PRIESTLEY BACK FOR REBOOT
Actor set for a different take on Beverly Hills, 90210
Everything shoots in Vancouver these days, says actor and director Jason Priestley, so it’s no surprise the city (with the addition of plenty of palm trees) was a stand in for the famous Beverly Hills zip code 90210 in the new reboot of a generation-defining 1990s teen drama.
The new show, BH90210, which premières Aug. 7 on Global and Fox, will feature the main cast from the original series with the exception of Luke Perry, who died in March.
For those viewers who were nowhere near a television during the 1990s, 90210 is a show about a group of friends living in Beverly Hills. A nighttime soap opera of sorts, the series followed a group of California friends from their teenage years into adulthood.
In the reboot, the assembled cast members are playing themselves, sort of.
“We are shooting a fake reality,” said Priestley, who grew up in Vancouver and played Brandon Walsh on the immensely popular series. “(It’s) a totally scripted reality show version of all of us as ourselves.
“In this glorious age of reboots, we decide, all of us decide, to try to get a reboot made of Beverly Hills, 90210. So the show follows us on our quest to get this reboot made. Will we succeed? Will we fail? What lengths do we go to try to get the show made?”
Joining Priestley are Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering, Tori Spelling, Brian Austin Green and Gabrielle Carteris. And there will be drama, of course.
“What happens when we all get back together? What wounds have healed from the show we did before? What wounds haven’t healed? Made-up wounds? Are they made up?” said Priestley, who is currently starring in the fourth season of Global’s Private Eyes.
“I think that’s going to be a lot of the fun of the show: What stuff really happened? What stuff are we making up?”
One real aspect of the show will be how the death of Perry is addressed. Perry (who played Dylan Mckay) suffered a stroke at his Los Angeles home on Feb. 27. After a second stroke, he was taken off life support and died March 4. He was 52. Perry had been starring in the popular teen drama Riverdale.
“Luke was a big part of my life. He was a big personality with a big heart,” said Priestley. “Dealing with his absence has been difficult. We continue to struggle with how to do it respectfully and not make it feel exploitative in any way. We’re working very hard to do it in a way that feels honest and pays respect to Luke.”
For the new series, Priestley goes behind the camera to direct an episode, something he did in the original 90210 days.
“I think it’s been fun for all of us. I haven’t really asked them if it has been fun for them, but it has been fun for me to boss them all around again,” said Priestley.
With the show launching in a few weeks — and Hollywood’s new love of TV reboots — the question has to be: What about an actual updated 90210 with the original cast?
“To go back and play Brandon ...?” Priestley said of his original 90210 character, who did not appear in the five-season reboot of the mid-aughts simply called 90210. “I don’t think anyone wants to see 50-year-old Jason Priestley in a Peach Pit uniform.”
That trip isn’t appealing or that necessary to Priestley, who has, to his credit, enjoyed a solid career as an actor and director over the past two decades.
In addition to a busy work schedule, Priestley has also been acting as an ambassador for the 10th annual Moores Suit Drive, which asks people to bring men’s and women’s work attire to Moores locations across Canada until July 31 to help people trying to get back in the workforce.
Dressed in a blue blazer, complete with a bright pocket square, a crisp dress shirt and dark jeans, he looked sharp and confident but, like all of us, he admits to having his own cringe-inducing sartorial memories.
“There were some fashion misses in the ’90s. Lots of popped collars. I had a mullet. I was all in. I pushed my chips all in in the ’90s, but why not? Why wouldn’t you? I didn’t go all the way with the MC Hammer pants. I didn’t quite go that far,” said Priestley. “Trends are there to be enjoyed. Trends are like a little piece of candy. You pop it in your mouth. They taste good. But they are gone quickly, thankfully.”
For Priestley, the charity is a good fit. “I feel super cool in a suit,” said Priestley. “Wearing a suit to me is like wearing a superhero costume. I feel that way with characters that I play. I always felt that way when I was playing Fitz on Call Me Fitz.
“I would put on Fitz’s suits in the morning and I would really put on that character. When I took the suit off at the end of the night, I would really take off that character and put it aside. My wife was very happy that I took that character off at the end of the night.
“So I really believe in this suit drive. We can give people their own little suit of armour to put on and go out in the world and try to improve their lives.”
These days he said he really gets a kick out of shopping for his kids — a 12-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son.
His kids still let him do that, but faster than you can say “Dad, I watched 90210 reruns, OMG,” those kids will be teenagers.
“I really didn’t become famous until I was about 21 years old. Thank God,” Priestley said of how tough teen years can be in the entertainment industry. “Thankfully, my kids aren’t really interested in entertainment, which is great. They’re gymnasts and they want to be scientists. My son wants to try to revive the extinct Tasmanian tiger, which I keep trying to explain to him is going to be very difficult, but he thinks he can do it somehow.
“Dream big and stay in school. That’s the big lesson.”
We are shooting a fake reality. (It’s) a totally scripted reality show version of all of us as ourselves.
JASON PRIESTLEY