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00:00 First things first, I want to know
00:02 if you could describe your character, Iked,
00:05 in a sentence or three words, what would you say?
00:09 Just a crazy, toxic nutcase with a lost view of the world.
00:19 I think Iked has strong values that we all
00:23 believe in, which is family values and love for blood.
00:28 But that could be misconstrued in a lot of ways.
00:33 And there could be a toxicity that lies behind that.
00:35 And I think there's more of a desperate love that
00:39 lies behind him and this desperation of feeling
00:41 seen and being heard.
00:43 And all the characters, I think they
00:46 have at least one person they can talk to or lean on.
00:48 And Iked really just sits in the middle,
00:52 sitting alone with either somebody telling him what to do
00:55 or telling him that he's a little off the deep end.
00:58 So he's a very loud, loud character.
01:04 But I think by the end of the season,
01:06 you kind of peel back certain layers of him
01:08 and you see the reasoning behind why he could be so aggressive.
01:14 Yeah, and that kind of goes into my next question,
01:16 because I wanted to know, how would you
01:18 say we find him at the beginning of Full Circle
01:22 versus where we are left with him by the end?
01:26 Yeah, I think in the beginning, Iked
01:28 is definitely the villain, the main villain, the main bad guy.
01:32 Every time he pops up on the screen, something's going down.
01:35 Some mess is about to happen.
01:38 But then by the end, I think he fits
01:40 in line with all the other characters of you're confused
01:43 as to whether they're good or bad.
01:47 I think you start to kind of feel bad
01:52 because you realize he's leading himself into his own downfall.
01:55 And he often preaches that he's alone,
01:59 that he doesn't have any family.
02:01 And so the more he says it, the more you start to realize,
02:04 well, this is his only thing.
02:06 That's probably the only thing this man thinks about.
02:09 And so it really drives him to do these kind of crazy things.
02:12 So hopefully by the end, you start
02:16 to question that there's a little bit of a hero in him
02:20 or not.
02:21 Yeah, and just as much as he's a villain,
02:25 he also does have a little bit of a heart.
02:27 And how would you say that kind of humanizes him
02:33 for those that are watching?
02:34 Yeah, I think the best villains are the villains that show
02:45 a little bit of hero for a second, where you kind of
02:47 understand why.
02:49 I think it's hard to latch on a character where you don't
02:52 understand the reasoning behind their actions.
02:56 A murderer might murder somebody.
02:59 And the first thing you think of is, wow, this monster,
03:02 this criminal, this evil person.
03:04 And then they'll make a whole documentary about this guy.
03:06 And it's like, whoa, he had mother abuse,
03:10 abused as a child, and not fed, and was kept inside,
03:14 and hates women because he was abused by women.
03:18 Or there's always a reasoning to why someone's evil.
03:21 And so I think it's a job as an actor for whoever you're
03:24 playing to give something human to the character.
03:29 If you're playing Adolf Hitler, how
03:31 do you showcase the human in him and the reasons why he did
03:36 what he did to make the movie at least somewhat watchable?
03:42 Yeah, and with the show being called Full Circle,
03:45 is there anything about breathing life
03:47 into "Aked" that has been a full circle
03:50 moment for your career as an actor?
03:53 Well, I mean, I'm from New York.
03:54 So every day on set was really, literally a full circle moment.
03:58 I think I made that joke an annoying amount of times
04:01 on set.
04:01 I was just like, hey, full circle.
04:03 This is where I used to do this.
04:04 This is where I used to do that.
04:05 You know, we're shooting in Washington Square Park.
04:06 And that's where I used to hang out.
04:08 And there's always a rap circle going on.
04:10 I used to go and run and rap inside the circle.
04:12 And now it's 3 AM.
04:13 And I'm with Steve Soderbergh shooting an HBO show.
04:16 So for me personally, this was very full circle.
04:21 In terms of "Aked" and I, I hope we are very different people.
04:26 I found the human in him.
04:28 And I found love for him and understanding him.
04:30 But he definitely goes about things not how I want to.
04:35 So this was fun to stretch myself and play a character
04:38 that I don't necessarily want to latch on to.
04:42 I want to breathe into it.
04:44 But not necessarily take all the stuff that I incorporated in.
04:51 I almost put my worst thoughts and my worst insecurities
04:55 into him and kind of let that go.
04:59 Yeah, and speaking of letting go,
05:00 how do you kind of reset when you
05:02 have a character who is as dynamic and deep and dark
05:07 as "Aked"?
05:08 Like, how do you kind of regroup and reset
05:11 to go on to your next project or go back to life as you will?
05:17 Well, I think it's a different day.
05:20 Hopefully actors care about mental health and all that.
05:26 I think there was a time where acting
05:28 didn't require mental health.
05:30 And you can get so lost without caring for yourself.
05:34 And I love the idea of that.
05:37 I'm just not interested in leading my life that way.
05:41 So for me, it's so important for me to always keep Jarrell close.
05:50 And so when I play "Aked" and I'm angry and I'm screaming
05:54 and I'm yelling, it takes me about 30 minutes to an hour
05:58 to calm down.
05:59 But in that 30 minutes to an hour, I'm around a friend
06:02 or I got music in my ear or I'm chilling
06:05 or trying to go smoke something real quick.
06:07 When I'm down, I'll just keep the edge off.
06:10 But I still am so human.
06:13 And I'm still aware of how healthy I would
06:17 like to be when I get older.
06:18 So even characters like I played in "When They See Us" and stuff,
06:22 I just make sure there's a wall up and I don't get too lost.
06:27 But some things require more.
06:31 "Aked," for me, just required pulling from anger
06:35 and from frustration and things that I'm frustrated about
06:38 that I never talked about.
06:39 So it did help me.
06:40 It's almost like therapy in a way to just yell.
06:42 Not often do you get to hold a fake gun
06:44 and just wave it at people and start yelling.
06:46 So even though I'm acting and doing it for a part,
06:50 the human in me is taking time to let out certain things
06:55 that I haven't been able to process in my life.
06:58 So it was cool.
06:59 It was cool to do it.
07:01 I love that.
07:02 And you've been killing the game.
07:03 I'm currently watching "I Am a Virgo" right now.
07:10 Whole different character.
07:12 So seeing the screening this and then
07:15 watching that before bed at night, I'm like, come on.
07:18 The versatility.
07:19 I love it.
07:20 Who is this man really, though?
07:22 Who is this man?
07:23 I hope to always keep that question in the audience's
07:28 head is, who is he really?
07:29 Because I think all of our favorite actors,
07:31 we don't know much about them.
07:33 We can only see characters.
07:35 And I think that's the beauty of an actor.
07:38 We don't know what Denzel likes to have for dinner,
07:41 and we don't need to.
07:42 We just know how he could be badass in movies.
07:46 Yes, thank you for keeping that mystique alive.
07:50 And as much as he is this sort of complex mastermind,
07:55 Aked is also very much a student of the game.
07:59 What would you say has been the biggest lesson
08:01 that he learns this season?
08:03 And is it anything that you've learned simply
08:06 by portraying him?
08:07 I think before Aked could learn his lesson, it's too late.
08:14 So I think the whole show, he's trying to learn.
08:18 And I think that's what's so frustrating about watching him
08:22 is that it's like, come on, man.
08:24 Just do better, be better, act better.
08:27 But this is just a character so lost in his own world.
08:30 And Ed wrote him to be very dark and very brooding
08:36 because I think his youth, I think
08:39 he isn't old enough to understand
08:41 what he's even feeling.
08:42 But at the same time, he's no child.
08:44 He sits in this weird balance of like, I'm a grown man,
08:47 but I am a total kid, and I have no idea what I'm doing.
08:51 And so yeah, I think it's that.
08:55 I think it's just that complexity,
08:57 and it makes him so interesting.
08:59 And it's fun to play.
09:00 It's very similar.
09:01 It relates to me in a lot of ways, feeling old,
09:03 but also being young.
09:05 Yeah.
09:06 And as much as "Full Circle" is a story
09:08 about the complexities of human nature,
09:11 it's also one centered around family and the lengths
09:14 that people will go through to protect their own.
09:17 Lastly here, tell me, how does this lie true for Aked
09:21 and his loved ones specifically?
09:24 How is what true?
09:26 Just the lengths that he will go through
09:30 to protect people who he sees or deems
09:35 as family or himself, rather.
09:38 Yeah, right.
09:39 I think Aked doesn't spend enough time
09:41 trying to protect himself or even the people
09:45 he should be protecting, like his fiance.
09:49 You get a brief glimpse of his relationship with his fiance
09:52 because he ruined it off the bat.
09:54 And so I think--
09:58 sorry, repeat your question one more time.
10:00 Oh, no, you're fine.
10:02 Just talk to me a little bit about--
10:05 I guess his would be opposite, since he
10:07 doesn't go through those lengths to protect the people.
10:10 Why would you say he--
10:11 Well, actually--
10:13 Yeah, no, no, actually, sorry.
10:14 Yeah, he does.
10:15 He does go through the lengths to protect his aunt
10:17 and to protect his namesake and his family's sake.
10:21 And like I was mentioning earlier,
10:23 I think he can go a bit overboard with that.
10:26 I think there's a beauty in family and the family dichotomy
10:29 to where you want to protect it.
10:31 But also, there's a negative side
10:33 when you latch on too tight out of desperation
10:36 and you're just holding on.
10:37 And I think Aked came to realize that he would do everything
10:41 and anything for his family, but they wouldn't really
10:44 do the same back for him.
10:45 And I think that is heartbreaking.
10:47 And I think that in itself is what
10:50 makes him a bit more relatable.
10:52 And you kind of go, oh, poor guy.
10:55 Yeah, and my last question is centered more about you.
11:00 As I mentioned before, you're just
11:02 showing off all of your versatility as an actor.
11:05 But is there a dream role that you aspire to step into here?
11:11 Or what's something that's kind of on your vision board?
11:14 I mean, there's a couple of things
11:18 that I would love to do.
11:21 I want to work with Denzel Washington very closely
11:24 in some real crazy intense--
11:27 it's me and him going toe to toe.
11:30 I also want to work on an ensemble piece
11:32 with a lot of the upcoming artists
11:33 that I'm inspired by now.
11:35 I'm trying to be in the same movie as Daniel Kaluuya
11:37 and Lakeith Stanfield, where we play bank robbers or something.
11:43 And Miles Morales is officially the new--
11:50 he's officially on my vision board.
11:54 However that movie comes out and whoever they choose,
12:00 it's going to be such a gorgeous film.
12:02 So to be a part of it in any way would be epic, obviously.
12:06 And what else?
12:09 Spike Lee.
12:10 I want to be in a Spike Lee joint really bad.
12:14 Yeah, I could go on for like an hour of all the things
12:17 that I hope to do.
12:19 And I want to write something for myself too.
12:23 So I have all these ideas.
12:24 And right now I'm just taking it a project at a time.
12:29 Absolutely.
12:30 Well, you're killing it.
12:31 So thank you so much for your time today, Jarell.
12:34 If you could describe Mel Harmony in three words
12:37 or in a sentence, what would you say?
12:42 I would say she is a detective who is sensitive, intelligent,
12:54 and combative.
12:59 I love that.
13:00 And where would you say that we find her
13:02 at the beginning of Full Circle versus where we
13:05 are left with her by the end?
13:07 I think she's kind of trying to grasp
13:10 onto different elements of her life.
13:13 In the beginning, I think she's trying
13:15 to figure out her romantic life, her work life,
13:18 and trying to figure out where she lands and all of that.
13:21 And in the end, she kind of loses it all in a way.
13:25 And she, I think, has to then deal with, in some ways,
13:31 herself without all these other distractions in a way
13:35 and being OK with herself.
13:38 Because I think that there are elements that she doesn't
13:41 like about who she is.
13:43 And she hides from it.
13:46 And so, yeah, I would say that's kind of her arc.
13:50 Yeah, and what kind of things, like what kind of a space
13:53 did you have to put yourself in to prepare
13:56 to breathe life into Mel?
13:59 I think I had to really--
14:04 she has a lot of text and lines.
14:07 When she walks into the room, she takes up space in a room.
14:10 And a lot of that is to further her--
14:19 she's trying to get a hold of the situation and all of that.
14:22 But I also think she puts on a lot of fronts.
14:24 And I always wanted to keep her truth permeating through
14:30 as well that goes through the text.
14:32 Because I don't know, sometimes she'll like--
14:35 she would be like saying jokes or saying
14:36 things that were kind of emotionally
14:38 inappropriate in that moment.
14:40 And I always felt like, how do you
14:44 make her not seem completely emotionally inept,
14:51 where she can't read a room or something like that?
14:53 And I think the thing is that she can read a room,
14:55 but she chooses to make the decisions she makes anyway.
14:58 And so I wanted to make sure she kind of always shone through.
15:02 And so that was a bit of a hard balance to strike for me.
15:06 But I tried.
15:08 Yeah, you did.
15:10 You did that.
15:11 And this story involves multiple layers of crime
15:14 that in it all intertwines.
15:16 But your character is sort of leading the charge
15:19 to get to the bottom of it all.
15:21 However, how would you say that her inquisitive nature works
15:25 against her at times?
15:28 I think that she gets more involved emotionally
15:37 and literally into things than she--
15:41 I mean, maybe just by like bureaucratically
15:44 shouldn't be involved in, but then also can put herself
15:47 into danger because she's enmeshing herself in something
15:51 that she maybe shouldn't be.
15:54 But I also think she--
15:56 it's a mix of ambition and also genuinely wanting to figure out
16:00 what's going on, which is her curiosity,
16:03 but I think also sort of self-serving her own desire
16:08 to be validated in her workspace and just validated for herself
16:12 that she's like, I'm doing a good job at my job.
16:16 And so, yeah, I think it means that she is more emotionally
16:23 enmeshed than perhaps another professional would be.
16:30 She also-- she's hanging her own value
16:34 onto the success of this job as well.
16:36 So, yeah.
16:38 Yeah, and that's one thing that I loved about her
16:40 because she was just so entertaining to watch,
16:43 but at the same time, I felt like I was being read.
16:46 I was like, dang, girl.
16:48 Sometimes I seek that validation in my job.
16:52 So how do you hope that those watching
16:55 kind of learn that you don't get validation
16:59 from the work that you do?
17:02 Yeah, I think in general, it's like you can't really
17:07 seek validation from anyone in a way.
17:10 You have to understand your own values
17:14 and then live by those values.
17:15 And the only life you can save is your own, really,
17:21 in the world, both emotionally and--
17:25 well, I guess emotionally, largely.
17:29 And I think Mel, she pretends she doesn't struggle with that,
17:33 but she does.
17:34 And I know she's the one that kind of initiates
17:37 sort of the end of her relationship and all of that,
17:39 but I think it's an in defense of like, well,
17:42 if I'm being the problem, then let's just stop,
17:45 you know what I mean, versus dealing
17:48 with the rejection of somebody telling her,
17:51 I can't deal with you because I don't
17:54 like this part of who you are.
17:56 She's like, I'll just put the--
18:00 I'll do the rejection.
18:02 And that, to me, is sort of a version
18:06 of searching for validation and searching for someone
18:10 to like you.
18:13 And yeah, I think, of course, we're social creatures
18:24 and we live in a society where social--
18:28 being able to be social is incredibly important
18:31 as we interplay with each other in work and relationships
18:34 in life.
18:35 And you have to be able to engage with people,
18:38 but you also kind of got to just be true to who you are
18:42 and yeah.
18:45 So I don't know if Mel always is true to who she is.
18:49 So I don't know if that went kind of philosophical,
18:54 but in work, yeah.
18:57 I mean, take advice from people who you admire
19:04 and who you respect their work.
19:08 And if you feel like you need to grow, then do that.
19:11 And I guess that is a version of validation.
19:13 But your journey is always going to be different than theirs,
19:15 and you got to take your own path.
19:17 So yeah, it's hard.
19:19 Everybody goes through that.
19:20 Absolutely.
19:21 And what was the most exciting thing for you
19:25 in bringing Mel to life?
19:26 Does she mirror any qualities that you have as Zazie?
19:30 Like, what was the most intriguing thing
19:34 about breathing life into this character for you?
19:38 I think that Mel and I--
19:40 which is actually what drew me to the character.
19:42 I think we're very different.
19:43 I think that I'm more eager to please
19:54 and be kind of a lubricating element in a room
19:58 versus standing outside of that.
20:07 But I also feel like I like the element of her
20:12 that did fight for herself and that believed in herself.
20:16 I find when I get in that mindset of,
20:20 I really believe that I can do something
20:23 and there's something in my way, it's really empowering
20:27 and so motivating to be like, I'm going to get what I want.
20:31 And so I like that element of Mel.
20:35 And yeah, in a way, something to learn from her.
20:41 But I think she has a lot of learning to do too, as do I.
20:45 Yeah, as do we all.
20:49 And another thing about Full Circle
20:50 is just that sort of butterfly effect
20:53 within all the layers of crime that kind of are
20:56 intertwining among one another.
20:58 Because while screening, I had to stop and rewind a lot.
21:03 And then I was like, OK, I have to put my phone away
21:05 so I can really pay attention.
21:09 Why do you think it's so important as a viewer
21:12 to pay importance to every small detail?
21:15 And how would you say they all connect by the end?
21:20 Yes, I think that--
21:21 well, because there's also sort of multiple stories going on.
21:27 There's this crime syndicate, these Guyanese teenagers,
21:32 and the people kind of puppeteering their actions,
21:36 and then this wealthy New York family,
21:39 and then kind of one in the center, which
21:42 is like the police detective one.
21:44 They kind of bounce back and forth
21:46 and have their own little ecosystem as well.
21:50 And so there's just-- it's a true ensemble piece.
21:53 And so all these stories are intertwining and folding
21:55 into and around one another.
21:57 So I definitely think sort of the detail work of that,
22:00 which Ed crafted together in a great way,
22:05 is something I think you have to continue
22:07 to track throughout the show.
22:09 But I do think kind of for me where it lands
22:14 is the idea of the decisions that this family made
22:18 20 years ago and how that impacted this group,
22:24 these teenagers essentially, who are like coming to New York
22:28 for an opportunity and then getting enmeshed and trapped
22:31 in something that they kind of are like, huh?
22:33 How am I involved in something that I have been in a way
22:36 before I was even born?
22:38 And now I'm facilitating these things.
22:40 And so to me, it's the connectivity
22:44 of the two extremes of the world.
22:50 But karmically, things all come together.
22:55 None of us exist in a vacuum.
22:56 We all exist in connection with one another.
23:00 Even if it feels far away, we are still
23:02 in the same ecosystem of our society, of our world.
23:07 And so yeah, to me, that's where the show ends is like,
23:11 we are-- as far as we think we are, we are all connected.
23:15 If you could describe Inspector Brewer in a sentence or three
23:20 words, what would you say?
23:23 I would say he is the best looking
23:25 American that's ever existed.
23:28 No, I would say that he is somebody who--
23:38 it's so hard.
23:43 Because he is like somebody-- it's
23:45 like in the context of Mel, as Ozzie's character, or in the--
23:49 I think he's somebody who is like everybody else
23:55 in this show is somehow corrupted and unaware
24:00 of their corruption and doesn't realize that karma comes
24:10 full circle.
24:11 And so similar to Mel, breaking boundaries
24:20 with her girlfriend, and similar to Sam, Claire Dane's
24:26 character, doing something illegal that eventually comes
24:32 back and gets her, and with Timothy's character,
24:41 even the airtight kind of non-disclosure agreement
24:45 around the child out of wedlock, it's
24:48 going to come out, like all the--
24:51 there's consequences for your actions.
24:55 It's like-- it's so funny, because it's
24:58 like a constant theme.
24:59 I have teenagers.
25:01 It's like trying to communicate consequences.
25:03 But it's really humans, we're constantly learning that,
25:08 that there are consequences.
25:11 Absolutely.
25:12 And where would you say that we find Inspector Brewer
25:15 at the beginning of "Full Circle"
25:17 versus where we are left with him?
25:20 I would say at the beginning, he is--
25:24 I think we find him as this mid-level boss who's
25:31 dealing with an employee that is maybe a maverick.
25:40 He's also like this Gen X guy who
25:43 is dealing with a millennial that doesn't
25:46 want to wait their turn.
25:48 That's why we meet him.
25:50 At the end, he is somebody who is kind of exposed
26:00 of all his secrets, but eventually--
26:05 I think on the raid, what he does on the raid,
26:12 he doesn't know his limitations.
26:14 And that ends up getting him killed.
26:17 You know what I mean?
26:18 And it's kind of like everyone's blind spot is kind of--
26:31 can be deadly, right?
26:32 And so his blind spot--
26:35 it's over the course of the thing,
26:37 he's eating burritos and pizza.
26:39 And it's like, he shouldn't be climbing over fences.
26:42 You know what I mean?
26:43 There are people-- there's like 50 people
26:46 that went in the house that are equipped to do that.
26:49 But he-- ego kind of gets in his way.
26:55 Yeah, and he is basically like the boss
26:57 that no one wants to have, whether it's
27:00 through his micromanaging skills and whatnot.
27:02 But more than that, he's super--
27:04 like a little bit suspicious.
27:06 So why do you think it was imperative
27:08 to showcase those different layers of your character
27:12 for those watching?
27:13 There's just a complexity.
27:15 It's not as-- Mel has this view of him that--
27:22 the way she describes Manny to her girlfriend that I think
27:31 the viewer's suspicious about.
27:34 And there's-- the fact that he doesn't turn in the psych eval
27:38 is really--
27:41 he doesn't do that because he wants to have leverage over her.
27:46 I think that there's different shades to everyone.
27:50 There's different sides.
27:51 It's not good or bad.
27:55 It's just-- there's-- from Mel's perspective, he is bad.
28:02 But even her perspective of herself is--
28:08 it's not the psych eval that brings her down.
28:10 It's her own undoing, right?
28:14 I know I'm kind of blathering on,
28:17 but hopefully I'm making sense.
28:19 No, you're good.
28:20 And what kind of a space did you have to pull from
28:24 to bring Manny to life?
28:28 Well, some of it is--
28:30 I think it was in the writing.
28:34 Constructing a character based on what he does over six
28:41 episodes and what people say about your character
28:48 can be really informative.
28:50 But I also intentionally wanted, hopefully,
28:57 to build some empathy from the viewer at the beginning
29:01 so that something to counterbalance what
29:05 Mel was saying about him.
29:09 But some of it, it was just--
29:12 it was in the dialogue.
29:14 And it's weird because there's one scene that really wasn't--
29:18 that I'm kind of bummed wasn't in there.
29:21 But you have no control over what, as an actor,
29:29 what goes in there.
29:30 And so you kind of work with what you got.
29:35 And then you find it in yourself.
29:37 You know what I mean?
29:39 I'm not much like Manny, but I can identify--
29:45 like I've never pulled off whatever the embezzlement
29:54 or the Escobo colony kind of corruption that he did.
29:59 But we all have stuff that we kind of just justify.
30:04 So I just had to assume that he out of sight, out of mind,
30:10 until--
30:12 the most panicked he is is when he's talking to Sam
30:16 Clare Danes in the park.
30:19 But once she says that she has nothing, he's--
30:27 again, it goes back to not being an issue for him.
30:31 Yeah, and lastly here, as much as "Full Circle"
30:35 is a story about the complexities of human nature,
30:37 it's also one centered around family and the lengths
30:41 people will go through to sometimes protect their own
30:44 or protect themselves.
30:46 How does this lie true for Manny?
30:51 Well, I think for Manny, he's always looking out for himself
31:01 and that the--
31:04 he sees the family thing as much more of a burden, right?
31:11 And the ambition that made him take down Gene McCasker
31:20 is--
31:22 I don't see his ambition as being the same at the end.
31:29 It's much more-- he wants to do the raid because of ego,
31:35 and he wants to chase after Garmin Harry at the end
31:40 because of ego, much more than being a hero to his daughter.
31:47 He's not really thinking of his family
31:50 when he's chasing after Garmin Harry or waiting for backup.
31:56 He's thinking more of ego.
31:58 So it's much more he's thinking of himself.
32:02 Absolutely.
32:03 Well, thank you so much for your--
32:04 if you had to describe your character, Derek,
32:06 in three words or sentence, what would you have to say?
32:10 The man is in trouble.
32:13 Yes, absolutely.
32:15 And speaking of trouble, where would you
32:17 say we find him at the beginning of Full Circle
32:21 versus where we are left with him in the end?
32:25 Well, I don't want to give away any endings,
32:27 but I'll tell you, when you find him, boy,
32:30 when I first started reading the script,
32:32 he seemed like he was the grounded, level-headed one.
32:35 And it wouldn't be a show if he was, I guess.
32:39 But he's got some secrets, and I don't
32:41 think he's going to be able to keep them under wraps.
32:44 Yeah, and how would you say those secrets are proof
32:47 that we all have secrets, right?
32:50 But the more you try to keep them hidden,
32:52 the more they're just waiting to burst at the seams.
32:55 Right.
32:55 I mean, they always say it's not the first mistake.
32:59 It's trying to cover it up.
33:03 It's the trying to cover it up that always gets you.
33:07 Yeah.
33:07 Yes.
33:08 And as much as this is a story about the complexities
33:11 of human nature, if you will, it's
33:13 also one that's centered around family and the lengths people
33:17 will go through to protect their own.
33:19 How does this ring true for Derek and his loved ones
33:22 specifically?
33:24 Well, I think he tragically, generally,
33:26 seems to love everybody in his life
33:28 and is trying desperately to hold that family together.
33:34 He just made a terrible mistake, and it's just kind of tragic.
33:41 But he seemed like--
33:45 it's one of those things, despite this--
33:49 I remember I told my wife about the character in the show.
33:53 She's like-- she basically was like, he's awful.
33:58 I was like, is he?
33:59 I was like, he's really trying hard.
34:04 Yeah, and despite him being, quote unquote,
34:07 quote unquote, like, awful on paper
34:09 or what we see on the screen, can you
34:13 tell me why it's important to showcase those qualities,
34:17 like you mentioned of him trying to love everyone in his life,
34:20 to kind of maybe humanize him a bit more for viewers?
34:25 Well, I mean, that's usually what makes great drama, right?
34:31 Is the contradictions.
34:33 It's the contradictions that make characters and people
34:37 so fascinating, that they're capable of doing these two
34:40 things and not seeing how they just are completely
34:46 at odds with one another.
34:49 And I can think of countless examples of people,
34:53 both in the public eye and people
34:58 I've met over the years that do it.
35:00 It's fascinating every single time.
35:04 It's what makes great drama.
35:06 Yeah, and I wanted to know, in bringing Derek to life,
35:12 has this been any kind of a full circle moment for you,
35:16 if you will, in breathing life into a character who
35:20 is as complex as he is?
35:24 Well, on a personal level, how this show brought something
35:29 full circle for me?
35:30 Yes.
35:31 Well, I mean, when I first started acting,
35:34 I just desperately wanted to work with people
35:36 like Steven Soderbergh.
35:39 So the fact that I've now worked with Steven Soderbergh kind
35:43 of brings it all around, makes it quite a trip.
35:48 If I could afford to retire, I'd be OK.
35:52 Because it doesn't get any better than that.
35:57 And when I first started this journey, I kept thinking,
36:01 well, maybe if I play my cards right and work hard,
36:03 I'll be able to work with someone like him.
36:07 Yes, and lastly, I wanted to know,
36:10 what has been the biggest lesson that you may have personally
36:15 learned from Derek in taking him from paper to the screen?
36:22 You know, I'm guilty of not really--
36:26 and I don't know if it's--
36:28 I always ask myself the same question.
36:31 Do I really not think about the character?
36:35 Because I feel like mostly what I do
36:37 is just play the game of how to play the scenes
36:41 and then trust that the accumulation of all those scenes
36:45 make a character.
36:48 What I come away from these jobs are always--
36:51 are more about how gratifying it was
36:58 to collaborate with the people I got to collaborate with,
37:01 to spend time with those people.
37:03 And being around Steven Soderbergh,
37:07 working with Claire Danes, they make--
37:09 those people make quite an impression on me.
37:12 And I take those things with me.
37:17 And I don't take those experiences lightly.
37:19 Because they just don't make them like that very often.
37:24 It's very special to be around them.
37:25 It's very special to watch them work and learn from them.