Rahul Kohli – iZombie

By: Lisa Steinberg

Q) What can you tease is in store this season on “iZombie” and with your character Ravi?

A) This season I feel like the world that we’re set in has gotten bigger and has more depth to it. In Season 1, we spent a lot of time building the regular cast and their backstory. In this season, I guess the shackles are off a bit because we don’t need to introduce anyone. Now, we’re kind of fleshing out that world. You get to see far more grittier aspects of Seattle, far more of the zombie lore and mythology and a lot more relationships. It seems a lot less procedural this year.

Q) Will the character dynamics switch up or change in any aspects?

A) There has been a few changes. Some of them have been quite organic. It’s been a bit of a hybrid. Blaine (David Anders) and Ravi in Season 2 seem to butt heads a lot more. That comes from the scripts we have been getting. A lot of it has to do with the cure. Blaine is the guinea pig so that puts that in Ravi’s world because of the cure and trying to improve it. Obviously, Blaine puts Ravi in danger so they butt heads a lot. Through our working relationship with Babineaux, this season Babineaux, Ravi and Liv have a new dynamic and it is quite fun to play with. With the scenes we have together (which are usually the exposition scenes where we are talking about the case of the week) there seems to be a new dynamic where Ravi and Liv (Rose McIver) mess with Clive (Malcolm Goodwin). They poke fun and try to get him to crack. With him being very professional and straight-laced, they try to bring something out of him, a more fun side, which has been fun to play.

Q) Peyton is still missing at this point. How long will we be waiting for her to reappear?

A) I don’t think you have to wait too long since the stills from the upcoming episodes show her. I think Aly [Michalka] is just far too good an actress to stay gone long and everyone knew that. The main five of us are season regulars and Aly is reoccuring so we weren’t sure what her plans were and if she was going to come back. We were over the moon when we found out she was on board and wanted to come back to continue playing Peyton. We’re super excited to have her here and she has been here a lot more than she was in Season 1 so fans of Peyton and the Ravi/Peyton dyanmic will be happy.

Q) Will there bean awkward reconnection between Ravi and Peyton?

A) I don’t want to give anything away, but I was saying at Comic Con that their relationship was pretty much over before it began. They met, they liked each other and they began dating, but in a timeline sense I don’t think they were together that long before she left. The way I understood it was that there was a mutual understanding of what she witnessed and what caused her to leave was completely acceptable. Not everyone is going to take the news that Liv is a zombie the way Ravi did and embrace it whole heartedly. I don’t think it is particularly personal from Ravi’s end, but it is still an interesting dynamic to see how she comes back into their lives.

Q) We see the “bros before ex-fiancé” RaJor fans. What can we see from their friendship this season and what does it mean since Major will be working for Max Rager?

A) The thing with the Major-Ravi relationship is that we don’t get to indulge in it as much because Major (Robert Buckley) is going through a huge amount of change and spiraling into a whole new arena. So, it doesn’t feel right for him to be battling with what happened to him with Liv and him being cured and then have them sit down and play videogames every night. It’s kind of moved on from that. There is still a deep relationship there and they still care about each other, but Major is a bit of a cause for concern and Ravi is part of his support network. For fans of RaJor they really need to tune into episode two because it is the most RaJor episodes we have had. There are quite a few of them. In fact, most of the episode for me is with Robert.

Q) What can you share is in store for Liv and Ravi and what the cure means in terms of their friendship?

A) I work with some of the most incredible people I’ve ever met. We’ve made friends for life. It is a small cast and everyone is aware that we love spending time together. Whatever combo we are filming with the cast, we’re always excited to work with each other. I still get that buzz working with Rose. I have no idea what that is and we’ve never really addressed it. Since we worked together on the pilot, Rose and I have just clicked. I don’t know. Maybe it is the whole Commonwealth thing with her being from New Zealand, but we have a very sense of humor. We’re both fans of Ricky Gervais so when we’re on set we are constantly play fighting and she is taking chunks out of me because she treats me like her brother. I am so happy that people have taken to that relationship because it really continues when they yell, “Cut.” It’s just how we are with each other. They are very close. Obviously, with Peyton being her best friend and roommate and Major being her ex-fiancé, Ravi still seems to be the closest. They have secrets with each other and it is a very honest and pure relationship and there is no agenda behind it. I’m very excited (and I’ve been made aware for future episodes) that they get to go on their own adventures together away from the usual dynamic of Clive and Liv. You get to see a little episode of Ravi and Liv going on their own adventure.

Q) The cast have done these amazing films to promote the new season. Malcolm mentioned you were a integral part of them. Is there any chance you might want to try your hand at directing at some point?

A) That’s interesting you brought that up because I actually studied film before I became an actor. When I was in film school, a few times I was in my own short films and I enjoyed that more so I dropped out. So, I initially had an interest in directing. To be honest, I love coming up with ideas and I do take pride. I do enjoy putting stuff out on my Twitter, Vine and Instagram of stupid things I capture throughout the day. Malcolm is an incredible filmmaker and we are constantly on his case because we want him to direct an episode at some point. I don’t know if that will ever happen, but we are always in his ear telling him he can do it. We wanted to do something different and right now TV is evolving with some great female characters on screen like with “Orphan Black” and “Agent Carter.” We always had “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” in our DNA and in our foundation, but we wanted to play homage to some of our favorites. Ripley was mine and Princess Leia. We gave a shout out to Wonder Woman because we are all fans of DC. We decided after having so much fun with that – Well, we’ll see what happens. But Malcolm and I decided we’re going to write a few mockumentaries about filming “iZombie.” Maybe we will release them if the network likes them. We really loved the process of filming together and the crew is so giving. We showed them that clip of Aliens at like 11pm and they literally lit it, grabbed us a forklift truck, sirens and smoke machines. We have the best crew. We want to put out some more stuff becasue people really like it.

Q) What was [creator] Rob Thomas’ reaction to your videos?

A) He emailed us that he saw a few. Rob and I have a similar taste in pop culture and I think our Star Wars one really got him. He is there in LA so while we are one big family, we have a long distance relationship with LA. So, it is usually he mails here and there and texts. I think they really loved it. They really take pleasure in seeing their children or stars playing nicely together and they ultimately put us together with his casting. Rob is known for being pretty good with casting. I think he was pretty proud seeing us do this off our own backs while filming the TV show (which is a big task in itself). He was really proud.

Q) What are some brains Liv will be enjoying this season and what have been some of your favorites?

A) I think it is common knowledge that the first three brains are Grumpy Old Liv so we had the Gran Torino Clint Eastwood type of brains. We have the frat boy brain in the next episode and then we have the “Real Housewife of Seattle” after that. Particular favorite? The frat boy and the Real Housewife are interesting. If you look at the dynamic of our group, (this is a quite broad statement) but I tend to play a lot of the comedic relief. He is there to bring lightness to certain scenes and share certain sarcasm with Liv. Liv also has a dry, snarky sense of humor, but some of these brains get to show Rose McIver’s comedic timing. And she’s absolutely hilarious! So, with the frat boy and Real Housewife’s brains she really went for it and nailed it! She was exceptional since the day we did the pilot, but with this episode it brings out the comedy guns. I need to step up my game a little bit because she is going for the comedy crown.

Q) You have great comedic timing. Is that something that is a natural ability of yours or have you had to work on it?

A) I don’t know. It’s one of those things. Rob Buckley is probably the funniest out of the group. He could easily do comedy of the biggest scale on screen because he really could sit next to the heavyweights because he has an amazing handle on comedy. It’s more of an ask for me. Because of this character requires it, I do it. It’s not something I bring to the table or pride myself on. It just works for Ravi. I know his cadence and I do spend a lot of time researching different styles of comedy. I’ve been doing that in this season as well. I don’t want to be doing the same gags and I don’t want people to be able to predict how Ravi is going to give the next line. I kind of want to keep the audience guessing. I know the writers watch the dailies and write their gags in for us. Then, they watch the dailies the next day and I take pride in the unintentional laughing where we did not expect for it to play like that. So, I’ve been watching stuff like “The IT Crowd.” That’s what I’ve been binging on at the moment and “Arrested Development” and “Parks and Recreation.” I always go back to Ricky Gervais, Dave Chappelle, Richard Pryor and Kevin Hart. I did a lot of morgue research and medical research when I first did the character. I’ve kind of put that down because I know more in terms of what I’m doing for the job. Now, I’m looking for inspiration through comedy heroes and masters to try to find the formula that will keep audiences entertained.

Q) Is there anything else about the season that you would like to share with fans?

A) A personal favorite of mine seems to be more Star Wars references. We all have our own relationships with the writers and producers and what they do for us. They write to our strengths and give David some of the most delicious dialogue. They just get it. They understand what he sounds like and they just do it. They are allowing Robert to do something on screen that he has never done before. He’s always played the love interest and he is getting to show different shades, depth and what he has in his skill set. For me, it seems whatever I mention on Tiwitter or whatever I say I like they go, “Well, let’s mention that!” I just had a Rihanna reference because they know I have the biggest crush on Rihanna. I get to talk about video games and Star Wars. There is always a little nod to what I’m interested in. Literally, every episode I read something where I go, “Aw! They did something for me.” Whether it is a football reference or British reference – What I am looking forward to this season, I genuinely love what they are doing with Babineaux. I read a lot of the forums. I’m not scared to go on the forums. I’ve read a lot of the negative and the positive stuff (and to be honest there hasn’t been a lot of negatives). I can view it in context and a lot of the fans felt during Season 1 that they didn’t know Babineaux. He played a very straight procedural role. He did a lot of the heavy lifting taking us from the beginning of the episode to the end of the episode. What they have done in Season 2 has been fantastic. We get these little tidbits like, “Did you know that Babineaux does this in his spare time?” It’s absolutely hilarious and I can’t wait for people to gush over Malcolm’s character. We’re about to shoot an episode, which is a love letter to Babineaux (episode 8). I’m so excited! Right now we’re just shooting thirteen, but they have just ordered five scripts. I’m super excited to having more episodes and being able to flesh out our world and kind of go places we weren’t able to go in the first season. Fingers crossed we get to flex our muscles. I’m super happy with this show and I’m so stoked with how it has been received. I think being on Netflix now has helped our audience grow. People need to see this show and I think there is something in there for everyone. Season 2 is better than Season 1 so I just want more people to see it.