Why it took Kumail Nanjiani five months to get his head around ‘shocking’ transformation in Welcome to Chippendales-Pierra Willix-Entertainment – Metro

When it came to preparing to play the founder of a male stripping dance troupe in Welcome to Chippendales, Kumail Nanjiani spent months trying to figure out how to get into the mindset of businessman turned criminal Steve Banerjee.

The unlikely founder of the cultural phenomenon, Steve started the foundations of the business back in 1979, but less than a decade later he was caught up in criminal proceedings after plotting to kill his show’s producer Nick DeNoia and three of his dancers, who he felt were all threats to his franchise.

Behind the glitz and glamour, and the copious amounts of drugs and sex happening off stage, things started falling apart as Steve started to engage in less-than-ethical business practices, putting him at odds with those around him.

The eight-part series tells Steve’s story, starting with the Indian immigrant’s desire to pursue the American dream and using it as the drive to build his empire, but then burning it down less than a decade later.

Faced with the prospect of trying to figure out just who Steve was, and what motivated him to become so consumed by jealousy that he was willing to risk it all was an ambitious task for Kumail, who admits he had to spend months wrapping his head around the enigmatic figure, who took his own life in prison while awaiting trial in 1994.

‘In the beginning I luckily had a big runway to this job and I had some time off and it took me about four or five months to figure out how to play him,’ Kumail told Metro.co.uk.

Somen ‘Steve’ Banerjee (Kumail Nanjiani) founded Chippendales in 1979 (Picture: Lara Solanki/Hulu)

‘How do you find motivations and play someone who does the unjustifiable?

‘He does really, really bad things, but I had to find a way for that to still be consistent with his character while still being someone that people can in some ways relate to or connect with.’

Initially turning down the job when it was first offered in 2017, the actor was worried about playing an immigrant to America who wasn’t exactly doing great things.

Nick (Murray Bartlett) found himself at odds with his one-time boss (Picture: Erin Simkin/Hulu)

But once he eventually accepted a few years down the line, Kumail would go on long walks with his wife Emily (Gordon) and spent a significant amount of time talking to his acting teacher trying to figure out ‘Steve’s way of seeing the world’ which allowed him to do such despicable things.

‘One day it just clicked and I felt like I could just finally start moving and working on the actual episodes,’ he said.

For Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus), who plays Nick, seeing Kumail, best known for being a stand-up comic and for his role in Silicon Valley, transform was ‘terrifying’.

‘It was magical to watch,’ he said.

‘Kumail is such a warm loveable person in real life and to watch him change was terrifying, like wow, it was shocking, which I think will be amazing in the show [to see], those dark moments.’

‘People will be shocked by the way he transforms.’

While Nick starts off as the Chippendales choreographer, he begins to have his own ideas for the business, which quickly propelled it onto the global stage.

But when he started being credited with its success, it put him at odds with Steve and lead to years of hostility between the two moguls that would eventually leave them both dead.

The two actors admitted they had no clue how dark the story behind the stripping was.

‘Growing up in Australia they were this mirage of long-haired muscles that were taking the world by storm and this fun campy phenomenon, but I never imagined there was this dark true crime rollercoaster of a story happening behind the scenes,’ Murray said.

Kumail added that he had ‘no idea’ about what unfolded until reading the script.

‘I knew similarly what Chippendales and thought it was a fun thing huge in America in the 80s and the SNL sketch (Chippendales Audition, which aired in 1990), but I had no idea what behind it was so sordid and dark and intense.’

Kumail and Murray also star alongside Annaleigh Ashford, Juliette Lewis, Andrew Rannells, Dan Stevens and Nicola Peltz.

Welcome to Chippendales is now streaming on ITVX and Disney Plus.

This article was originally published on January 11, 2023.

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