411mania Interview: Ryan Hurst (Sons of Anarchy)

Posted by Al Norton on 09.08.2009

411's Al Norton sits down for an exclusive interview with Sons of Anarchy's Ryan Hurst



Ryan Hurst has been appearing regularly on TV (Taken, Medium, Wanted) and movie (Remember The Titans, We Were Soldiers, The Ladykillers) screens for over a decade. He won a Two Tivos To Paradise Norty Award this spring for his brilliant performance as Opie on the FX series Sons of Anarchy, which returns with a second season tonight at 10 pm.

Al Norton: Let's start with the most important question – where were you when you found out you won a Norty Award?

Ryan Hurst: (Laughing)…Let's see…I must have been sitting in front of my computer. Thank you so much for that. Thank you very much.

Al Norton: How did you get involved with Sons of Anarchy?

Ryan Hurst: My manager at the time gave me the script and said, "you get to grow a beard, ride a motorcycle, have tattoos all over you, and it shoots in California." I was like, "sign me up." I went in auditioned and originally they said to me, "the character dies at the end of the first season but it's a great part", and I said, "well, let's do it."

Things went on and then they came to me about the middle of the season and said, "we're not going to do it, we're not going to kill Opie anymore." I've been happy ever since. This group of people are the best, strongest actors I've ever worked with.

Al Norton: How thrilling is it to find out you're not going to die?

Ryan Hurst: It was great. Most of the season I was walking around knowing I was only going to see these guys another few weeks but to find out you get a reprieve is great. It meant people liked my work, which is always nice. It was very thrilling.



Al Norton: How long did it take you to grow the beard?

Ryan Hurst: I had a bit of a beard when I went in to audition and when we shot the pilot. There was probably six months between the first pilot and then when we re-shot the episode, so probably about six months.

Al Norton: Is it uncomfortable or at some point did you decide, "this is the coolest thing ever"?

Ryan Hurst: Yeah, I've really grown to like it. During the offseason I don't shave it and I've done some really great roles with having it. The hard part is that in LA right now it's 100+ degrees…The beard, the beanie, and four layers of leather, that can be touch (laughing). I've gotten heat stroke a few times but to be honest, it's worth it.

Al Norton: Are any of the tattoos real?

Ryan Hurst: No, they're not. I have five or six of my own but they cover them up and then put the fake tattoos over them. All of Opie's tattoos I designed myself.

Al Norton: Really? Is that something you had done before?

Ryan Hurst: No. They told me I was going to have a lot of tattoos and I said, "if you don't mind, I know a lot of tattoo artists and graphic artists; is it ok if I work with them and give you the art?" They told me to go for it.

Al Norton: How often do they put the fake ones on you? How long do they last?

Ryan Hurst: They work just like the ones out of a gumball machine; you take off the back and put them on with a sponge. The adhesive that they use is approximately like super glue, so they stay on for about three weeks. You can scrub them in the bath and they don't come off.

Al Norton: One of the things that is so great about the show is the storytelling, which is so well paced and layered. As a viewer you knew something bad was going to happen to Opie, and I think most of us thought he was going to die, so it's really interesting for you to tell me he was originally. When they came to you and told you what was going to happen instead, did you think, "that's going to crush Opie"?

Ryan Hurst: I've been friends for Sprague (Grayden, who played Donna) for 10 years, we met doing John Doe and we lived in the same neighborhood for a long time. I was really, really sad and was telling her the whole time how sad I was. She told me she knew it was coming. I said to her, "what do you mean, it was supposed to be me" and she said she'd been killed off of series something like six times.

Al Norton: Was it hard to play the scene where the two of you switch cars without giving anything away, without any shading of a goodbye?

Ryan Hurst: A little bit. In one of the takes that they decided not to use, Chase comes out and gets on his bike while I am saying goodbye to Donna and I did a little finger shoot at him. It was a very hard scene to do.

Al Norton: You've worked pretty steadily for an extended period of time now. Maybe it's different with the beard now but am I wrong in thinking that it's Remember The Titans that people most recognize you for?

Ryan Hurst: Yeah, that's the one.

Al Norton: Is there ever any feeling of "I've done a lot of work since then" or is it just fun for people to come up to you?

Ryan Hurst: When someone comes up to you and expresses how moved or touched they were by your performance it's really great. It means that you're doing your job. I don't have any problem from Remember The Titans or anything else. It's a good reinforcement that you are achieving your goal of bringing life and light to these roles. I am real, real picky with what I decided to do. I want to make sure it's new and at the same time that it's in the same color of what I have played before. Not to pigeon hole myself but I don't like to do fluff.

Al Norton: I was going to ask if the way in which you select your roles had changed at all over the past 10 years or so.

Ryan Hurst: To be completely honest, I don't think it has changed much. I originally turned down Remember the Titans two, maybe three times before taking it because I was completely convinced the script wasn't going to be turned into another Might Ducks. They told me that Boaz Yakin was going to direct it, and he had done one of my favorite movies – Fresh – so I said yes right away.

A lot of my choices for features are based on who is directing and I've been fortunate enough to work with a lot of fantastic directors.

Al Norton: So you're a big sky diver?

Ryan Hurst: It's very funny; the two things I've wanted since I was little was to ride a motorcycle and to skydive, and over the last couple of years I've been able to check those off my list. I did my first jump about 10 years ago but as of late I go almost every weekend.

Al Norton: Any experiences in the air that shook you a little?

Ryan Hurst: Sure. I had a slight malfunction with one of my parachutes. To get your license is really, really extensive process. Before your first solo jump – they call it a solo jump but you have two instructors holding on to you – there is an 11 hour process where they teach you every single thing that could go wrong and how to right it. I had a malfunction, and I corrected it. It's not that nerve wracking.

Al Norton: The new season of the show is coming up, and not that the cast of wasn't amazing to begin with but you've added Henry Rollins and Adam Arkin.

Ryan Hurst: That's right. They're both incredible. Especially Adam Arkin. If you've seen any of his work you know what he brings to the table but to see him in this villainous role is very, very interesting.

Al Norton: He doesn't play it any different than his more traditional roles, and it's that much creepier because of it.

Ryan Hurst: That's absolutely right. He's not some biker, he's not some skinhead, he looks like your neighbor. Kurt (Sutter, the show's creator) was great in choosing him for the part.

Al Norton: Tell me a little bit about what we have to look forward to when the show returns.

Ryan Hurst: Throughout the second season what you're going to see is the tearing apart of the club. Everyone is going to choose sides. A lot of different things bring it on, many of them unexpected. You'll get to know more of the characters, which I was very happy about. You'll find out more about Bobby, about Chibs. Especially Chibs. They really explore a lot more of the characters. Last season was great but you didn't really get to know everybody. This season you really get to see the inner workings of the club a lot clearer.

Opie kind of turns into a robot. He sinks to a very, very dark place. Donna's death levels him. You'll see a lot of violence from him, not really directed at anybody or anything.

Al Norton: Without asking you if you've done the scene yet, as an actor you must be looking forward to doing the scene or series of scenes where Opie finds out the truth about what happened to Donna.

Ryan Hurst: Absolutely. It's kind of a nice pressure valve that's finally going off. I stay very close to the characters that I play and this season has been exhausting because of how dark Opie has become. When that scene comes around…it's something I am very much looking forward to.

Don't miss the season premiere of Sons of Anarchy, tonight at 10 pm on FX.