The Canadian show Heated Rivalry, based on the novel by Rachel Reid, isn’t just one of the most highly anticipated shows in Canada, but internationally, as it lands on Crave in Canada, and HBO Max in the U.S. and Australia. The sexy, steamy series is a horny romance drama about two professional hockey players, Shane Hollander, played by Canadian actor Hudson Williams, and Ilya Rozanov, played by Connor Storrie.
Shane and Ilya are fierce competitors, two of the world’s top hockey stars. While Canadian Shane plays for the Montreal Metros and Russian-born Ilya for the Boston Raiders, both fictional teams, they embark on a secret romance spanning eight years. We also see how Shane and Ilya manage being professional athletes and the pressure they face from their families as well.
The show only premiered with its first two episodes mere hours ago, but it’s already getting a ton of attention online as a favourite on social media. But Williams and Storrie have also been able to see how two different Canadian audiences respond to the beginning of the series during in-person screenings.
“The two situations we’ve seen the responses in were a little bit different, and it was cool to see both ends of that. Our first one was a screening in Montreal, and it was like 700 fans. I would bet almost everyone [had read] the book. So I think that was more of a recognition of them seeing moment by moment, like, ‘Oh, I know this. Oh, that’s when this happens,'” Storrie told Yahoo Canada. “And then our screening that we saw [Monday night], I think was an audience that was a little bit more separated from the book, and gets to appreciate it separately from that. And that was cool, because they fed in a little bit more to some of the moments that are funny, not knowing these characters, and then also fed into some of the drama.”
“So it’s good to see the book lovers react to it one way, and then see general audiences appreciate it in a different sense.”
How Hudson Williams connected with Shane Hollander
In the dramatic moments of the first two episodes of the series, the show packs a punch, with both Shane and Ilya feeling the pressure of their job and personal lives, but in different contexts.
For Shane, we see him feeling the pressure to land the right deals with the right brands, like Rolex and Reebok, but also getting reminders from his mom that, as an Asian-Canadian in the NHL, a lot of kids will be able to “see themselves” in him.
“I think those were one of the first things I really connected to about Shane as a character, especially in Jacob [Tierney’s] scripts,” Williams said. “It was fleshed out, and there’s a bunch of nuance. We’re not actively saying the thing, but the thing that we’re talking about is always there underneath the surface.”
“Just putting that under everything that’s going on felt even relevant to me as a half-Asian actor. It felt like that part of Shane is a crossing of the Venn diagram of our similarities.”
Williams also highlighted that Shane has “self-imposed” pressures, but a lot of the “perfectionist” thinking also comes from his mom, who’s almost living vicariously through her son.
“I think those pressures were put on him so young, to kind of put him in this very refined and structured box that he’s just trying to walk the line the entire show,” Williams said. “And it’s, I think, less about awful things happening, but I think a lot of the neuroses and sort of his anxiety is just keeping it very straight, and I think that brings a lot of internal pressure.”
Connor Storrie in Heated Rivalry, premiering on Crave in Canada Nov. 28
‘I couldn’t help but feel a little outside of myself and a little vulnerable’
Ilya faces harsh criticism from his father, with no room for error on the ice, but he’s also pressured to send substantial amounts of money to his brother, who’s quick with demands.
“I think when it comes to romance stories, everyone becomes really centred on the characters together, rather than just singularly. But if you really separate us and look at the difficulties, or the pressures in our personal lives, I feel like that really sets up why the dynamic works, also why it’s difficult at times,” Storrie said.
“Having this monetary pressure from your family, having someone who is constantly disapproving of you, probably was never loving or affectionate, [saying] that you were never good enough, that sets up a person to have certain beliefs.”
And on top of acting, Storrie had to learn Russian, as the show features several scenes in the language.
“I couldn’t help but feel a little outside of myself and a little vulnerable and raw the whole time,” Storrie said. “Being opposite of native Russian speakers and doing pages and pages of dialogue, you can’t help but feel exposed and feel like I have to do a good job. And I feel like that’s a through line for him already.”
“I love languages. I’ve always kind of bounced from language to language and tried to pick up as much as I can. So I tried learning Russian on my own, just self-studying when I was in high school. So I learned the alphabet and stuff. I knew some basics, but Russian is super hard. But having that little base definitely set me up for success. I don’t know if I could have done it if I had never even studied Russian before. … I would have two, three, four-hour Russian sessions almost every day. But once we finally finished that, and then the last three weeks had no Russian, I was like, great. I can really focus on something else.”
Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie in Heated Rivalry, premiering on Crave in Canada Nov. 28
‘Being comfortable and being able to express our boundaries’
Drawing from the book, Heated Rivalry really leans into its intimate scenes, with the show’s Canadian writer, producer and director, Jacob Tierney, frequently happy to call the show “smut.”
While Williams and Storrie proved to have easy chemistry, they also stressed how much work it is to really nail down the choreography of sex scenes, which, in Heated Rivalry, are longer than what we see in most shows. The actors also frequently looked to Tierney and intimacy coordinator Chala Hunter for reminders on character development in each sex scene.
“There’s so much choreography that goes into it, just the way that you film that, the amount of nudity that’s in it, the way they have to angle around it. There’s so much choreography, and there’s so much rehearsal that … I’m really focused on that a lot of the time,” Storrie said. “And it was really great to have Chala and Jacob on the sidelines doing a taping, doing a rehearsal, and them being like, ‘OK, let’s remember who, what, when, where we are right now.”
“So I really just have to thank them for kind of keeping me in check and being like, OK remember, this is at this moment of tenderness, or this is at this moment of discomfort, and how does that lead into the intimacy.”
But none of this could have been executed so effectively if Tierney hadn’t established an environment where the actors and the crew felt safe and supported. And Williams highlighted that being on set was always “fun.”
“I have to just give props to both Chala and Jacob and Brendan [Brady], our producer. They foster this very playful, fun and accepting set,” Williams said. “Oftentimes, I feel like maybe my behaviour, … I can get up to antics, and I can be a little unfocused, possibly, is the word, or it might come across that way.”
“But that was never disciplined, or it was completely allowed, because I think that just helped me as a performer to kind of come into these spaces in a more playful mood.”
“That’s one of the things that we established with Chala, that I learned about all of these intimacy scenes, is us being comfortable and being able to express our boundaries not only comes from there being a sense of structure and security, but also being like, just straight off the bat, ‘What are you comfortable with?’ And knowing that boundaries don’t look like just ‘no,’ but boundaries also look like, ‘What are your yeses?'” Storrie added. “One of the first things was, what do those kisses look like to you? Not being like, ‘This is what we want. Are you comfortable with that?’ … ‘What level of nudity is good for you, what level of closeness is good to you?'”
“If we’re all comfortable and I feel like I can express my honest feelings and opinions, … if I can just [say], ‘I think we should kiss like this.’ Or, ‘This is comfortable for me. How is that comfortable for you?’ The more normalized, honest and open it can be, I think the energy just flows, and we can get to something really good.”
The combination of drama in the story and the show’s steaminess makes Heated Rivalry particularly unique. You get the emotion, you get the tension, but ultimately, it’s still a fun watch.