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'Skins' Sofia Black-D'Elia: More nervous about playing a cheerleader, than a lesbian
The first episode of MTV's "Skins" premieres Monday (Jan. 17) and follows the UK version very closely, but there's one glaring omission.
The exuberant and full of life Maxxie Oliver (played infectiously by Mitch Hewer in the original series) is nowhere to be found. In his place stands Sofia Black-D'Elia as Tea, a lesbian to Maxxie's gay and a cheerleader to his dancer.
"She's a very confident, self assured girl," Black-D'Elia tells Zap2it. "She's very assertive and also very funny at times."
You'd think that playing a lesbian character on national television would be a daunting prospect for Black-D'Elia, but she tells us that there were other aspects of Tea that she feared more.
"I wasn't really concerned with the sexuality part," she says. "To me, the more daunting part of her was how confident she is. I'm 18 years old. I'm not that confident yet. So, yeah, I wasn't really uncomfortable with it at all. I was actually more nervous, because she's a cheerleader on the show and being able to pull that off. That was scary."
Black-D'Elia is just one of a cast full of kids with very little or no acting experience - just as co-creator Bryan Elsley did with the original British version. And she was glad to see that fear pass.
"All I was thinking about leading up to the premiere was the acting part of it," she tells us. "I was amazed that by Day 2, a group of complete strangers who were really, really different from each other got along so well. It was such a relief to know that hopefully if we got picked up that we were going to have this incredible experience together."
Watch a preview of Tea below:
What's your take on MTV's answer to Maxxie?
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Photo/Video credit: MTV
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Will they ever show music videos again?
Just contributing to the downfall of society, that's the MTV way. Yet you can't say anything that is pro-marijuana on that crap network. They glorify everything that is wrong with society. So now, my niece is going to go from wanting to be like Snooki to wanting to get pregnant to now, being a promiscuos lesbian. Lesbian is fine, but the character is being branded as seducing a whole cheerleading squad. This generation is pathetic.
I was dreading the US remake because I adore the Brit version, but the slight difference in characters has me intrigued. And it's nice to see a young lesbian completely comfortable with her sexuality. That's rarely seen on TV.
Wow really? Your niece wats to be like Snooki... blah blah blah, instead of setting kids in front of the tv and letting them watch whatever they want try stopping or regulating what they watch!! It cracks me up that idiot will complain about what's on tv when they have control. They hitting the power button or talking to your kids. Let's not blame media and society for your lack of parenting skills!!
Oh and learn how to spell, its promiscuous
How about people stop bashing tv shows and actually stop being **** parents.
Personally, I think all the bashing and stuff is pointless. I'm a 15 year old highschool girl. I watch Jersey Shore, and Skins, and other shows that, I will admit, set bad examples. But that doesn't mean the shows are gunna rub off on me. The kids who watch these kinds of shows are old enough to understand what's right and wrong. Whether they consider the right and the wrong within it, can only be determined by the parenting of the child. Raise the child right, and they'll turn out good no matter what kinds of shows they watch. It's as simple as that.
That's exactly right Brittany! And person that is complaining about what your niece watches on tv, you DO have contol over that, YOU KNOW. So quit complaining.