Tragedy seems to strike fairly often on One Tree Hill, but that doesn’t make it any easier to witness. On last night’s shocking episode, Quentin was shot in the back of the head and killed after walking into a gas station in the middle of a robbery. The character was introduced last season as a cocky know-it-all whose biggest accomplishment was punching K-Fed in the face, but he’d truly grown and evolved since then. Not only had he become a good friend to Jamie, but he was also offering Nathan encouragement to pursue his basketball dreams. Quentin will truly be missed, and next week we’ll see how his death affects One Tree Hill‘s major characters.
I had a chance to sit down with actor Robbie Jones today to discuss his role on the show, his shocking exit, and his plans for the future. Read on for the mp3 and complete transcript of the interview.
This is Don from BuddyTV and today I’m talking to Robbie Jones, who plays Quentin on One Tree Hill. First of all, how did you get involved with One Tree Hill and what was that process like for you?
My manager saw the breakdown, saw the role of Quentin Fields, and he just thought it was right for me. He sent me on an audition, I went in there and auditioned a couple times. They liked me, they decided to bring me back, but they wanted to see if I could play basketball. I went over there and shot some hoops with one of the producers, and little did they know I played basketball in college and played a little professional basketball, so that was kind of the easy part. So I went in there, did that, and the rest is history.
How important was the basketball aspect? Would they have cast you if you couldn’t play?
Absolutely not. They made that pretty clear during the whole audition process. I guess they’ve run into a few people in the past they’ve cast as guest stars on the show who claimed to have extreme basketball skills, and when they get them out to Wilmington the guys couldn’t chew gum and run at the same time. So they were pretty specific on the ability to actually play.
It was pretty shocking what happened to your character last night. When did you find out about it and what was your reaction?
It was an interesting thing. Me and the Mark Schwahn, the creator, actually spoke about it and it was the direction that he felt he wanted to take the show, and he felt it would have a real strong impact on the viewers because of how important Q had become to the cast. It was just the direction he chose to take the show, and as always, I completely respect his vision and his outlook on the show. You just gotta roll with it.
Just because Quentin is gone, does that mean you’ll never be on the show again?
That’s up to the powers that be. You’ll just have to stay tuned and see what happens.
Last season Quentin was cocky and had a lot of conflict, especially with Haley, and this season he evolved a lot. Which of those was more fun to play for you?
Honestly, it’s always fun to play the bad guy. The cocky guy, the arrogant kid. People in my family and my friends see that and they’re like, “Man, you are absolutely nothing like that, dude. That’s hilarious.” It’s fun to get the chance to play someone who’s nothing like you. It’s a treat. You don’t get a chance to do that too often as an actor, get a chance to play something completely, completely opposite of yourself. It’s all fun. I think I like the bad guy better.
You had a lot of scenes with Jackson Brundage [Jamie]. What was he like to work with?
First of all, Jackson is extremely talented just as an actor in general, whether he’s the little kid or not. I think he’s just tremendously talented and he’s a bundle of joy, a fun little kid. He loves coming to work on a daily basis like everybody else. He has a great time out there and we have a great time with him. He’s everybody’s best friend on the set.
Is there anything you would have liked to see Quentin get a chance to do?
I wanted to see him get that cast off! I wanted to see his hand get right so we could see what he’s made of. The boy has skills, and when he got his hand broken by Mr. Federline’s face we never got the chance to see Q play to his full potential. That would’ve been nice, to see Q all healed up and dunking on everybody again.
What was it like filming that scene where you got to punch out Kevin Federline?
As you would think, it’s always fun to simulate some fighting and get a chance to knock out a few people and be the tough guy hero. Aside from it being Kevin, that was fun. But the fact that all this press surrounds Kevin, one of those guys where the paparazzi are all over him – some people don’t like him, some people love him – it was fun to get a chance to knock out Britney Spears’ ex on national TV. It was fun, and he was a great sport about it, he’s a great guy and it was all a really good time.
Are there any actors on the show you didn’t get a chance to work with that you would’ve liked to have a few scenes with?
I would’ve really loved to get a chance to work with Soph[ia Bush] and Hilarie [Burton]. I didn’t really get a chance to do that much with them. But it would’ve been cool to get a chance to work with my girl Soph and hang out with Hilarie on set a little more. We never really crossed paths that much when we were shooting.
What was it like coming onto a set where everyone had been together for almost five years?
At first it was a little intimidating because you figure everyone’s got their little cliques and everyone’s a big family and they’re like, “Oh, the new guy’s here, uh-oh.” But it was actually quite surprising to see how everybody embraced me with open arms like I had been there the whole time. It was really surprising for me because when I got there I didn’t know what to expect. It was my first day on the set and everybody was just so gracious, so nice, so humble, so it made it really easy. The whole crew and cast is really loving out there, they’ve found this humongous family and I can see why the show is so successful and been running so smoothly for six seasons now.
Do you know anything that’s coming up now that Quentin’s gone? Do you know how his death will affect the other characters?
There’s going to be some things that happen because of his death, but of course it wouldn’t be too cool of me to say anything. I’ll plead the fifth on this one [laughs].
What’s coming up in the future for you, do you have any other projects lined up?
There’s this film I just recently shot that’s going to be coming out around Christmas time called Hurricane Season, so be on the lookout for that. That’s a really exciting project that we shot down in New Orleans that should be out on Christmas Day.
– Don Williams, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of the CW)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
