From crime-fighting to calling the shots, actor David Ramsey is making his directorial debut on tonight’s 'Arrow'!
From crime-fighting to calling the shots, actor David Ramsey is making his directorial debut on tonight’s Arrow!
After playing the role of John Diggle for the past seven seasons on the smash CW series, Ramsey finally stepped behind the camera for episode 711, “Past Sins,” and ET has the inside scoop straight from the star about what he was "most worried about" before taking a seat in the director's chair and how long fans will have to wait before we see "major" OTA makeups!
Ramsey admitted that he first expressed his desire to direct with Arrow executive producer Greg Berlanti “back before season three began,” but he wanted to “put in the real work” first.
“It was kind of learning on the job for the next five seasons after that,” Ramsey dished to ET over the phone last week. “I was over-prepared for this. I was bursting at the seams to direct by time, which is exactly what I wanted. I wanted to know exactly what every lens meant, what every frame rate was. I wanted this to be four years of director's training. So when I got the call last season that I’d be directing this season I was elated. I was like, ‘Great! I’m so ready! What’s my episode?’”
Ramsey teased that tonight’s episode will be “continuing the story and theme” of Oliver as he dives deeper “uncovering his father’s past.”
“It was really about that piece of character development and showing the audience what toll this is taking on him emotionally,” he explained. “But, obviously, Arrow is what it is – it’s a brutal action show, so I think the Ghost Initiative aka the Suicide Squad scene of action that we have are just fantastic.”
Although Ramsey revealed that he felt “over-prepared” for his first time taking the director’s chair, there was one thing he was “definitely worried about” – directing his co-stars and friends, Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards.
“Stephen kind of jokingly said weeks before, ‘David, you can direct me – just don’t give me any notes,’ and of course he was joking, but you then kind of have that in the back of your head,” he said.
“I knew all the shots I wanted, I knew the crane work, I knew the CGI work and the pyro. I knew everything I’d need to know in order to create and direct an episode of Arrow – but what was unexpected was just how warm my cast accepted me as a director,” he gushed. “It was just a beautiful, beautiful experience.”
But many fans are wondering when we’re going to see a beautiful onscreen experience with OTA – Original Team Arrow – considering most of this season has been fraught with tension.
Ramsey admitted that he sees that fans are “dying” during this fractured friendship. “I see their tweets!” the actor exclaimed.
“But you will get to see OTA back in action,” he promised. “You will get to see your team back in action together and there will be major, major makeups, so it’s coming. It’s not coming in episode 711, but it is coming and it’s a big part of this season, so [fans] will get it. If they just hang on they will get it. It’s not a season of Arrow without a lot of twists of turns.”
Looking ahead to next week, Arrow will hit an impressive milestone with its 150th episode, “Emerald Archer,” and Ramsey teased that it’s unlike anything they’ve ever done before. “It’s a completely different, stylized episode. It’s a different episode of Arrow altogether – the style, the look, everything will be different.”
Arrow airs at Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
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