‘The Night Of’ Postmortem: Amara Karan Talks the Twisty Road to the Finale, Reuniting With Her College Pal Co-Star, and Carrying the Olympic Torch
Warning: This interview contains storyline and character spoilers for The Night Of.
Wes Anderson fans have had Amara Karan on their radar since she played the charming train stewardess in The Darjeeling Limited, and sci-fi fans may remember her from a Season 6 episode of Doctor Who. As Naz’s (Riz Ahmed) new attorney, Chandra, in HBO’s must-obsess-about drama The Night Of, she’s become one of the summer’s best pop culture breakouts. Naz’s future, after all, may depend on the legal prowess she and John Stone (John Turturro) show as we head into the series’ final three episodes.
Related: Catch Up on ‘The Night Of’ With Our Recaps
Karan, who briefly worked as an investment banker in London before deciding to turn her attention to acting, talked to Yahoo TV about that intense Rikers visiting room scene from this week’s episode, about getting the chance to work closely with her college friend Ahmed, about her other TV series — where she plays the platonic “Lois Lane” to a complicated superhero — and about her experience as an Olympic torch carrier.
Like several of the characters in The Night Of, Chandra appears to be one thing at first, maybe na?ve, willing to go along with boss Alison’s manipulations, but emerges to be quite different, capable, savvier than we might have assumed initially. Is that your take on her as well?
Well, it’s really lovely to hear you talk about it, but I want to leave it like the van Gogh painting of the sunflowers and let you interpret it. I don’t want to really interpret this brilliantly complex character. I’m getting, obviously, a lot of attention for this project, which is absolutely wonderful, and everything I’m saying is coming under a lot of… I really love to hear you describe her to me as an audience member, but I think as part of the filmmakers, I’m a part of the team, and I’m invested in making everybody have their own take, their own personal [opinion]. I love to hear your interpretation of what you’re seeing in Chandra, but I’m going to let you leave with your opinion on it.
It is clear that Naz has a rapport with Chandra, a bond with her, right away. What do you think makes him trust her so instantly?
Well again, for me to tell you that… It would almost ruin it. I can tell you this: There’s an energy and chemistry between our characters, between Nasir and Chandra, just as I as the actress, Amara, had with a lot of my colleagues. I was absolutely just in love with all these actors, and it was actor heaven, playing these scenes. Also, you know, not giving away my cards to the other actors, that we came fully charged to the scenes, and we were able to go for our agendas and make it really spontaneous and alive in the room, in the scenario, on the day. I’m just so thrilled that we had a lot of depth in material to really charge up the stakes and charge up the scenes. Obviously, brilliant direction and a brilliant crew that also contributed to the atmosphere and the tension in the scenes.
One of the most intense scenes in the series so far is the scene where Chandra and John visit Naz at Rikers, in Episode 5, “The Season of the Witch.” Did it feel that intense while you were filming it?
It was so fun, because like many of the other scenes, there are so many things going on across the scene that your character wants to play. It might be a scene where you’re negotiating, but the other scenario in the scene might be that some other agenda is happening blocking your agenda, and so I just loved that there were all these different kind of scenarios operating and affecting everybody, and that’s what makes the scenes complex and full and very dynamic. Every single moment, you’re hanging off what the person is going to say next. What are we going to see next? What change is going to happen next, because there are so many different counter-agendas?
Is it true that you and Riz knew each other before making the series? Had you worked together before?
Yes. No, we hadn’t worked together, but we knew each other at university [at Oxford]. It was incredible that we got to finally work together. The whole show was a total gift, but I think it was really nice that I knew someone that I’d be working with. I was in London, and I came to New York to shoot for six months, but I didn’t know anyone before I came over there, and it was just really cool that Riz was doing this as well. And it was really fun. I would do my American accent in a scene, but Riz kept his accent for the entire shoot, so when I first arrived on set, he was in the American accent in the makeup trailer, and I was like, “OK, right. This is your process.” I loved it. It’s good, because it brings you into relating to someone that you’re very familiar with in a different way, because it does put you in a different relationship with the person. That was actually a good call on his part, apart from the fact that he’s just bloody brilliant to work with, and he’s so good.
Not to get into specifics, but the next two episodes, Episodes 6 and 7, are just full of twists and things that are going to surprise viewers. Was that the reaction you had when you read those scripts?
Yes. You know, I think what’s very important is that the writers, the filmmakers, have really brought you inside the scenario of what is going on, so that now that you’re in, you’re not looking at it, you’re in it. We can now change and shift and divert, and I think that’s really a wonderful credit to Steve Zaillian and Richard Price and the wider team that we are continually tantalized and excited by every move and every beat going forward. It doesn’t just dissipate or go away, it gets more and more deep. It’s like you’re more involved in the story and more involved and more invested and more… the number of people that have said to me, “Help Naz” on social media, on Twitter and on Instagram… people are like, “Please help Naz, save Naz.” I just love that. It’s a real rollercoaster ride. You’re like “Oh God, he’s nearly dead, but then he steps back a few steps. And then he takes a step forward, and then he’s back five steps, and you really… I’m just so impressed at how, as I said, the filmmakers are really able to put you inside the [story]. From a technical point of view, in terms of filmmaking, they paced and scored the piece in such a way that you’re very invested in it without realizing it. Without showing you anything too bombastic, without doing anything that radical, somehow, you’re just extremely moved and you’re extremely invested in what’s going on to the point you don’t even realize it, and then suddenly you’re like, “Whoa, I really fell into that, and am really inside that story. I didn’t know where I was. I thought I was in that police station.”
Without even knowing how it ends, it’s already pretty amazing how much story they’ve told, how many different topics they’ve covered.
Yes! Because I think what they’ve done is they’ve really delved into the characters and really fleshed out the relationships between the characters. The husband and wife, Naz’s parents, are going through one set of issues between each other as a mother and a father, then the lawyers are going through a whole set of their own agendas. Meanwhile, Naz is in prison having to deal with a whole set of characters that he’s having to play power games with. All the characters are really caught up in their storms and all of those relationships keep changing and keep turning right up to the very last moment. There’s twists and turns and twists and turns throughout the story, and I think that the character development gives you the story, really. I would say this is a very character-driven piece. I think that that’s its strength, because it really gives you so much. It’s really so powerful.
You are currently filming Season 2 of another drama that sounds intense, Stan Lee’s Lucky Man. Who is your character in that British series?
It’s about a detective who has a gambling addiction, and I play Detective Harry Clayton’s [James Nesbitt] partner. I play Detective Sergeant Suri Chohan, and I am not aware that he has the secret power of luck that he acquires though getting this magic bracelet. And the bad guys are after that bracelet as well, being just awful criminals. It’s really a wonderful show. It’s a thriller. There’s a lot of action in it. We are… it’s a bit like a Lois Lane/Clark Kent story, where Lois Lane doesn’t know that Clark Kent is Superman. It’s a little bit like that in that I’m not aware, but he’s not my love interest in the show.
Also, there’s a lot of me finding things very coincidental and very lucky when they fall in our laps as far as information goes, but his character and my character, we’re very different. He’s a quite a maverick, risk-taking guy, and now that he’s got this bracelet, he can take even bigger risks. I’m slightly enjoying the risk taking, but also slightly horrified by some of the risk-taking, and sometimes he doesn’t land on his feet. We have a lot of interesting dynamics that change through the series.
Since it’s Olympics kick-off weekend, I have to ask you about carrying the Olympic torch in London in 2008. What was that experience like?
Oh, my God, it was amazing. I was a little bit alarmed by the number of security guards around me when I was carrying that torch. Those guys looked like total professionals, so that’s nice, but you are like, “Wow, I’m carrying this torch,” I think it was over Waterloo Bridge, and there were so many cameras. I felt so honored to do it. I couldn’t believe they even asked me. I was like, “Wow, this is… this requires security.” Not too many scenarios would require that amount of security, literally around you. They were literally surrounding me, and they knew when to fan out to let the cameras in and then fan back to close up nearer me. It was a wonderful, magical experience that I will never forget.
How far did you run with the torch during your part of it?
It’s so funny, because I think I ran over Waterloo Bridge, a slow little jog run, it wasn’t like a fast sprint across the bridge. I was carrying the torch above my head. It must have been a total of 15 minutes, and there were stops. We had to run and smile for the cameras, and then stop. Then run, then stop for the cameras. There was a police convoy in front and behind me, so we had to wait for the convoy not to back up and to keep moving forward. It was a very, very interesting little moment there of carrying that torch. It was lovely, the moment where you light the torch with the person who gives you the torch, and then you pass the light onto the next person. There’s something very magical about fire, isn’t there? Giving someone your light, literally. I got to keep the torch. I have it at home. They have a little tiny gas canister inside, and a security person has a key that they switch on so the gas canister switches on, and you can light your torch from the other person’s torch. Then at the end when you’ve given your light to the next person, they have a key, and they switch the gas canister off, which is built into the torch. They’re specially built little torches. It’s not like you hand over the torch to the next person and they run off with the torch. Everyone has their own little mini torch that is lit.
Related: Olympics: Best (and Worst) of the Opening Ceremony
Was it heavy?
It’s metal, and it was quite heavy. I was sort of struggling to carry it so far above my head. My arm was aching for the few minutes of carrying it proudly above my head. By the end of that 15-20-minute relay, I was slightly… I looked less proud. [Laughs.]
The Night Of airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on HBO.
