One Twilight Zone Actor Tried To Ditch His Role After The Script Made His Skin Crawl
What is the true cost of turning your dreams into reality? The limits of human ambition have always been a source of inspiration for stories that expose the terrifying underbelly of desires that come at a cost. After all, the tale of someone actualizing their desires at great personal cost makes for compelling horror, the kind that each one of us can resonate with, as it taps into the primal fear of loss. Jordan Peele's revamp of "The Twilight Zone" inaugurated the horror anthology series with this specific sentiment, with the episode titled "The Comedian," which follows the journey of a struggling artist who embraces the limelight at a terrible price.
This comedian, Samir Wassan (Kumail Nanjiani), starts off as a conscientious young man with non-negotiable morals, but as time passes, the sweet taste of success spurs him to commit horrible deeds to ensure his continued fame. By the time Samir understands the actual weight of his actions, it is too late. While the pilot diverges greatly from the tone and treatment of the original series, it still feels like a "Twilight Zone" episode at its core: "The Comedian" is a dark cautionary tale that warns us of the corruptibility of even those who mean well, and how quickly one can doom themselves with a single choice.
When the script for the pilot was finalized, Win Rosenfield, who served as executive producer of the series, got in touch with Nanjiani for the role of Samir, and the actor was immediately intrigued by the premise and promptly said yes. However, when Nanjiani read the script, he felt a little queasy about slipping into the shoes of a character that nursed so much darkness in his heart, as he had never played such an intense role before.
A Faustian bargain
The heart of "The Comedian" is an unsavory Faustian bargain, where Samir is initially unaware of the true cost of the deal, and is lured into a false sense of security by legendary comic, J.C. Wheeler (Tracy Morgan). As Samir does more shows, he realizes that only jokes that incorporate aspects of his personal life elicit laughter, but the people he jokes about end up vanishing as if they never existed.
While Samir is hesitant at the beginning, he becomes more ruthless over time: what starts as an innocent desire to savor success soon descends into a "Death Note"-esque obsession, where Samir chooses people he deems "unnecessary" as victims of his scheme. These decisions weigh heavy on the comic in the end, ushering in tragedy.
Nanjiani told Vanity Fair that while he "loved" the premise, the intensity of the role hit him once he perused the script:
"The main character I play goes to such dark places. I've never played anything like that...Honestly, I tried to get out of it once I read the script. I got very intimidated, and I saw Jordan [Peele] at a party and I was like, 'Hey, I don't know if I'm the person to do this; I've never done anything like this.' And Jordan was like, 'Nope, it's got to be you. You're going to do great; you have to do it.' He talked me into not dropping out of doing the episode. I just was really scared."
Despite Nanjiani's misgivings, he ends up doing an incredible job, investing Samir with raw vulnerability mixed with a dangerous need to be liked and applauded at all times. Samir goes from half-heartedly sacrificing his moral compass to actively dismantling it altogether, and this journey is both fascinating and terrifying to witness.