Sam Esmail originally wrote "Mr. Robot" as a screenplay, but he realized it would work better as a TV series. The first season nabbed six Emmy nominations, including for Best Drama; Julia Holter's music is a blend of experimental compositions and indie pop.
'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail: How Arab Spring influenced his hit show
"Mr. Robot," the hacker drama on the USA Network with Rami Malek in the lead and Christian Slater in the title role, is born from the brain of Sam Esmail.
Originally conceived as a feature film (Esmail had never worked in television before), this propulsive, serialized drama tackles hacker culture, corporate America and consumerism while blowing away any illusions we may have of privacy. It is currently in the running for six Emmys, including for Best Drama.
At the center of the show is the troubled character of Elliot Alderson (played by Rami Malek). He's a brilliant hacker whose precarious psychological state makes him a not-so-reliable narrator.
When we reached Esmail by phone this week, he was in his Brooklyn offices where he’s editing the final episodes of the second season. We discussed the personal origins to Elliot's character, why he cast Rami Malek, and how the Arab Spring influenced the creation of the show.
Hear the full interview by clicking the play button at the top of this post. Highlights below.
Interview Highlights:
On the origins of Elliot's worldview:
I'd be lying if I wasn't saying it's partly me ... probably at a very young, much more foolish age. Hopefully I've gotten smarter. But it's also partly based on the community of friends that I've grown up with that are in tech, some that have been hackers and some that haven't. And partly based on reading about hackers. Or even just message boards because I read the theories that some of these guys and gals come up with. I love reading about other people's world view. So it's sort of just a mixed bag of all of that. In terms of Elliot, I just started piecing together [that] he is a hacker who's going to go to these extreme lengths. I have to buy that and part of that involves the deep insecurity. But that can't involve just my day-to-day social anxiety. It has to be a lot more deep-seated than that ... Then there's the psychology of it, which is also a really important factor. We have a psychologist as a consultant and I really wanted to depict that part of his mental illness too.
On casting Rami Malek as the lead:
We auditioned several actors, I would say close to 100 actors. Great actors. The more I auditioned the more concerned I became about the show. What happened was, it started to feel exactly what my fears about Elliot Alderson's character were, which was that he was going to come off too obnoxious, too didactic and that he wasn't going to be accessible ... Then it just dawned on me that I didn't write a great script and this wasn't a great character and I should essentially just stop this process. I started freaking out and I went to that deep-seated insecure place. And then Rami Malek came in. The crazy thing is, he was nervous to a certain extent, but I didn't know if he was nervous or if he was being Elliot, who [is] also nervous and anxious ... And the fact that I couldn't tell a difference was one of the biggest reasons why I thought he was perfect. It just felt so organic and natural.
Esmail says it was when Malek performed the "F--- society" speech that "it all just clicked." See the speech as it was played in the pilot episode:
On whether his being Egyptian-American influences the show:
Yeah, it can't help but not be. Growing up, my parents were very much about the Egyptian culture. They never really wanted to assimilate in American culture ... I had a funny last name and I didn't look like everybody else and I got faced with a lot of racism. I got called "sand n----r" quite a few times. As a kid I didn't even know that was a slur. At a certain point I just thought that was something I was. That was probably the cause of a lot of my social anxiety, and my parents' distancing themselves from the culture. And I think that informs a lot of Elliot's character — his sense of alienation, his sense of loneliness. All of that informs his character and his journey ... Rami actually said it great in his speech at the Critics Choice Awards when he said, "It's not only good to be different, but it's better [to be different]." That's exactly the growth that I went through and is a little bit the journey that I want Elliot to go on in the show.
On how Arab Spring influenced the creation of "Mr. Robot":
The one thing that I know from the personal experiences that I've had with hackers, and from people in tech who are brilliant at this thing, is there's a lot of angst ... What I didn't want was to follow around this angry guy. So I went [to Egypt] nine months after Arab Spring happened. I have lots of cousins there who are young. So they had that youthful angst that I was talking about and they were all involved with this revolution. The thing that was great about it was it sort of reframed my mind about that negative thing about angst that I didn't like. They had actually used this anger for good. That's when I really realized that anger doesn't have to be negative. It can be positive. It could be the thing that fuels something into positive change. It could be the thing that brings a community together to take something down and to overcome obstacles. It could be the thing that really inspires people to make a difference. That's the part of angst that really excited me and that's the last thing that really clicked for me in terms of writing this show. That's what Elliot's got to be about.
Season two of "Mr. Robot" airs Wednesday nights on the USA Network. Season one is available to stream on Amazon.
FYF Fest 2016: Julia Holter uses her classical training to make indie pop music
It’s hard to describe Julia Holter’s music. The indie artist has been compared to avant-garde musician Laurie Anderson, ‘80s pop icon Kate Bush, and the experimental pop artist Joanna Newsom.
Holter studied classical music and composition at CalArts. Since graduating, she’s composed music for the L.A. Philharmonic, and has released four albums to critical praise.
The Frame’s James Kim spoke with the experimental musician about studying classical music, her writing process, and how she wants to take risks with her music.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:
Going to school for classical music as a back-up plan:
I didn't think it was possible to support myself doing what I'm doing, which is kind of why I went into academic music because I thought that was more stable [laughs]. [That was] a different time ... before the recession.
When I got into high school I started studying music theory and I was a piano major. I was definitely not one of the best pianists. There were so many great pianists, but I ended up focusing on writing music.
My friend and I would go to shows at the L.A. Philharmonic and we were very excited about music that was crazy. There was this excitement about it, and I wanted to make music that was really insane.
Holter's writing process:
One of the struggles that I have with classical music is the way one thinks about a recapitulation. There's always this idea of themes and I have trouble with that. Even with repeating verses in pop music, I have trouble with. A lot of times when I'm working out a song I have all these new sections.
I don't know how well I work in traditions. I don't know if it's just the way I listened to music growing up and never having my foot in one particular world, and just wanting to do my own thing.
Breaking down her remix of Nite Jewel's "Running Out Of Time":
There's a pool right across the street from where I live — like a community pool — and it's really loud. There's always this sound of a diving board. In fact, the whole swimming pool itself is really incredible sounding. It's just this huge reverberant room.
I actually used the sounds in a remix of a friend's music, Nite Jewel, and you have all these people screaming and talking. It sounds kind of emotional because you have all of these children and it sounds like a memory or something.
Not being afraid of taking risks:
I say most of my music is very trial-and-error. I don't consider myself supremely talented, but I really like to try things and sift through it and see what mess I made.
Julia Holter plays FYF Fest on Aug. 28 at 4 p.m..