S1: Eli is one of those characters you love to hate,
S1: but he's got a lot more going on beneath the
S1: surface than meets the eye. This is director Jenni Curtis.
S1: Here's an excerpt of when creator Chris Porter, executive producer
S1: Bill Curtis and I sat down with actor Colin Ford
S1: to talk about the twists and turns of Semtech mission
S1: specialist Eli Wright.
S2: Everybody goes through ups and downs. And I wrote this
S2: particular part of the show during a down period because
S2: of the pandemic and everything. And my family lives 3000
S2: miles away in Maryland. I don't remember exactly what circumstance
S2: it was like probably around my birthday or something where
S2: like we were zooming in, like I couldn't go out
S2: and I live alone with just a cat that was down.
S2: So like a lot of the stuff that Eli does
S2: say about like I missed at a time plays with
S2: their stupid bread. A lot of that was coming from
S2: me in that particular moment.
S3: I was clouds. I miss grass, I miss cocktails and
S3: friends and even that Italian place with their stupid bread
S3: and stupid butter. And I miss you. And I think
S3: a lot of the time we take things for granted,
S3: like the little moments, the little things that we do
S3: all the time, whether it's going to the grocery store
S3: with your loved one or your family member, and picking
S3: out your food for the week and then getting to
S3: go eat at a restaurant and then ordering food at
S3: that restaurant and being like, Oh crap, this isn't what
S3: I want and this isn't any good until you literally
S3: don't have those options anymore. You can't do that. And
S3: it's been a long period of time since you did
S3: anything remotely that you enjoyed. In that moment. You start
S3: to realize, Wow, I was overlooking all of the things
S3: that are really special, the little moments in life that
S3: kind of make life what it is, beautiful and kind
S3: of just remembering those things and recollecting that while, okay,
S3: I was I was being selfish in that moment or
S3: I should have taken the time to enjoy this more.
S1: I don't even know for me if it's like I
S1: should have taken the time to enjoy it more, but
S1: it's what it means to actually be cared about is small.
S1: It doesn't have to be big gestures. But I think
S1: what stands out to me most in the monologue is
S1: the dark liquor cocktail.
S3: You knew I always wanted to drink the dark liquor cocktails,
S3: but it would make me feel worse the next morning.
S3: So you'd let me order what I thought I wanted,
S3: and then you'd order what I actually wanted. And then
S3: you just let me switch into. I'd made a bad choice.
S1: And like that. Is someone truly paying attention and truly
S1: caring and so small and so beautiful that that always
S1: makes me feel all mushy inside.
S4: You So pulled off the idea that Eli is young,
S4: has a lack of respect for authority. Certainly. And then
S4: all of a sudden this monologue comes and, you know,
S4: you find out that he's got depth. The reason why
S4: I mentioned this part is because all of a sudden,
S4: about a third of the way through the monologue, you're like, Oh, actually,
S4: Eli is whole. There is a lot to him. And
S4: the way Colin pulled that off was really amazing. I
S4: think it's one of those times during this show where
S4: it made me stop and change my mind about a character.
S1: Snaps for Colin.
S3: Stop it.
S1: I could debate with you about when you see people's
S1: humanity because we hear his conversation with Wren before this
S1: where he's just destroyed. And I see so much humanity
S1: in that when someone's just shut down and angry and
S1: you can see how broken he is because everybody in
S1: his life has disappointed him, except for Wil, whose message
S1: he deletes. So after he deletes the message, he makes
S1: a new message to Alison. And we get the big
S1: reveal that Alison, who is the CEO of Semtech, is
S1: in fact, Eli's mom.
S3: Parent of the year over here. Yeah.
S2: I mean, it's it's definitely something that had been planted
S2: in episode six when you're reading up Ali.
S3: She's just like my mother crying to 11.
S1: Oh, it's your mother.
S3: It's not in your files.
S1: Oh.
S2: Awesome. So like, that had been wiped from the system
S2: for some reason. And obviously it happened because she was
S2: the CEO of some tech.
S3: You would never program to know who my mother is.
S3: So correct.
S1: That information was not provided to me.
S3: Expunged from her record from the get go.
S2: Nice. And it just raises all sorts of questions. How
S2: much of this mission did she know was going to happen? Right.
S2: And how willing was she to sacrifice her son?
S3: Yeah, I think those are kind of the things that
S3: Eli starts to unpack in episode nine. He starts to realize, like, Mom,
S3: you've left me up here with no support. I thought,
S3: I think Eli probably in the back of his mind, thought, Oh, well,
S3: you know, despite me not having all the answers upfront,
S3: I have a resource at home that I can depend on.
S3: And kind of the same thing with not wanting to
S3: contact will, not wanting to lean on anything back home.
S3: I think it took a while, took a lot for
S3: Eli to get to that breaking point to go, Mom,
S3: I need your help. And when there's no answer, it's
S3: very lonely and depressing.
S1: Oh, God. It breaks my heart all over again. No,
S1: it wasn't Eli. So I had Mom.
S3: Please respond. Mask. Please provide some instructions and answers.
S1: So we had we had one rehearsal, I think. Right.
S1: So it was like a zoom call that we hopped
S1: on and we kind of talked through the script. It
S1: wasn't even officially a rehearsal rehearsal, but we kind of
S1: talked through like where Eli is mentally in each of
S1: these scenes, and he is all over the map and he,
S1: you know, he's panicking because he doesn't want to die,
S1: but also he's on a whole bunch of happy pills
S1: from Jessa. And there's a lot for you to be
S1: juggling as a performer. And I would love to hear
S1: about how you juggle that or what your process was.
S3: Well, I have to say that you both were a
S3: major help and guidance, and especially being in the room
S3: and kind of going through all these things with me.
S3: But I think it was just taking these things step
S3: by step. Is he like normal Eli now? Is he
S3: hopped up on these happy pills now? So kind of
S3: just taking those little things and injecting them a little
S3: by little into Eli was helpful and me kind of
S3: creating the overall character from beginning to end. We see
S3: Eli changing kind of different ways, but still, deep down,
S3: he's the same person. I almost feel like as things
S3: get worse and things progress on the ship. Eli starts
S3: to kind of unpack his bags from home and unpack
S3: the things he left behind and everything starts to pour out.
S2: Eli panics a lot, like the moment things go wrong,
S2: he panics you as an actor, I felt bad for
S2: you watching you do those moments because I was like, Oh, no.
S2: He is putting himself in emotional distress for this moment.
S2: Can you talk about how you got into those mindsets?
S3: Yeah, I think I just tried to place myself in
S3: that environment. I tried to be like if I was
S3: literally at the edge of the earth or in space
S3: and I had no resources, nothing left to do, how
S3: would I act? And a lot of people either handle
S3: pressure really well and can kind of stay with a
S3: clear mind. And personally, I do not even call and
S3: I do not I tend to panic and I kind
S3: of just put myself in his shoes and go, Oh
S3: my gosh, if I literally had nothing left, no resources whatsoever,
S3: how would I act? And I probably would embarrass myself
S3: because I would be panicking like a baby. And that's
S3: how I saw Eli do it as well.
S4: Can you count down in four languages?
S3: No, I can't. Eli can, you know, you know, was
S3: a wren who only learned Russian in science terms. Yeah.
S3: So I think Eli, I learned all the Russian. So. Yeah,
S3: just to show off. Just to show off as hell.
S3: And that's the thing. He's too smart for his own good,
S3: like I said earlier. But when push comes to shove
S3: and he gets put in these trying situations, his age
S3: really shines through. You see the lack of maturity and
S3: the innocence in being young.
S1: And there's a lot more to hear about our dear Eli.
S1: Be sure to check out the full conversation on the
S1: solar panel available only on our Apple Podcasts Premium Channel.