A group of friends dealing with life and love…blending elements of both comedy and drama…set in Los Angeles…airing on Logo…and starring Darryl Stephens.
Based on that description, you might think the show we’re talking about is Noah’s Arc, the series that aired on Logo from 2005-2006 and then wrapped up in a big screen movie in 2008. However, this is 2012 and we’re talking about the new series, DTLA. Created by Larry Kennar (The L Word), the show premieres this week on Logo. Compared to Noah's Arc, it's arguably a more mature take on relationships, family, love and careers as seen through the eyes of a group of twenty-to-thirty-something friends.
And, yes, Darryl Stephens leads the cast as DTLA’s Lenny but, as he told AfterElton last week during a sit-down in West Hollywood, this isn’t a continuation of the role that made him famous. Instead, it's a brand new chapter for the talented (and sexy) actor/producer/writer/singer.
AE: Tell me the origins of DTLA. You’re an executive producer!
DS: Larry had this show sort of bubbling for I think possibly up to a year prior to my involvement. He had some other actors in mind, and two or three of the actors that are on the show, he’d been talking to for the whole time. Matthew Herrick, Scott Pretty, and Ernest Pierce, and then another actor Ryan Izay, who plays Rod in the show was also involved. Just by chance I happened to see a film on Netflix called, Spokane. It was one of those boy’s life, gay short compilations, and I watched it once, and then showed a friend, who showed it to another friend, and the third time I watched it I saw ‘written and directed by Larry Kennar.’
I had met Larry the premiere for Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom, and met with him with a script that I had written…that script ironically is about a group of gay guys with one girlfriend who had a birthday party, but three or four years later I Facebook him and said, ‘I saw your movie. I showed it to two friends. I love it,’ and Larry goes, ‘What are you doing right now? Can you come down?’ He’s very energetic and very excitable. And I basically went down and met with Matt Herrick the following day, and we had to do a little screen test on his phone, and I think within maybe two months we started with the initial shooting of the pilot. So that was sort of where it came from.
AE: Was it important to you that you not do another Noah’s Arc?
DS: Well, you know what was more important to me? I was playing a character that was not Noah. I’m extremely grateful for that show, and extremely grateful for the fans we’ve all gained from that show, but what I’ve realized in the last…that was 2005 when that started, so that’s seven years…people have really come to assume that I am Noah. Even casting directors, who you would think would understand when an actor’s acting. You know, I’ve met them and they go, ‘Oh you’re actually not wearing half tops and pig tails.’ I had no idea.
AE: And now you’re back on Logo, too.
DS: What’s exciting for me about going back to LOGO is that all those people who were familiar with that work, they get sort of reintroduced to Darryl as another character. Larry Kennar was very deliberate about that as well. Our first conversation was, ‘I need to see you doing something,’ because he met me at the premiere and thought, ‘You’re nothing like that guy. Why do we only know you as that guy?’ So he said, ‘I want to have you doing something completely different than that. We’ll scruff you up with a beard, put you in some suits.’ You know, that whole vibe, so yeah.
AE: The DTLA pilot is filled with the kind of issues we have as adults. Your character, for example, has a mother afflicted with cancer, there are relationship, money issues…
DS: Noah’s Arc was very much an idealistic, sort of simple romantic comedy. We kept it very surface, and very fun, and fluffy, and funny. I mean that show is hilarious, and watching the pilot of this, I was kind of missing having a Rodney Chester character come through. We have Leslie Jordan who delivers amazingly, but I do think that Noah’s Arc was great for just being very sort of fun and fast. DTLA has got a very different pace. It’s very conversational, and character driven, and as the season progresses you’ll see people. We’re all friends, but they’re complex relationships. Not everyone gets along all the time and some people piss each other off. You know there are friends who are there for you and love you. It’s just more like this is real life.
AE: Talk to me about working with Matthew. You guys have some really nice sparks in the show.
DS: Matthew’s extremely present as an actor. He was the one who I met with on my little screen test, and like I said, he’d already been involved. He knew what the character was about. So he was ready. He was very ready. Most people know him as a model, so watching him gain confidence as an actor even during this process has been really exciting. He’s really good.
AE: And whoever decided not to have him shave, thank you. I love that’s he’s a little furry with the beard and chest hair. Very sexy.
DS: That’s also deliberate. That’s deliberate. We’re not real queens on the show. We are scruffy.
AE: Tell me about the Lenny/Brian relationship a little more. Do you think it is monogamous at the point where the series opens?
DS: I think that Lenny thinks it’s not monogamous and because of his fear that it is not from the other side, he is feeling emboldened to act out a bit. I think that there’s definitely a lack of communication going on, and there’s definitely some resentment that’s had time to build up over the course of the year that Brian has not been working. And in a situation like that-- where one partner is sort of making all the money, resentment is bound to come up, and the partner who’s feeling like he’s being taken care of will also build resentment. Though Lenny’s also controlling and knitpicky and nosey, and I think Brian is feeling that pressure of having someone always in his face asking what he’s doing. And Lenny’s having that sense of, ‘I’m making this life possible, and you’re not even here half of the time, so what the hell is going on?,’ which to me feels very real, and that’s something we never got around to on Noah’s Arc.
AE: I also like the fact that it’s a nice integration of people. Gay, straight, black, white, Asian…
DS: We are trying to be as inclusive as possible, and what you’ll see as the show progresses is most of these gay characters have straight friends. Brian has Rod and Bobby, the surfer kid. They both come back later, and most of Brian’s friends are straight. Lenny and Kevin are good friends. So we can mix that. It’s multi-ethnic and different across the sexual spectrum. The sexuality spectrum.
AE: There are some fun jokes about Tyler Perry and even about LOGO. And then Kai (Hiro Tanaka) has his pursuit of a supposed DL baseball player, Ceasar Gomez. Do you know if that character is based on a real person?
DS: No, not a real person. In the original script it was Wesley Snipes [laughs]…but basically what that character represents is that Kai is not necessarily looking for a real relationship. He’s sort of chasing things that sparkle, ‘What notch can I add to my bedpost in this situation?’
AE: It made sense that in a show based in LA you have to deal with a little bit of the DL stuff that we all see going on around us, including celebrities being on the down-low.
DS: Particularly with an athlete. Someone plays a fictitious man who plays for the Dodgers, who of course cannot come out at this point.
Next page! Darryl's thoughts on Frank Ocean, Rupert Everett, closeted public figures and more. Plus, our exclusive photo spread!
Darryl Stephens photographed by Clinton Gaughran for AfterElton
AE: What is your opinion about people that choose to stay in the closet as far as their career goes?
DS: I do think it’s very personal. I think that everybody is beyond their careers. I think that coming out to your friends and your family is a very personal decision. It needs to be handled with care based on your particular situation, but I do think that when it comes to people who are speaking out against marriage equality and gay rights, who happen to be in the closet, it’s time to bash those closet doors and shed light on all that. While I think that the key to the success of any gay movement is visibility, and we need as many people to come out, and people of color to come out, because that’s a big issue right now. You’re seeing the black church still very backwards. Much of the black church is still very backwards on this issue, and I think that the reason they are able to hold onto that perspective is because there are so few people of color who are out in high profile positions.
I think it’s interesting, but I think it’s a delicate, and it’s a personal thing, and obviously my hope is that everybody who can and does come out, does so in a way…for example Rupert Everett can go back in the closet for all I care. If you’re going to come out you should please be responsible, and please say things that are going to help the community at large, as opposed to, make a mess of your life in public. I personally prefer that people who are not necessarily comfortable with having the conversation in public, yeah then keep it private. We don’t need to talk to you yet.
For me, I was hanging out with Wilson Cruz before [my] announcement was quietly made, and just watching him deal with the questions that were coming up on the red carpet; we were out for Noah’s Arc at that time. He was so well-versed on political issues, and knew exactly what his stance was on every single issue that affected the gay community.
AE: The Frank Ocean thing, was that as big for the black community as it seemed to be?
DS: Yeah. Well, I think for music fans it was a huge deal. I always say that people who have their ear to the musical pulse, we’re all aware of Frank. I’ve been aware of him for a couple years now, and he had already worked with Beyonce, and we all knew that. He had done the Kanye/Jay-Z album, and so we knew he was about to blow up. We all knew his album was forthcoming and the timing on that was brilliant. President Obama had just endorsed marriage equality, and Anderson Cooper, who we all sort of knew, and who is a gay white man with a secure job, had just come out, but still we were impressed. “We’re like great. That’s more visibility. Thank you.” And the way Frank did it was so slick. It just came in a way that was not…
AE: It didn’t seem orchestrated to me.
DS: It didn’t feel orchestrated. It felt personal, and it felt honest.
AE: What else do you have in the works, because you always have other things going on where there’s music, you’re writing?
DS: Hot Guys with Guns is Doug Spearman’s new gay action flick, and we’re working on that next month. I’m working on a second novel. Music…I’m writing some scripts. I stay busy.
DTLA airs Wednesdays at 11pm on Logo. For more on the show, visit the website. You can follow Darryl on Twitter and his website.
Check out more exclusive photos of Darryl below and on the following pages...
DTLA airs this Wednesdays at 11pm on Logo. For more on the show, visit the website.
