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It was anightmare, Kohli recalls.
My mum read Miles, Flora,andHannah.
I didnt think Id get a callback, let alone an offer, once they saw the tape.
I tried to keep it as simple as possible, because the show is really not about him.
Because that was Owen.
I didnt draw attention to myself.
Though the mustache didnt help with that.
If you didnt mention the mustache, I was going to.Absolutely.
Id be offended if you didnt.
But I wasnt, and only because Ive seen a pattern forming where my work is concerned.
There is a science to it, when creating a look.
It should always be true to the material.
I dont like to add things for the sake of it.
What I wanted for Owen was, I think, correct for the time and the character.
But at the same time, it was a Walt Disney idea: The silhouette.
Its about how easily, instantly recognizable someone is.
You could recognize Owen from his mustache and glasses.
You could draw him easily.
You could turn him into an action figure.
You could recognize him instantly from across a room.
I know that sounds like a weird way to approach a look, but it seems to have worked.
Lost love, or being in love with someone and not being able to communicate it properly.
And youcouldhave this incredible future together … but its not happening.
Its just not happening.
How much do you think Owen comprehends about whats happening at Bly Manor?
Hes so attentive to everyone, and so sensitive.
But at the same time, hes just completely out of the loop.
I dont know if he notices.
He can see Hannah is withdrawn.
But with the kids, and their little tantrums …
There just seems to be an innocence to Owen.
Hes present, but I dont know if he makes the leap to, This house is haunted!
To be fair to Owen, thats a pretty big leap to make.It is!Iwouldnt.
Id be like, Hes being a little shit because his parents have died.
What was it like working with Benjamin Evan Ainsworth and Amelie Bea Smith, who play Miles and Flora?
They are the most wonderful colleagues Ive ever had.
That old cliche, never work with animals and kids?
I had never worked with kids.
So I had no barometer going intoBly.
You look at the scripts and go, Wow.
How is this going to work?
What if theyre not good?
Everything rests on these kids.
And Ill be honest with you: Based on this experience, I say never work with adults.
Adults will constantly let you down.
Youll go, Seriously, dude?
Youre in your fucking 30s, and youre acting like this on set?
Adults annoy me more than child actors.
[For Ben and Amelie] kids doesnt even come into it.
There is no child actor nonsense.
They are doing the exact same job we are.
Theyve gottwocharacters to figure out.
They turn up at the exact same time, do the same hair and makeup.
And whentheydo that, they immediately have to go see a tutor.
They were the hardest-working actors on that show.
It really made me appreciate where I was and what I was doing.
And Amelie has got a joke, or she wants to play thumb-war.
If I felt tired, I would look at the kids.Neverdid they complain.
Acting in the purest sense.
You go, Oh my God, this is fun, and were so lucky to be doing it.
They dont drop lines.
you could see it on the tip of their tongues.
It was probably harder for me to do my monologue than for them.
They were just fucking incredible.
And you want to be there, and you want to be supportive for them.
And they dont need you.
And you go, Oh.
Owen drops so, so many puns over the course of the season.
Do you have a favorite and/or least favorite?Jesus.
I dont like puns.
Im not a punny jot down of person, just because I cant do them.
Im not smart enough.
Thats all Mike [Flanagan].
Mike loves a pun.
Assault and batter-y might be my favorite, because its the most ridiculous.
And it made me laugh because Owen makes that pun to Flora.
She doesnt know what assault and battery is.
Thats why thats my favorite because he could give a shit whether she got it or not.
That was just for him.
We never find out what she said,and TNia Miller says she cant remember.Do you?I do.
We did that in two takes, so she only whispered to me twice.
The one that played [in the episode] …
I cant rememberexactly, but it was something genuine and sweet.
If I did remember, I probably wouldnt say anyway.
But on theothertake, I misheard TNia.
Owen hugs Jamie and Dani.
Im fighting back the tears.
I move over to the car, and TNia whispers in my ear.
And what I heard was:This was your fault.
And I nearly fucking laughed.
I was like,Seriously, TNia?
Youre gonna fucking do me like that on my first take?
And somehow, I buried it.
I did something to mask my reaction to her fucking with me, and I jumped in the car.
And the car was a whole nightmare thing in itself.
I didnt fit in it, so I actually honked the horn with my knees.
So when I went back to TNia, I said, Why did you say that to me?
And she said, No!
I said, This isnotyour fault.
So it was just a complete misunderstanding.
But you also cant tip that hand to the audience too early.
How were you modulating that performance?Firstly this should go without saying TNia Miller is just incredible.
Her performance … give her all the awards next year.
If shes not nominated for something, Im gonna be pissed.
I cant stop watching her.
When we had that scene, there were no table reads or rehearsals.
It was daunting, how we were going to make sense of that.
So we got into that space in the morning.
We did the first one, which was probably the closest to what happened in Owens actual interview.
So that was our baseline.
And then wed move on to the next memory.
Me and TNia would agree on how much is Owen, and how much is her.
And I decided to start fucking with all the work I had done to create Owen.
Taking apart this character I had been playing for three or four months.
Changing his body, his voice, taking his glasses off.
There were a lot of times where I was mimicking TNias physicality.
And then putting Owen back on when I needed to.
We didnt know what would get used, or how it would read to the audience.
It was one of the most satisfying days Ive had as an actor.
Maybe hed killed his mom, or maybe his mom didnt even exist.
Something to explain why we never saw her, and why Owen kept ducking away at night.
I was like, He doesnt have a mum.
Straight away, I was like, Im fucking Norman Bates.
Because I only got the first few scripts, I wassureof it.
I was like, IknowIm playing a psychopath.
Because I know Ive got that in my wheelhouse.
Why is he running off home all the time?
Hes dressing up as his mum, hes arguing with himself.
And theres the money stolen as well.
Oh, yeah, uh, Quint and Jessel stole it.
That wouldve been a great twist.
I wanted thatso badly.
And then it turns out: No!
Hes just a sweet chef.
Maybe Mike Flanagan will do aPsychoremake someday.
The Haunting of Bates Motel.The Haunting of Bates Motel!
Ive gotta text him.
What was it like filming with the hidden ghosts?
Id turn around and go, Holy shit!
Youve been there the whole day?
Somehow I never got the memo.
It was like I was the viewer.
Id look under the table and go, Uh, theres a kid under here.
How does it work on a logistical level?
In a lot of cases, they were very intentionally placed.
And obviously, its not a free-for-all, you have to call them in.
Then the AD and the director will discuss the ideal placement.
Sometimes theres a very specific reason why a ghost is there.
The finale moves pretty fast, so we dont get much more information than that.
Did you and Amelia Eve discuss, even hypothetically, what that dream might have looked like?Yeah.
I do remember a conversation.
And then, when we tried to get too detailed, we decided to reverse out of it.
We were gettingwaytoo complicated with it.
We had a dream.
Just commit to it, and thats it.
I learned that oniZombie, right?
I dont mean this in any negative way, but sometimes you cant.
Sometimes youve gotta facilitate the story.
I love those moments.
Those are the best moments, as an actor.
Its easy to succeed with your giant monologues that have been expertly crafted.
But its fun to make something like that work.
That feels like a little bit of an accomplishment.
I dont even know if I should be telling this story, but fuck it.
The first thing that happened was a phone call from my manager that said, Can your dad act?
We need an older you.
And I said, Excuse me?
Can my dad act?
He was an electrical engineer.
He cant act worth a damn.
I come from a very regular working-class family, no one went into the arts.
So I said no.
And my dad gotreallypissed off that I cut him out.
It was the funniest shit, to me and my sister and my mum.
We were like, Dad… you dont know how to act!
He felt like I was gatekeeping him from his big break, but I was saving him.
I was like, Dude.
Thats not how Im starting my relationship with him, with how shit my dad is on screen.
So they started casting, and they found Kamal.
I wasnt able to meet him, but I had a FaceTime call with him.
I hadnt even played Owen at that point.
But and this is so silly I asked him to take his glasses off at the wedding speech.
Do it the same way he did.
And I asked props to give him the same watch.
An heirloom from Owens father.
And I recorded my own version of the wedding speech in full.
I sent it to him and said, Thats my cadence, do with it what you will.
And he did a great job.
Ive been telling everybody to go back and watch the first five minutes ofthe premiereafter the finale.
I think Mike is intentionally saying, Watch this twice.
When Hannah says she wont go to the funeral because funerals are for the living.
Theres so many amazing little lines that, when you go back, youre like,Ohhhhhhhh!
I cant believe Im admitting that this went over my fucking head, because I shouldve known this.
Not knowing who you are anymore.
Thatsexactlywhat the ghosts are going through.
I sound like a fucking idiot, that it took a tweet for me to go, Holy shit!
I should absolutely have known that.
Well, its not like Owen would know that.Thats true!
Yeah, I was just playing the truth of the scene!
You just made me feel better.
Owen didnt know it, why would I know it?Exactly.
Youre collaborating with Mike Flanagan again, right now, for his upcoming Netflix seriesMidnight Mass.
I cannot say a fucking thing.
I cant even say what genre it is.
I dont even know when its coming out.
Its shrouded in secrecy.
Ive never worked on a project thats had that before.
Mike had started sizing me up from my first scene [onBly Manor].
And I went, No.
Im 100 percent in.
If I dont take this job, Im a fucking idiot.
Dont look for anyone else.
This interviewhas been edited and condensed for clarity.
