Giles Panton – Sugar Babies

By starrymag | August 16, 2015

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?

A) I’m in negotiations for a bunch of projects for Fall. I do a lot of cartoons! I have the rest of the season of “Cedar Cove” they can check me out in. Right now, everything else is still in negotiation. So, I would say there is lots more to come in the Fall – early January.

Q) How was your character James in Sugar Babies originally described to you?

A) He was originally described to me as a very slick James Bond type character. We really developed him a lot more as we went through shooting. It was pretty curt description to begin with and I just fleshed it out. He was a very, very rich British man – James Bond-ish. Then, we ran with it from there.

Q) What made you want to be a part of the movie?

A) I love James Bond and I love the Brits! Beyond that (and this may sound funny), I don’t like two dimensional roles. I don’t like it when they have someone who is just “the bad guy” and someone just “the good guy.” What I liked about this movie was that it explored all aspects of a dyanmic that is very, very common these days. We are hearing more and more about the Sugar Baby – Sugar Daddy relationship. One of the sides is demonized, depending on who you are talking to. There are these gullible girls or these dirty old men who are taking advantage. What I liked about the movie was that there was a humanity brought to everybody. Steve Bacic brought so much life to that and I think I appreciated that. I really appreciated that. There is just something about James a this brilliant, amazing man who can do so many things. I really liked that idea. That was very fun for me.

Q) Was there anything you added to the role that wasn’t originally scripted for you?

A) I gave James a lot more heart than may have originally been attributed to him. I also made him a lot more playful. The writing was fantastic and I loved the writers. The breakdown that we get isn’t always the breakdown from the writer. We get kind of a breakdown from casting. So, it could have come across that he was a very rich, smooth operator, but I added a lot more playfulness to him. It was like he was exploring life for maybe the first time in a lot of ways.

Q) There was such great chemistry between you and Alyson Stoner on screen. Did you jump right into filming or did you spend time together to build the chemistry?

A) I stayed in my British accent for like two weeks. So, when I first met her I just pretended I was British. We had a lot of fun. We shared stories and had dinners together. One time we shot all night and then she helped tape an audition for a different project the morning after. She was so gracious! We had a lot of time to bond, connect and joke around. We really did connect! It was a fast connection. The chemistry really surprised me. It was great! Once we set the guidelines, we were free to play within that and it was a lot of fun.

Q) James works for a firm that allows him access to the finer things. Did you do any research into ways James would impress Katie?

A) No, I was a bad boy in that respect! I, personally, have a great love for ancient history. When I go to Europe or any country, the first thing I want to do is visit the castles. So, I was kind of a history nerd already in that aspect.

Q) Katie seemed to have genuine feelings for James. Do you think James reciprocated those feelings?

A) I think that James is a lot more sincere than anyone might think. I won’t tip my hand too much. James felt more for her than just a random girl or a one night stand. She was more than that to him.

Q) What was it about Katie that attracted James?

A) I’ll say, Katie was very, very refreshing in her dignity and her genuineness.

Q) When you read that James refers his friend to Katie, was there a moment where you thought he wouldn’t do that?

A) Yes. That was my initial take. Monika Mitchell is a great director and we had a lot of good talks about James. We came to a whole understanding about where I tell my friend about it. I really don’t want to give too much away, but I think my friend took his own free license with how he handled the situation. If anything, I might have said, “Hey, help her out. She might need some cash because things aren’t for the best for now.” I would see how things may have been there in the past with my friend where he would assume things in a different way. It was still a stupid move, but well intentioned.

Q) James is seeing other Sugar Babies while seeing Katie, correct?

A) He has done similar things with other girls – maybe not in the same way. He has had similar relationships, but there is no other Katie. She is the first of that kind that he met in that age range. It usually takes a while for someone to get that kind of wisdom. But, to be honest, the circles he goes in are so plastic and so fake that it really was refreshing. There may or may not have been others, but there were certainly no other Katie’s.

Q) What were some of your most memorable moments from filming?

A) One of them was when we had shot for fourteen or fifteen hours and were exhausted. We still had to shoot this scene in the limo and it was the end of the run. I think it was the very last scene we shot and we had spent so much time together already. It was just effortless and insane just because it was this huge scene that we were doing at the very end of a night shoot. It came together beautifully and it really, really stuck out. There was just something so effortless to me. The conversation with Katie there stood out to me. Also, that same night, off set Alyson brought a coffee truck for the entire truck. She brought this gourmet coffee truck! She is so humble that she wouldn’t share this, but she really taught me something about what it means to be a gracious lead. She brought a gourmet coffee truck for the whole crew and they took a special twenty minute break for everyone to order whatever they wanted. That was beautiful for me. Then, there was the scene where Katie first meets me and Steve kept cracking me up. I don’t know if it made the cut, but I was laughing so hard through all of his makeout scenes. I was laughing in character because there was something so funny that in this college boy way he went to town in this really expensive restaurant just sucking face! I, as James and as Giles, thought it was hilarious. I really hope that made the final cut! That moment is etched in my memory!

Q) What is it about the Sugar Babies lifestyle that appeals to James?

A) We did have some pretty deep backstory. I do want to leave people wondering about James. I want people to have their own opinion about James as to whether he is a good guy or a bad guy. So, I’ll say at this point in his life James was looking for convenience. He has so much responsibility everywhere else in his life and maybe in the past he had been in some heavy relationships (or not). At this point, what appealed to him about the whole Sugar Baby system was the convenience of it and the fun of it and the not being accountable to anyone in the relationship side. His life is very heavy in other respects.

Q) What makes the Lifetime network such a good fit for the movie?

A) Definitely Monika Mitchell! She is a powerhouse director. The writing team too! Becca [Topol] did a great job as well! I think Lifetime is really willing to get their hands dirty with this stuff. Obviously they don’t go as far as HBO, but they are willing to go in this demographic on the rougher, rawer side. Much love to all the other channels because they all have a fantastic niche, but I think what Lifetime does really well (like with shows such as “UnREAL”) is that they really are willing to get into the raw and rough side of humanity without crossing the PG13 or R line. I think to tell a story like Sugar Babies you need to be willing to be a little rough and raw with it. If it was just a two-dimensional view with “these are good people” and “these are bad people,” I don’t think it would have been a good fit.

Q) Is there anything else you want to be sure to share with fans about the film?

A) I think it is incredibly polished for a TV movie and I like that a lot. Not to put down TV movies in general, but I would say (in my opinion) this movie got a lot more love in putting it together. I think it got special attention. So, I hope everyone sees that when they watch it.