We had these scenes in an apartment, and then we’re kind of walking in Copenhagen and realizing, Oh wait, these are really cool places to be and to live. And again, it creates that privacy, that intimacy, that sometimes that can look like loneliness but actually isn’t.
This episode is a real fine line between loneliness and quiet. And I think that the houseboat felt so quiet in this really cool way. There’s even the element of floating—being untethered can either be scary or it can be freeing.
What did you learn at the restaurant Poulette, because Lionel also mentioned Poulette when I interviewed him?
[Culinary producer] Courtney Storer—who I think is just a crucial part of why the show is so good—just threw me on a text with a few chefs. And Martin [Ho], who owns Poulette, and I just really got along. He has this amazing bike with a side carriage thing—I’ve never seen these things outside of Europe, but it’s like, I basically was sitting close to the floor and he biked me all around Copenhagen for days. He’d just take me to all these different places. And truthfully, his fried chicken sandwich was just my favorite thing that I had there, and so I kept going back.
It’s a sandwich I think about all the time. So we shot it romantically, like you can see the steam coming out of it. I was looking at [cinematographer] Adam [Newport-Berra] and I was like, This is fucking awesome.
How did you work with Lionel Boyce, who was in a different situation—having to carry the whole episode rather than being a part of the ensemble?
He’s such a natural, and he brings so much of himself into the character. He has this innate sweetness; he has this contemplativeness. I think the thing we probably played with the most was his phone call with Sydney and kind of trying to find those pockets of vulnerability.
And similarly, I think he has really fun stuff to play in his scene with Will Poulter, Luca. He’s so happy to be there, but it’s that thing where you’re trying to play it cool, but then you’re also trying to get some information. That scene with him and Will was some of the most fun I’ve had shooting because it was so subtle, but there was actually a lot to do. Luca has got the doors shut, he’s closed off, and then Lionel just has the softest knock. He keeps opening the door and opening the door and opening the door.
Is there anything you learned from this experience that was new for you compared to the other directing work you’ve done?
I think because I had more time to focus on one thing, one episode, it was like a peak for me of a more expansive directing experience. Sometimes showrunning feels like running a small business. When you’re fully showrunning and in something, the way that we are on Ramy, there’s so many pieces. But for me, I just got this really expansive look at what it could feel like to, hopefully, do a film.
Do you have an eye on a feature you want to direct?
I have a couple of things that feel exciting that I’m kind of chasing. I’m working on this show right now with Will Ferrell, which has been amazing, and then around that corner, especially off this Bear experience—I think, hopefully, I’m ready to jump into figuring that out too.
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