"You need just those jeans that you would never put on"

Mahershal Ali - about the main role in the third season of the "real detective"

The third season of the series “Real Detective” began to be released on the American HBO and in the Russian “Amediak” . Its action takes place in a small town in Arkansas in 1980, 1990 and 2015. The main character - the black detective Wayne Hais - played Mahershal Ali, the owner of the Oscar for his role in the film “Moonlight” and “Golden Globe” for work in the film “Green Book”. At the request of Medusa, the Jeanne Jeanne talked with Ali about how he convinced the creator of the show Nick Pizzoratto to take him for the role and what he found in it for himself.

-Is it true that you sent to the [screenwriter and director] Nick Pizzolatto photographs of his grandfather, who was an officer of the police in the 1960s and 1970s in Arkansas to convince him to give a role to you?

- I think Nick convinced himself of this. I just wanted to show him that if he gives me the opportunity to play the main role here, this will make the series only better, add interesting nuances to the already difficult relationship of the characters. If you look at the show, you will understand that this is how it turned out. Thanks to Nick for the fact that he was able to consider in my sentence some value.

- You can explain what kind of nuances we are talking about?

-Imagine the 1980s in the southern state of Arkansas. Police officer, senior detective who is investigating the case of the disappearance of children, is black. It seems to be adding something to the plot. CPU is trying to get information from people to protect them so that they are safe. And how do they react to this? What is important to them? Instead of helping the police to reveal the crime, they decide to focus on discrimination and racism. We do not poke these facts in person and do not engage in moralization - we simply make it clear that there is no history outside this context. The way we look really affects what is happening to us, it doesn’t matter whether we want it or not.

- Your hero is also a veteran of the war in Vietnam. How does this affect his character?

- It was a war with which men were ashamed to return. They remembered how their fathers came home [with World War II] heroes hung with medals - and they rode from Vietnam with shame and did not feel any support. I thought that Wayne was just such a guy who is recorded in volunteers, and then returns - and remains in complete isolation. He is a single warrior, and, it seems, he even likes his loneliness: after all, it is more convenient to observe what is happening around and comprehend what is happening. When you are on your own, it is easier for you to see what others do not see - you have time for this.

- This season is very reminiscent of the first. How, in your opinion, the scriptwriters tried to return to the "formula for success" developed at the very beginning?

- If you put the question like this - “What season is it more like - the first or second?”, - then, of course, to the first. The most important part of the second season was a large acting ensemble; And he was much more dynamic. So by the way the time moves in the season and how the heroes exist in it, the third season is closer to the first. But, of course, it differs from both previous ones. Anyway, who will need these comparisons if the series reaches the sixth, seventh or even eighth seasons?

I do not think that Nick tried to copy the first season, because he turned out so successful. In my opinion, Nick does not know how to work like this, according to a hung scheme. He writes that he is exciting and touching him at the moment. This time, it was fundamentally important for him to show the story through the eyes of Wayne, a hero who is trying to restore mental health and balance, who tries to maintain his marriage and at the same time is on the verge of divorce.

- Why was it important for him to show just such a hero? Is it possible to say that he wrote him from himself in something?

- No, of course, I don't think so. Rather, the fact is that the writer and screenwriter always have to look not only to say, but also how to say about it - otherwise why write at all. He watches what is happening around, impregnates it properly - and then searches for channels for exit. This time he came up with his observations through Wayne.

- And by what principle do you choose, what characters will play? What do you want to say to the world, agreeing to certain roles?

-I can’t say that I have some fundamental principle by which I choose the roles. But, of course, at a certain moment you have to look back at how your career looks from the side, which each of your choice is talking about. The reason I agreed to work in the Green Book is different from the reason why I began to act in a “real detective”.

The main thing in choosing a role for me is to find an interesting measurement in the character in person. Why can I start working on this role and what can I come to? What can I do to develop the character of the hero, will this work? When I read the script, I always think about what this or that hero can tell about, whether this is in a timely manner, it is simply curious or also informative, and most importantly - how I personally need it and whether I am ready to spend my strength on it.

- You discussed with the nickname Pizzolatto how your character will develop in the “Real Detective”? Maybe something was advised to him?

-We talked a lot, I even offered some small ideas on how to improve the character, but in general Nick is a genius, I completely trust him and it was more interesting for me to watch what he would come up with. My main proposal for this role was to take me to her. I managed this, but the rest of the nickname was not needed.

- Recently, you are constantly nominated for various acting awards. When you are working on a particular role, do you think about whether she will bring you another reward?

- I don’t know, usually I just do my job. I try to respect my heroes as personalities, to show empathy for each of them, to take everyone seriously. I have a bunch of all kinds of strange techniques to “connect” to my characters, to feel a connection with them, and sometimes it can be difficult, but I am convinced that something important can be told with the help of any hero: a good guy, a villain, anyone. And with everyone you can find something in the common in yourself.

Therefore, every time I play someone who should perform in the history of the villain, I start with showing: in fact, he is primarily-a person. And I want you, the audience, it felt that you would not treat him unequivocally, so that you could not immediately understand what you really think about him.

And if then some people believe that this work is worthy of a reward or something like that, then this is cool. But this does not mean that I work for the sake of awards. I work for the viewer to leave the cinema and thought: “For some reason it hurts me, it seems, it was cool, we should think about why it happened.”

-Do you feel with every new reward, with each new acting success there is more responsibility, more than some pressure from the public and critics?

- No one exerts more pressure on me than myself. I was brought up like this, I have always been like that - probably my sports past is to blame ( at the college of Mahershala Ali played professionally in basketball - approx. Medusa ). And in the acting profession you constantly have to compete. Well, not so, of course, in order to threaten a partner on the site: "Now I will beat you!" But it often happens that you come to the shooting to work, but you find yourself tied to some strange games.

At such moments, I try to renounce everything and just remember how I am grateful for the opportunity to be here, to work with these people. I really always want the film crew to be satisfied with what it does so that everyone is aware of their contribution to the common cause and spend time well-even if we take off something gloomy and difficult as a “real detective”.

- When did you first see yourself in the image of the old Wayne, what did you feel? Thought about how you will be at this age?

- When I first looked at the “old” myself, I did not see myself at all! And this is fine, because I do not want to see myself on the screen. I mean that even when I shoot without makeup and look exactly like in life, I do not want to be like myself.

When you just start acting a lot, do not immediately understand that in fact there is a goal-to be someone else, and not to swear with the costume artist, when you brought jeans that you do not like terribly and which you would never put on in life. No, you need just those jeans that you would never put on! So that you can become someone else. You really become an actor when you step over your vanity and make other people's decisions, because it will help history become more believable, and not because you will personally look better.

Jeanne jury