Brad Benedict Talks Playing the Southern Bad Boy on TLC’s ‘Too Close to Home’ [Exclusive Interview]

I recently got the chance to chat with Brad Benedict, star of TLC’s first scripted drama, Too Close to Home. He gave me all the details on the juicy storylines, how he developed his real/fake southern accent, and his upcoming web series.

He even gave me an answer to his least favorite question.

Tyler Perry’s Too Close to Home follows Annie Belle Hayes back to her hometown of Happy, Alabama after her affair with the president of the United States is exposed and her career implodes. Back home, Annie Belle is faced with just as much drama as she left behind in D.C Much of that drama revolves around Annie Belle’s sister Bonnie and her boyfriend, Benedict’s character, J.B.

“My character is dating her sister Bonnie, and he’s a bit of a mess,” Benedict said.

A bit of a mess might be an understatement. In the first few episodes, J.B. gets his big rig stolen (by another of Annie Belle’s sisters), gets caught running drugs, and interacts with a bunch of surprise family members.

Oh, and this all happens while Annie Belle is dealing with the fall out of the president suffering from a heart attack mid oval-office-hook-up.

Talk about juicy.

“I didn’t even realize how juicy and dramatic it was, cause when you are shooting it you kind of lose track of it. I was watching with some friends, and they were like, ‘Oh my god this is so crazy.’ There’s a lot of drama, and a lot of controversy” Benedict noted.

Although J.B. is at the center of a lot of that drama and controversy, Benedict doesn’t see him as all bad, “I don’t like to look at him as a villain.”

He does enjoy playing the bad boy, though. “It’s a lot of fun, being this character that a lot of people seem to love to hate or hate to love.”

In preparing for the role, Brad spent a lot of time thinking about J.B.’s motivations. “I think he’s more misunderstood, but for good reason,” he explained.

“I think J.B. has a lot of issues from childhood and is sort of stuck between a boy and a man. He never felt loved or accepted” he continued. “It caused him to act out.”

He’s trying to be a better person, though. “He’s sort of stuck in that childlike state, so as he tries his best to help out, he ends up making the situation worse.”

Parts of playing J.B. came easily to Benedict, while others were more of a stretch. “When I did the audition, I actually thought there’s no way I’m gonna get this role,” he admitted.

Although he considers himself more preppy than bad boy, Benedict is a southerner – just don’t tell that to his accent.

“I have the south in my bones and I know that world, but I didn’t really prepare the accent. I just kinda threw it on last-minute for my audition tap,e and I was stuck with it because Tyler [Perry] thought it was real,” Benedict said.

Even if his accent wasn’t real, being back in the south was exciting for him. “I got to go home to shoot the show. That was kind of a dream come true. It was just a blast.”

Benedict also drew from his own life to create J.B. “I think that as an actor, you always go to the things that you’ve experienced in your own life, and though I’ve never been involved with a drug ring,” he continued, “I certainly have had family drama. And I have an older brother and experienced immense love through that relationship, but also we have had a lot of differences at certain points in our lives.”

Once he stepped onto the trailer park Tyler Perry built for the show, the rest came naturally.

“When you put on the accent, you put on the clothes, you get into the fully built trailer park, it kinda changes your inner thoughts. Once you’re dropped into that environment, a lot of the work just starts to happen for you.”

Working with Tyler Perry was also a new experience for Benedict. “A lot of one hour dramas shoot episodes in a week’s time. We shot our full eight episodes in eight shooting days, and that was just a really crazy, new experience.”

Perry and the other producers had high expectations for their cast.

“We had a meeting with our producers, and they basically said, ‘alright our goal is for you to have everything prepared going into day one.’” This was because the show shot out of order, Benedict explained.

To cope, he spent a great deal of time reading the script and learning the storyline.

“I decided the best thing to do was just start by just reading the script over and over and over again — and really get comfortable with the timeline and what happens when, and taking really extensive notes on that — so that as soon as I jump into a scene,” he said, “I could switch to that moment.”

The cast and crew stepped up to the challenge of an accelerated shooting speed, Benedict said.

“This was certainly, without a doubt, the most harmonious cast and crew that I’ve ever been a part of.”

He credits the harmony of the cast and crew to Perry. Benedict described Perry by saying, “the quote I’ve used a couple times is he was a General, but not a dictator. He was nurturing, and kind, and encouraging.”

Benedict is also working on a web series, The Hollywood Box, that follows a husband and wife team as they attempt to save their floundering gym by entering a cross fit competition (and creating a documentary about it). Along the way, they encounter an old friend who brings some old drama back to the surface.

The series is based on Benedict’s experience as an athlete and fitness enthusiast.

“I coached cross fit as a side gig, and fitness has always been a big part of my life. I played college tennis for University of Georgia.”

Benedict and his writing partner, Jeremy Mitchell, decided to write and create the series as an opportunity for themselves and other actors. “We just wanted to make some content because as actors, if you don’t get hired, it’s hard to act,” he said.

The series is finished, and Benedict is hoping to have it released soon.

As for Too Close to Home, it’s worthwhile to tune in, Benedict said, because there is “more than meets the eye.”

Benedict also shared what he thinks is the number one reason to watch (which he joked was his least favorite question, since he hates trying to pick the number one of anything).

“If you like sexy and volatile and a little bit of forgiveness, then I think this is the show for you.”

Sounds good to me.

Be sure to catch Brad Benedict on Too Close to Home, airing Mondays at 9/8c on TLC.

Official Links:
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