INTERVIEW: Bug Hall pulls back curtain on birth of Harley Davidson
Discovery Channel is set to premiere its highly anticipated miniseries, Harley and the Davidsons, Monday, Sept. 5 at 9 p.m. The three-night event features a cast of characters bringing to life the early days of the Harley Davidson company, one of the most iconic brands in American history.
For motorcycle enthusiasts, the programming offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the people who helped create and develop this company. Michiel Huisman (Game of Thrones) plays Walter Davidson, and Robert Aramayo (also Game of Thrones) plays William (Bill) Harley. Bug Hall (Alfalfa in the The Little Rascals remake) portrays Arthur Davidson.
“I had taken some time off to write and just kind of focus on my own work, and literally it was kind of perfect timing because I was just kind of hitting the point where I was thinking of picking up some other projects,” Hall said of his decision to take on the Arthur Davidson role. “My agents for the last couple of years had been trying to taunt me with other things, taunt me with appealing projects, and this one came around just kind of right in time. And I grew up on motorcycles. I love history. All the parts really fit me really well.”
He added: “I kind of came out swinging and met with the guys from Discovery, and I think we were all pretty excited early on.”
When approaching Arthur Davidson, Hall tried to separate the historical figure from the actual man. Too often, the actor said, there’s a danger in approaching a role from the “iconic” perspective. Just because Arthur Davidson helped start a motorcycle revolution doesn’t mean he should be played as an icon. Instead, reality is key, and that leads to believability.
“I really wanted to get to the root of who the guy was, and what I could find always touched on a couple key things: the fact that he was very fair, the fact that he was very family oriented, that he really was devoted to his family, and the fact that he was tenacious, never say die, never quit,” he said. “If he believed in something, he followed through with it. It was really those qualities about him that sort of inspired my take on him.”
Hall said the entire three-night event, which continues Tuesday, Sept. 6 and Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 9 p.m on Discovery, pulls back the curtain on the wizard. Fans and newbies will have the chance to see the inner-workings of how this company started, including the early discussions and disagreements among the founders. Hall characterized the early days as three brilliant men fighting for their own vision, and then eventually that vision comes together and coalesces.
“I think Harley fans are going to be very excited,” Hall said. “I think they’re going to be surprised by what they’ve learned and seen.”
Working on the set with Huisman and Aramayo was a memorable experience for Hall. The actor said, of the many sets he’s been on, including Masters of Sex and Revolution, he has never grown closer to a group of fellow actors than his time on Harley and the Davidsons. Audiences will see them age on screen because the series covers 36 years in the lives of these three men. “These guys, Michiel and Robert, are like brothers to me now,” he said. “It was just really cool to form those kind of bonds in a work environment, and every day was just laughing and joyful. We talked about our families, and we talked about the things that matter to us. I’ve been told multiple times already that the relationships seem so genuine on screen, and I always like to joke, I’m not that good of an actor. Those relationships just really were that strong.”
As a TV event, Harley and the Davidsons is monumental for Discovery. Hall characterized the miniseries as a “new set of clothes” for the network, which is home to many reality series but not dramatic programming with actual actors. “We all aware of the fact that this was a really big push for Discovery to really start reinventing itself,” he said. “That definitely drove our motivation to really bring everything we had to the table, and as far as the scope of the project, by the time I came onto the project, the three scripts were already pretty locked down. So we knew that it was two hours over three episodes, six hours altogether. It was exciting.”
As far as the audience members go, there will probably be different perspectives. Those who own a Harley will be interested, for sure, but there’s a lot of dramatic content that will attract the eyes of non-Harley aficionados as well. Hall said the miniseries explores an early slice of Americana and how motorcycle culture evolved.
“Everyone is going to have a perspective on the thing depending on what their history with it is or what their lack of history with it is,” he said. “We’re giving a pretty objective view of the early days of motorcycle culture, so you can at least see the context in which it came out of.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Harley and the Davidsons runs three consecutive nights, premiering Monday, Sept. 5 at 9 p.m. on the Discovery Channel. Click here for more information.
