Off Campus star Ella Bright is addressing some of the more surprising questions from viewers after the show’s premiere — from her age gap with costar Belmont Cameli to doing scenes with “partial” nudity.
“Listen, I came into this job and during the chemistry reads — with more than enough information and knowledge and understanding of what this role required in the show — I just fell in love with Hannah and these scripts immediately,” Bright, 19, said on the Tuesday, May 26, episode of DearMedia’s “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast. “There was never a question that I wouldn’t want to do this.”
Bright then directly addressed “people’s concerns” about Cameli, 28, being nearly 10 years older than her, adding, “But also not once did I feel one left out from being younger than everybody. We’re all such a family, and like, everyone was just more than perfect. I couldn’t be more comfortable on the set with these people. So it is funny when they said that.”
Based on the Off-Campus book series by Elle Kennedy, the show follows an elite ice hockey team and the women in their lives as they “grapple with love, heartbreak and self-discovery — forging deep friendships and enduring bonds while navigating the complexities that come with transitioning into adulthood,” per the official synopsis.
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Hannah (Bright) and Garrett’s (Cameli) love story took center stage in season 1 — with several key moments from their book, The Deal, being updated. The season, which premiered in May, received some backlash after audience members questioned a then-18-year-old Bright filming sex scenes with Cameli.
“For Hannah, the briefing was partial nudity, and for Allie, it had to be full [nudity]. That was just because Allie has got this amazing confidence about her and she is so free with her body and sex is just such an important part of her life,” Bright explained on Tuesday. “It’s honestly just showing the difference between these characters.”
She continued: “For Hannah — obviously, given her backstory [with sexual assault] — she dresses more innocently and she’s got the skinny jeans and the hoodies. It just shows the dichotomy between the characters. That was always — from the beginning — the idea.”
Bright clarified that nothing was altered when she got cast, adding, “All of [the people auditioning for] Hannah knew it was just going to be partial. For Allie, it was going to be full so everyone had [a] full understanding of what we were going into.”
Earlier this month, creator Louisa Levy broke her silence on the criticism surrounding the cast’s age differences.
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“I had a conversation with Ella before we closed her deal to make sure she knew what was coming,” she told Variety. “She’d read the book, so she already understood, but I walked her through everything and made sure she was comfortable and confident.”
The screenwriter acknowledged that Bright and Cameli had a nearly nine-year age gap.
“If I had felt she wasn’t ready, I would have pumped the brakes immediately. But she was so game,” Levy continued. “And we have an extraordinary intimacy coordinator, Kathy Kadler, who had conversations with not just Belmont and Ella but with all the actors who had any intimacy work.”
Levy added: “[It was about] really understanding what made everyone comfortable, what they felt good about, what they didn’t. We never did anything that made anyone uncomfortable before we ever rolled a frame of camera.”
Off Campus is currently streaming on Prime Video.
