Stephen: The show is a lot free-er.
I mean, we're in our second season.
We've only had one new director so far.
So everyone that's come in is has sort of known the game plan and we're doing
a lot of the things that worked for us last year and not doing the things
that didn't work.
I think the storytelling is tighter.
But for Oliver, he has much less of a weight on
him.
There was very little that was heroic about what he was doing last
year, say for, what he attempted at the very, very end.
It was all vengeance and revenge and the burden of his
father.
So for Oliver this year, he's just much, much more relaxed, much
more easy going.
Because what he's doing and how he's spending his nights
is making him feel good.
He's not really chasing a ghost anymore.
Interviewer: There might not be much room for romance right now, but where
is his heart?
Is his heart still with Laurel?
Or is his heart just closed off from everybody?
Stephen: Well, he has a very critical line in the sixth episode we're not
talking about that at the moment.
But, he is in a spot where he is convinced that he shouldn't be with anybody,
that he could really, really care about.
That doesn't mean he can't be with some people that he sort of
kind of cares about.
That's one of the things that we actually touched on
in the first season.
And we are also in season two as well.
That I think that if you gave this guy some truth serum,
he would admit to being a little bit lonely.
Interviewer: How has working with Diggle and Felicity changed his mission?
Stephen: Well, it's expanded it.
It was a very narrow scope in the first year, leading into the first season, excuse
me, the second season.
The first episode, we're dealing with hood copycats
and in the second episode, it's a very straightforward, people are stealing
medical supplies that are earmarked for Glades memorial.
And we're seeing Oliver be really upset by people messing with justice and what should
happen in the city to make the city a better place.
And both Diggle and Felicity have imparted some of
those values onto him.
Because again, he didn't learn.
He learned a lot of martial arts on the island and he learned
how to use a bow and arrow.
And, he learned how to become a killer but I wouldn't
necessarily say that he became a great person there.
So, they've given him a lot of empathy and a
lot of understanding of there's more than one way to win a fight.
Interviewer: Stephen, what would you say is the biggest thing you learned
between season one or from season one I guess going into season two?
Stephen: Just for a practical standpoint that it's a good long run and that
there's no way to fake it.
When I used to do long distance running.
I still do but you can fake almost any race.
You can not totally train for it and make your way through it.
You can do with a half marathon if you really tried.
It's not going to be painful, but you can do it.
You can't do it with a marathon.
I know, I tried.
And, it just ends up with you walking and crying and everything going horribly wrong.
And, the biggest thing that I learned in season one is, you're talking about
a 180 to 190-day shoot plus all of the other commitments that going along
with it.
Plus, including the travel and so you just have to pace yourself.
And, in a couple more days we'll be a third of the way through season
two for us, and I'm doing a much better job.
I feel just as good if not better than I did when we started
shooting.
I have strict rules on how much sleep I get a night, because
ultimately...
I saw a group of you guys on the Tuesday that I was on the
Tonight Show and that was two days after we had wrapped.
So, I went and did the Tonight Show that night and then that
night or the following morning I went [cough], and I was sick for a month and
a half.
My body broke down.
Interviewer: Wow.
Stephen: And, everyone told me that was going to happen.
But, I can't have that happen again.
So, I've learned that lesson.