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Wednesday, January 11, 2012

The L.A. Complex is sexy, smart and Canadian made

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Toronto-shot The L.A. Complex tells of a group of struggling actors trying to make it in Hollywood.

The faded sign out front of the Hollywood hotel says “Deluxe Suites,” although truth be told the rooms stretch the boundaries of that adjective. In the courtyard, a cleaning crew pushes mops around the deck of the pool area, as a couple of inflatable chairs gently jostle on top of the sparkling surface. There was a party here the night before, I’m told, which could explain why the faded, weathered building is so quiet on a sunny, crisp morning.

Except, the real explanation is that this is not a hotel. It’s a television set, albeit a huge one, constructed on a lot in midtown Toronto that backs onto the Don River Valley. And the party, evidence of which is still being cleaned up, was a scene in The L.A. Complex. How to film a television series about a group of aspiring actors and artists living in one of the pay-by-the-month hotels in the outer reaches of Los Angeles? First, build the hotel. Next, add some aspiring actors.

“It’s a little too real,” says Jewel Staite, sitting in her room at the hotel, which is to say it is the room occupied by Raquel Monaghan, her character on the show. “This set reminds me of what it’s like to be out of work.”

It’s impossible to get away from the life-imitating-art angle of The L.A. Complex, since most of the cast has spent time doing exactly what it is they are trying to portray: living in L.A., going to auditions and waiting tables in between. “A bunch of us were out for dinner the other night, and there was a mix-up with the waitress, and it led to this debate about the right order of doing things for a table. Everyone had an opinion,” says Staite, “because everyone had done it.”

“Abby definitely hits close to home,” says Cassie Steele of her character, Abby Vargas. Steele, a veteran of the Degrassi franchise, whose producers are behind The L.A. Complex, did a spell for one audition season in Hollywood as a teenager. “I didn’t handle it well. You don’t know anyone, and you don’t get any guidance other than a couple comments from a casting director. You just find yourself in a room with 20 other girls just like you, except maybe prettier.”

So, when Abby is lamenting how you can pour your heart into an audition “and it still might not be enough,” it sounds a lot like Cassie talking. Or any of her cast members.

But if it comes as no surprise that these actors are very well-suited to their roles, The L.A. Complex is strong in other ways, too. Written and directed by Martin Gero (Young People F–king, HBO’s Bored to Death), it has both an irreverence and an edge that was unexpected for a series to be aired on MuchMusic, a channel whose forays into scripted drama tend to be campy, if slick, and aimed squarely at a young adult audience. But, with apologies to the accomplished readers who enjoy the escapism of a Pretty Little Liars, The L.A. Complex is a series worthy of a grown-up audience.

In just its first two episodes, it deals with accidental pregnancy — a character boldly asks a battle-axe of a pharmacist if he can buy the morning-after pill in bulk — and same-sex attraction (and not in a chaste way), and introduces characters of intriguing depth. Raquel was an ingenue, now she’s struggling to regain her fame. Tariq (Benjamin Charles Watson) wants to be a hip-hop producer; he meets a successful rapper who can’t square his new wealth with the mean-streets image that made him famous. Connor (Jonathan Patrick Moore) has been cast as the lead in a hospital procedural, and now he’s afraid the producers are going to suddenly realize they’ve hired someone who doesn’t know what he’s doing.

Perhaps it’s because The L.A. Complex is most often referred to by its network as a “sexy new drama” — and, to be clear, it is a cast full of attractive individuals — but what was most unexpected is how the series also shows off a fair bit of smarts. When Raquel elbows her way into audition with one of her former bosses, she finds out too late that the producers want a black actress in the role. “It says ‘colour-blind casting’ though,” she complains. “That’s kind of code for ‘ideally not white,’ ” she is told. “So you’re making the best friend black. That’s just kind of a cliché, don’t you think?” Raquel says. “That’s just a TV thing,” the honcho clarifies.

While Canadian-made shows have long since ditched the whole “too Canadian” thing that used to resign them to second-rate status among a lot of the audience, The L.A. Complex, despite being shot mostly on the Toronto lot — keen Degrassi viewers will note that the hospital hallways of the show-within-a-show bear a certain resemblance to the school halls of Degrassi — tells a Canadian story in a foreign land. Because it was funded by the Bell Benefits fund, a $100-million money pile that BellMedia must spend on Canadian production as a conditions of BCE’s purchase of CTV, it was able to tell a not-purely-Canadian story and not worry about meeting the restrictions that usually come with applying for Canadian government subsidies.

The L.A. Complex begins as a six-hour series. (“It’s almost like an extended pilot,” as Moore describes it.) It’s an impressive start. For now, the actors will wait and see what happens. In a way, they’ll be further honing their parts.

The L.A. Complex premieres Jan. 10 at 9 p.m. on CTV and MuchMusic. Subsequent epsiodes will air on MuchMusic.

Email: sstinson@nationalpost.com | Twitter: scott_stinson


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