1x05 "Cold Turkey" is one of the favourite episodes for the Off Campus cast.
Belmont Cameli (Garrett) loves how it switches between the drama at Phil's house and Tucker's Thanksgiving disaster. He says he never felt whiplash despite the heavy content. It flowed well.
Ella Bright (Hannah) reveals that during THE confrontation scene, she accidentally knocked over her wine glass. It spilled all over Steve Howey (Phil) and the white tablecloth. Bel confirms they were right in the middle of that scene.
Jalen Thomas Brooks (Tucker) says that there was a common theme running through that episode of wanting family and it not being there.
Belmont Cameli mentioned the tattoo on Garrett's back in 1x01 on The Kelly Clarkson show yesterday. This is part of his process of building out a new character.
I did. So Garrett Graham in the books has a tattoo which is just a flame on his bicep. And so I knew that I was sort of going to want to add a tattoo to him. And while I was building the character out this mantra kept popping up in my head. It was my high school wrestling mantra. Latin for there is no free lunch which basically means that everything in life is earned. Everything has a cost. And that is really who my character was. So I kept thinking of it and writing it on my scripts. I pitched the idea to our Showrunners and they ran it up the chain. And it got approved so I kind of got to put my fingerprints on the character which is really special.
I've noticed other things on the show as well that are Garrett / Belmont Easter eggs. I'm not sure if these are intentional or not but they help build out the character around him.
When Hannah is telling Garrett about her assault in 1x04 you see a Connect 4 game on the table behind her. Eli and Auden play Connect 4 at the pie shop in Along For The Ride.
Also in 1x04 Garrett is standing by his dresser and you can see a framed album cover on the wall. Belmont mentioned in his Schön interview for Until Dawn that he likes to make collage art out of album covers.
When Schön! connects with Cameli, he’s sitting in what he describes as his “workstation.” Behind him, a wall of vinyl records catches the eye. They’re not just decoration but an active passion for the Illinois-born actor. “I collage record covers,” Cameli explains, smiling. “Wherever I am, I’ll go to the dollar bins, grab as many as I can just based on the artwork, and then I glue them down, frame them, or just pin them up. I’m working on a really big one for my bedroom right now.”
This space, filled with records he’s deemed too scratched or dusty to keep spinning, is where Cameli relaxes, creates, and occasionally makes music — a drum set lurks nearby. “The records I actually spin are downstairs next to my player,” he says. It’s a grounding space for someone whose professional life has been anything but still lately.
Daniel Paille Calls "Off Campus" Star Belmont Cameli
Former Bruin and Stanley Cup champion Daniel Paille calls 'Off Campus' star Belmont Cameli to talk about Paille's poster cameo on the hit TV show.
(The video has no audio because I had to use Quicktime to capture it off of the Bruins NHL page. I did put closed captioning on. There is also a full transcript below that I wrote out. You can read that under the "Keep Reading" section.)
SCREENSHOTS
THE POSTER
These are photos that Vancouver Set Decorator Leor Froelich posted on his IG. You can clearly see the Paille photo on the wall above Garrett's bed. This is the photo that Belmont is pointing to in the video.
TRANSCRIPT
Belmont - Hey Man
Daniel - How are you?
Belmont - I'm good. I got you right here.
Daniel - I can see that. That is great. I was looking a little younger there so not too bad.
Belmont - Yeah. I don't know. You look the same honestly.
Daniel - Ahh thanks. I appreciate that.
Belmont - I look at you every night before I go to sleep.
Daniel - ** chuckles ** Well hopefully it gives you a little inspiration. You never know. I'm glad... honestly I was flattered to see that. I've been getting a ton of messages about the show too so I'm going to start watching it a little bit more.
Belmont - There you go.
Daniel - Its been great. I'm glad you guys are enjoying it and hopefully you're enjoying the city. I know you're shooting in Vancouver 🇨🇦 right now.
Belmont - Yeah. Its great. We've been training quite a bit. I don't know if you know but I'd never skated before this job.
Daniel - I did some research. I saw that. How are you on skating?
Belmont - I've gotten much better. I can scrimmage now and I'm so proud of it. Its really fun. You've spent some time in Vancouver haven't you?
Daniel - Yeah, we did. I got to have some time when I was playing. I obviously got to win that championship in Vancouver for Game 7. So that was a phenomenal time obviously.
( Vancouver Canucks fan in me: Boo hiss !!! )
Daniel - I don't know if you remember but we couldn't leave the building. We had to stay inside. There was a big riot so we couldn't leave until it was all over.
(That riot after the Stanley Cups loss in 2011 is infamous when it comes to Canucks and Vancouver history. )
Belmont - That is crazy.
Daniel - About 4 or 5 hours after they shutdown the idea of us celebrating at the hotel so we left the city late like 5 hours after. And then we just flew to Boston.
Belmont: OMG! Dude. That's insane.
Daniel - So we were just partying in the arena and the dressing room.
( Belmont has a big laugh about that )
Belmont - That's cool.
Daniel - I made a mess of it.
Belmont - I can't wait to tell everyone that I talked to you on the phone because we look at this all the time. It was an honour to meet you. A real pleasure.
Ella Bright is addressing "people's concern" on the almost decade-long age gap between her and her Off Campus co-star, Belmont Cameli.
A couple of days ago I posted this rant about people's "concern" about Ella and Belmont's age gap.
I've noticed over the last couple of days that outsiders, and of course the media for clickbait, are playing up the age difference between Ella and Belmont. Trying to infantalize Ella because it takes her agency away. She is an actress. She was fully aware what the story entailed. There was an intimacy coordinator on set for the more steamy scenes. She also considers Belmont a dear friend. She is not some child that needs to be protected.
Ella talked about it in a new podcast. I love that she stood up for Belmont. On the other hand I'm also mad that this got made into such a big deal by people who wanted to add an ick factor to the show.
“Listen, I came into this job and during the chemistry reads with more than enough information and knowledge and understanding of what this role required,” Bright said on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast. “I just fell in love with Hannah and these scripts immediately. Like, there was never a question that I wouldn’t want to do this.”
Bright added, “I get people’s concern, but also not once did I feel left out from being younger than everybody. We’re all such a family, and everyone was just more than perfect, and I couldn’t be more comfortable on this set with these people.”
The actress who plays Hannah in the series adaptation based on the Elle Kennedy book series noted that “it is funny when they say that,” but says, “I’m good. I’m completely good.”
Before signing on to the series, showrunner Louisa Levy made sure the actors were aware of the steamier aspects of the adaptation.
“Her idea was that for Hannah the briefing was like partial nudity and for Allie [Mike Abdalla] it had to be full, just because Allie, she’s got this amazing confidence about her, and she is so free with her body,” Bright said. “And sex is just such an important part of her life. It is honestly just showing the difference between these characters.”
Bright noted that “everyone had full understanding of what we were going into.”
Off Campus follows Hannah Wells and Garrett Graham’s “fake romantic relationship,” which turns into a real romantic one after they fall for each other.
