KAOS
In the intriguing world of KAOS, it’s the pantheon of gods versus humans, with Zeus (Jeff Goldblum) at the top of the mythological food chain as the cruel and stylish ruler of the gods, a position he has enjoyed for some time. Then one day he discovers the unthinkable: a wrinkle on his forehead. Paranoia builds, leading the supreme deity down a dangerous and unstable path. All-powerful Zeus is convinced his fall is nigh and sees omens of doom everywhere.
Meet Shila Ommi
Shila Ommi is an American/actress, born in Tehran, living in Los Angeles since the onslaught of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Her mother was a poet and her father was a philanthropist, real estate mogul, and founder and CEO of Iran’s largest construction company, Vima Co. At an early age, Ommi witnessed the wrath of the Islamic regime. Ommi’s father was on their hit list, but her family had the chance to flee the country, leaving behind their wealth and belongings to begin a new life in the United States.
Today, Shila is a prominent actress in the Iranian communities, and for over a decade, toured the globe as the lead actress and co-artistic director of Workshop 79, a theatre company spearheaded by acclaimed Iranian playwright Houshang Touzie (A Simple Wedding, Argo). Shila is the founder of the LA-based theater group, Turquoise Heart Productions. She uses theater art as a form of healing and activism. She recently directed a play commissioned by the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health.
Recently audiences saw Shila in Disney/Pixar’s Elemental, and appears on the Apple TV+ espionage thriller, Tehran. She portrayed the character of Yasmin in the Apple TV+ anthology series Little America and is a voice-over artist, performing regularly in animated films and web series. Shila voiced all the characters in the cartoon series NOPM: Special Forces, which was commissioned by the Boromand Foundation, a human rights organization focused on Iran’s human rights violations. She’s also narrating a video about deforestation, and a film about Iran, both coming out by year’s end.
Interview
Cinema Scholars’ own, Glen Dower, sat down with actor Shila Ommi to talk about her new Netflix series KAOS. They discussed the mythology behind the series and preparing for the role of Pasiphae, working with the legendary Jeff Goldblum as well as Shila’s work on the Disney/Pixar film Elemental, among other topics.
(Edited for content and clarity)
Glen Dower:
Miss Ommi, how are you, Ma’am?
Shila Ommi:
Thank you, Sir. Hello Glen, and hello Qatar. Wow.
Glen Dower:
Wow, it’s so funny to have your beautiful, rich Middle Eastern tones, coming in over Zoom. It’s a real treat. So let’s talk about KAOS because we have a lot to talk about. You play Pas. I did my research into Greek mythology. She’s based on Pasiphaë, who was the Queen of Crete and known as a goddess of sorcery. We need to see more of that in the show! And your daughter is Ariadne, of course. In mythology, she gave birth to the Minotaur, which I didn’t realize. So in preparation for the role, did you do any Greek mythology research or did you go from what was given to you on the page?
Shila Ommi:
So I had studied Greek mythology in the past. What’s so special about this script that the brilliant Charlie Cavell wrote is that it is a reimagining of Greek mythology. So it’s a retelling of it. And according to Joseph Campbell, who is the source of information for me, he thinks that Greek myths are meant to be retold and reinvented. So yay for that. The character Pasiphaë that I play, in Greek mythology, everything that you said is true, but she’s been reinvented in this story.
So now instead of being the queen of Crete, she’s the First Lady. Her husband is the president. He’s a totalitarian nightmare, a very toxic human being, but you find out why. In Greek mythology, she gives birth to the Minotaur because Poseidon caused her to fall in love with a bull. And so she mated with a bull and gave birth to this being that’s half human, half bull. But on our show…I don’t want to give away how her son becomes the Minotaur. But at the beginning of the show, she thinks that her son is dead. So she’s a grieving mother. And for 30 years, she’s been grieving. When we first meet her in this show it’s on the birthday of her son and daughter, they are twins.
She thinks that her daughter killed her son as a toddler. She thinks that she rolled on top of him and suffocated him. And her daughter, Ari, short for Ariadne, is such a good human being, played by the beautiful Leila Farzad. She’s just such a good girl. She cares about people. She’s kind. And yet, because in my mind, she killed my little boy, I am angry at her, just full of toxic anger. So I don’t want to give away too much, but she’s wrong about what she thinks. And so it changes her relationship with her daughter at the end.
Glen Dower:
Yes. As you said when we first met her, as you said, she’s a grieving mom, a very human condition. In the first scene, you are having a sculpture of your son created based on your daughter’s likeness, who is posing for the sculptor. And we think, oh, this is just dreadful. But we get she’s a grieving, broken-hearted mother.
But I just wanted to ask you about the scene after they’ve had the ceremony, where the defacement takes place. And you go into your bedroom and you have all the different sculptures of the son that have been taken over the years. What was your reaction when you first saw it as an actor in that room and saw this terrifying creation of all the ages of the son that had been sculpted every year? I mean there’s macabre, then this!
Shila Ommi:
Glen, I’m so glad you noticed that. I was stunned! It was so creepy. When I first auditioned for the role, I had no idea that these were going to be life-sized renditions of how my son would look at every age. I mean, there’s like 30 statues in that room, waxworks from when he was two years old, three years old, four years old, 18, 19. Now he’s 30. It was so macabre and creepy that that’s when I realized the character I was playing was a little cuckoo! And I didn’t know this. And I’m so glad I didn’t know it because I didn’t play her crazy. The grief had made her crazy, and an alcoholic.
Glen Dower:
I get that too. And like you say, she is very much the first lady. But disgruntled, and disinterested, doesn’t want to be there. Wearing a sort of Jackie O costume at the ceremony. She wants to get back to the bottle. The whole show itself is so well structured and, well, binge-worthy.
Shila Ommi:
Oh, thank you so much. I’m so glad you watched it. It’s such a good show. And I feel like a lot more people need to see it because it’s so good. And I love that there’s a message in it, too. I mean, it’s not very message-heavy, but it’s a beautiful message about humanity, that humanity is just so much more rich and special than the ideologies that we have, whatever those ideologies. That humanity is where it’s at in our love and humanity and connections.
Glen Dower:
Of course, we have to talk about the show’s leading man, Zeus himself, Mr. Jeff Goldblum.
Shila Ommi:
My God, did you know he was my acting teacher many years ago?
Glen Dower:
I was going to ask about another acting teacher you had, but no tell me everything!
Shila Ommi:
I used to study for about six months. I studied at this school of acting called Playhouse West. And so Playhouse West was created by students who were students of Meisner. Jeff Goldblum is a Meisner student himself and something that I noticed about him right away is that he is so interested in other people. That’s really what he taught me to be interested in everything. And he’s very interesting, he’s eccentric in the most wonderful ways. You feel seen because he just sees you. And he’s just a lovely, wonderful human being.
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Glen Dower:
And that’s what I wanted to ask – is he as he seems? Because we’ve seen interviews and we just imagine that even whatever film he’s on, be it Thor Ragnarok or KAOS, he comes on to set in his clothes and just goes, ‘Oh, we’re filming, we’re filming, umm, let’s go.’
Shila Ommi:
Totally. I didn’t have any scenes with him on this show, but I heard that he improvised a lot. And so a lot of his improvisation made it into the story. Yeah. And he’s so stylish. He’s so handsome. But those tracksuits, he looks like a mafia guy with those tracksuits. And Hera, played by Janet McTeer. What a beautiful, stunning, powerful woman. I just loved that couple.
Glen Dower:
A god and goddess indeed, what more can we say? I just want to talk about another role that our readers may know you for. Of course, Elemental and you provided the voice of Cinder. What a magic movie that was.
Shila Ommi:
Oh, I’m so glad. Yeah, it was such a beautiful, romantic comedy. I mean, I was speaking to someone the other day about how, you know, children that grow up these days, they grow up with the cartoons of Disney and Pixar. And they’re like, they’re like seeing the most incredible storytellers and writers in the world tell stories to them that the children’s tastes have become so sophisticated. I mean, even at the age of three, at the age of three, they watch cartoons that are made for grownups. And they’re just so sophisticated and smarter than I remember we used to be!
Glen Dower:
Yes, I have a three-year-old son myself. What he comes out with, I go, where did he learn this? Where did he learn this phrase? And then I watch an episode of Bluey and go, oh that’s where. Good parenting Bluey’s Mom and Dad.
Shila Ommi:
Aw. What’s your son’s name?
Glen Dower:
I have George, who’s seven, and Harrison, who’s three. Harrison’s going to be four next week! I don’t know how that happened exactly. But yes, I wanted to get them into Pixar very, very quickly. Toy Story first, of course, and then we’ll take it from there. And we’ll get to Elemental. So I just wanted to ask that I read that the writer-director had you in mind for the role because the character was based on his mother. Is that right?
Shila Ommi:
Yes. Yes. He’s a Korean-American and his parents were Koreans. And I think they were first generation. You know, like parents, parent immigrants, all of us that are immigrants and our parents came here and made sacrifices. We’re a special type of people. We’re very, very similar, regardless of whether we’re Korean or living somewhere else from Iran or anywhere in the world. There are certain characteristics and traits that we all have. And thankfully, he found me and I guess there was something about my voice that reminded him of his Korean mom. I’m a first generation, my first generation. So I was born in Iran, but I live in the US. I guess I’m first generation. Yeah. As his mom was.
Glen Dower:
I want to ask – as we have lots of aspiring actors and writers who visit Cinema Scholars – how do you approach voice work? I read recently about Josh Gad and he regrets giving his voice to Olaf in the Frozen films. And he now wishes he had put on a voice. So when you approached Cinder, for example, where did you find her voice inside you – because you do a lot of voice work?
Shila Ommi:
Yeah, with voice work, you approach it just like acting. You have to act to be real and to come from a place that’s raw and real. So the person listening to that voice believes what you’re saying. For Cinder, I had to come up with a little bit of an accent that in my mouth, that accent just turned into a slight Persian accent, even though I was going for something not human at all. With Peter San, we were working on some accent that like if this was an actual fire person. And by the way, an interesting note is that I’m Persian and the original fire-worshippers were from Iran, Persian.
So that was kind of something amazing, cosmic that happened. But I was trying to come up with like how would a fire character talk. And but slowly, slowly, some of my friends heard a little bit of Persian accent in that. But no, with voice work, it’s just acting. But because you’re not seen, you’re a lot freer in your body. So it’s like your body is overacting, but your voice is being very real. Even if you’re playing a character, even if that, you still, want to be as real as possible, regardless of, you know, where you put your voice to make it sound. But it has to come from truth.
Glen Dower:
It has to come from truth, like all acting. And I just want to quickly ask one more question. You worked with Sir Anthony Hopkins as well.
Shila Ommi:
He was my teacher, yeah. So what I did was after Playhouse West, I went to another acting school. And that’s where Anthony Hopkins came in. He was our master class teacher for about a year.
Glen Dower:
Wow. And what was, what were his tips? Because he seems very laid back about acting. But I can imagine him being very intense when he’s in the moment. And you wouldn’t be sure where you were with him? Or was he very warm and welcoming? I’m guessing not to the same scale as Mr. Goldblum. But what were your main highlights?
Shila Ommi:
Yeah, he’s different. I think the fact that he’s British, it’s a different, it’s a different type of laid back. He was very laid back, and very down to earth. Not like Jeff. But, oh my goodness, I learned so much about acting. It just changed the way that I watch films. The things I, you know, what Anthony Hopkins does is that he has such a reverence and respect for the writer. So his acting technique is that he connects himself almost on a spiritual level to the writer.
And he believes that you know, in the same way, that, you know, with poets, you say you don’t write and it comes from somewhere else. He feels like a good writer gets his information or their information from someplace else. So he connects to that. Whereas Jeff Goldblum’s style is that he’s just in the moment. And it isn’t so much about the writing, but about the reactions and how you feel about the world that is created. I think, I mean, I’m speaking for them, but this was my takeaway.
Glen Dower:
Wow. Just fascinating stuff. Like, look, you should do a masterclass yourself. It’d be amazing. Just for those areas. Well, thank you so much for your time, and your work on KAOS. It’s something I’ve really, really enjoyed. And hopefully, our readers will check it out if they have not already.
Shila Ommi:
Oh, Glen, thank you. Thank you so much. That just thrills me. I wish that more people would watch KAOS. It’s such a beautifully made show with just so much love and power. It reminds me of Succession in a way. You know, if Greek mythology meets Succession. So people who, and you don’t even have to know about Greek mythology to enjoy it. So I hope more people watch it.
Glen Dower:
There we go. A perfect way to close. Thank you so much, Ms. Omni.
Shila Ommi:
Thank you, you too. Good night.
The complete season 1 of KAOS is available to stream now on NETFLIX.
