Suits LA Star Stephen Amell Reveals the Surprising Audition Trick That Got Him Cast
Stephen Amell knew he had to do something different when auditioning for Suits LA.
Stephen Amell came out swinging in the first two episodes of Suits LA portraying series protagonist Ted Black. From its inception, the spinoff series had big shoes to fill, thanks to the popularity of the original Suits series and its core protagonist, Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht). So, when it came time to audition for the role, Amell revealed he instantly knew how to set himself apart.
Speaking to NBC Insider in a recent sit-down, Amell revealed that, when he initially got the audition for Black, he was tempted to go back and binge-watch all of Suits. However, he thought better of that and ultimately decided to go in without knowing too much about the show.
“I’d seen the very famous scene where Harvey hires Mike,” he said, noting that was all he knew of Suits at the time. “What I also figured, in this audition, was that people would be maybe going in there and doing a bit of a Harvey impression, I guess. I knew a lot of guys would be going in there very serious, suit and tie. So, I went in there in jeans and a t-shirt and tried to just be quick and loose and funny.”
He continued: “That really jives with what [creator] Aaron Korsh was looking for and, you know, then the rest of it was there.”
Luckily for Suits fans, Amell didn’t remain in the dark about the previous show once his audition scheme worked. He confessed he’s since gone back and watched a lot of the original show and considers himself a fan. However, he continues to pay attention to the many ways Suits LA needs to set itself apart from the original. Specifically, he noted that fans will get a lot of his character’s backstory and vulnerability way quicker than the slow burn they got with characters in Suits.
“I think that Ted’s always being honest, right? You’re going to rub some people the wrong way. That’s fine. I don’t want to play a character that’s perfect. I like playing a character with flaws. Maybe his management style isn’t the best, maybe he’s a little abrasive, maybe he’s a little emotional, quick to judge, but these are all real things, real personality traits that people have,” he said. “I like playing a character that not everyone is going to be the biggest fan of.”
While finding the emotional moments for Ted can be difficult, he says the show overall really flows well for him and his acting process, which he chalks up to the writing.
“Aaron Korsh and the entire writing team, they write this great, witty, punchy dialogue, and it just feels like it flows for me,” he explained. “I do not have a hard time memorizing these words at all, which is always the sign of good writing.”
Amell revealed the moment on set when he finally felt like he’d cracked how to play Black the way the writing staff wanted. He explained it was at the end of a long day of shooting, and he was very tired.
“So, I thought to myself, 'You know what, I’m just going to entertain myself here. I know this dialogue, so I’m going to really punch this scene up a little bit, and I’m going to trust my director and Aaron,' who was on set,” he said.
He thought surely they were going to cut the scene and tell him to pull it back and reel in his performance. However, he was surprised to see Korsh and everyone else on set say he nailed it and to keep doing more of it, which he’ll continue to do as Suits LA continues its season and braces itself for a really big guest star.
Catch new episodes of Suits LA Sundays at 9 p.m ET on NBC. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
