“You Georgia Techians are naughty,”
Amanda Schull’s (Katrina Bennett) response to the audience’s chuckles from her unknowing burn to Rick Hoffman (Louis Litt) in the Suits On Campus tour at Tech showcased exactly how entertaining and witty the interaction between the audience and the actor and actress was throughout the evening.
However, it was more than the hilarious commentary that won the hearts of the students inside Fox Theatre to see two of the main characters of USA Network’s Suits. It was the loose and liberal feeling inside the room, both when Hoffman apologized for possibly ruining the eyesights of the audience after his partially nude scene and when he sang “Greenback Boogie” by Ima Robot – the show’s theme song – with SympVibes that left the audience applauding the two madly after they left.
“It was awesome. Katrina was incredibly attractive and Louis was so much fun,” said third-year BMED major Vaibhav Gupta. “Their responses were incredible and the way they treated the members of the audience was insane. You could tell they enjoyed being there and had fun with everything they were given.”
However, Hoffman, who was wearing a leather jacket, boots and a total of five layers of clothing in the 80 degree Atlantan heat—but did not take his clothes off at the request of the audience—and Schull, more prepared for Georgia’s mercurial weather in a sky blue shirt, sat down with the Technique before the event and discussed how important this fanbase has been for their show’s success.
“We’ve now learned that [the college group] is really our key demographic; it’s ultimately what’s kept us on USA,” Hoffman said. “As actors, we are used to having jobs that don’t last very long; but when we see these lines around the corner and colleges vying against each other to see us, it’s a once in a lifetime experience for an actor.”
The two also revealed how their characters on the show are going to be changing over the course of the finale and into the new season.
“Katrina’s becoming more of a human being; she entered the firm in somewhat of a questionable manner,” Schull said. “She kind of bullied her way and I think it came across as a very hardened, tough person; but in the next episodes, you see more sides of her.”
Schull, however, does not see Katrina in the same light as some people do.
“When we were doing these interviews, somebody [at Arizona] thought I was kind of a bitch,” Schull added. “To me, on social media after a few episodes aired, I just looked at her as a strong, determined woman who knew what she wanted and how to accomplish it.”
“It’s natural for you to come in, when you’re swimming with sharks, to put your fins up,” Hoffman agreed.
Louis Litt on the show is one of the most scheming characters, disapprovingly so by Hoffman.
“With my character, this is the first job where I’ll really get heart broken at some of the things he would do,” Hoffman stated. “It’s just so sad to see a jackass be a jackass – like him proposing with his [butt] showing in a hospital gown.”
However, Hoffman adds that with the recent heart attack and dissolution of his proposal, Litt will become more sensitive.
“[Louis] becomes a new human being; he’s softened,” Hoffman said. “But this also has an effect on everyone else’s character. It evokes emotion in Harvey – which you don’t normally see.”
Although Gabriel Macht’s (Harvey Specter) character is mortal enemies with Hoffman’s, he remarks that the two have amazing on- and off-set chemistry.
“It’s something you kind of hope you have, where you trust each other while working together and value the other’s opinion” Hoffman said. “Because of that, there’s just a general respect when we’re off the stage. It’s hard to explain, but it helps with how opposite those characters are.”
With the interview and event finished, the celebrities headed to Toronto to join the rest of their cast for physicals and other screenings. Both Schull and Hoffman return back to the screen this summer for their fourth season.