Kumail Nanjiani struggled to break character at home while filming Welcome to Chippendales

During an interview on a podcast “Bar stool with backlight” hosted by Jeff Lowe and Jack Kennedy, Kumail Nanjiani discussed his new show Welcome to the Chippendales. In particular, he spoke about how difficult it was for him to get out of work mode while he was at home due to the intensity of the content.

Nanjiani said, “The last month and a half of filming, two months of filming, was very, very stressful for me. I don’t want to bring my work home, I’m not the kind of actor who says, “You have to call me Somen on set.” However, the actor admitted that he didn’t manage to turn it off at home – at least not with this particular role. As a result, his wife Emily W. Gordon (with whom he co-wrote 2017’s The Big Sick) had to encourage him to separate home life from work.

Nanjiani continued, “Sometimes I would come home and my wife would say, ‘Hey, don’t. I don’t need this shit here. Don’t get angry at home.” He then explained how easy it is to feel the same emotions as your character because you have to repeat the same scene over and over, which cements that feeling in your body. Nanjiani concluded, “In real life, I started having these feelings when I thought, ‘Studio! Studio producers, they’re all trying to fool me” and all that. And Emily was like, “Hey! Is it a coincidence that you and your character feel the same way right now?”