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Spoilers follow forThe Old Man throughepisode XI,which premiered on FX on September 26.
Weeks before, theyd tried to kill each other.
We all want to be part of something.
How much of that storyline did you know when you signed on?I knew enough about it.
I was familiar with that relationship.
I left Iran during the war and I was a refugee in Germany.
Jeffs character, in his mind, hes doing the right thing.
Hes protecting the woman and hes protecting the child.
When my father left Iran, he was in Austria for six months.
I was in a refugee camp in Germany for about five, six months.
We bonded and we stayed friends.
We were stuck in limbo, and we didnt know where we were going.
Hamzad has different motivations than Alia Shawkats character expects.
I just play the man.
Each character has different nuances.
Have I ever played a character that has such a complex relationship with his daughter?
No, that was something new.
For his environment, he might have been too advanced, too far ahead.
How did you and Alia build that relationship?
And on this set, we tried to avoid each other we tried to stay truthful to the story.
For me, it was important to rediscover her.
That dynamic was very helpful.
How did you approach that?It was a struggle.
The scene was about these two people discovering each other.
They go at each other.
Theyre very close to killing each other.
But at the same time, at the last minute, there is a love.
There is anger, rage, but at the same time,How can I do that?
How can I hurt you?
I love you.It was frustration, rage, anger, disappointment, love.
Everything was mixed together.
Thats a real emotional roller coaster that you have to play.Partially its Johns sick mind that is doing that.
He was putting us through hell emotionally.
But it was good.
He gave us a very nice playground to play in.
Hamzad comes back to his family compound to make a last stand against the Taliban.
Thats all he lives for.
It was a moment that hes finally able to really show who he is.
I think even Dan realizes what he has done to Hamzad in that moment.
Him coming down is his legacy.
This is all he wanted his entire life, to have his daughter, and now he has it.
Its a real passing-of-the-torch moment.Thats exactly what it was.
That was very emotional for me, the way that theyre connecting with each other.
Shes becoming him, hes transferring everything he has to her.
We felt it in the room, and we both felt it when we were holding each others hands.
And now we have Hamzad, the Afghan father who is giving her what she needed.That was beautiful.
No, she ismine.
No,Iknow better.
No, I know better.
It was a funny moment.
