JOE MANGANIELLO
"Owen" on One Tree Hill

Joe Manganiello joined the cast of One Tree Hill during season five as the TRIC bartender Owen who captured the heart of Brooke Davis [played by Sophia Bush], as well as the attention of the OTH viewers! We sat down to chat with Joe, who returns to Tree Hill in this sixth season, about working on the show, the Owen/Brooke relationship, his new movie, and the new story-arc of Slamball involving his and James Lafferty's character, Nathan!

How would you describe your character, 'Owen' to new One Tree Hill fans, and even old ones who didn’t connect with the character right away?
Well, I think that Owen is the classic 'knight is shining armor.' He's the guy that girls, probably, you know dream about coming and protecting you from the bad guys, or whatever it is. He's got a dark past, he's got a little bit of mystery... a little bit of a dark past. He's kind of a big strong guy, and fans from last season saw him revive Brooke's friend from an overdose and then beat up her drug dealer. I think that with everything that's going on in Brooke's life, and kind of the trouble she's been through, he's that guy who can kind of swoop in and protect her from the cruel world.

That was a great scene by the way, I didn't see it coming!
[Laughs] Thanks! Yeah, I know, I know.

What brings "Owen" back to Tree Hill? Can you say?
On a business side of it, the reason why Owen went away is I had to go shoot a movie. My contract expired during the writers strike and before it was renewed, I got offered the lead in a Fox action movie. I had to go off and shoot that, so that was really why Owen left. You know, if I didn't go shoot that movie, Brooke and I very well would have had a kid. But anyway, yeah of course with that said -- Owen has some apologizing to do. Big time.

So, Owen will be introducing Nathan into the sport of Slamball.
That's right.

Were you already familiar with the sport when you found out it was going to be a part of this season?
I had seen some clips of Slamball before and it just looked insane. But Mark Schwahn, the show creator called me on the phone and said, "Hey we're gonna be playing Slamball! Is that cool?" And I of course was just super excited to back on the show, and was like "Yeah! Totally!" You know? I went and actually looked again at the clips on YouTube and it made me kind of nervous. [Laughs]

I saw those clips on YouTube! It's ridiculous! I'm so excited to see it apart of this season.
James and I got out with the actual team in the pro Slamball players and we had to go through basically a series, an orientation process of learning how to pull off all those tricks. You know, moving from tramp-to-tramp, or moving from tramp-to-the-floor, or moving from tramp-to-tramp-to-dunking, tramp-to-tramp-to-Ally Oops. You know? All of those are separate skills that have to be learned. It may look easy, may look simple, but it's just a testament to those athletes making it look easy. Yeah, we had a really intense practice period.

Yeah, It looks like you can just lose your balance simply from jumping tramp-to-tramp.
Sure, yeah! You have to think ahead. A lot of coordination has to happen and your body has to get used to that kind of pounding. You're up really high and you've got to learn how to land and all that shock needs to be absorbed somewhere. I pulled a muscle next to my spine and I thought I had a spinal fracture. I had to go get MRI's and X-Rays, and everything was okay, it was just a muscle pulled but I had to sit out for two weeks.

Ouch! I bet with the storyline of Nathan not playing basketball because of his injury, this could be very dangerous.
Exactly! But, everything was okay. My back healed in time and we got to shoot everything. I saw some of the dailies and it looks awesome!

I'm glad to hear that!

You participated in the James Lafferty/One Tree Hill Charity Basketball Game earlier this year. Did you grow up playing basketball?
Yeah, I did! I grew up playing basketball from the time I was a little, little kid. Probably at eight years old, I started playing YMCA league and I definitely played all through elementary school and then all the way through high school. I could've gone on to play in college, but I wound up getting a scholarship for acting. So, I wound up doing that and the scholarship for acting at school was a full-time job. I didn't really have time to do anything else. Even in LA, I try to get out every once in a while. I love basketball and I've been playing forever so, getting out there at the charity event was really fun.

I imagine that's great being on a television show where you can share both of your loves!
Yeah! That was something that really factored into my choice to be an actor. I think was that if I had gone on to play college sports, I think I would have neglected my artistic side or my intellect. I think that I'm lucky that I've gotten to the point in my career that I've had a long enough career that I get to do a lot of athletic stuff along with a lot of artistic stuff. So, I'm very lucky. I'm very happy about that! So is my Dad, he likes all the action stuff a lot.

Well, the buzz on-line is that he [Owen] and Brooke won’t jump back into a romantic entanglement when he comes back. Why do you think Brooke wanting to be a mother made Owen back off? You know, when he and Brooke weren’t even officially dating?
Well, I mean, okay -- I can only speak as a guy. I think that having a kid is a really huge commitment, so I can understand why any guy would be hesitant about that. But, with that said I just do what the writers tell me! That's more of I guess, a writer question. You know, because I think Owen would have been the perfect guy.

Over the years it’s really been about that love-triangle between Lucas, Peyton, and Brooke. I’ve noticed since Owen and Brooke met, the fans have just been so locked into their relationship and rooting for them. Why do you think fans are so drawn to seeing these two characters hit it off?
Like I said, I just think the characters are perfect for each other. There was a great, great tribute video that somebody made on YouTube that was set to Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl, and I know that sounds hilarious but, it's that uptown girl -- that high society girl who's got it all and it's that maybe, lower status guy who's just got that heart. You know what I mean? Who's going to take care of her. It's Romeo & Juliet, it's that same formula and I think people really respond to that. That big masculine guy who's going to take care of that high society girl.

It's like that classic movie love story! But, you can watch it week after week.
Exactly! It's just that guy who may not have all the money in the world or the cars, but he's got that heart. You know that he would do anything for her.

You mentioned that scene last season where he [Owen] beat up the drug dealer and we found out that drugs were a big part of Owen’s past. Do you think that will be brought back up in his storyline? Would you like to tap into that kind of story-arc?
Owen is sober, so obviously if they make Owen start doing drugs or drinking again...

Yeah, like a relapse.
It's going to get bad. It's going to get really bad. I think if it gets bad like that, it would be bad for the relationship. But, with the introduction of the Sam character... with Sam being as troubled as she is, once again, I think that Owen would be a good influence on her. Or it would be interesting if Rachel came back in, and drugs kind of came back in. I don't know, I like Owen in the protective role. [Laughs]

Who would you like to work more with on the show?
I had a lot of fun working with James [Lafferty]. Sophia [Bush] and I have had some really great scenes that we've put together for the new episode, so I love working with her. I think she's great. Of course, I miss Robbie [Jones]. Robbie's my buddy, so I miss 'Q'. Yeah, I would love to work with Robbie because he's fun. Yeah, so pretty much James and Sophia. I mean, that's pretty much who I work with and I'm very happy working with them.

How long can we expect Owen to stick around? Do you know?
All I can say is that there was some new re-writes and... I don't know. There are some new re-writes that came out yesterday and they could potentially take Owen in a completely different direction. So, once again... I just do what the writers tell me.

Switching gears a little bit, can you tell me about your new movies "Irene in Time" and "Behind Enemy Lines 3"?
Sure, yeah! "Irene in Time" was a movie I actually shot three years ago! I had long hair and a beard.

Really?
[Laughs] Yeah, it was like three years ago and I shot this one day. It was just a small part in this movie where I had to improv. I guess it's all about relationships and I really wasn't allowed to read the rest of the script. I was just brought in by the director to work one day.

What about "Behind Enemy Lines 3"?
"Behind Enemy Lines" is the movie that I went away to shoot during the last "One Tree Hill" season! In that movie I play the lead, a lieutenant in the Navy SEALs who leads a squad of SEALs to Colombia on a recon mission and things just go horrifically wrong. We are fighting for our lives trying to get extracted back to the United States.

You shot that in Puerto Rico right?
We shot that in Puerto Rico, yeah.

I'm sure that's a BIG change from shooting in the small town of Wilmington and then going off to Puerto Rico!
Yeah! I mean we stayed at a resort right on the beach, but with our filming schedule we didn't really get to spend that much time there. We were being bused out to an hour and half out into the center of the island. You know into the rainforest, and these jungles, these crazy locations to shoot. Yeah, I mean in Wilmington you're living in Tree Hill so of course, with the exception of Slamball, it's pretty much romantic drama. "Behind Enemy Lines 3" was straight up action, gun-shots, explosions, helicopters, night fighting. It was really physical and just exhausting physical work all day.

I love a good action movie, so I'll be excited to see you in a different element than "One Tree Hill"!
Cool! Yeah, I think you'll like it. It's pretty cool.

Thank you so much!
Cool, yeah! Thank you!


FOR MORE ON JOE CHECK OUT:
· JoeManganiello.net
· ONETREEHILLWEB.net

CLOSE WINDOW