Titus Welliver thinks people will “never know” The Westies was filmed in Canada because the use of CGI is so good.
Titus Welliver at The Westies screening
The 64-year-old actor plays Glenn Keenan in the upcoming MGM+ 1980s crime drama, which tells the story of the 1980s Westies gang in New York, and though it was shot in Toronto Titus thinks the sets were so convincing, people will think the production has used genuine old news footage.
Speaking on the red carpet at an exclusive screening of The Westies at Odeon Luxe West End on Wednesday (24.06.26) night, he told BANG Showbiz: “Well we now have CGI and we have sets so they managed to put it together seamlessly, you would never know. I’m sure I’ll have mates who see this and will go, ‘Oh, I saw you used stock footage from the news.’ And I’ll be like, ‘No, it’s all been created by a computer, AI.’ “
Titus is best known for playing detective Harry Bosch in Bosch and Bosch: Legacy, as well as spin-off show Ballard, and he relished the chance of playing such a different character in The Westies.
He said: “I’ve played a lot of cops in my career but all characters are different. If you look at the two characters they are polar opposite. Harry Bosch is a guy with a flawless moral compass whereas Glenn Keenan is an extremely internally damaged human being. He is brutal, he’s corrupt, he’s deeply violent, and his behaviour is not exemplary. Glenn Keenan is the type of character that Harry Bosch would put in jail.
“Because the characters are so different I really relish the idea of playing someone like that. Not only character wise but also physically transforming myself to really distant myself from Bosch.”
And the actor is particularly proud of the level of realism in The Westies.
He said: “I’m a New Yorker and I knew some of the real Westies, so I was really fastidious about keeping the show grounded and real, despite the fact that it is a fictionalised version of real events involving John Gotti, Paul Costellano and Ruby Stein are the only real life characters, we’re all created.
“The story has only really been told one time in a film years ago called State of Grace with Gary Oldman and Ed Harris, directed by Phil Juan. It was the same thing, fictionalised with Irish street guy characters. So, for me, to represent this time period when New York was almost at its lowest ebb. I mean we had almost gone bankrupt in the ’70s so crime and corruption were rampant. People were just emptying their garbage out of the windows, it was a catastrophe.
“The crime rate was elevated and just as we were recovering from that the scurge of crack came into play, we had the pandemic of AIDS and people were dying from AIDS so it was a very, very complex and sad and dark period in New York history.
“This show depicts it very accurately. The first time I watched it I said, ‘Oh my god, I can smell it.’ I think for people that are New Yorkers they’ll identify it as being really accurate.
“And for those people who don’t know it’ll be an interesting part of New York history. We are all very used to the Italian Mob and the films of Martin Scorcese and the Brits have Peaky Blinders and Mobland now and they are massive successes. This is the Americans attempt to tell their own bit about that.”
The veteran actor was joined at the screening by series regulars J.K. Simmons Tom Brittney, Jessica Frances Dukes and Hillary McCormack were all in attendance, alongside additional cast members Jeremy Walmsley and Rohan Mead,and co-creators Chris Brancato and Michael Panes.
The Westies debuts on MGM+ on 12 July.
