Skins US - Daniel Flaherty on Skins US

"When you meet Danny Flaherty, what immediately strikes you is how different he is from Stanley, the quiet, underachieving, chronically late or absent high-schooler he plays in MTV's buzzed-about new series "Skins." But it's clear that the 17-year-old Glen Rock actor understands his character.
"Stanley, I would say, is similar to a lot of teenage boys out there. He's kind of lost in his high school years. He's trying to find what he wants to do with himself," says Danny, who's chatting at his family's dining room table, his mom, Cathy, nearby. "He's really unconfident and insecure, which is why he holds back most of the time and why he's scared to go after girls and stand up for himself. … And I think it all just boils down to laziness. … He's too lazy to do anything about it."
Stanley has trouble standing up to his cool friend Tony (James Newman), who has everything Stanley doesn't — including a girlfriend, Michelle, with whom Stanley's madly in love. "That's probably the one thing that's holding him back the most," Danny says.
"Skins" is an American adaptation of an edgy, same-named U.K. teenage drama series, set in Bristol, England. Created by father-and-son television writers Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain — Elsley is executive producer and writer of the American version — "Skins" is known for its frank depiction of drug and alcohol use, casual sex, mental illness, dysfunctional families and death.
Transported to an unnamed East Coast U.S. city, the new version, filmed in Toronto, features nine main characters who have counterparts (most with different names) in the original series. (Stanley, for example, was named Sid.) And a gay boy named Maxxie has been replaced by a beautiful lesbian named Tea — played by Sofia Black-D'Elia of Clifton, who happened to be in the elevator with Danny the day he found out he'd gotten the role and did a little victory dance.
"It was just such an exhilarating moment for me," he says. "We bonded at that point, so, when we came to Canada ... it was easier to make that connection with everybody else." (Six cast members are Canadian.)
"Skins" is a huge break for Danny. But the first time he tried out for the MTV series — at an open call in Manhattan — things didn't look promising. When he got to the auditions, he was told to come back in two hours, because there were so many people trying out. When he finally did get in, he says, "I was in there for about 10 minutes, and they had us do improvs, and they didn't call me back. … I didn't think I would ever get the role, because there were 2,000 people there."
But his manager, Dave McKeown of Shirley Grant Management in Teaneck, would not give up. "He was pushing really hard to get me into a private audition. He kept calling saying, 'You have to see this kid for this role,' " Danny says. "So, they finally called me."
Several auditions later, he was Stanley.
Danny and his mom disagree about his exact age when he started acting — he says he was 11, she says 10. "I was always jumping around the house, always trying to be the performer, and my mom said, 'Hey, they're doing 'A Christmas Carol' at Bergen Community College," says Danny, whose mother was then studying at the college, to be a dental hygienist.
He thought the musical sounded boring, but Mom prevailed, and the youngest of her four children went to rehearsals. "I was just an extra, kind of a kid who ran around with snowballs, but I started rehearsing a lot and I really loved it," says Danny.
He later took an eight-week TV and film class held in Saddle Brook and did school plays, short student films and voiceovers before "Skins" came along.
In the MTV series, you won't see full frontal nudity like in the U.K. show, but there's still plenty of skin. In fact, Cathy had to sign a nudity waiver for Danny, who was supposed to have a "naked butt" scene in the Stanley-centric sixth episode. It was never filmed because the episode was running behind schedule. But Danny was prepared to bare his backside. "It's acting, right? The scene was hilarious," he says.
In early episodes, his blond hair covers half his face. "They kind of had this idea that Stanley should be hiding from everybody, so he keeps his hair in front of his face, and for the first half of the season shooting, it was very annoying," says Danny. Eventually, the producers decided to trim his hair, so when they reshot parts of early episodes, he had to wear hair extensions for the sake of continuity.
Now a senior at Glen Rock High School — which, during filming, sent his schoolwork to Toronto, where Danny worked with an on-set tutor — he also sings and plays guitar (and is in a band called MF Killer Starfish). Danny has also written about 10 "fully complete" songs.
"He's a brilliant songwriter," his proud mother says.
In the U.K., the entire "Skins" cast changes every two seasons. (It's now on its "third generation" cast.) All Danny knows about the American version is that "if the show does as well as we expect it to, almost 100 percent there will be a second season with all of us."
He plans to study film ("I want to become a director"), but says, "I'm holding off on college for a little bit. I want to see where my career takes me."

Labels: artigo , Brand New , Danny Flaherty , interview , SkinsUS