The Oath interview: J.J. Soria teases role in Crackle police series
If you are interested in seeing a different sort of police drama, may we suggest giving Crackle’s new drama The Oath a try? It premieres on Thursday, March 8, and the show specifically looks to investigate both gang culture and also the police officers who are bold enough in order to infiltrate it. It’s gritty, action-packed, down-to-earth, and gripping in a way that will make you want more. If you want to check out a trailer for the series, CarterMatt has that for you below.
The cast for The Oath includes everyone from Ryan Kwanten (True Blood), Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) and Katrina Law (Arrow) but the subject of this particular interview is J.J. Soria. Best known for his roles on The Fosters, Animal Kingdom, and Army Wives, Soria will play the character of Officer Pete Ramos (he is the partner of Kwanten’s character of Steve Hammond). He is also the second-in-command of the Ravens cop gang. He’s a man with a great deal of understanding of how life in the streets works, and also is incredibly motivated to prove to his wife, (who comes from status and privilege) that he is worthy of her.
Below, see what Soria has to say to us about taking on the project, playing his role, and if he would be interested in taking part in the series again in the future.
CarterMatt – What appealed to you about The Oath after some of the other work that you’ve done?
JJ Soria – I thought the subject of cop gangs was really interesting. After reading the pilot, I realized that it was also about family and I was left wanting to know more about these characters. This is exactly the kind of show I wanted I to be in: It has action and drama and is gritty and intense. I felt like Joe Halpin gave me a treasure chest of material to work with and I was beyond thrilled to dive right in.
How is the show planning to explore the relationship between police and organized crime?
That the personalities of cops and crooks are extremely similar. They are both alphas. The line between right and wrong is easily crossed when you have that type of aggressive personality.
What can you say specifically about your character Ramos and how he fits into the story?
Pete Ramos is Steve Hammond’s (played by Ryan Kwanten) partner and is second in command of the Ravens. He’s a family man that is trying to provide a life for his wife and daughter that they deserve. Trying to stay loyal to his family at home and his family of Ravens.
With so much of this show being about secret organizations, I would presume it was a little more difficult doing research on a role like this. How did you prep for the part?
I believe I had a strong understanding of the character, so there wasn’t much prep. I may have watched some crime documentaries. It was great having Reinhardt Schuerger as our Consultant on set since Reinhardt and Halpin were partners [with] the sheriffs. So whenever we had any questions about protocol or procedure, we could look over our right or left shoulder and know that one of them could instruct us how to go about doing those things.
With you taking on so much heavy material, what was the vibe like on set? Was this the sort of material that stuck with you after the day was done?
The vibe is interesting because among our family (cast & crew) we smile and hug, but once we get to set we are locked in. It can get pretty intense, but I couldn’t have asked for a better family of actors to live within that type of environment because we all marinated in that vibe and used it for our scenes. We come focused, prepared and ready to work. We have our moments when we let loose, but for the most part, it’s an intense vibe that works for what we are doing.
In between yourself, Sean Bean, Ryan Kwanten, and Katrina Law, there are a lot of people on this show who have experience filming action sequences. Was there anything that made the action on this show different?
Yes, I like how we kept it messy, gritty and real.
Finally, is there a chance for more of this story beyond these ten episodes?
Absolutely.