Sendhil Ramamurthy – Reverie

By: Jamie Steinberg

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

A) I’ve actually been working in London for most of 2015 and 2016 doing a series called “Stan Lee’s Lucky Man” for Sky in the UK. It’s available on Amazon in the US. It’s based on a short story that Stan Lee wrote and it’s been a big hit for Sky, which has been fantastic. It’s a very different character for me – SPOILER ALERT: The whole first season we spend time trying to find this mastermind villain and it turns out that at the end of the season I’m the mastermind villain. It was a very different role and I really enjoyed it. I got to be batshit crazy in that role! That’s just always fun to do. I had a great time. Working in London was amazing.

Q) What made you want to be a part of the series “Reverie?”

A) It was one of the first scripts that I read for last pilot season. I connected with the character and said, “I definitely want to meet with these guys.” I went in and met with Mickey Fisher who is the creator of the show and the folks at Dreamworks Television. Kind of like the first thing I said was, “I was on ‘Heroes’ and it was all about superpowers and I didn’t have any superpowers. This show is about a virtual reality program does Paul get to go into it?” They said “yes” so that was a check. That ticked one box for sure, which was a good thing. Then, it was about the character. When they started to describe the character, the arc and the journey that he was going to go. I just really liked that he was this smiling, very positive good guy and we’ll find out that this masks deeper, darker things in his past that he is dealing with. He’s suffered from panic attacks and depression and we’ll get to see his relationship with his parents. The thing I really liked and the thing that I really liked was we find out about really our whole team of people – the main characters on the show. We find out about them and their backgrounds through their reveries so we get to go in and see Paul’s reverie would, what Alexa’s reveries would be and what Mara’s reveries would be. I just thought that was a really cool way to find out about our characters – through the program. It just makes sense and that really got me excited and hooked me into the show. One of the other things that got me excited to do the show and one of the satisfying unexpected consequences was – I didn’t realize how emotional the show would be. I didn’t realize it would pack such an emotional punch as we’ve watched the episodes – I was expecting to cry in an episode of “Reverie.” I didn’t think it was that type of show. Even reading the episodes I didn’t think that! The way that they have constructed these episodes I think is really great because it can’t just all be techy, VR stuff. What hooks people in is the emotional core of the cast. There is an emotional punch to every episode that I knew was there, but didn’t expect to be that strong. I didn’t expect it to be such an emotional gut punch as it is in a lot of these episodes. I was really impressed by that. It’s not often that you do where you read the scripts and already shot the episodes and it surprises you. That’s one of the things I’m really happy about. In general, that bodes very well when you’re surprised by your own show and I was really, really happy about it.

Q) Was there anything you added to your character Paul Hammond that wasn’t originally in the breakdown for him?

A) Yeah, it’s really weird because as an actor the first thing you are trying to do is find the voice of the character. I was reading through it and reading his lines out loud trying to figure out who this guy was. I don’t really have an explanation for it, but I couldn’t make him work with my own accent. For whatever reason…Part of it was that I just didn’t find it smart enough to be this guy. [laughs] So, I tried him British and it just really worked better for me. So, when I went in and met with Mickey and the Dreamworks guys I said, “Guys, I think I could really do a great job for you with this character, but I feel I could do it best if I make him British. I can’t really explain why, but it just sounds right in my head. How do you guys feel about that?” They were totally game. SO, the character was not originally British and now he is. That kind of changed how they saw the character and that kind of changed Paul’s reveries. When we go in and see his background and his family…So, that stuff changed and it just kind of happened. I don’t have an explanation for that. It just sounded right in my head.

Q) Was Paul Hammond originally a person of color?

A) I think they originally thought of him as a white dude. Another thing, it’s one of those things that, again, was seamless. I don’t know if it will seem like that to the audience, but I didn’t clock that four out of the five series regulars were people of color. It didn’t enter my head until I saw the photoshoot. I saw the cast photo and was like, “Yeah, quite a chocolatey looking group of people.” [laughs] That’s pretty cool! I really liked that. It wasn’t one of those things that came to the forefront of my mind. I think when it’s seamless it’s a good thing because you are just getting the actors that you want for the roles. That was really important to Mickey. He talked about it after we were all cast. He said, “It was really important to cast the show in a way that reflects the world. Even though it’s a virtual reality world, any virtual reality world that I want to be in has people from everywhere.” That’s something that NBC was committed to and Mickey Fisher, when he created the show, was committed to.

Q) What are some scenes that you are most looking forward to fans seeing?

A) Yes. I think they may have moved the episodes around, so I can’t tell you episodes numbers since it might not actually be that. The seventh episode that we shot, but I don’t know if it will be the seventh episode that airs. It’s the opening of the episode and it’s a scene with Paul and Mara in a forest. That was really, really cool to shoot. I actually can’t say much more than that. There is another episode that was early, and I think it will still air early – maybe second, third or latest fourth episode of the season. We get to go into one of Paul’s reveries and see some background about him. To shoot those scenes was emotional and really cool because Paul gets to bring Mara into the reverie with him. Hopefully, it will click with the audience because you get to see a little bit of why Paul is the way he is.

Q) Talk about working with costars Sarah Shahi and Dennis Haysbert.

A) It’s been awesome! I’ve really, really enjoyed it. Dennis has been around and does so much, whether it is TV, film or commercials. That voice, you can listen to him read anything and it’s mesmerizing. It’s been a real pleasure to get to know him. Especially with all the sitting around…You get paid to wait and you do the acting for free. There is A LOT of sitting around on set, waiting for lights to be set up and all of that. To get to pick his brain…He’s been in this business for a while now and to learn from his experience and get to ask him questions…He’s always willing to help out and give you advice. He doesn’t see it as a burden or anything like that. It’s been really great to see how gracious he is with his time. I have asked him questions about auditions coming up and things about the business. I’ve been around, but not as long as him. And you can always learn from people who have been around longer than you. I just took it as an opportunity to more or less talk his ear off. It’d be interesting to see if Dennis says in an interview, “Yeah, that Sendhil is great, but he just asks too many questions.” [laughs] That may be the case. Sarah and I have known each other for more than ten years, actually. We were on USA together where she was doing “Fairly Legal” and I was doing “Covert Affairs.” So, we would see each other at press stuff all the time. We knew each other and were friends, but to get to the opportunity to work with her is awesome because I’ve always been a fan of what she does yet never had a chance to work with her. She was the first person cast o this thing and I knew she was a part of it when I went in to meet the guys. That was one of the draws for me – to get to work with her instead of just doing press with her. She’s terrific! Ninety percent of Paul’s scenes are with Mara, so I work with Sarah the most out of any of the regular characters. We have a great working relationship and we get along. She’s extremely talented and I think that “Reverie” is the best thing that she’s done. She is going to blow peoples’ minds with what she does. She goes through the ringer with this season and it’s a really great performance.

Q) What do you think it is about “Reverie” that will make it a fast fan favorite series?

A) I think it’s what makes every show a successful series is that you are going to connect to the characters. That emotional core of any successful show it comes from the relationship of these main characters. Then, the plot for “Reverie” is driven by the guest stars. Plotwise, it’s definitely driven by the guest stars. The emotional punch and what I think you’ll connect to is that will hopefully keep you coming back every Wednesday at 10pm ET/9pm CT on NBC (let me be clear about that) is the emotional world that is created between these main characters. [laughs] It’s compelling. I knew it would be an emotional thing. I did not know that it would kind of be ugly cry emotional. I did not expect that at all. It’s been one of the pleasant surprises of the show – knowing that emotional hook is there. What’s going to keep bringing people back is that you are genuinely interested in finding out what is going to happen to these people and this program isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. There are some issues and it effects the team. That’s what I think people are really going to hook on to and coming back for more.

Q) You frequently do dramatic work playing a superhero, monster and a spy. What is it about this genre that draws you to it and is there a role you would still love to play?

A) I do seem to live in the drama world, but I adore comedy. Getting to do “The Office” was one of the big thrills of my career. First of all, I just love the show. I’ve seen every episode of the US version and the UK version and loved both of them equally. I would love to do comedy. There was actually a comedy I auditioned for before getting “Lucky Man.” It was my dream comedy role. It was for a series…I don’t know if I can say what it was, but it was such a great character. I had so much fun doing it, and everyone responded to the audition. Then, there was some sort of rights issue. It was based very loosely on well-known book, but the whole thing got shelved and never got made. That was crushing to me because it was hilarious! I would love to do more comedy stuff. I seem to be getting hired for the drama stuff, but the comedy will come. I’ll sneak my way in there somehow.

Q) We did love seeing you on “The Office.” You’ve been quite busy since Kelly and Ryan ran off leaving you with his child. [laughs]

A) How dare they?! How dare they?! [laughs] That was such a fun experience. To be a part of the series finale of “The Office” was awesome. Forget about the previous episodes that I did for the show. That series finale – that’s a part of TV history I got to be a part of. I was actually shooting “Beauty and the Beast” for The CW so they worked it out where I flew in and shot on a weekend to do the series finale, which was just awesome. It was so cool to be a part of!

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

A) First of all, thanks for sticking with me. I feel like because I’m learning something new all the time that I have so much more to learn and do. I forget that I’ve been doing this for a minute now so thank you for sticking with me through these many years now. I think that you’ll be impressed with “Reverie.” I’m really proud of it. I’m really proud of the show that we’ve made. It’s certainly different for me. I think it’s another side that people who have been following me haven’t seen before and I’m excited to show that to them. I also think from an emotional point of view that this show packs the most emotional punch of anything that I’ve done. I think fans of mine will respond to it and it’ll be something different. I always try to do something different and I hope that they latch on to it.