Actor Bug Hall loves motorcycles.
So he was psyched for his role in “Harley and the Davidsons,” Discovery’s three-part miniseries about the birth of the iconic motorcycle — and the men who created it.
“I grew up on bikes. I’ve been [on a motorcycle] cross-country from LA to Florida about 10-plus times and I’ve ridden from LA to Texas tons of times over the years,” says Hall, 31. “If I wasn’t working on [an acting project] I was on a bike on a long ride somewhere.
“It’s been my life since I was 14.”
But you won’t see Hall riding a vintage Harley in “Harley and the Davidsons,” in which he plays Arthur Davidson, who co-founded the Milwaukee-based company in 1903 with his older brother Walter (Michiel Huisman, Daario from “Game of Thrones”) and their friend, engineer Bill Harley (Robert Aramayo).
“That was a story choice,” says Hall of not riding in the movie. “I did get on one [bike] in the beginning [of the shoot] for training purposes. I’ve wrecked 12 bikes and have broken over 20 bones in my life. I don’t have that thing in my brain that says ‘Slow down.’
I’ve wrecked 12 bikes and have broken over 20 bones in my life. I don’t have that thing in my brain that says ‘Slow down.’
- Actor Bug Hall
“On Day 2 of the shoot I [crashed] one of the bikes and broke my collarbone. So we changed a few things around. I worked the first two weeks with a broken collarbone.”
Hall is also a history buff — another bonus for a period drama such as “Harley and the Davidsons.”
“History is my second passion. I literally have a library of history books at my house, so … this was a natural fit for me,” he says. I knew a little about the founding [company] members … so I had a good footing and could really dig into who Arthur was.
“Most of your favorite Westerns were taking place around the same time. These guys were right at the edge of that world. They never quit — they were ‘Never say die’ kind of people.”
In capturing the ascension of the “motorized bicycle” industry — Harley-Davidson’s main rival was the Indian Motorcycle Company — the miniseries features scenes at motordromes, turn-of-the-century race tracks made out of wood.
“Those motordromes were on steroids. Those things literally were like a gladiatorial blood sport,” says Hall. “Motordromes were the biggest sport in America at the turn of the century, bigger than baseball, and they drew more people than any other sport for almost 10 years.
“It was so brutal that it made rules impossible — and [motordromes] eventually collapsed because of that.”
Hall, best known to movie audiences as Alfalfa in “The Little Rascals” (1994), was born Brandon Hall in Texas. He was nicknamed Bug as a child and the name stuck.
“I’m actually legally changing my name to Bug permanently,” he says. “I didn’t even know I had another name until kindergarten. When people say it’s an odd name, I say that my birth name seems like an odd name to me.
“There’s a certain attachment to what our parents call us, and that’s the name [Bug] that my mom gave me.”
“Harley and the Davidsons” airs Sept. 5-7 on Discovery at 9 p.m. each night.