Drake says that the read-through where he learned his Degrassi: The Next Generation character would be shot was “dark” and “intense.”
The rapper reflected on the emotional “Time Stands Till” episode where his character, Jimmy Brooks, is permanently injured in a school shooting in the new documentary about the show, Degrassi: Whatever It Takes.
“I didn’t know about the end of ‘Time Stands Still’ until I was in the read-through. Somebody told me to mentally prepare for today’s script, but they didn’t tell me there was going to be a shooting at the school and that it was me,” said Drake.
“There was shock and sadness. We were holding hands and crying in the read-through. It was dark. It was intense,” he added.
Drake also revealed that he had questions about the arc of his character after the shooting. “My question was ‘What now? I don’t want to spend the rest of my years in a wheelchair,” he said. “I want to be with everyone else, what do you mean?’ Unfortunately, that’s not how life goes.”
“I think that was why I think that show’s so good, because life is fuckeded up and they weren’t afraid to let you know that,” he continued. “A lot more went into playing Jimmy after I got shot, for sure. It gave me something to study. It gave me homework.”
Ephraim Ellis, who played Drake’s shooter, Rick Murray, explained the circumstances that led to the confrontation in the documentary. “Rick Murray was a really troubled young man,” said Ellis. “His peers start bullying him. He ends up coming back to school with a gun. I have always interpreted as taking his own life and taking as many people with him as he can.”
Degrassi creator Linda Schuyler revealed that she began mulling over the idea of weaving in a school shooting storyline into the show after the infamous Columbine High School shooting in 1999. On the day of the read through, Schuuler said that there was “a stillness to the cast and crew that day” and that she herself “felt physically sick.”
Degrassi: Whatever It Takes is currently screening at the Toronto International Film Festival through Sept. 14.
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