Dustin Milligan, newly anointed heart-throb of 90210 talks to SCOTT KARA about the reinvented show
KEY POINTS:
Dustin Milligan makes quite an entrance in the first episode of 90210, a modern spin-off of the popular 90s show Beverly Hills 90210.
He is lacrosse-playing jock Ethan. We first see him sitting in his truck outside West Beverly Hills High School - when up pops one of his female schoolmates from below the dashboard.
Making Ethan's situation worse is the fact that he gets busted by sweet Annie (Shenae Grimes) with whom he had a summer fling a few years earlier.
Plus, at the time he is actually going out with Naomi (Anna Lynne McCord), the school's most popular girl, and not the floozy in the front seat. Like, ohmigod.
It's saucy stuff for primetime (Wednesdays, 7.30pm, TV3). And you'd never have seen that sort of smut on the original TV series with its blatant moral crusading.
But, says 23-year-old Milligan, who admits his experience of Beverly Hills 90210 is based on watching reruns, kids these days aren't into being preached at.
"For its time the original was risque and it did handle some racy topics, although looking back it may come off a little corny.
"But certainly you would never see a blow job in the first 10 minutes of the original, or any show back then.
"When I first read the script, as racy as I thought it would be and as much resistance I knew it would meet from certain parent groups, I just crossed my fingers and hoped there wouldn't be a rewrite. I was pleased when it made the final cut," he laughs.
Milligan says executive producers Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah - writers and producers for late-90s cult comedy Freaks and Geeks - had the challenge of portraying a young person's world but also reflecting a parental point of view.
"And I think they've done it. There are elements of these wholesome family values but you look at teenagers and I can't believe how quickly young people are moving these days as far as experimenting with drugs, and that sort of thing. So a young kid can get a blow job but a few episodes down the line they deal with sex in more detail and the attitude is, `This is stuff you need to consider and be careful about.' I think there's humour, there's family values, as well as boundary-pushing moments."
The new 90210, which is produced by the same company that makes teenage soap Gossip Girl, centres on brother and sister Annie and Dixon (Tristan Wilds), who have moved to California from Kansas. They are the new kids at West Beverly and fitting in is made worse by the fact their dad Harry (played by Rob Estes who was restaurateur Kyle McBride in Melrose Place) is the new principal.
At school they meet the likes of rebellious bitch Silver (Jessica Stroup), and aspiring journalist Navid (Michael Steger). Sound familiar? Some of the original characters are back, including Jennie Garth as Kelly Taylor, who is now the guidance counsellor; Shannen Doherty as Brenda Walsh, who went on to become a successful theatre actor and stage director; and Nat (Joe E. Tata), who is still running local hangout, The Peach Pit.
Life at West Beverly is a far cry from Milligan's time at school in the small Canadian town of Yellowknife when he was a bit of a "doofus ... not that I was always doing homework in the corner or anything, but I certainly wasn't super popular. I was more into coming up with creative solutions for my boredom than just hanging out with people."
Milligan doesn't have much in common with Ethan, but is quick to defend his character and says he's not such a bad jock despite being labelled by classmates as "the guy with the light bulb shining out of his arse".
"He's in pretty good shape, but he's not super buff. Or super rich. And he's really funny, and a bit of a goofy dork. So he's kind of this quirky combination kid. And there's not a lot of ego with Ethan."
Although Ethan's in-car antics are a little naughty, they are nothing compared to the controversy the weight and physiques of actresses Grimes and Stroup have raised in the American media. Their tiny frames and twig-like arms are distracting when watching the show.
But, like a true professional, Milligan's retort is diplomatic, if a little evasive: "When there's so much focus on a show like this the media and everyone is going to want to know every dirty little secret about every one of us. But it's just that, and no disrespect to you of course, almost all that stuff is made up.
"Out here there are a lot of people who make money out of scandal so they have to create that stuff. It's really unfortunate because [those in question] are people we know and care about and they are just being lied about.
"We are all friends, we hang out outside work, and support each other - and remind each other that that's all bullshit."
So he answers with diplomacy. Then again, it seems he had to, because TimeOut discovered he is now going out - in real life - with Stroup. That's if the American tabloid media is to be believed. This small-town Canadian boy just made the leap to Beverly Hills.
LOWDOWN
What: 90210, updated version of 90s show Beverly Hills, 90210
Who: Dustin Milligan, plays hunky jock Ethan
Where & when: TV3, Wednesdays, 7.30pm
