Two 'dead' actors collect 'Homeland' honors
By Li Anlan |
June 23, 2013, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TWO "bad guys" - a treacherous CIA boss and an Islamic terrorist - killed off in Season 2 of "Homeland" describe what it was like to work on the award-winning blockbuster TV series.
British actor David Harewood, who plays CIA counterterrorism boss David Estes, and Iranian American actor David Negaban, who plays the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, arrived in the city's Zendai Himalayas Center to collect the Shanghai TV Festival's top award for Best Foreign TV series. The first season won Emmys for best series, best actor (Damian Lewis) and actress (Claire Danes), among others. The second season was an acclaimed cliff-hanger. The Golden Magnolia this time in Shanghai goes to both two seasons.
The show was also a huge success in China, where it is seen on video streaming websites and on DVD.
"It's like a perfect storm, great actors, great stories, great script, all coming together to create a very compelling, grow-up adult theme that's brave, risky and drama. And there is very little of that on television," Harewood said.
Season 3 starts on September 29 in the United States, but Harewood and Negaban won't be there.
The story revolves around CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), who struggles with bipolar disorder, and her quarry, decorated POW Nicholas Brody (Lewis) who was "turned" by Abu Nazir, a father figure to him in captivity. Nazir and Brody plan a terrorist act in the US to avenge the death of Nazir's son, Brody's student, in a US drone strike.
At the end of Season 2, Nazir is killed by police in Washington, DC, and Estes and many CIA officers are killed in a car bomb planted in Brody's car. Brody and Mathison are emotionally involved. Estes determines to kill Brody.
In an interview with Shanghai Daily, Harewood said he thought the explosive ending was rather abrupt.
"I think the storyline of Carrie and Brody perhaps has gone so far, they needed some action, so they had to bring the story to a climax in a different way than they had (originally) intended," he said.
He expressed disappointment that Estes didn't stay on and reveal more layers. "I kept waiting for my character to have some kind of revelation, but it didn't quite come off and that was a little frustrating. I never go to explore his inner life ... things were suggested but never developed, like his relationship with Carrie."
Harewood said he played Estes as being jealous of Brody (over Carrie), which helped motivate his quarrelsome relationship with Mathison.
Still, he called it "a very powerful piece, a successful piece."
There was considerable improvisation, he said, citing the first season's finale. In a final scene, Estes goes to Mathison's house where she is having an extreme biopolar episode. She has also created a brilliant, seemingly chaotic wall map and timeline with evidence that points to Abu Nazir's son. The significance is missed at the time.
Since it was difficult for Danes to maintain Carrie's hysterical emotions, "we could only shoot it once, we all knew that she was ready to go, so we couldn't rehearse it and we just had to shoot it," he said. "From going into the house and seeing the wall she made, that was all improvised, it was very powerful and emotional, but she could only do it once."
Killed off
The character Abu Nazir also died in a shootout in the last season, and the actor is satisfied with the journey of the character.
"I think my character has accomplished something, and said what he wanted to say. The way it ended with my character, I feel it was very powerful," Negahban said. "I wasn't playing a terrorist; I was playing a man being put in a situation and reacting to the situation."
Negahban described a moving moment while shooting the pilot. In the scene Brody was beating up fellow POW Walker (whom he was told he had killed) and Abu Nazir walked in, taking Brody in his arms.
"That was kind of improvised, because it wasn't on the script," he remembered. "It was so powerful that for a second I forgot the script and everything there, and I let the character take over. That was the birth of Abu Nazir."
His favorite line from the series was his own line: "You don't have to kill a man to kill an idea."
British actor David Harewood, who plays CIA counterterrorism boss David Estes, and Iranian American actor David Negaban, who plays the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, arrived in the city's Zendai Himalayas Center to collect the Shanghai TV Festival's top award for Best Foreign TV series. The first season won Emmys for best series, best actor (Damian Lewis) and actress (Claire Danes), among others. The second season was an acclaimed cliff-hanger. The Golden Magnolia this time in Shanghai goes to both two seasons.
The show was also a huge success in China, where it is seen on video streaming websites and on DVD.
"It's like a perfect storm, great actors, great stories, great script, all coming together to create a very compelling, grow-up adult theme that's brave, risky and drama. And there is very little of that on television," Harewood said.
Season 3 starts on September 29 in the United States, but Harewood and Negaban won't be there.
The story revolves around CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), who struggles with bipolar disorder, and her quarry, decorated POW Nicholas Brody (Lewis) who was "turned" by Abu Nazir, a father figure to him in captivity. Nazir and Brody plan a terrorist act in the US to avenge the death of Nazir's son, Brody's student, in a US drone strike.
At the end of Season 2, Nazir is killed by police in Washington, DC, and Estes and many CIA officers are killed in a car bomb planted in Brody's car. Brody and Mathison are emotionally involved. Estes determines to kill Brody.
In an interview with Shanghai Daily, Harewood said he thought the explosive ending was rather abrupt.
"I think the storyline of Carrie and Brody perhaps has gone so far, they needed some action, so they had to bring the story to a climax in a different way than they had (originally) intended," he said.
He expressed disappointment that Estes didn't stay on and reveal more layers. "I kept waiting for my character to have some kind of revelation, but it didn't quite come off and that was a little frustrating. I never go to explore his inner life ... things were suggested but never developed, like his relationship with Carrie."
Harewood said he played Estes as being jealous of Brody (over Carrie), which helped motivate his quarrelsome relationship with Mathison.
Still, he called it "a very powerful piece, a successful piece."
There was considerable improvisation, he said, citing the first season's finale. In a final scene, Estes goes to Mathison's house where she is having an extreme biopolar episode. She has also created a brilliant, seemingly chaotic wall map and timeline with evidence that points to Abu Nazir's son. The significance is missed at the time.
Since it was difficult for Danes to maintain Carrie's hysterical emotions, "we could only shoot it once, we all knew that she was ready to go, so we couldn't rehearse it and we just had to shoot it," he said. "From going into the house and seeing the wall she made, that was all improvised, it was very powerful and emotional, but she could only do it once."
Killed off
The character Abu Nazir also died in a shootout in the last season, and the actor is satisfied with the journey of the character.
"I think my character has accomplished something, and said what he wanted to say. The way it ended with my character, I feel it was very powerful," Negahban said. "I wasn't playing a terrorist; I was playing a man being put in a situation and reacting to the situation."
Negahban described a moving moment while shooting the pilot. In the scene Brody was beating up fellow POW Walker (whom he was told he had killed) and Abu Nazir walked in, taking Brody in his arms.
"That was kind of improvised, because it wasn't on the script," he remembered. "It was so powerful that for a second I forgot the script and everything there, and I let the character take over. That was the birth of Abu Nazir."
His favorite line from the series was his own line: "You don't have to kill a man to kill an idea."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
