The Talent Behind 'Hate The Player: The Ben Johnson Story' Discuss Their Heightened Reimagining of the Infamous Canadian Track Story
actors shamier anderson, andrew bachelor, and ben johnson himself discuss the zany new approach to ben’s story, agency, ensemble, and more.
The story of Ben Johnson has remained one of the more polarizing sporting stories in Canadian history. Johnson, the record setting initial gold medalist of the 100 metre final at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, became the subject of international controversy after his medal and record were revoked following the revelation that Johnson was using steroids during Olympic competition. Johnson’s story has remained controversial, and has been told numerous times from many extraneous perspectives. Enter Hate The Player: The Ben Johnson Story, an authorized take on Ben’s story that nobody could have seen coming. Hate The Player takes a ‘mockumentary’ approach to the Ben Johnson story, with fellow Torontonian Shamier Anderson playing both a current day Ben Johnson participating in a documentary about his story, and a younger Ben in a heavily heightened (and proudly so) version of the Ben Johnson story, that broadly acts as a very stylized comedy, but also does weave Johnson’s own truths into the narrative.
Lead actor and executive producer Shamier Anderson, alongside fellow actor Andrew Bachelor, and the Ben Johnson himself, spoke to FilmSpeak about creating the bold new series.
As mentioned, Hate The Player emerges as something completely unexpected in terms of tone and style. In a world where most biopics pertaining to athletes often follow very formulaic plots and adhere to a monotonously ‘cinematic’ look and feel, this new series from showrunner Anthony Q. Farrell (The Office, Shelved, The Thundermans) blazes new ground, being wholly unafraid to take bold comedic swings and opt for a radically irreverent tone to such a widely known scandal, and in the process, creates something both hilarious and profound. Shamier and Ben discussed what it was like to establish the zany and bold tone of the series, and what it meant for Ben in particular to be a part of a retelling of his story that he had agency in telling.
Check out the full video interviews below!
Shamier Anderson: “I think, why not laugh? Things are always so sad in the world that we live in, got a lot going on. Ben’s story, obviously, has elements that are unfortunate, and so it was very important for the team, [showrunner] Anthony Q. Farrell, New Metric Media, my production company, Bay Mills Studios, to ensure that we brought light to this. I think the mockumentary angle is a very interesting one, because it pokes fun at the audience and [gets them] involved. It’s very tongue-in-cheek, and I personally enjoyed it as an actor, because there are no rules. You can look at the camera, you can reference things that you wouldn’t normally reference, and it was just a wild ride for me, and hopefully the audience.”
Ben Johnson: “It was great to meet the crew, Anthony, and [producer Mark Montefiore], and the rest of the people that put this thing together. It was a lot of hard work, but they got it done. My mother always told me that I’m not going to be well known in my native country, but when I do go and travel around the world, you can see the love that the people have for you. It was so great. I just came back from India, the love and the greetings that they have. Canada is my second home, and I don’t get the respect here as much, because track and field in this country is second-to-none. I just do the best I can, and ignore [the hate], and meet some wonderful people, while I move around in Toronto. I meet new people every day who wish me the best of luck… it feels great, all of the support over the years.”
Hate The Player also represents a long overdue leading role for Anderson, who has impressed in supporting roles from the John Wick world to TV sci-fi with Invasion and Wynonna Earp. The role of Ben Johnson, as written in this series specifically, would be a dream role for many actors; as it entails portraying a real person, some accent work, getting to play a character through multiple ages, and a fair share of both comedy and drama. Anderson reflects on what it was like to step into TV Ben Johnson’s shoes for the series, and why he kept his interaction with Ben himself to a minimum.
SA: “There’s so much incredible source material in the world, about Ben, which for me as an actor, is a gift, because sometimes when you are doing a period piece, you’ve got to use creative license to bring it to life, and with this one, the man was here with me. Interestingly enough, I actually didn’t work with Ben that much, or speak with him during my preparation process, because he’s a very different man than he was back then, so it was important for me to get an unfiltered, unsanitized point of view, and clearly he is biased, because he’s Ben! We all are, we all have our specific opinions about ourselves, and I just wanted to get the full scope of the rainbow, so to speak. That was really great, but then, the details are really important for me. Culturally, regionally, his athleticism… these were all things I took really seriously, to really elevate my role.”
Beyond Anderson’s terrific leading role, the series boasts an impressive roster of Canadian character actors, whom Anderson dubbed “The Canadian Avengers”. He further explained what it meant for him to act alongside such a talented ensemble, and how the nature of their roles affected the series’ tone for the better.
SA: “It’s the best of the best. The Canadian Avengers. I’ve been saying this through the entire press run… I’m a fan of Canadian actors. Getting to share the screen and play opposite these folks was such a gift every day. Karen Robinson played my mom! I was with her the other day, and I have her a hug, and said, ‘ You are incredible, and I’m so lucky to be able to spar with you in the arena of acting’. These folks are literally so talented, and for those of you who are about to watch [the series], they all play multiple characters. It’s very much like a sketch comedy show in that way. Partially because of budget [laughs], and keeping it interesting, but yeah, you’re seeing Dewshane Williams playing my father, and then in another scene, playing my brother, but also playing OJ Simpson, and then playing an announcer, then a runner! It keeps things alive, and I think that process as a whole brings us back to theatre. It brings us back to true play. That’s why it’s so special on screen, you can feel it, we’re having so much fun in every day.”
Another major player in the ensemble is Ben’s racing rival, Carl Lewis, played in the series by comedian Andrew Bachelor, most commonly known for his short-form comedy videos online under the ‘King Bach’ moniker. In Hate The Player, Bachelor gets to ham it up more than anyone else, clearly reveling in the cartoonish take on the real Olympic sprinter, and flexing his comedic chops in a way that feels like a natural extension of his own comedy brand that helped him rise to prominence in the mid 2010’s. Bachelor discussed his experience stepping into episodic comedy with Hate The Player.
Andrew Bachelor: “Short form comedy and long form comedy, it’s kind of the same, just taking the characters and making sure they have an emotional arc. That would be the difference, short form it’s just one [thing], it’s a situation, and it’s done, where with an episodic thing, it’s like, ‘where did they come from, and where do they end?’. I would say my number one thing is consistency, always be working toward your craft, and working toward your goal and being where you want to be.”
Bachelor then discussed how the series achieved its very heightened visual style by using a variation of ‘The Volume’ technology, a massive soundstage-style set with massive screens filling in specific backgrounds, and how it affected his performance.
AB: “It was very interesting, because you can click a button and be in a whole different location, which saved us a lot of time, and budget, because we didn’t have to move from the track to the airport, to the hotel, we could just do it all with a click of a button. Also, it’s a credit to the [directors of photography] and everyone in the crew that you have to know the eyelines… the eyelines have to match. When you watch the show, you can’t even tell, it looks seamless, it works.”
As important as it was for Shamier Anderson to do justice to the globe-trotting Ben Johnson story on a world stage (on Paramount+, an international streamer), it was equally important to reflect both his own roots in Scarborough, the easternmost Toronto borough that was also home to Ben Johnson at various points in his life.
SA: “I’m a metro housing baby…Birchmount and Sheppard, Bay Mills (residential areas of North Scarborough), shoutout to Wexford School of the Arts. Born and raised! I love it so much that my production company is named Bay Mills Studios. I think is starts with that, being able to use your platforms to shine a light on a place that doesn't have the best rap… the government would say we were at risk, and my mom would say we were at risk of being extraordinary. So, that’s something that I take very near and dear to my heart, and wherever I can continue to tell stories from where I’m from, empower storytellers from where I’m from, it’s a big part of my mission. The premiere could have happened anywhere, but Scarborough Town Centre, I can probably say it was one of the first major, national premieres at that mall, which is really incredible. We shut down the Hudson’s Bay (a storied Canadian department store chain), wicked! A bunch of Jamaicans at Town Centre after hours! After hours, and no one was in trouble.”