Cas Anvar – The Expanse

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) What are the recent projects that you have been working on?

A) I finished shooting “The Expanse” in March and was simultaneously shooting this film called Room with Brie Larson and William H. Macy. That’s kicking into high gear now. I’m enjoying the fruits of having the privilege of being a part of such an incredible movie by Lenny Abrahamson. It was beautifully, beautifully acted by Brie Larson. I just finished shooting a TV show that will probably premiere in the new year called called “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.” It’s a new Gary Sinise show and I got to play a great role in that as one of Gary’s old college buddies who is an attaché in Turkey. I’m also touring the conventions around the globe to sign autographs for video games and “The Expanse.”

Q) How was your character, Alex Kamal, on “The Expanse” originally described to you?

A) I didn’t know the novels before I auditioned so I went in based on everything that they sent me, which was about three pages of dialogue and a character description. He was described as a Mars born fighter pilot of Pakistani-Indian descent with a Texas accent. That’s basically what I had to go with. I had a week to look at it and prep a character. I went in based on that and I think I really identified with the character from the get-go. When I put my audition on tape, I got Alex and really fell in love with him a bit.

Q) Was there anything you added to your role that wasn’t scripted for you?

A) I know that one of the big things for me about Alex that struck home (and it is a little bit in the books, but the characters are much more fleshed out in the television series) and made me fall in love was his sense of humor. Alex is kind of everyone’s big brother. He’s a little bit older than the rest of the guys on the ship and has a little more life experience than they do. He’s been around and handles stressful situations differently. He’s one of those guys who cracks jokes when things get stressful. He deals with crisis and stress through humor. That’s kind of like me, when I get stressed I kind of crack jokes and make fun of things. I try to keep things as light as possible because I really don’t like stress and confrontation and crisis.

Q) How does the show compare to the books off of which it is based?

A) It’s amazing how much it honors the path of the novels, but it also is going to be an incredible new ride for people who love the books because – for example – the character Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) doesn’t exist in the first book. Her story came in book two, but the writers decided to bring her story into the first season. She’s basically in a third of the first season. Her story is one of our three prongs that all coincide as the season goes along. Another difference would be that the characters knew each other for years. In the books they have long standing relationships, they are very comfortable with one another and everyone has something to say about the other characters. I think that what the creators decided for the TV series (and it’s going to be much more fun for the audience) to discover the characters as they discover each other. There a couple characters that have history, like Amos (Wes Chatham) and Naomi (Dominique Tipper), who are bonded from all sorts of history. But for the most part, we are all kind of loners who are thrown into the frying pan together and they have to get to know each other in these stressful steel tempering situations and that’s different than the books. I think it is actually much more dramatic and much more interesting in a visual medium like television to discover your characters and watch them discover one another. That’s always exciting.

Q) What kind of research did you do to prepare for portraying Alex?

A) In researching the role, I talked to my Southern and Texan friends to try to find out all the different expressions Texans use. Texans have an expression for every possible situation! Some situations we didn’t even think of have an expression! One of my favorite lines from the show is “happier than a puppy with two peckers.” I’m like, “What the hell? Where did that come from and who thought of it?” Or there is, “that’s about as useful as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest.” It’s crazy, but I love that element of practical, down home practically it mixed with humor.

Q) You have quite a comedic and jovial personality, yet you take on these dramatic roles. What is it about them that draws you to more serious characters?

A) My roots are in Shakespeare and I played a lot of the “clown roles.” I also did a single camera kind of “The Office” mockumentary style show that was nominated in Canada for a number of awards in Canada called “The Tournament.” I have a lot of comedic love and a lot of experience in comedy. I have a feeling that once you get into film and television that your look really dictates a lot of the roles you get. I look intense, dramatic and kind of serious. So, it’s hard for people to see me as being goofy, funny. That’s cool. I love the roles that I’m getting, but this is why I said if I had been offered any of the other roles on “The Expanse” like Holden, Miller, etc. I still probably would l have chosen Alex because I love that this character is not defined by his ethnicity. He is a Mars born Pakistani-Indian fighter pilot who dreams and aspires to being the best fighter pilot in the solar system. To be that kind of cool, butt kicking character with a Texas accent, but yet his background has no baring on defining him…And he’s funny! It’s such a perfect role for me. I’m a mutt myself. I was born in Canada and have Persian-Lebanese roots. I was born into a scientific family. They wanted me to be a doctor or scientist, but I ended up being an actor. I was born in a French providence of an English country. As a geek and a nerd and sci-fi comic book collecting outcast that it is a good kind of parallel to me as far as this character. That’s why I fell in love with him. he really resonates with me.

Q) What can you tease were some of your most memorable moments from filming?

A) I had a really good time shooting the zero gravity scenes. That’s the first time I got to do something like that and it was fun. My favorite episode is Episode Seven, which I can’t really talk about. It’s an episode where I really got to have a lot of input and there is a lot of humorous Alex that comes out in it. That episode was written by the creators like Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham. It’s because there is so much humor in there and Alex has a lot to do in that. It’s a lot of fun. The other thing was just being able to work on this incredible playground that they built for us. It was like 80,000 square feet of practical sets for all three worlds and our three story spaceship and this completely different studio called The Jumbo, which housed the asteroid world (Thomas Jane’s character Miller’s world). It was a fully realized, carved out asteroid city with all the different cultures and signs and streets. It was this dirty, grungy, gritty Bladerunner style look to it that as an actor just being able to play on that playground was absolutely a real gift that we were given. It will show on the screen how much fun we had because it is just so luxurious inn terms of the resources we had. Some of my best memories are the times we would get together. The crew would get together in someone’s hotel room or house and rehearse for the upcoming week. That’s not something I’ve done before. It’s not really part of the television culture to get together as a group and rehearse, but we would do that. It was implemented by our first director, Terry McDonough who kind of set the tone for the entire series. He was a wonderful director and really, really got us to bond as a group. We would go out, have dinner, have drinks, augh and rehearse. By the time we got on set, everyone knew what they were doing so much. It shows on camera. Our scenes are really tight, we have a lot of fun and the characters have such chemistry and that shows on screen because we became such friends.

Q) Was there anyone on the show that you wanted to work with more or not had the chance to work with at all that you’d like to film with in the future?

A) It’s probably going to happen next season, but this time I only got to work with Thomas in one scene. I really admire him and respect his work. He is a very unique, creative artist and I love his work, but we only got to work together for a day or two. I didn’t get to work with Jonathan Banks at all. The worlds are so different. I didn’t get to work with Shohreh actually. I just realized that because we hung out so much and I became such good friends with her. But I am just thinking now I didn’t have a single scene with her because we don’t meet on the show – not this season. I’m looking forward to getting to spend more time with the rest of our lead cast.

Q) What do you think it is about “The Expanse” that will make people want to tune in?

A) I’m a huge sci-fi fan myself. I grew up on Star Wars, Star Trek, the old “Battlestar Galactica,” Galaxy Quest and Farscape. “Firefly” and all of these great things are basically my food and bread and water. There are elements of “The Expanse” that are very reminiscent of “Battlestar Galactica”, that intelligent gritty socio-political elements. That’s a huge part of “The Expanse.” And there is the grungy, city world of Bladerunner that Thomas Jane is in as this gumshoe detective with this old school black and white noir Humphrey Bogart detective that is very reminiscent to Bladerunner. Then, you have us on this ship that is kind of a combination of “Firefly” and Alien. You have this beaten up, rust bucket of a ship that is falling apart at the beginning of the season that is probably two hundred years old and we’re patching it together in very much like Alien type of environment. And you’ve got this quirky group of misfits that are all like, “We don’t want to be here. We’re forced into this situation.” It’s got this humorous ensemble that you would find in “Firefly” where we have this mission where we are basically trying to fight to survive and stay alive all the while there is this layer of humor that follows that group. So, there are all these wonderful winks at some of the best science fiction that has ever been put out there that I think “The Expanse” blends into its own unique form and manages to tell an incredibly interesting and compelling story that is super realistic.

Q) You are a part of social media. Are you looking forward to the instant fan feedback you will be receiving when the series premieres?

A) I honestly have no clue what to expect. I do use social media a lot and I really enjoy my fans. I’ve been fortunate enough to be attending some of the various conventions for the past few years because of my video game work. Maybe it is because I am a huge geek and used to go to the cons as a fan when I was younger, but I love going to them. I love meeting the fans and love talking to them about the projects. I love how infatuated they become with the stories because I used to do that. I used to be like, “Why did this happen like this,” find all the little holes in the storylines, ask for scientific explanations and get the actors to explain things. I love that aspect of things. I’m enjoying that world right now. How it is going to blow up when the show hits the air I have no idea. If what I am feeling right now is any indication then I’m probably going to enjoy it quite a lot. I look forward to interacting with “The Expanse” fans and see what they are enjoying, the questions they have, what strikes them and what moves them. It’s a very compelling and moving script so I’m hoping we’re able to effect people that way.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

A) People who have been there for me and are looking forward to “The Expanse,” I’m very confident that you are going to have a really great experience if you come on this journey with us for the first season. I’m very proud of the team that I am a part of. I feel honored to be on probably what is the most creative team I have ever been associated with and I think the fans are going to love it. It’s going to look amazing and I think we are going to grab people by the heart and throat and take them on the ride of their lives. It’s going to look spectacular! So, come on board guys. The train is about to leave the station!