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Belmont Camelli is in the midst of a truly chaotic promotional week. “It’s been crazy. I can’t believe it’s coming to an end,” the 28-year-old joked over Zoom with Hollywood Reporter.
It’s midday in New York, and the Illinois-born actor has just returned to his hotel room to have this conversation. It’s been a day since the launch of his new Prime Video series, Off campusand he’s almost grateful that the overwhelming amount of press and activity has kept him from falling into the age-old tradition of online scrolling.
“The only response [to the show] “I’ve been privy to the text messages I’ve been receiving, mostly from my friends and family — but also from some people I haven’t talked to in a really long time,” Camilli says. The actor’s friends and family have sent him photos of their viewing parties to let him know they’re watching.
In the series, Camille plays Garrett Graham, a collegiate NHL hockey captain and the son of a legendary professional player. The father and son pair have a very complex relationship from which much of Garrett’s internal conflict stems. Based on the book series by OG hockey romance author, Elle Kennedy, Off campus It is the latest sports romance show to be shown via live broadcast.
The series follows a college hockey team and the women in their lives at Briar University, dealing with typical college problems, along with some heavier themes. The show has taken a page from Bridgerton Playbook will utilize different pairings to lead each season. The first season focuses on Garrett Camille and his music student lover Hannah Wells (Ella Bright), following the plot of Kennedy’s first book in the series. The deal.
Off campus It came on the heels of Cameli’s roles in the film adaptation of video games Until dawn And Robert De Niro Alto Knights – The first projects undertaken by the actor after a period of inactivity. “I had spent a couple of years where I only worked a few days on things leading up to the strike, so I was in the middle of a lull in my career when I booked Until dawn“, he says, adding that it was a big moment for him.
“When I started, I was immediately busy,” says Camilli. “I started working with great enthusiasm.” “Then I feel like I paid my dues a little bit, and I really struggled for a few years.”
In fact, Camille, who grew up in a suburb of Chicago, had no intention of being an actress. “I was in college and I was studying finance. College was not a good environment for me, and my father passed me by when I got to school,” he says. “Suddenly, life seemed so short, and I felt it was so important to know what I wanted to do.”
The loss put everything into a new perspective for him. “At the time, I was doing the thing I was supposed to do. You go to a big state school. You get a college degree. You go to Chicago. You work in corporate America, the whole nine yards,” Camilli says. “Once I thought about what it would look like and that there was a possibility of doing anything else, I got out of there because I knew I would be miserable.”
The change in mindset led to him doing modeling in Chicago and eventually being signed by an acting agency in the city. The actor, despite the “difficult” and “scary” process of changing gears, never hesitated. “I’m a really stubborn and stubborn person, so I decided to do it,” Camille adds.
Camille found out Off campus in the wake of Alto Knights. He recalls that there weren’t many auditions at the time, so he and his actor friends were all aware of the project. “I read the pilot, and I wanted to talk to the creators. I had a meeting with Jenna [Fattore] And Louisa [Levy]” he says. The trio talked for an hour or two about the character and complex relationships at play.
“I was really excited about the prospect of playing Garrett Graham after that conversation,” the actor says. He admits that New Adult, the popular college romance genre centered on 20-something characters, wasn’t the first genre he was chomping at the bit with so little time to make, but after reading the scripts and speaking with Fator and Levy, he knew this was the project for him.
Cameli booked the role and got straight into the preparations, learning how to skate at the top of that list. “Once I booked the role, I wasted no time getting on the ice because I knew I had a mountain to climb to be able to play Garrett convincingly in game-time situations,” he says. “I trained for a while on my own in Los Angeles and then for another two weeks when we arrived in Vancouver with all the players.”
The men in question are Camille’s on-screen colleagues played by Steven Kalin, Antonio Cipriano and Galen Thomas Brooks. The four men attended hockey training camp together to prepare for the role – Kalin the only one among them who played hockey his entire young life.
Perhaps a testament to the studio’s big budget, this show shows more on the ice than one might expect. “In our opinion, the more hockey we can put into this thing, the better,” he says, noting how happy he is with the way it turned out. More shots are made by Cameli’s double — actual NHL player Vinny Iorio, a current member of the New York Rangers — but a fair amount of the show on the ice shots is the actor.
“Amazon was really invested in getting us up to speed before we started shooting, and they’ve continued to do that,” says Camilli. He and the other four starting men returned for another two-week training camp in March to keep their hockey skills sharp. The cast is set to return to Vancouver this week to film the next season of the show, and the guys will be heading straight back to hockey training camp.
Given how prominent hockey is on the show, it’s no surprise that comparisons have been drawn between them Off campus And last year’s surprise Hot competition. The hockey element is where the similarities end, honestly, but Camilli views the success of the Hudson Williams and Connor Story-led show as a win for more than just that of a hockey-centric series. “The way I see it is success Hot competition “It’s a big hit on TV,” he says.
“When that happens with Hot competition – especially [when] “It didn’t have a budget like ours, it was an entirely Canadian production — to see it go global is a huge win for me as an actor and as a member of the industry,” says the actor. “I love it when something like this happens. It makes me wake up in the morning. I’m happy for them.”
between Off campus and Hot competitionHockey is sure to have some time. “I think because Hot competitionmore people are following the Olympic Games. “I think because of the Olympics, more people will watch our show. It’s a sport that has a lot to love, so I’m happy that people are building narratives around it,” says Camilli.
Aside from hockey, a large portion of the show is based on his character’s relationship with Hannah from Bright. The Couple Starts the Show Let the Other Couples Come – Kennedy’s books center around the other men on the hockey team and the women in their lives.
He says Camille: “I’m really happy that I got first place. I’m really proud of the precedent that Ella and I set on set. I feel really confident that everyone is prepared for their role.”
“It will be really cool as a fan of these other artists to work with them to take more interest in their stories and watch them shine,” he continues.
Hannah and Garrett’s story is far from over, and Camille has reached that point. “I’m really looking forward to the new dynamics. It’s going to be different in a good way, and then from a career point of view, I’ll have more time to audition and look for other work as well,” he says.
Camille’s goal is to film a movie after Season 2 ends, and last summer, he didn’t have enough time to make it happen. “I have more resources and time now to look for films to do outside of this show, so there are a lot of upsides, and I really can’t wait to see my friends take over,” he says.
The actor couldn’t help but reiterate how much of a blessing the show was for him, and that he was enjoying every moment. It’s also not lost on him that he finally has his leading man moment, able to show people the kind of layered performances he loves. “I’ve waited a really long time for my chance to be the lead on a TV show. I hope the audience sees that I’ve worked hard and that I can relate to Garrett’s story,” he says. “But I think what was most important to me was that the people I worked with saw me as someone they could trust with that kind of responsibility.”
Camille adds: “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be. It’s the coolest thing, and I hope this show will attract interest and it might help me in audition rooms and meetings with directors. But what’s more important to me is that my reputation says I’m a good person to work with.”
