The cast of Harlan Coben's Shelter on adapting the best-selling novel for Amazon #MCTVF
The Cast of Shelter
Following the opening ceremony on Friday, June 16 which featured the world premiere of Amazon Prime Video's new series Harlan Coben's Shelter (premiering August 18 on the streaming service worldwide) and which focuses on the adventures of Mickey Bolitar, The Monte-Carlo Television Festival opened Day 1, June 17, with a press conference featuring the main cast of the series. Jaden Michael who plays Mickey Bolitar, Adrian Greensmith who portrays Spoon, Abby Corrigan as Ema and Constance Zimmer who plays Mickey's aunt Shira as well as the series' producer and director Ed Ornelas revealed details about the shooting process in New Jersey, the challenges of casting, their work and interaction with Harlan Coben and how the series is different from the book; etc. Coben himself has refused to participate in the promotion of the series during the Festival as a sign of his support for the ongoing WGA's strike in the States - he announced his decision during the opening ceremony when he was awarded a special diploma by Prince Albert II.
Contance Zimmer opened the conference noting that it was an honor and incredibly exciting to have the world premiere of the series in Monte-Carlo, at the TV Festival and, most importantly, it was very exciting to hear people's comments and hear how they can't wait for the series to premiere, everybody wanted to know more. Jaden Michael noted that for him it was interesting to see the reactions to the comedy elements since when you read the script you are not always sure if it will land; he also joked that he may or may have not shown an early draft of the first episode to his grandmother to check her reactions on that elements and to see the audience converge on the same beats of comedy and mystery was gratifying. Abby Corrigan commented that it was wild to see themselves on the big screen at the Grimaldi Forum since the actors expected to watch the first episode at home. Adrian Greensmith seconded that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to have the premiere in Monte-Carlo. Zimmer underlined the fact that she loved being a part of a show that the appreciation of the work and the characters is immediate and watching all the different ages, different waves and vibes and see it happening in their eyes after the premiere - "when people appreciate your work and you see it".
The EP of the series Ed Ornellas talked about the challenges in adapting Harlan Coben's best-selling YA novel and revealed that when meeting the author for the first time he wanted to make sure that they are delivering his vision, his books are so much fun and around every corner there is a surprise and the characters are so interesting. Ornellas was most concerned about the "Spoon" character since he is very complex and thought "how are we going to make this real" and it felt it was going to be a real challenge to cast the role and when seeing Greensmith he thought "wow, they did it". The series has so many tones - humor, loss, pain, adventure, mystery - very difficult to weave together and keep it grounded and truthful. Ornellas also noted the very important role music played in the series. The song 'Shelter' was found before he started on the project. "We listened to other songs to see if it was the best song to convey the emotion, if it had the 'haunting' quality to it because it plays such a big emotion for Mickey's character. But we needed a 'famous' song that was not famous, that nobody has heard of it." Jaden added that before the start of the shooting of the pilot Ed and Rola (Bauer - EP of the show) asked the cast to come up with a list of songs and he likes to listen to eclectic music; the song that they chose was actually from a friend of Harlan's - he has made the song and it had the rhythm and the beat.
Shelter was shot in Coben’s home state, New Jersey, including at his alma mater, Livingston High School, which is the school that the teenagers attend in the show. Ornelas said: “I've never been to New Jersey before. We got the "Harlan Coben tour" and we built a relationship in that respect so he would trust us with his material and he was an incredible collaborator, he was open to adjustments, open to the fact that literature is one medium and film-making is another medium... We both have a love for cinema - classic cinema, modern cinema and we communicated on that level... Something that struck me about the books and the project is that I think they are deceptively personal for Harlan, and I got that sense when I was with him, and that was a big part of wanting to understand who this person is, because once Harlan was on my radar, I saw his books everywhere. I couldn’t go anywhere on the planet without seeing his books, and so there’s this kind of mystique about this incredibly successful author. But inside of that all these words come and all these ideas and stories, and this one I felt was different.”
When talking about the novel being YA (young adult), Ornellas commented that "Coben treats the stories and the characters as adults. They are smart, it is not written down to any particular age... They are extremely intelligent people that are learning about the world and trying to make change and that complexity is what makes it unique".
As far as inspiration from the book was used and if they have read the novel, most of the cast said that they read it after the auditions. Corrigan noted that her character is roughly based off of Coben's daughter Charlotte and she talked to her and read the book and tried to absorb as much as she could. The actress also underlined the fact that the show is very different from the books. She added that before being cast in the series she didn't know about Coben's series of books and one of the great things about this job is to be immersed into a new story, into new worlds. Greensmith also read the books after he got the part and he revealed he talked a lot with Coben, asking him "what are we doing - are we doing the book or something different". He told him "forget the book, we are doing a whole new product". He added: “I agree with Abby about the heart of the books. But it was also very freeing, I think, to almost treat it as a blank slate, with the inspiration being a bit more abstract, rather than having real specific plot points and characterizations to go on. So, I find that quite freeing and inspiring at the same time.” Zimmer noted that her character does not exist in the book, her character is a male and she read the book as a base, as an outline.
Jaden Michael told an interesting story on the topic, saying that he loves to read and often gets boxes of books from friends and one was called Shelter, the other Found, Seconds Away; etc. but he was busy at the time and promised to read them later. Two weeks later he got an audition for a TV show called Shelter and it was based on a book - "that is very strange but it wasn't from the same author...". Then he went to Florida looking for apartments and in one of the common areas he saw Shelter by Harlan Coben. When he met with the director to discuss the character, he saw in his notebook that Shelter, Seconds Away and Found (the Mickey Bolitar series) were all books he was planning to read. He read the first book and decided not to read the rest but didn't want to scour his view on who Mickey was.
Later Michael commented: “When I was growing up, there was one movie I watched religiously. It was called Imagine That with Eddie Murphy, Nicole Ari Parker and Yara Shahidi – it was one of her first projects. And I watched that movie on repeat daily, because it was the only movie where I saw someone who looked like me. Even in 2009, it was the only movie that I saw with a young person my age who felt and looked like me, not completely, but I could resonate with them deeply. It was the film that inspired me to be an actor, to be deeply passionate about it. And so, for me, it’s just always a goal with every script that I read: Does this show, does this film have the ability to inspire my young version, the five-year-old me? Is a five, six or seven year old going to be inspired by seeing themselves on the screen, and find something within themselves that they love?”
When talking about the challenges of the characters, Greensmith noted that Spoon, who he plays in the series, has the least amount of challenges but the most interesting part of his experience was that the main function of his character was to support the others around him which is part of his nature. He also revealed that he prefers to have performances inspire him what to do in the future and he loves to be that kind of person for the people around him. He added that Spoon has a very intense vulnerability, playfulness, softness - things that he would like to have more of in himself.
Corrigan explained that her character Ema is an extremely guarded person, very vulnerable but not the one to show it. “Ema in this adaptation is queer, and I am also queer. And I think it’s a really magical thing to have representation, especially at this time. It’s interesting because I feel like she’s searching in many other ways, but in this way, she’s actually very, very intent and knows who she is, which is an amazing thing to see because generally we don’t see that I think on television.” She also added that “queer representation is really important, and it is becoming more and more so, especially in the younger community. It’s so important at this time for queer people to be seen on the screen, and also to be seen in environments where they are in their integrity, not just like, ‘What am I? What am I doing?’ People being seen for: ‘I am who I am, and that is what I am. And I don’t have to answer any other questions.'”
Zimmer noted that she is always drawn to conflicted and complicated characters because everybody can see themselves in them. As an actor portraying these characters it is not necessarily important to be likeable but relatable and to show your strengths, vulnerabilities, successes; etc.
Michael seconded Greensmith's opinion that roles should inspire actors' personal lives and make them better people. All of his productions have been very specific and he learned different things from them. He gave an example with one of his movies - Vampires vs. The Bronx - which he absolutely hated but taught him it wasn't about being serious every time. For Mickey a lot of it was also letting go, he always tried to take control but he had to learn to let go.
Contance Zimmer opened the conference noting that it was an honor and incredibly exciting to have the world premiere of the series in Monte-Carlo, at the TV Festival and, most importantly, it was very exciting to hear people's comments and hear how they can't wait for the series to premiere, everybody wanted to know more. Jaden Michael noted that for him it was interesting to see the reactions to the comedy elements since when you read the script you are not always sure if it will land; he also joked that he may or may have not shown an early draft of the first episode to his grandmother to check her reactions on that elements and to see the audience converge on the same beats of comedy and mystery was gratifying. Abby Corrigan commented that it was wild to see themselves on the big screen at the Grimaldi Forum since the actors expected to watch the first episode at home. Adrian Greensmith seconded that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to have the premiere in Monte-Carlo. Zimmer underlined the fact that she loved being a part of a show that the appreciation of the work and the characters is immediate and watching all the different ages, different waves and vibes and see it happening in their eyes after the premiere - "when people appreciate your work and you see it".
The EP of the series Ed Ornellas talked about the challenges in adapting Harlan Coben's best-selling YA novel and revealed that when meeting the author for the first time he wanted to make sure that they are delivering his vision, his books are so much fun and around every corner there is a surprise and the characters are so interesting. Ornellas was most concerned about the "Spoon" character since he is very complex and thought "how are we going to make this real" and it felt it was going to be a real challenge to cast the role and when seeing Greensmith he thought "wow, they did it". The series has so many tones - humor, loss, pain, adventure, mystery - very difficult to weave together and keep it grounded and truthful. Ornellas also noted the very important role music played in the series. The song 'Shelter' was found before he started on the project. "We listened to other songs to see if it was the best song to convey the emotion, if it had the 'haunting' quality to it because it plays such a big emotion for Mickey's character. But we needed a 'famous' song that was not famous, that nobody has heard of it." Jaden added that before the start of the shooting of the pilot Ed and Rola (Bauer - EP of the show) asked the cast to come up with a list of songs and he likes to listen to eclectic music; the song that they chose was actually from a friend of Harlan's - he has made the song and it had the rhythm and the beat.
Shelter was shot in Coben’s home state, New Jersey, including at his alma mater, Livingston High School, which is the school that the teenagers attend in the show. Ornelas said: “I've never been to New Jersey before. We got the "Harlan Coben tour" and we built a relationship in that respect so he would trust us with his material and he was an incredible collaborator, he was open to adjustments, open to the fact that literature is one medium and film-making is another medium... We both have a love for cinema - classic cinema, modern cinema and we communicated on that level... Something that struck me about the books and the project is that I think they are deceptively personal for Harlan, and I got that sense when I was with him, and that was a big part of wanting to understand who this person is, because once Harlan was on my radar, I saw his books everywhere. I couldn’t go anywhere on the planet without seeing his books, and so there’s this kind of mystique about this incredibly successful author. But inside of that all these words come and all these ideas and stories, and this one I felt was different.”
When talking about the novel being YA (young adult), Ornellas commented that "Coben treats the stories and the characters as adults. They are smart, it is not written down to any particular age... They are extremely intelligent people that are learning about the world and trying to make change and that complexity is what makes it unique".
As far as inspiration from the book was used and if they have read the novel, most of the cast said that they read it after the auditions. Corrigan noted that her character is roughly based off of Coben's daughter Charlotte and she talked to her and read the book and tried to absorb as much as she could. The actress also underlined the fact that the show is very different from the books. She added that before being cast in the series she didn't know about Coben's series of books and one of the great things about this job is to be immersed into a new story, into new worlds. Greensmith also read the books after he got the part and he revealed he talked a lot with Coben, asking him "what are we doing - are we doing the book or something different". He told him "forget the book, we are doing a whole new product". He added: “I agree with Abby about the heart of the books. But it was also very freeing, I think, to almost treat it as a blank slate, with the inspiration being a bit more abstract, rather than having real specific plot points and characterizations to go on. So, I find that quite freeing and inspiring at the same time.” Zimmer noted that her character does not exist in the book, her character is a male and she read the book as a base, as an outline.
Jaden Michael told an interesting story on the topic, saying that he loves to read and often gets boxes of books from friends and one was called Shelter, the other Found, Seconds Away; etc. but he was busy at the time and promised to read them later. Two weeks later he got an audition for a TV show called Shelter and it was based on a book - "that is very strange but it wasn't from the same author...". Then he went to Florida looking for apartments and in one of the common areas he saw Shelter by Harlan Coben. When he met with the director to discuss the character, he saw in his notebook that Shelter, Seconds Away and Found (the Mickey Bolitar series) were all books he was planning to read. He read the first book and decided not to read the rest but didn't want to scour his view on who Mickey was.
Later Michael commented: “When I was growing up, there was one movie I watched religiously. It was called Imagine That with Eddie Murphy, Nicole Ari Parker and Yara Shahidi – it was one of her first projects. And I watched that movie on repeat daily, because it was the only movie where I saw someone who looked like me. Even in 2009, it was the only movie that I saw with a young person my age who felt and looked like me, not completely, but I could resonate with them deeply. It was the film that inspired me to be an actor, to be deeply passionate about it. And so, for me, it’s just always a goal with every script that I read: Does this show, does this film have the ability to inspire my young version, the five-year-old me? Is a five, six or seven year old going to be inspired by seeing themselves on the screen, and find something within themselves that they love?”
When talking about the challenges of the characters, Greensmith noted that Spoon, who he plays in the series, has the least amount of challenges but the most interesting part of his experience was that the main function of his character was to support the others around him which is part of his nature. He also revealed that he prefers to have performances inspire him what to do in the future and he loves to be that kind of person for the people around him. He added that Spoon has a very intense vulnerability, playfulness, softness - things that he would like to have more of in himself.
Corrigan explained that her character Ema is an extremely guarded person, very vulnerable but not the one to show it. “Ema in this adaptation is queer, and I am also queer. And I think it’s a really magical thing to have representation, especially at this time. It’s interesting because I feel like she’s searching in many other ways, but in this way, she’s actually very, very intent and knows who she is, which is an amazing thing to see because generally we don’t see that I think on television.” She also added that “queer representation is really important, and it is becoming more and more so, especially in the younger community. It’s so important at this time for queer people to be seen on the screen, and also to be seen in environments where they are in their integrity, not just like, ‘What am I? What am I doing?’ People being seen for: ‘I am who I am, and that is what I am. And I don’t have to answer any other questions.'”
Zimmer noted that she is always drawn to conflicted and complicated characters because everybody can see themselves in them. As an actor portraying these characters it is not necessarily important to be likeable but relatable and to show your strengths, vulnerabilities, successes; etc.
Michael seconded Greensmith's opinion that roles should inspire actors' personal lives and make them better people. All of his productions have been very specific and he learned different things from them. He gave an example with one of his movies - Vampires vs. The Bronx - which he absolutely hated but taught him it wasn't about being serious every time. For Mickey a lot of it was also letting go, he always tried to take control but he had to learn to let go.
