Speaking to EW’s Dagobah Dispatch podcast, Obi-Wan Kenobi star Kumail Nanjiani discusses his role of the Daiyu conman Haja in the Disney Plus limited series, his excitement for joining the Star Wars galaxy and his eagerness to return somewhere down the line.
EW: Is it kind of surreal to have been on The X-Files, be part of the Marvel universe, and now be in Star Wars. That’s pretty much the trifecta.
KN: Yeah, it’s really, really surreal. I kind of can’t believe it. But each thing I have to approach is just like a job. If I’m like, “Oh, my God, I’m going to be in Star Wars,” then it’s very hard to actually do the work and be there. Although in all these things, there is a moment where you really can’t deny that you’re doing it.
So, on this, I met Ewan, he was lovely, wonderful. They yell “Action!” and then he started speaking and I was like, “I’m in a scene with Obi-Wan Kenobi right now! That is what is happening!” And it’s completely undeniable because it looks like him, it sounds like him, you look around, and it looks like Star Wars all around you. So there is always that moment where you’re like, “Okay, I have to figure out a way to get past this and turn it into just another job,” which is very challenging because so much of the stuff we did was practical.
When you’re in the Volume, you see everything, it’s not blue screen anymore. And so you just kind of have to think about the scene and your character and try and really focus on what you are actually doing rather than the bigger thing of… I don’t let myself. Honestly, it wasn’t until the newest trailer where you see a split second of my character that I was like, “Oh, wow. Yeah, it really looks like I’m in Star Wars.”
EW: So your game plan when you’re sharing a scene with Obi-Wan Kenobi — you don’t even give yourself a few minutes just to geek out a little bit before you then get into game-face mode?
KN: I really try not to. And especially in the beginning. When you’re there and it’s the first day, those nerves can really overtake you. And you’re like, “I’m in a scene with not just Obi-Wan, it’s Ewan McGregor. Who’s one of the greatest actors of all time. I have to be good in this scene.” And if I give myself a moment to geek out about what I’m doing, there is the possibility that I just won’t be able to actually do the scene. And if I’m like in my head, “Oh, my God, I’m doing Star Wars,” that can work against the actual work of it.
EW: So whatever happens to your character of Haja, whether you live or die by the end of the show, once a character is introduced in this franchise they do tend to pop up elsewhere. Even ones that have been killed off somehow manage to find their way back onscreen. So have you thought about that? Has there been any talk about potentially showing up beyond this series at some point?
KN: It’s all I’ve thought about. I don’t know what that does, but yeah, I would love to play this character again. Not just because of Star Wars, but it’s a really, really, really fun character to play. I’ve never gotten to play a character like this before. I think it’s a type of character that we haven’t exactly seen in Star Wars either — with a con man, you know?
He can talk people into stuff, so that’s a really fun character to play. And I actually did a lot of research online on con men, and on magicians too. Because magicians, let’s face it, they’re kind of like a con man, right? They’re tricking people. So I really looked up a lot of stuff about that to learn how to really play a character like this. And I love this character so much. It would be genuinely a dream come true to play him again. Can we get Kathleen Kennedy on here?
- Hardcover Book
- Revis, Beth (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 368 Pages - 08/16/2022 (Publication Date) - Random House Worlds (Publisher)
