for the role of being Mandy?

SB: Originally, we shot the pilot 2 years before we shot the rest of the show because of COVID and all of that stuff. So with the pilot, I think that there were a lot of things with Mandy that were very similar to me – it’s actually the closest to my personality that I have ever played. I thought that that would be easy, but it was actually more difficult! I did my normal process of preparation which I will spare you, but I observed Elaine Hall who was our on set rep – their life coach like my character Mandy for Rick Glassman (Barely Famous, Undateable, Nobodies) Albert Rutecki, Sue Ann Pien (Ballers, Hellraiser: Revelations, Morgan Spurlock Inside Man). She has a program called The Miracle Project which is at the Wallis Annenburg Center for the Performing Arts adults on the spectrum do theater and write plays and they have aids there with them. I watched and observed and it was great. It was super informative and I was interested in finding out how they talk to each other, what’s the communication like, how much do they teach versus guide and that was so helpful. I learned a lot from that. Elaine was also on set all the time so I could ask her.

AM: Was there an additional person besides Elaine that told you about aides? I had never heard of this or knew that there was someone who was involved in that way.

SB: Yeah, Elaine told me about some people Mandy’s age who had that job sort of right after they graduated college and I talked to one girl who does this. It’s a job that people have and I wasn’t fully aware of it either. Elaine was just an amazing resource for all things about autism and aides. She has dedicated her life to it and I could just ask her questions all of the time and it was just incredible.

AM: One of the things that was interesting was that we see the 3 roommates, they have their own lives, they’re together and we see them with their families, but you’re character is the only one who truly integrates and sees the birds eye views with the highs and the lows - what was it like to be involved in this show that shares the diversity of what autism is?

SB: I think that that’s one of the great things about this show is that every person with autism is different. I think that sometimes people get wrapped up in these medical diagnoses that’s just a set of options that if you check off enough – you’re autistic – you know what I mean? There are things on there that I have, you know what I mean? It’s such a mathematical science with a lot of medicine, but everyone is completely different – like meeting me and then meeting my brother. I don’t think that there is one kind of mold to talk to any person in this world and I think that the beauty of the character that Jason wrote in Mandy is that she is adaptable. She is a person, open and non judgmental – she can navigate all of it. Elaine will tell you too – there are no sets of rules. Everybody will surprise you. Did I answer your question?

AM: Yes. To be honest, as someone who was not well versed in this topic, watching the series and the characters really opened up this world of what it means to be on the spectrum as the abilities are as varied as the goals, they are various focuses and needs/interests. There are some things that they can do that are easier than others and seeing it across 3 people really reflected that there hasn’t been a show showing autism like this in its varied forms and it was eye opening.

SB: Totally and everyone is different. It’s like what I said, it’s a diagnosis. I mean if you look at ADD this person has it and that person has it, but I feel like when you’re saying learning differences this term is kind of a joke. I don’t know what we’re weighing it against – who has the normal brain – I don’t know if I have ever met someone with that. What does that mean?

I like that they’re showing people at different levels and how everyone is experiencing life differently.

AM: Truly after watching the 8 episodes, I wanted there to be more and to go deeper into these stories! If there was a second season, what would you like to explore with Mandy and the clients that she has if you were able to give some notes?

SB: Well I certainly don’t want Mandy to quit – ha!

AM: That’s for sure!

SB: I think that there are so many different ways that it could go! I will leave that up to Jason, but I would want them to be able to stay together. I love all of the things that have happened. Things happen and we watch how they process them. To me, that’s my favorite stuff. I like to see friends and family deal with real life issues. Every single person in this show is dealing with real life issues they have so much room to have so many things happen. I want to see how they all deal with it!

ATHLEISURE MAG: What drew you to As We See It and why did you want to be involved?

JOE MANTEGNA: Well, I’ve said this before, but one of my sayings in my career is, “if it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage.” In this instance, it was on the page. So when I read that first pilot script, I thought to myself that this was one of the best pieces of television writing that I have read in my career. Also having a personal connection where I have a daughter with autism who is 34 years old now. That and the quality of the script resonated with me very strongly. My initial feeling was, I want to meet with this Jason Katims regardless – even if I end up not being able to do the show because I want to talk to him and let him know how good I think that this is and how successful that I think that it should be. We’ll see where it goes from there. As it turned out, where it went from there was that I ended up being able to play the role and wound up doing all 8 episodes and I think it came out the way that I hoped they would. So it was all that I hoped that it would be.

AM: What was your process like in being able to play Lou?

JM: Part of it was being a father of a 34 year old daughter with autism. I did a lot of that preparation just in my life. Not that it made it easier, but it made it something that I could certainly relate to aspects of it as it’s not all the same – because it’s not. You know, people in the autism spectrum are going to run the gamut just like people who are not on the autism spectrum. People are people – people are different.

But in terms of prep, you know I have been doing this a long time. I’ve been an actor for over 50 years and I have been on the planet for 70 years. So if nothing else, I have a lot of life experience going for me. I think that all of those things come into play and sometimes it’s hard to point to one thing or a couple of things, but I was just happy to do something that I thought had humor, had pathos, was serious and yet could laugh at itself, make people laugh and be very honest.

It made it easy. I think you have to prepare harder for things that need the attention and needs the work. This didn’t need to be fixed.

AM: In watching the storyline between your character, Lou and his son Jack, there were two themes that kept jumping out. Advocacy – how Lou was with his son and how the son was trying to be so with Lou. The concept of passing was also evident here. Typically when this term is discussed it has a racial construct around it but here the story shares that you character wants to live his life and to pass as someone who doesn’t have cancer so he can just live his life and with Jack, we see him wanting to live his life in a way that no one knows that he has autism. Why was it important that these 2 themes needed to be explored?

JM: Because I think that that’s what happens in life. Again, it’s an honest portrayal in that life itself is not one dimensional. I’m always amazed by the fact that you can read a story and you figure that that person has the world by the tail and then you read a week later that that person committed suicide and then you wonder what was going on there. Because on the surface, it looked like everything was hunky-dory. That’s what I mean and I think it’s just that. Everyone has more complexities than are sometimes apparent on the surface. That’s what’s explored here as well between myself and Rick’s character.

AM: You know, after watching the 8 episodes, I was hoping that there was more! It was really good! How do you think that your character Lou felt about his son and all of the progress that he made?

JM: Well I mean, obviously it’s still a work in progress as it should be. In other words, if all is right with the world, we will get the opportunity to move onto episode 9 and beyond to be able to continue and tell the story. Where we end it is like, “ok, this is where we are at this point in the story.” If people want to see it badly enough, we will just keep on as we do in life. You know, we don’t know and no one has a roadmap of what their life is going to be. You don’t know what tomorrow is going to be and so you just take each day as it comes and play it by ear and see where it takes you. So that’s the story that we told in 8 episodes now let’s see if we have the opportunity to keep expanding on top of that to see where it takes us.

AM: I hope so! A few years ago, we had the opportunity to go to Autism Speak’s Chef Gala that they held here in NY and it was really amazing to be at that event and to hear from those that are driving awareness as well as to hear from those in the culinary world who have a personal connection. What I was struck by in this series was learning about the diversity of those that are on the autism spectrum and to be able to show it across 3 different characters. I hope that there are more episodes and seasons because it was beautiful and truly educational.

JM: Thank you and I agree. Without question, it’s very high quality and I think it deserves to be continued.

AM: If there are additional episodes and seasons, what would you like to tackle?

JM: I’d like to tackle Lou going into remission so that Lou is still around for awhile!

AM: Um right?

JM: Beyond that, let’s cross that bridge first and see where that takes us!

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@joemantegna

PHOTOS COURTESY | Prime Video

Hear Sosie Bacon and Joe Mantegna on our show, Bungalow SK - which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multimedia companion podcast network! Subscribe to be notified when the episode drops. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.

Read the JAN ISSUE #73 of ATHLEISURE MAG and see IF IT AIN’T ON THE PAGE, IT AIN’T ON THE STAGE | Sosie Bacon + Joe Mantegna in mag.