Harry Hamlin & Tongayi Chirisa – Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches

By starrymag | January 8, 2023

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) How familiar were you both with the book series before getting the roles?

Harry: Not at all for me.

Tongayi: I had seen Interview with the Vampire the movie with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt and Queen on the Damned with Aaliyah many, many moons ago and then I got the audition and put two and two together and I dove right in. I was like this this is a wonderful opportunity to relive this. My moments as a teenager watching these movies.

Q) Harry, had you at least seen any of the movies?

Harry: I saw Interview with a Vampire. And I sort of knew that it was Anne Rice that had done it. But, look, I’m really old. I missed the opportunity because I was already working and making movies when she was releasing her first books. You had to be a kid when that time.

Q) Really in the last few years, especially we’ve kind of as a culture had more of a fascination with witches and magic. I guess Harry Potter helped a little but what’s your feeling on that?

Harry: So, I have never really embraced the whole vampire/witches thing. I am a fan of mythology. And I did the Clash of the Titans movie years ago and I guess there’s a connection between Percy Jackson and Alex’s [Daddario] involvement with that and Clash of the Titans as well that’s kind of an interesting and ironic connection. But as far as the vampire thing, this is my first dive into that kind of ethos and I’m really enjoying it. I’m loving it. It’s great. I want to go back down and see if I can sort of watch all the other stuff that I missed over the years.

Tongayi: I think it’s really interesting. I think just as the human race, we’ve always been intrigued about spirituality. And the desire to live long from the Garden of Eden, the tree of good and evil to the fountain of youth and always trying to find a way to stay young and beautiful. So, I don’t think that it’s anything new. Everything is cyclical, as you know, and I think this is just the resurgence of people wanting to escape into a world kind of like Avatar that the beautiful world of like, “Oh, I can’t wait to be a part of this,” or “I would love to be in a place like that.” And just as we are as human beings, we tend to search and we’re constantly searching for something that’s bigger than us. It’s something that we can actually say that this is a utopia of what life can be. So that’s my take. I think we’re constantly exploring these things. So, mythology and religion kind of all play a part in helping us salvage the harshness of real life, I think.

Q) So, in the “Mayfair” world some people are gifted. Would you want to be gifted? And if so what would be your gift?

Tongayi: I think everybody’s gifted. Harry might not agree. But I think his gift is charm. You might think otherwise. And because of that, I would love to be gifted. Absolutely. If I had another stab at having another gift it be the gift of influence.

Harry: Well, okay, but you already have that.

Togayi: No, I mean, I can tap but I’m saying if I had another gift, it’d be the gift of influence. I can talk to you and be like, “Harry, give me a Maserati,”

Harry: Okay.

Tongayi: And you’d be like, “I feel compelled to give this to you, brother.”

Harry: There’s a trope that goes way back about whether you want three wishes or not. There’s always a trap in that, right? Whoever gets the three wishes, wishes is always some huge disaster that goes along with that.

Tongayi: True.

Harry: So, I would never, ever want anything whatsoever. I like it just the way it is.

Tongayi: [laughs] Oh Harry.

Harry. Well, I mean, am I’m wrong?

Tongayi: No, you’re not. You’re not. Like leave me alone. I am happy. Next step will

Q) Harry, Carlotta says “evil comes in many forms.” How does that apply to your character Cortland Mayfair and his intentions towards Rowan?

Harry: So, because a lot is revealed in episodes that you haven’t seen yet about what my intentions are, I can’t let that cat out of the bag. I have to be very circumspect about how I answer this question. First of all, I don’t think that Cortland is necessarily evil. And I always try to find when, I’m in any character that I’m playing, I try to find where that heart of gold is in that person. And then if they veer away from that in some delicious way, then is it evil or is it a mistake, or is it intentionally manipulative? I don’t know exactly. But I can’t say beyond that. I can’t answer the question because I’d have to give you a spoiler alert.

Q) Is it safe to say that Cortland has an agenda and Tongayi, your character is kind of almost a protector. Is it safe to say that in both of your cases?

Harry: Well, in my case, my agenda is actually fairly clear. I have several agendas, but the main one is to keep this family together and to make sure that they behave in a way that only allows them the greatest possibility of developing their powers to the fullest possible extent. And for the good of the family also, and for the good of Cortland. Mainly. But there are other agendas that then revealed themselves as the series goes on and next season as well. Should we be lucky enough to go there.

Tongayi: I think he is a protector that’s the pious of his character. And obviously that’s been challenged as the story continues because certain things happen, that put him in a conflict of interest, and obviously in a very compromising situation where he now has to make choices from within rather than external of what used to govern him. So, yeah, there’s definitely a nice evolution to what Harry was saying that he starts off as protected with something he becomes something else at the end.

Q) Both of your characters seem to be attracted to Rowan in in different types of way. Could you kind of describe your character as dynamic with her?

Tongayi: Well, for me, I’m assigned to protect her and watch over her as a member of The Talamasca. We’ve always had a keen interest in the Mayfair family. And so I’m just one of the many agents that have been tasked to monitor what’s happening and so obviously, that happens and through a course of events my character seemingly overstepped his boundaries and because he does that, it just sends these to spiraling into some unknown journey that has definite repercussions for my character, for Rowan and for the ultimate of what I was trying to protect her from. And so we see that manifest in so many ways. Oh, yeah.

Harry: Well, yeah, once again, I mean, my role is somewhat avuncular with her, at least as we see it in the first five episodes. Now that gonna change but I can’t go into that. But yeah,  I want to guide her protector, make sure that she makes the right decisions and she is the 13th witch. And that’s a big deal in this. So, I’ve got to make sure that whatever dynamics evolve out of my relationship with her, the best of all possible worlds she will find

Q) Tongayi, this is such an incredible role for you and it’s a more serious side for you as well, which I find fascinating. You do so well at comedy. So, what was it about Ciprien or about the series itself that really drew you to be a part of this?

Tongayi: Girl, it was a job. [laughs] Some truth to it but I think the ability and just the genre of magic and Harry Potter – just that world in and of itself. Like, it’s the one genre where you can literally incorporate all kinds, the heart, the dramatic, the comedic into this and just really get to explore and tap into emotions that certain genres wouldn’t allow you because you have the escape of magic and fantasy. So, that for me was huge because I love the genre, in and of itself. So just to be a part of it. was just like, “Oh my gosh, like let’s explore how deep and how dark can this character go given the opportunity.” And so just being a part of it just makes it that much more richer for me.

Q) With a story like this that has such a rich history with the books and everything, how do you kind of balance what you pull from the scripts and the books and everything versus what you’re able to add creatively for your characters?

Tongayi: I think Esta [Spalding], the showrunner, did a very, very good job of extrapolating the essence of Anne Rice’s world and just you know, just getting into her psyche and obviously just formulating, stringing along have a beautiful story. So, when we came along,  we obviously had ideas, especially for my character who new, she was able to help mold with the elements of these two individuals that we had, and just allow for it to be organic because as much as she had written this world, we were still exploring and discovering. So, that was the fun part because it wasn’t something already solid. It was like, “Hey, let’s see what we can do within the confines of what we have already.”

Harry: I was not that familiar with the books. I got through the first fifteen hours listening to the book, and then realized the Cortland is actually dead. And so this character that has been brought back to life and allowed to be the patriarch of the family for the remainder of the series is kind of a new character in that sense. And so I took what was on the page and amplified it somewhat. And they let me do that. I’m not sure that the Cortland that you see in the screen is the one that Esta had in mind when she first started writing the thing, but the good news was that they were writing the show as we went along, so they were able to adapt and write for us as we presented them with the character that we had evolved. And so rather than having all of the scripts written first, which meant that we had to fall in line to whatever they had written, they were able to take kind of the fluid creativity that we had and write for that. So, I’m not sure that I think the question you’re asking is “how did we adapt to the thing” and I think more they adapted to us.

 

*CONFERENCE CALL*