Actor Stephen Amell, who starred on the CW’s superhero drama “Arrow” for eight seasons, said he contracted COVID-19 while shooting Starz’s new wrestling drama “Heels” at Areu Bros. Studios in Atlanta.
He revealed this info during actor Michael Rosenbaum’s “Inside of You” podcast that aired Oct. 27. The podcast was taped on Oct. 20. He said he had been tested positive two weeks before the taping but was cleared to resume his job on set.
Amell told Rosenbaum that he has anxiety issues and even had a panic attack while taping an episode of this podcast seven months earlier.
“I didn’t have anxiety about the fact that I would give it to other people, which again I possibly did, which is unsettling in and of itself," Amell said. "But you have to understand that because of this anxiety, I have actively, actively, actively tried to avoid contracting this virus. And guess what? I [expletive] got it anyway, so be smart. If you’re being smart, stay smart. And if you’re not, you’re just dragging this [expletive] on longer for everybody else.”
Amell, 39, said another person on set had contracted the virus, so he was already self-isolating a few days, but he caught it anyway. The symptoms for him included dizziness, feelings of extreme heat and cold, and appetite loss. Over three weeks, he lost 15 pounds.
Set in a close-knit Georgia community, “Heels” is about men and women in the world of small-town pro wrestling. The series was just starting production in March but had to shut down due to the pandemic. It started up again just a few weeks ago.
Amell in the new series plays Jack Spade, one of two brothers battling over their father’s wrestling legacy. Amell has to play the bad guy (or “heel”) while his brother Ace Spade (Alexander Ludwig) is the hero.
Mike O’Malley, who produced Starz' “Survivor’s Remorse” from 2014 to 2017, is back with Starz as the showrunner for “Heels.”
Amell, an active pro wrestling fan, said he felt super guilty about contracting the virus because he was No. 1 on the call sheet. He said he thought, “Did I just ruin this?”
But the producers worked around his absence and only lost one day of production.
“[N]ot everyone has the luxury of taking two weeks off. In fact, most people don’t. We are in the midst of a global pandemic and times are tough for a lot of people,” said Amell, who is Canadian.
