Speaker 1: Hi everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Hello
Speaker 1: whip smarties. Today we are joined by Amit Rahav. He
Speaker 1: is an incredible actor and what a wild thing to
Speaker 1: say for someone who is a peer but a history
Speaker 1: maker as well. In twenty sixteen, he actually made television
Speaker 1: history when he played the first character to come out
Speaker 1: in a teen television show on the Israeli show Flashback.
Speaker 1: He got such incredible responses from LGBTQ plus youth about
Speaker 1: how his portrayal made them feel seen and validated. He
Speaker 1: joins us today to talk about how.
Speaker 2: He wishes he'd had a character like his.
Speaker 1: Own when he was growing up, and what it was
Speaker 1: like to go from teen to time television onto enormous,
Speaker 1: globally successful series like Netflix's Unorthodox and his most recent
Speaker 1: series on Hulu, We Were the Lucky Ones. It is
Speaker 1: a historical drama adapted from the twenty seventeen book of
Speaker 1: the same name by Georgia Hunter, inspired by the story
Speaker 1: of her family surviving the Holocaust. It is an incredibly
Speaker 1: beautiful show, and I think in a time where we
Speaker 1: are all perhaps horrified by humanity's perpetsity to be cruel,
Speaker 1: an incredibly timely reminder that if we don't know our history,
Speaker 1: we might be doomed to repeat it. I'm very grateful
Speaker 1: that joins us today. Let's get into it.
Speaker 2: Why how are you.
Speaker 3: I'm good. It's so nice meeting you.
Speaker 1: It's so nice to meet you as well. Congratulations on
Speaker 1: the show.
Speaker 4: How exciting, Thank you, Thank you so much. Yes, it's
Speaker 4: very exciting. Yeah. Yeah. Being here is like is a
Speaker 4: whole new experience to me right now because I did
Speaker 4: another show called Unorthodox that came out in the pandemic.
Speaker 4: So being here right now and seeing the billboards and
Speaker 4: meeting people and like being on the street actually is
Speaker 4: such a refreshing experience.
Speaker 1: Yeah, totally different from being like locked up and having
Speaker 1: well I mean we're doing this on zoom, but having
Speaker 1: to do everything over the internet.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but I feel the proximity energy between six different
Speaker 4: we're in the same country, we're not in different camping
Speaker 4: and so it's like, it's, uh, that also affects my experience. Yeah,
Speaker 4: they're just like being here meeting people, like going to
Speaker 4: an actual screening with like an audience. That's yeah, that's
Speaker 4: a refreshment.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sure, And what has that been like to watch
Speaker 1: people see the project.
Speaker 4: Oh wow, that's such a good question. It's been actually amazing,
Speaker 4: to be honest, I've seen it. I've seen the first episode,
Speaker 4: in the last episode on the big screen. We had
Speaker 4: two screenings. Yeah, and both screenings, Like the energies that
Speaker 4: you feel in the audience are so different than just
Speaker 4: watching it by yourself at home. And also like the
Speaker 4: effect that a big screen has on like your experience
Speaker 4: is so crazy. I don't I don't think I've ever
Speaker 4: appreciated the fact that when you want something on the
Speaker 4: big screen and not on your own TV, like the differences.
Speaker 4: I don't think I've ever had this experience of watching
Speaker 4: something on your own TV, but then like right away
Speaker 4: on a huge screen.
Speaker 3: With a pack a pack theater. It's it's just like
Speaker 3: it's it's.
Speaker 4: So powerful to hear the actual reactions and people holding
Speaker 4: their breaths, Like you can actually hear it, you know
Speaker 4: what I mean.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when when a whole room goes yeah and you
Speaker 1: feel that and you know that something is translating emotionally.
Speaker 3: Right, yes.
Speaker 4: Yeah. And also like I love theaters, so I've been
Speaker 4: like like, like you have this experience when you go
Speaker 4: to play or a musical like you have this feeling,
Speaker 4: but then like seeing it with your own, like own
Speaker 4: piece of art is like a whole different experience when
Speaker 4: you're like in the audience but you're watching it.
Speaker 3: It's it's.
Speaker 4: I really I think I was kind of like I
Speaker 4: didn't know what to what it would be like going
Speaker 4: in and then leaving. I was like, Wow, this was
Speaker 4: such a a special moment to watch it with so
Speaker 4: many people in a room.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's incredible when you know what a moment you
Speaker 1: find yourself in. Now, when when did you know you
Speaker 1: wanted to be an actor? Was that something that you
Speaker 1: always wanted to do since you were a little kid,
Speaker 1: or or did you kind of wind up here by
Speaker 1: a strange happenstance.
Speaker 4: No, I definitely knew I wanted to be an actor,
Speaker 4: Like definitely. I remember, well, I always like wanted to
Speaker 4: perform like it was I was. I always wanted to
Speaker 4: be like on stage. Like do you remember the moment
Speaker 4: where I think I was in first or second grade
Speaker 4: and I saw this like school sort of like singing
Speaker 4: group performing and I did not know about it, And
Speaker 4: I remember sitting in the audience and just like feeling
Speaker 4: a physical sickness jealousy like it was so it was
Speaker 4: so like strong. I felt it in all of my
Speaker 4: veins and body that I needed to be there. I
Speaker 4: was I was fuming not being on stage. I saw
Speaker 4: it and I and I don't know like why I
Speaker 4: knew to feel that way, but it was just like
Speaker 4: a natural reaction.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 4: So I really like remember this as as a vivid
Speaker 4: moment of like I just need to be there. And
Speaker 4: that was like my first sort of like I got
Speaker 4: a solo, like I was singing by myself just like
Speaker 4: a few months after I joined. So I like I
Speaker 4: really felt like gratified by joining this group. Oh yeah,
Speaker 4: I'm like I really remember this. This We have a
Speaker 4: CD up until today. I need to listen to it
Speaker 4: from like me and second grade. And then yeah, I
Speaker 4: just I just like I started joining all drama classes
Speaker 4: and major in theater in high school, then going to
Speaker 4: drama school and and I actually started with doing like
Speaker 4: teenage dramas and this was like an amazing acting school
Speaker 4: for me. And then yeah, and then like things just
Speaker 4: like started to become more and more like real and
Speaker 4: and went like deep in a way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and and you know, going deep as you say,
Speaker 1: you know, into these worlds wanting to tell people's stories
Speaker 1: and represent their lives. It it's so personal and it's
Speaker 1: so emotional, and it requires so much presence.
Speaker 2: And then.
Speaker 1: I think, not only as a performer, do you have
Speaker 1: to be courageous enough to be raw bear, but sometimes
Speaker 1: you have to be courageous enough to be the first.
Speaker 1: And I know, I know that in twenty sixteen, You
Speaker 1: know when you talk about like coming of age on
Speaker 1: these teen.
Speaker 2: Shows, much like I did.
Speaker 1: You know you were on Flashback and you made history
Speaker 1: in Israel as the first character who came out on
Speaker 1: one of these shows. What was that experience like for you?
Speaker 1: Were you were you apprehensive as an eighteen year old
Speaker 1: to do that? Or were you.
Speaker 2: Were you shocked that it hadn't happened yet? Like maybe both?
Speaker 2: What was that time for you?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I think it was everything I was. First of all,
Speaker 4: it felt slightly too late, like twenty sixteen. It feels like, oh,
Speaker 4: it could have happened like earlier. But then I felt
Speaker 4: a huge responsibility to be that person. And yeah, it
Speaker 4: took a lot of courage. I don't know how I
Speaker 4: did that, but like it was again this urge of
Speaker 4: me wanting and knowing it was like a calling from above.
Speaker 4: I don't know, like I just knew that I had
Speaker 4: to do it. I knew how significant it would have
Speaker 4: been for me to have this kind of character growing up,
Speaker 4: and I knew what it can be for people, for
Speaker 4: kids teenagers watching this show. And I think I was,
Speaker 4: I was, I was terrified going into this. I'm so
Speaker 4: glad that I that I did that, Like because up
Speaker 4: until today, I get people coming up to me and
Speaker 4: saying how much they loved the show. And it was
Speaker 4: so clever to see someone. I think we're so used
Speaker 4: to consume like hard coming out stories and.
Speaker 3: This devastated like.
Speaker 4: People, like devastating stories of people coming out and not
Speaker 4: being accepted by their surroundings or just like, yeah, having
Speaker 4: the most horrific time coming out. And what was so
Speaker 4: beautiful about this story is that none of this has happened.
Speaker 4: He just told his friends. They hugged him, they loved him.
Speaker 1: What was it like for you, because you said it
Speaker 1: would have meant so much to you to have had
Speaker 1: a character like this to watch growing up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So.
Speaker 1: Was it hard for you growing up realizing, you know,
Speaker 1: coming to terms with your identity or did you also
Speaker 1: have kind of a great experience and just wish there'd
Speaker 1: been more representation.
Speaker 4: I think that. Yeah, in comparison to other stories, I
Speaker 4: think I had a genuinely like pretty solid story. Like
Speaker 4: it was like my family is so supportive, they're so
Speaker 4: open minded, or like the most liberal family I had.
Speaker 4: It was it was more like the demons in my
Speaker 4: own head there were so harsh that were preventing me
Speaker 4: from coming out earlier. Yeah, I think that. Uh. I
Speaker 4: now remember when you asked that that I did like
Speaker 4: this interview like four years ago, and I talked about
Speaker 4: some moments in school and in elementary school of being bullied,
Speaker 4: and my mom was watching this interview and she was like,
Speaker 4: I did not know that this has happened to you.
Speaker 4: I wish I knew that you went through that. And
Speaker 4: I was like, yeah, I couldn't tell you. Like I
Speaker 4: did not want to speak about my weaknesses and me
Speaker 4: being an outsider and me just like it's there's like
Speaker 4: such a deep need to be blended and not to
Speaker 4: be labeled and to just like not create any any
Speaker 4: like sort of mess around. You just want to like
Speaker 4: be normal. So speaking about being bullied or like being
Speaker 4: mocked at at school was like to me the most,
Speaker 4: like the most the closest thing to coming out. So
Speaker 4: I don't think I could have could have been like
Speaker 4: too open about it. But I did know that if
Speaker 4: I would have had this character growing up, I would
Speaker 4: probably have such a way more of an easier like
Speaker 4: easy life. And and uh and yeah, I think that
Speaker 4: it came in the exact right time for kids to
Speaker 4: to consume this show because I was getting so many
Speaker 4: messages on my Instagram from.
Speaker 3: Kids who are like religious.
Speaker 4: And have to come out to their parents as like
Speaker 4: queer or lesbians or buy or gay and and this
Speaker 4: was the most like one of the most meaningful experiences
Speaker 4: I've ever had to get actual people dming you and
Speaker 4: thanking you for like for speaking up and for representing them.
Speaker 4: And I think this I would I wouldn't trade it
Speaker 4: for anything.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if it helped.
Speaker 4: One person and it saved one person's life, so I
Speaker 4: feel like I've done like what I needed to do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so special And what.
Speaker 1: A I mean, what an immense privilege like a thing
Speaker 1: for you to say like I got to do that.
Speaker 1: You know, that'll always be something for you to hold
Speaker 1: in those messages and that feeling and I don't know,
Speaker 1: I think it's it's so profound.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And now for our sponsors.
Speaker 1: Was it kind of wild to go from doing something
Speaker 1: that monumental to then go be on you know, we
Speaker 1: touched on Unorthodox and that was such a big breakout
Speaker 1: show also, which was it kind of crazy to do
Speaker 1: this huge monumental thing and then to be on you know,
Speaker 1: your next gig and have it also be kind of
Speaker 1: like a runaway train.
Speaker 4: Oh my god, Yes, it was a runaway train. That's
Speaker 4: such an accurate term to use. Yeah, it was crazy,
Speaker 4: I think. Yeah, I was again terrified going on Unorthodox.
Speaker 4: I felt like the imposters syndrome.
Speaker 3: So hard?
Speaker 1: Did you have to study a lot and like meet
Speaker 1: with a lot of folks to learn about the community.
Speaker 4: The community, and also like it was all in Yiddish,
Speaker 4: which I've never spoken before. Yiddish is so far from
Speaker 4: it's so like it's like learning I don't know Chinese,
Speaker 4: so it was like learning a whole language. And I
Speaker 4: felt so terrified going at that project. It was so
Speaker 4: huge and there was so much responsibility, and I also
Speaker 4: felt at the beginning that I didn't know if I
Speaker 4: could deliver this role, if I could, if I could
Speaker 4: serve the part right, if I'm I was constantly scared
Speaker 4: that they'd like did find out that I'm not the
Speaker 4: right person for the role.
Speaker 3: This was such like a a realistic feeling. I believed
Speaker 3: it so much.
Speaker 4: Looking back, it was only my mind tricking me, and
Speaker 4: my insecurities and fears and my uh.
Speaker 3: That that I that I that I learned to live with.
Speaker 1: Since then, when you got that role, I know you
Speaker 1: were still in acting school and yes, and obviously it's
Speaker 1: such an enormous opportunity, but it comes with a lot
Speaker 1: of pressure. How do you feel like you handled your
Speaker 1: life changing so much so fast?
Speaker 3: Wow, that's such a good question. Yeah, they did change.
Speaker 4: I don't think that I was aware of how much
Speaker 4: they are changing. While it was happening. I was so
Speaker 4: like enjoying the ride, and I did.
Speaker 3: Not really like I did not really.
Speaker 4: Understand the meaning of it all. It all just happened
Speaker 4: and it all became like.
Speaker 3: Bigger than life.
Speaker 4: Also, like filming Unorthodox, we didn't come into this show
Speaker 4: feeling that we're going to create something that's gonna get
Speaker 4: to every household. We shot like that, like it was
Speaker 4: honestly the tiniest crew. They were like thirty people on set. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it was so tiny. It was just made with pure love.
Speaker 1: It's not lost on me that so many of these
Speaker 1: roles that you've played have have required so much, you know,
Speaker 1: introspection and and whether it's making history in your you know,
Speaker 1: home country on television or having to study, as you said,
Speaker 1: this sort of very different than your own life, conservative world.
Speaker 1: Now you're you're going back in time starring on The
Speaker 1: Lucky Ones. It's it's such a profoundly emotional and important project.
Speaker 1: And the fact that you know, in present day at work,
Speaker 1: you get to you know, honor the story of your grandmother,
Speaker 1: who who is a Holocaust survivor what does it feel
Speaker 1: like to assume a role like that, you know, to
Speaker 1: be telling a story about one of our you know,
Speaker 1: most of earth shattering and traumatic points in history. That's
Speaker 1: so personal to you, Like it's it's it's it's so
Speaker 1: important to the world, but it's also so personal to
Speaker 1: you and your family.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's I don't know, it was it was.
Speaker 4: It was such an incredible experience.
Speaker 3: It still is.
Speaker 4: I mean, seeing like people reacting to that story and
Speaker 4: knowing how personal it was for me, but also like
Speaker 4: for Georgia Hunter, who's the writer of the book and
Speaker 4: this whole show is based on her.
Speaker 3: Own family and.
Speaker 4: And booked and uh, but it's also personal to all
Speaker 4: of the cast and creaers, and we all felt an
Speaker 4: immense passion to tell the story, and we were also
Speaker 4: aligned with the importance of that of that storytelling and
Speaker 4: and the time and and and the ignorance and racism
Speaker 4: and hatred, and we all really wanted to respectfully tell
Speaker 4: this piece in a way that would move people.
Speaker 2: Did you get to meet Georgia I did.
Speaker 4: She was with us on set and us. Yes, she
Speaker 4: is the greatest human being. I love her so much.
Speaker 4: She allowed us to just join her family spiritually obviously,
Speaker 4: but she opened up about anything and everything to us.
Speaker 4: She came in with a massive photo album and with
Speaker 4: so many documents and letters that we could read, and
Speaker 4: she was open at any time and at any point
Speaker 4: to ask any questions. And it was such a privilege
Speaker 4: to have her with us on set. And she came
Speaker 4: to set, and she also brought her mom, who's the
Speaker 4: daughter of Addie who who's played by Logan but like
Speaker 4: in Realize Addie, so her Mom was there and it
Speaker 4: was such a special experience to have like the real
Speaker 4: family with us on set.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: And now a word from our sponsors that I really
Speaker 1: enjoy and I think you will too. Just earlier this
Speaker 1: season on the podcast, I got to interview Ava du Verne,
Speaker 1: the filmmaker, and she released Origin this year, and it
Speaker 1: was so that movie was such an emotional experience for me,
Speaker 1: and to see her take all of the research of
Speaker 1: Isabelle Wilkerson and turn it into this narrative. And it's
Speaker 1: so arresting to realize that hate is so infectious.
Speaker 3: It's so easy to hate.
Speaker 1: It's so easy, and why because we should know better
Speaker 1: by now, And I think.
Speaker 2: It's such an.
Speaker 1: It's immensely painful to really look at these wounds and
Speaker 1: to really look at how far back this hate goes,
Speaker 1: and and to realize that it's been systematized for all
Speaker 1: of these generations. And I think sometimes people will say, well,
Speaker 1: you know, why do we have to keep talking about it?
Speaker 1: But I think if we don't talk about it, and
Speaker 1: we don't make sure people know our history, then we
Speaker 1: become doomed to repeat it.
Speaker 3: Exactly, Yes, And I think that.
Speaker 4: Like as we said that hatred is so contagious and
Speaker 4: it's so easy. And I think that the like being
Speaker 4: in communication and talking about the complexities is the challenge.
Speaker 4: And it's that's like I think that when people try
Speaker 4: and face that like period of time are also like
Speaker 4: also like nowadays, we're such an immense, horrible, devastating conflict
Speaker 4: as we speak, and I think that it's so hard
Speaker 4: for people to to try and and and and like
Speaker 4: and and attack it from a whole different place. It's
Speaker 4: so hard to see the layers and the textures and
Speaker 4: and to see that there's no good or bad, that
Speaker 4: there's like a lot of pain and suffer and there's
Speaker 4: like an endless grief. But these things are rooted in
Speaker 4: our own like DNA, but they can be sort of
Speaker 4: like they can be talked about and changed, is it?
Speaker 1: And you know, I want to be very sensitive and
Speaker 1: also be very clear that you know, I know people
Speaker 1: are not their governments, and I know I certainly wouldn't
Speaker 1: be able to answer for every thing America, guys.
Speaker 2: You know, done in its history.
Speaker 1: But I also do want to not pretend we're not
Speaker 1: in the moment we are of you know, offer you
Speaker 1: my empathy, it does it feel strange to be telling
Speaker 1: this story about this immensely devastating time, you know, not
Speaker 1: just in human history, but in the history of the
Speaker 1: Jewish people, when you are also in the midst of
Speaker 1: this horrific conflict. I imagine that it puts you in
Speaker 1: a very emotional and tough position. Like I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't really know what the question is necessarily, but
Speaker 1: I yeah, I just I feel for you trying to
Speaker 1: make art and honor the past in a moment where
Speaker 1: the present is so horrific.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you this. I do feel the empathy.
Speaker 1: I am so inspired by people like you are talking about,
Speaker 1: who say we are better than this. We see each other,
Speaker 1: we want I want better for your family, and I
Speaker 1: know you want better for mine, And it is exactly
Speaker 1: what you mentioned earlier. We should know better by now,
Speaker 1: but it seems like for some reason.
Speaker 4: We do not. I don't understand why, Like, why isn't
Speaker 4: it so simple and basic? Yeah, that we're all like
Speaker 4: in an immense pain.
Speaker 1: And I think it must be particularly present and real
Speaker 1: for you because you are discussing this beautiful piece of
Speaker 1: historical work that is being mirrored yet again now. And
Speaker 1: I imagine it's very hard as an artist because you're like, no, no,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to make us see each o other.
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to make anyone pick a side.
Speaker 3: I'm actually trying to.
Speaker 1: Say, we've been through this, we should know better, we
Speaker 1: should do better, and it's it's it's a hard place
Speaker 1: to be.
Speaker 4: That's so accurate, and I think that that is the
Speaker 4: only way for us to overcome this conflict, only with
Speaker 4: like actually meeting the people and talking to them and
Speaker 4: just hearing each other's trauma and pain and fears.
Speaker 1: Well, I think I have a friend who you know,
Speaker 1: has worked at the UN for a long time, who
Speaker 1: talked who's talked to me a lot about how they
Speaker 1: rebuilt in Rwanda after the genocide, and the the intense
Speaker 1: undertaking of making sure that every family was paired with
Speaker 1: a family from the other side, and people sat in
Speaker 1: these healing circles and people people would talk to someone
Speaker 1: who you know, murdered families and someone whose family members
Speaker 1: were murdered, and the whole country went through this process.
Speaker 1: And what you're saying, it's painful to listen to trauma,
Speaker 1: it's painful to reckon, but the whole country did this.
Speaker 1: This peace process together and everything changed. And I think
Speaker 1: it's that sort of idea right that we're supposed to
Speaker 1: know better by now.
Speaker 2: And I'm very.
Speaker 1: Heartened by people who've said this population, it's not us
Speaker 1: or them, it's us, all of us.
Speaker 2: We're here together.
Speaker 1: And I don't know, I know a lot of you know,
Speaker 1: important people, powerful people, governments make a lot.
Speaker 2: Of money on war.
Speaker 1: But I'm very inspired by the people who keep standing
Speaker 1: up every day and saying not in our name, we
Speaker 1: don't want this. And I really, you know, I've I've
Speaker 1: been very heartened to see so many people protesting, saying
Speaker 1: like enough, this isn't this isn't making anybody safe.
Speaker 2: What are we doing?
Speaker 1: And I, I don't know, I hope, I hope more of
Speaker 1: us wind up getting to set the course in the future,
Speaker 1: because clearly a lot of the people who've set it
Speaker 1: so far have not have not done so with the
Speaker 1: kinds of goals for unity that I think.
Speaker 2: We all pray for.
Speaker 1: And you know, I yeah, I just I appreciate, you know,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it, and I can't quite imagine how it
Speaker 1: must feel to, you know, try to straddle all of
Speaker 1: these worlds at the same time.
Speaker 4: For you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's chaotic.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just imagine it's very, very difficult. And you know,
Speaker 1: you're one human being who happens to be, you know,
Speaker 1: telling his grandmother's story right now, and I know it
Speaker 1: becomes about a lot of other things. And I I
Speaker 1: also know as artists our job is to sort of
Speaker 1: try to hold all of the world, past and present
Speaker 1: and figure out how to tell stories. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: just I just wanted to make a little bit of
Speaker 1: you know, space for you there.
Speaker 3: I oh, thank you.
Speaker 1: I think no matter what you know, the subject matter
Speaker 1: of the show of Lucky Ones, I would be asking
Speaker 1: about how you cope with the heaviness and the pressure,
Speaker 1: and and it's it's I would imagine, bigger now than
Speaker 1: you even thought it would be a year ago.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4: It's it's interwined with the past and the present are
Speaker 4: so dominant. They're like they keep fighting who takes the spotlight?
Speaker 3: Was it was.
Speaker 1: It an interesting thing for you because I would imagine,
Speaker 1: you know, with your grandmother's history, you've always grown up knowing,
Speaker 1: you know, what she survived, what she escaped. Was it
Speaker 1: sort of surreal to know that you were going to
Speaker 1: step into that world when did you guys film this
Speaker 1: like two years ago?
Speaker 4: Maybe like like a year and.
Speaker 2: A half ago, Okay, so in twenty twenty two, yes, yea.
Speaker 4: Was Yeah?
Speaker 1: Was it was it bizarre to have to walk into
Speaker 1: that world and into that time period as an artist,
Speaker 1: but as an artist who's got such a personal connection.
Speaker 4: Yes, that's such a good question.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I it was really a special moment because I really
Speaker 4: remember when I got the part that I realized that
Speaker 4: I have to dive deep in now into this subject,
Speaker 4: which is the most like the heaviest subject of them all.
Speaker 4: And growing up, I've heard the Holocaust story from any
Speaker 4: like from every angle, Like we are taught about the
Speaker 4: Holocaust since first grade. We have like the Memorial Holocaust
Speaker 4: Day in Israel, and there's always like a ceremony, and
Speaker 4: there's Holocaust films. So I've heard so much about it
Speaker 4: growing up. But then after that there's sort of like
Speaker 4: a like after you finished with all your mandatory studies,
Speaker 4: you stop hearing about it all of a sudden.
Speaker 3: So so then going into.
Speaker 4: This project, it was sort of like, oh wow, I'm
Speaker 4: an adult now and I can examine it and experience
Speaker 4: it through a whole different lens. I had the like
Speaker 4: the actual ability to think about it as an adult,
Speaker 4: which was so.
Speaker 3: It was like it was sort of like I sort.
Speaker 4: Of like re learned about it and I realized how
Speaker 4: how crazy these eight years were. The Second World War
Speaker 4: was something unbelievable. It was very It was so oiled up.
Speaker 4: It was like a whole machine.
Speaker 3: That is just.
Speaker 4: It's like, I don't think I still can grasp what
Speaker 4: was it like. But watching all the documentaries and rereading
Speaker 4: all stuff that I read growing up, but then like again,
Speaker 4: like going back into the books, it was unbelievable to me.
Speaker 3: It was.
Speaker 4: Also walking on set it felt like that I don't
Speaker 4: understand how these people lived through that time and also
Speaker 4: survived like them specifically they survived. I don't know if
Speaker 4: I could. I don't know if I would be able
Speaker 4: to survive the power of their thoughts and their perseverance
Speaker 4: and strength and courage.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and now a word from our wonderful sponsors. It
Speaker 1: becomes very difficult, I think, to wrap your head around.
Speaker 1: You know, the things we study and we see pictures
Speaker 1: of in books, and we read the stats. It's different
Speaker 1: when your body begins to feel what happens to people.
Speaker 1: You know, I had a very similar experience when I
Speaker 1: really started to become an advocate for you know, closing
Speaker 1: all of these gender gaps and particularly about gender based violence.
Speaker 1: Like when I really began to actually understand in my bones,
Speaker 1: not just in my brain, the statistics of what happens.
Speaker 2: To women, I was like, what the fuck you know?
Speaker 1: And what there's there just is something different when it
Speaker 1: goes from your brain to your body.
Speaker 2: It's different.
Speaker 1: And I imagine that's part of why it feels so
Speaker 1: important to tell stories like this, you know, I know,
Speaker 1: it's why it feels important for me to you know,
Speaker 1: use my platform, you know, for women and and for
Speaker 1: the non binary community. And I, yeah, I wondered, do
Speaker 1: you do you think that experience you had of it
Speaker 1: traveling from the intellectual to the emotional physical like you know,
Speaker 1: brain to body was did that make you sort of
Speaker 1: even more sure that this that this is a story
Speaker 1: that's important to.
Speaker 2: Tell now.
Speaker 3: Interesting? Yes, of course.
Speaker 4: I I remember walking on set and seeing like extra
Speaker 4: dressed up as Nazis and its just like yeah, and
Speaker 4: seeing like all these weapons and seeing and hearing like
Speaker 4: them screaming things in German and it's just like it.
Speaker 4: I was just I choked in that moment, being dressed
Speaker 4: in my own outfit, my character's outfit, and then seeing
Speaker 4: it was sort of like traveling back in time in
Speaker 4: a way. And I mean, we're actors, so we're like,
Speaker 4: I'm not like, I don't like I know who I am.
Speaker 4: I know that I'm here to work and that I
Speaker 4: need to like learn my lines and do the scene.
Speaker 4: But then when you suddenly step out of work mode
Speaker 4: and you just observe the situation that you're in, it's
Speaker 4: it does become a physical like you do. You do
Speaker 4: develop like a physical reaction. Of course, I felt nausea
Speaker 4: on set seeing those images come to life and we
Speaker 4: all cried there. Yeah, several amount of times just watching playbacks. Also,
Speaker 4: when you suddenly watch playback and you see yourself in
Speaker 4: that situation, it's it's chilling, and that definitely strengthens the
Speaker 4: the need to tell more and more stories like that.
Speaker 1: When you think about what you want to do next,
Speaker 1: you know there's there is so much importance, but heaviness
Speaker 1: obviously in a project like this. Does it make you
Speaker 1: just want to go to a comedy like do you
Speaker 1: want to go on Dancing.
Speaker 2: With the Stars?
Speaker 3: Like, like what do.
Speaker 1: You do to get something like this out of your body?
Speaker 1: What do you what do you want to do next?
Speaker 4: I sure I'll do Dancing with the Stars, but yeah,
Speaker 4: I want to do something that yeah light, definitely light,
Speaker 4: definitely comedy. Like I don't know, Like I just want
Speaker 4: to do stuff with good creators and good people, because
Speaker 4: that cannot be changed when you work with like I've
Speaker 4: been very fortunate to have like very good set experiences
Speaker 4: and have like good directors and good writers, and like
Speaker 4: after working with Tommy Kale, who was the director of
Speaker 4: We Were the Lucky Ones, It's very hard to go
Speaker 4: on to something that would be less meaningful. So I
Speaker 4: think it should be a combination of like something that's very.
Speaker 3: Light. It has to be light, but also I need
Speaker 3: some like.
Speaker 4: Meaning to it, of course, but also like I just
Speaker 4: I don't know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 3: I want to do anything and everything.
Speaker 4: I have so many dreams. I have so many like
Speaker 4: so many like things that I want to do and
Speaker 4: and be in, and and I don't know, there's I've
Speaker 4: got so many goals and dreams and and I just
Speaker 4: I don't know what will be next, but I but I'm.
Speaker 3: Excited to find out yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well that feels exciting when you think about the
Speaker 1: year ahead. What feels like you're work in progress?
Speaker 3: Oh wow.
Speaker 4: So I'm now here in La which I'm planning to
Speaker 4: stay for a while here, and it's a whole different
Speaker 4: a whole different life, yeah than then back in Tel Aviv.
Speaker 4: So I think that my work in progress is to
Speaker 4: figure out how do people like, how do people like
Speaker 4: just live here? I feel like I'm still settling in.
Speaker 4: I've been here for three months and I still feel
Speaker 4: like it's my first week. I don't know when will
Speaker 4: I feel that I belong or that I know that
Speaker 4: I've got it all figured out. But I think that
Speaker 4: my work in progress is to find my own, like
Speaker 4: favorite spots and to find good people to just like.
Speaker 3: Create an island.
Speaker 4: For me to exist in that feels right and that
Speaker 4: feels nice and comforting.
Speaker 3: In times of need.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it makes you feel at home.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I think that That's what I'm mostly working
Speaker 4: on now.
Speaker 2: Wonderful. Well, we love it. I'll send you a whole
Speaker 2: list of places I love.
Speaker 3: Oh please do I'm in desperate please?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 1: Well, thank you and thank you for your thank you,
Speaker 1: you know, for your openness today and yeah, I really
Speaker 1: appreciate it