- Hi I'm Sarah Shahi and I'm in studio
with The Hollywood Reporter.
(upbeat music)
- Okay "Sitting on a Hill" - Yeah.
- Just got picked up for season 2.
- Yes.
- So congratulations.
- Thank you, thank you.
- Before we get to season 2 I'm obviously going to ask you
if you know anything about season 2,
but let's start with season 1.
- Okay.
- So what initially attracted you to this role?
- A lot of things.
You know, I read the script and I was so taken
by how raw the writing was.
It was so real it was so gritty.
It was so conversational.
I felt like this is the way people
really speak to one another. Didn't feel like writing.
So that was one.
And then my character in particular,
Rachel Benham is her name,
she has this sort of crisis of,
identity crisis throughout the show.
Which I felt like I kind of had growing up in Texas.
She's this Persian-American woman,
but she's pretending to be Italian
because it's just much easier
to pretend to be something other than Middle-Eastern
at this time in the nineties.
- [Marya] Right.
- And so I grew up in Texas
and I felt really similar to that.
You know it was growing up in the South,
I had a very unusual name,
I looked different,
and it was easier to pretend to be something
other than what I was.
- How much did you know about what was going on in Boston
in the nineties before you came on to the show?
- How much did I know what was going on?
Pretty much anything I learned from the town
in "Gone Baby Gone",
- Right. - That's like,
(laughter)
that's like all I knew. - Right right.
- But then after getting the role you know I did a deep dive
on this thing called Google,
and I kind of learned that this period of time,
it was actually called the Boston Miracle.
- [Marya] Yes.
- And you know it was one of the worst places in the world,
just strife with violence and racism
and just incredibly dangerous was this,
you know period of history.
And yeah then after that my eyes kind of opened up
to how rich this time was in terms of its storytelling.
- Yes.
And it's interesting that the Boston Miracle
and the what came out of it,
- Yeah.
Operation Ceasefire I think it was called.
Which was like the way that the police kind of came together
and started analyzing and fighting the crime.
And your character plays a big part of that
because she's actually part of the people who are
executing this kind of new way of tackling crime.
- Right, right.
Well Operation Ceasefire was interesting because
it wasn't just the police.
It was you know heads of State,
it was the church,
it was all of a sudden, - Right.
- The whole community - Communities coming together.
- gathered together to try and reduce the crime.
And at one point it was so,
you know they had as many as I think over 300 homicides
in one year just in this little,
just in Boston itself. - Right.
- You know it's just so crazy when you think about that.
And so yeah it was through the efforts of the church,
the civilians,
the police,
that the numbers were able to come down.
But what's so interesting about that,
I don't know if I'm going ahead of you here
but I love talking about this, - [Marya] Yeah.
- is that you know with that said
another part the show really does well
is the lines between good and bad really get crossed.
And the good guys start doing bad things,
and then the bad guys are still doing bad things
but possibly doing good things.
You know so those moral lines get crossed all the time.
- Yes.
And you also have an interesting verbal sparring partner
in Kevin Bacon.
(laughter)
- Yes.
What was it like to trade
that kind of spicy dialogue with him?
- I loved it!
Oh my god it was amazing!
Yeah Kevin,
you know I didn't really know,
I didn't know what to expect before I met him.
And if anything I definitely thought he would be
like the typical Hollywood A-lister.
I thought he would be egocentric,
I thought he would be a bit full of himself,
and not really make room for anybody else.
That's what I assumed.
You know having a career as long as he's had.
But boy was I surprised.
- Yeah.
- He is the most unassuming person.
Like when he comes onto set,
you kind of don't even know that he's there.
He's quiet, he's to himself,
he's so collaborative.
I remember he and I kind of improved
something in the scene.
Or I came up with the idea and I don't know how
or why I was to bold as to even suggest it.
I don't know what took me over but
not only did he love it but
then when the director complimented him
on the thing I just told him about,
he quickly was like "No, that was Sarah, that wasn't me."
- Amazing.
- And you know like people don't do that you know,
Hollywood is so cutthroat in a way-
- Yeah.
- It's like they don't give the credit
where credit is due always.
But he's great to work with and he's so giving
and I just like I said you know in his character
is so tough, you know.
Jackie Roar is such an over the top
almost like a mob boss more than he is anything.
You know like an FBI agent and he just
he nails in every which way.
- And of course you were familiar with the
creative powerhouse that is Ben Affleck
and Matt Damon.
- Yeah I've heard of those guys.
- Yeah.
- I think they've done a few things.
(laughter)
- Yeah.
- What's your impression about how much
they've kind of influenced this kind of world
that you're in presently.
- Yeah.
- With this character.
- Well obviously, you know I mean these two,
they are Boston's finest, you know those two boys
born and bred. As far as the show goes,
I personally did not have much interaction with them.
I know that they came a few times.
I wasn't working the days that they were there
but I know they're very hands on after the product is done.
After we're done shooting.
They're in there with the editing,
before we even see the scripts, they're making script notes
and you know, suggesting things,
you know even down to wardrobe choices
they're having a say in.
And again I think it's you know, during the editing
process is when I notice is when their hands really come
in and help shape things the way it needs to be
you know, to their vision and stuff.
Which is not a vision I think you wanna challenge
because they really know this world inside and out.
- Right.
When you have this happen to this role.
- Yeah.
- You're dealing with a lot of racism and sexism.
- You know there's a reason little girls play house.
While little boys play cops and robbers.
- Yeah.
- That's part of a lot of people's storylines
in this show.
- Yeah.
- We're living in a world where people, you know
people don't talk the way they do on the show anymore.
Is there a level of discomfort with the dialogue
or is everybody kind of dialed into their characters
and like committed to the time period that this plays in.
- I think everyone's kind of really dialed in
and committed to this time, you know.
For myself, you know, growing up in Texas,
some of the things that I was referred to as in the show
were things that I was kind of used
to it to be honest with you.
And it kind of sucks because when were filming the show,
there were so many parallels between the 1990's and now
2019. You know so.
- Yeah.
- You know so here we are almost thirty years later
and it's like have things changed that much?
Because it doesn't seem like it.
- You also get to partake in some really good action scenes.
- Yeah, yeah.
- How is it to film something like a bank robbery-
- Yeah.
The big car explosion and all that stuff-
- Yeah.
That' just there.
It's really fun. We filmed it all over a course of four days
and you know, it's you know it's all story boarded
and then you shoot different pieces of it a day.
But then to watch it all come together and how flawlessly
everything looks like it's just incredible.
I used to do a lot of action type stuff
on a show called 'Person of Interest.'
So which, but that was a lot of physical,
that was a lot of fight scenes and you know
that kind of stuff and this was broader with cars
and explosions and stuff.
And but no it's always exciting to do that kind of stuff.
I mean that's the true definition of make believe
you know, that's what it is.
To play cops and robbers, you know.
- So we've arrived as season two.
Season two's been green lit.
- Yes.
- Do you know anything about what's happening
in season 2?
- I know absolutely nothing, no.
- Nothing?
Nothing.
- No, zero.
- No.
- I hope.
I hope Rachel has a juicy storyline,
I wouldn't mind it if she and Dacoursi had a little thing.
That would be, that would be, that'd be kind of spicy.
(laughter)
There'd be some fun drama there.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, but it's interesting I feel like the
pipeline has been set for Rachel and Dacoursi in a way-
- Yeah.
- Because this whole season it's like you know,
he comes in the office and asks me you know
what's going on with the case?
And I'm like you know my fuckin' mother
she's bitchin' at me cause I'm single you know.
Like I'm always dropping little nuggets like that to him.
- Yeah.
- So it's like well maybe, why not?
- There's definitely some unfinished business there.
- There is, I think so.
And his wife doesn't understand him
the way I understand him so, who knows?
(laughter)
- Sarah Shahi, thank you so much for being here.
"City on a Hill" it's a lovely, well crafted
well acted show- - Thank you.
- We're so excited to see what happens.
The season finale is on Sunday.
- Yes that's right, that's right.
- Check it out on Showtime.