Aml Ameen – I May Destroy You

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) What made you want to be a part of the new series “I May Destroy You?”

A) Well, they sent me the script. I haven’t been in a UK project speaking English for about ten years. I’ve spent most of my time in America doing American characters or Jamaican in Yardie and Kenyan. So, I was really looking for a project where I could come home and do something interesting. I was sent the script by my agent and I had just joined a new agency. He goes, “I think this is a good entry point back to the UK.” I was like, “Let me read it.” I’ve known Michaela [Coel], not well but we’re from the same scene. We’re from the same generation. I’ve known her in passing for the better part of twelve years. I read it and was immediately drawn to the complications of the characters. Of Simon’s journey. It was an opportunity for me to play something in terms of my language and my energy. Closer to myself. I thought, “Let me definitely have fun it.” I met with Michaela and the rest was fast moving. I got the offer and we kept it moving. I came to London and shot it while shooting another film in Atlanta. It was really cool to jump in and out and see it progressing.

Q) How was your character Simon originally described to you?

A) Well, I think Simon is that kind of high energy, intentions in the right place kind of guy. His relationship with his lady has lasted eight years and his lady has become curious about adding spice to their relationship. So, he used this moment of adding spice to the relationship of her genuinely thinking, “Shall we try a threesome?” and he used it to for something he was already doing outside of the relationship, which was already having that “extra spice” – so to speak. I think he’s a guy who isn’t interested in his lady having a threesome much. I think he wanted to derail the situation by having his mistress, who is curious about his girlfriend anymore, come into the fray and leave. That’s why when he’s in the nightclub she texts him, “I told you she wouldn’t suspect anything.” He’s really referring to his own worry about things going awry. I think with Arabella, they are used to having rough nights. They are used to doing cocaine and they are used to having nights that are no longer. So, I think he missed his girl Arabella as a friend and they are on one of their classic benders. His own desire takes him off the ball. That’s what I think. It’s so well nuanced that audiences are left feeling how they want to feel and that’s what is fascinating to me. I think by the time you get to the end of episode two we know that Simon didn’t drug Arabella.

Q) Does his girlfriend know that party side to him or does she think it is in his past?

A) I wasn’t given a backstory in that sense. I think she knows that he is a bit of a partier. I wouldn’t think that she doesn’t know that about him. He’s a city banker and a lot of city bankers get up to that kind of behavior. I think it’s something that doesn’t happen often anymore because of the type of people he was doing it with. That’s interesting. I’m going to side of caution. Does she know that he may take drugs when he goes out? Yes, I think so.

Q) What kind of backstory were you given on his friendship with Araballa? For now, we solely know that Terry connected the two.

A) Michaela and I discussed it. We think that they went to college together and as they went through their early 20’s they were college friends that would kind of party. Terry (Weruche Opia) was the connecting issue, but then they had their own kind of friendship that kind of splintered off away from Terry. As you can see, Terry is quite coveted over her relationship with Arabella. And so, I think this relationship lasted a particular era. It’s like a lot of friendships. We have friends that last a particular era and then all of a sudden, you’re like, “I don’t speak to that person that much anymore.” So, when you do connect you almost O.D. I sense that about Simon when we’re in that first scene when we’re meeting him – how much he wants to connect with his friend, but also, he’s using it for a distraction. His cousin is in town and the Mrs. is worried about the cousin ruining the threesome date. It’s definitely complicated.

Q) Simon lives this pristine life during the day and cooks dinner for his lady. Then, he has this different side when he is with Arabella. Is there something about their friendship that brings out this darker side to him or is it a hidden side he just keeps at bay during the day?

A) Here are my thoughts on it. I think we are all the sum of all possibilities. That’s what I’ve come understand. Some of us are more inclined for more things to be possible for us than others. I think when you get around certain people that they bring out a certain type of freedom in you and a certain type of expression in you and other people bring out another side. Simon and Kat (Lara Rossi) have been together for eight years. Simon is probably about thirty-three. But Arabella goes past that time. Arabella goes to being seventeen or eighteen years old in college and that’s a different time. I always think that when you see friends from the past you end up in the same rhythmic dance that you did way back when. When you see an ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend from the past there is that same rhythmic dance after twenty or thirty minutes of politeness. So, it’s an interesting thing. I think what was once established becomes something that was repeated. I’d also say that this whole show is about late twenty-somethings who are going into this period of their lives. They’re “adulting,” if you will, in this period of their lives where they are going to be in the next era of their lives. That’s why I think it’s not necessarily that Simon is hiding anything. We can all relate to different cocktails of people bringing out different sides of themselves. I think everything he is doing is genuinely a part of him. The cooking and all of that – that’s genuinely a part of him. Having an affair? That’s genuinely a part of him. Being the life of the party? That’s genuinely a part of him. Taking care of his friend and putting his jacket around her? That’s genuinely a part of him. I think when you paint people with one brush it gives you this convenience of boxing them in and going, “Well, that’s what Londoners do.” And you judge them. If you look at a character or characters that Michaela has painted in her show, you are just seeing so much variety that you can’t look away because you’re relating to all the characters on some level.

Q) Does Simon have actual feelings for Alissa or is this just another fun night for him?

A) Well, let me think about that. Does he have feelings for Alissa (Ann Akin)? I think so. I think when you have sex with someone for six months, or whatever it was, a certain type of feelings develops. A certain type of closeness. Also, there is an honesty that Alissa and him share which is that she knows he has a long-term partner and she obviously doesn’t care enough not to be involved. So, from that point of view you can suspect that they have a degree of closeness. So, yes, I think he definitely has feelings for her. I don’t think they are the same as for Kat. I think that’s a different kind of feeling. I also don’t think she likes the fling type of woman for the night. I think she’s got feelings for him for sure.

Q) The club they go to is Ego Death Bar. Is that an Easter Egg that people should pay attention to?

A) 100%. Anything that Michaela is signaling to…I think it’s an Easter Egg. It feels to me that the writer, Michaela, is saying, “This is where there will be a death of the ego.” I guess people often think that ego is about arrogance and all of that, but ego is about the false self dying. Ego is the attachment that we place on ourselves and this identity that we carry though. The whole journey of the main characters (myself, Kwame, Terry and Michaela) is about this death of the false sense and coming into a more fully realized self.

Q) What were some of your favorite scenes that you shot for the series?

A) I love the scene just before everything gets fucked up. When myself and Michaela meet for the first time on screen in person and I’m like, “WhataGwan?! Yo! How low can you go? How low can you go?” In that moment you realize, “Oh, these guys are old ” What I love about that is that is what London feels like where your friend joins you and the different energies come and all of a sudden if you’re a person in the public eye some fan or supporter may stop you and show you love. And then they ask for a picture quickly. I know that life. That’s been the life of so many of us that live in the city. It’s such a dense place. I love that. And someone who hasn’t lived there for so long, it just reminded me of my nights when I was an early twenty-something/late teenager roaming about city and just vibing her. I quite loved that. Then, the second scene that I really enjoyed and loved is the scene where it all goes crazy. I met these new people, which happens a lot. We’ve been catching joke and all of that. That, to me, I love that scene and how it really jumps around in perspective and it really becomes very eerie. All of a sudden you don’t know who is who. That scene in particular, just before everything goes awry, I just love the way that scene plays out. It feels very eerie and very Roshamon in a sense. Filmmakers will know what that is.

Q) How does the title of the show play into the series itself?

A) “I May Destroy You.” Well, for a long time I was called something else. I think it is two-fold. From the point of view of the character…And this is really a Michaela question, but I think one – this experience may destroy you. I think ultimately “I May Destroy You” is like a charge to the audience. I may destroy your boundaries. I may destroy your previous notions. I may destroy your feelings on certain subject matters. I may break down your walls and make you see things differently. What I, personally, love about that title is it is very multi-dimensional.

Q) You are a part of social media. What kind of fan feedback have you been receiving to the show?

A) It’s more been fun. [laughs] It’s more like friends of mine on Instagram or hit me up on WhatsApp like, “This is the first character I’m going to hate of your’s.” [laughs] That’s been fun. On Twitter, with the show it has been going wild. In the UK and in America it’s been going wild. One of the things that is really important to state is that this is the first time a lot of people in America are getting to understand and seeing a story from a black British person and multiple black British people. You may have had this preconceived notion about what British people are, much less British that we’re drinking tea and eating crumpets and all the rest of it. This goes straight into the world, the heart of what it’s like to be a millennial, what it is like to be a Londoner, what it is like to be a black person in London. The only other show that shows that from a particular lens has been a show called “Top Boy.” So, this is a really groundbreaking show in terms of showing everyday modern life in the UK and in London or black millennials. And I think that’s groundbreaking. I don’t know if it was intentional. I think speaking with Michaela she just wrote from the seat of her life, but having been supported by BBC and HBO now many people have benefited from experiencing black British people. For me, I left the UK to get more variety of characters because ten years ago or twelve years ago we didn’t really have many characters on screen that would be multi-dimensional. I did a film called Kidulthood when I was like nineteen years old and I played a particular character and it was great and I loved it, but then it was that pretty much that was in my scope. So, I felt the desire and need to come to America and American opened things up for me where I played a leader in a dystopian world in Maze Runner. I played someone working in the 1950’s as a butler and very different roles that stretched me as an actor.

Q) Is there anything else about your time on “I May Destroy You” that you want to be sure we share with our readers?

A) No. I would only say that Michaela paints her characters with shades of grey. That’s the only thing. But, no, I love an audience to receive and perceive things how they want to. I think that’s exciting and that cinema can often be contrasting when it comes to peoples’ perspective and views. So, I love it. I love the feedback we’ve been getting. No clarity on Simon from my part. Continue to watch the series and you’ll have a great time.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who are fans and supporters of you and the work you do?

A) I would say thank you so much. I love people that have taken the time to follow me throughout my career. My career has been very varied. So, sometimes it’s not the easiest to track what I’m doing. Look forward to some great work. I’m stepping behind the camera this year for my directorial debut, which is set in London. So, that’s going to be really fun. It’s a story from my perspective and my heart. I look forward to sharing it with the world.