PassionFlix Driven Series: 5 questions with Michael Roark

The second season of the wildly popular PassionFlix Driven Series won’t arrive until the spring but in honor of Valentine’s Day, Culturess had a chance to ask star Michael Roark a few questions about his experience taking over as Colton Donavan.

Roark, an Illinois native, is new to K. Bromberg’s Driven Series and will appear as Colton Donavan in the second and third seasons of the series, Fueled and Crashed. Filming for both seasons took place in 2020 under the guidance of director and PassionFlix founder Tosca Musk..

From the moment PassionFlix shared news of his casting, fans were excited to see Roark’s Colton together with Olivia Applegate’s Rylee. As the Ace to her Ry, the actors’ chemistry had to be perfect and if the behind the scenes photos are any indication, PassionFlix once again nailed the casting.

Michael Roark was kind enough to take some time to talk about his experience filming the Driven Series, working with Olivia Applegate and his ideal Valentine’s Day plans.

Interview with Michael Roark, star of the PassionFlix Driven Series

(Culturess) What’s one thing that Olivia does that always makes you laugh?

(Michael Roark) There are several but first that comes to mind is she has this hilarious tongue trick and a talent for bringing it out at the best time.

How do you approach playing Colton? Is there anything you did to help you prepare for the role?

There is not enough ink to get into all of that. A lot of what I do is guided by instinct, experience and the tools I’ve collected along the way. I trust what I am going to find on the day and that took on greater importance with Colton due to nature of our shoot. There are also added challenges when working with source material. What I used as my north star was to give the fans what they want…to make the story, as written, come alive. I paint with my own colors but aimed to draw within the lines of Colton as Kristy wrote him.

What was it like getting to know Olivia, filming in the middle of a pandemic and filming two seasons of a series back to back? What was the experience like?

Olivia and I hit it off right away and I knew we would blast off on this thing. As for filming, we could have been shut down any day from COVID and, yeah, the protocols make a film set strange. I mean, I can count on one hand how many times I saw Tosca’s face. So I’d say it was equal parts thrilling, exhausting and hectic. Making movies is like that though, we are circus gypsies that go live in another world for weeks or months at time. Add in the warped reality we have all already been living in…I had a running joke that once filming was wrapped I was going to wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night and gasp “What just happened!”

Fans have been eagerly awaiting the continuation of Rylee and Colton’s love story. Is there anything you can tease about season 2, and do you have a message for fans as they count down the days until the premiere?

Nah, I don’t like to tease. Let it surprise you. What I’d say to the fans is I am aware of how long you all have waited for this story and I’m proud to be part of bringing you some joy, entertainment and positive feeling. Especially now, when the world can use a little more of it.

You’ve been busy bringing Rylee and Colton’s over the top love story to life…what’s your ideal way to celebrate Valentine’s Day?

For me, the best way to celebrate is always a trip or getaway into nature, somewhere exotic or just somewhere we have never been. A vineyard, the desert, the city, the jungle…doesn’t matter. Let’s go.

We can’t thank Michael Roark enough for taking the time to chat with us, and we’re very excited to see the continuation of Colton and Rylee’s story when the Driven Series returns on PassionFlix this spring.