If you were to dream up a group of actors to band together and make an environmentally conscious, nature exploration show, I think it's fair to assume that you would not expect those actors to be James Lafferty ("One Tree Hill"), Stephen Colletti ("One Tree Hill," "Laguna Beach") and Stuart Lafferty ("Death Sentence," "One Tree Hill").
The brothers Lafferty, Stephen and award-winning nature photographer and author Ian Shive star in a show called "Wild Life: A New Generation Of Wild," that is all about bringing the wonders of the great outdoors to a new generation. The adventurous guys have captured exploits varying from Everglades exploration to swimming with manatees.
Hollywood Crush caught up with Ian recently to get the lowdown on their buzzworthy project and why the show is meaningful (and not just "Celebrities Gone Wild").
"[This show is] about, 'Let’s experience something through the eyes of people you recognize on TV, in an environment you’ve never seen them in before," Ian explained of showcasing themselves in a non-egotistical manner. "It’s really about the experience of being outside."
Ian went on to say that they thought long and hard about how to use James, Stephen and Stuart's profiles in a way that didn't open themselves up for online criticism.
"Four dudes outside is definitely a perfect meal for the internet snark," he admitted. "We even joked around about it... The way you avoid that is by not being ridiculous about how you tell the story. A lot of reality programming overdramatizes and sensationalizes petty things," he explained. "We’re not going to be out there like, 'Oh my God, Stephen got bit by 64 mosquitoes! What do we do now, let’s go to the doctor!' It doesn’t need to be that," he said.
Ian added that their intent in creating the show is to be "the antithesis of reality programming," and that they hope to take the show from the web to a primetime TV slot.
"We've had a lot of interest, and it looks good that we’re probably going to end up on TV," Ian revealed, although they aren't yet sure on which network the show might be broadcast. "The whole point is to reach a bigger audience and bridge barriers of what people think of the outdoors," he said. "It’s lookin’ good."
What do you think of their show? Do you want to see it on TV? Tell us in the comments or on Twitter!
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