The highly anticipated miniseries revisits the birth of the iconic Harley-Davidson brand that launched in 1903 in Milwaukee. Based on the true story, Harley and the Davidsons charts the beginnings of the legendary bike during a time of great social and technological change at the turn of the 20th century. It follows Walter Davidson (Michiel Huisman, Game of Thrones), Arthur Davidson (Bug Hall, Revolution), and Bill Harley (Robert Aramayo, Game of Thrones) as they risked their entire fortunes and livelihoods to launch the budding enterprise. Aramayo and Hall offered viewers a preview to the event during a recent interview.
CraveOnline: What was it like working on a project about such an iconic brand?
Bug Hall: It’s an icon because it’s built tough. This is about three guys who are so different but really love the same thing and created something special. Arthur Davidson is very imaginative in his approach to salesmanship – he was a guy who believed in justice and fairness, and all of those things shake out in his role in this. He figured out how to translate this creation into a product.
Were you familiar with Harley Davidson motorcycles prior to this project?
I grew up on motorcycles and knew a lot about bikes. I was racing around and riding back and forth across America and down into Mexico, and it’s been a big part of my life.
Even though I grew up on bikes I knew very little about the origins of the company – I knew the names of the founders and that’s about it. I love history, so getting to dig into that and discover what these guys did and how they did it was very spectacular. I loved seeing how they weren’t just building something with better materials or a faster production line, which we think of as modern America business – they were inventing ideas that had not been invented and that no one had thought of, doing things that were so unique, and that’s what set them apart. It’s the idea of creating something out of necessity and not knowing if it would work.
Robert Aramayo: For me, I was really getting my teeth into it because I’m not a rider. I had a fantastic teacher, and we studied engineering drawings, and I learned the skills needed to create those drawings. It was important to me coming into this project in terms of preparation.
And I learned a lot. I didn’t know particularly anything about the specifics of the bike, and I had no idea of a lot of elements that go into the making of the bike and the culture that surrounds it. It was a massive learning curve for me, figuring out the origins of their culture that was built through the process.
How did the cast get along on set?
Hall: I can say, with absolute certainty, that in 25 years of doing this job I’ve never been as close as I was with these guys. We had a nickname for ourselves, the “bottom button brothers,” because the Harley brothers in the photographs always have their bottom buttons on their suit jackets undone.
