‘Expats’ Star Sarayu Blue on Working With Nicole Kidman, What to Count on

“There was no world the place I used to be not going to audition,” says Sarayu Blue of the brand new Amazon collection “Expats.” The audition got here to her by the traditional channels, and as soon as she noticed it was helmed by “The Farewell” director Lulu Wang and starred Nicole Kidman, she knew she needed to get the a part of Hilary Star. 

“It simply felt fairly particular instantly,” Blue says over Zoom from Los Angeles. She then set out on digital auditions — the mission forged throughout COVID-19 — and located herself on Zoom one evening auditioning for Wang at 10:45, as Wang was abroad. 

“The entire thing was surreal,” Blue says. 

“Expats,” which premiered Jan. 26 and has 4 extra episodes but to air, is ready in Hong Kong and follows a bunch of expatriates residing within the metropolis. (It’s primarily based on the guide “The Expatriates” by Janice Y.Okay. Lee.) Kidman stars as Margaret, whose younger son disappears one evening at an evening market, and Blue is Hilary, her neighbor in a luxurious excessive rise and good friend, although after we first meet them the friendship is fractured. 

“I feel what’s thrilling about Hilary is simply how nuanced and layered she is,” Blue says. “She’s an extremely sophisticated lady, and albeit, all of the characters in our present are, which is what’s so thrilling, and that’s one thing actually particular that Lulu and the entire workforce of writers deliver to the desk, and it was within the guide. So it’s all the time thrilling as a brown lady, as a South Asian lady, if you get a possibility to play a lady with vary and such humanness. She’s so messy, and that’s the dream proper there.”

Blue had by no means met Kidman — “ I imply, after all I knew of her. The rising star that she was” — however describes her as a real actor’s actor who was the perfect scene associate. 

“If you’re within the scene together with her, you’ve bought a lot to play with that you just simply get to fireplace proper again. And I feel working with Nicole, she and I had such unbelievable chemistry. It simply flew. It was a lot enjoyable,” she says.

The second episode, which premiered together with the primary, contains a scene in a noodle store the place the viewers sees the 2 actually join for the primary time, and get a way of what kind of friendship they’d previously. 

“There’s such pleasure in that scene. There’s such sisterhood in that scene,” Blue says, naming it one in all her favorites to shoot. “There’s such an actual memory of why we had been mates within the first place that comes alive.”

The collection shot largely in Hong Kong in 2021, a spot that Blue finds herself lacking ever since. 

“I imply, actually a dream come true. I actually do miss it on a regular basis. My husband was there with me for all of it, however we simply bought to essentially discover Hong Kong, and actually the meals was so unbelievable, as was attending to spend time there and make such unbelievable mates there. That’s the present additionally of attending to movie within the place the story’s advised. That’s so uncommon. We frequently don’t get that. And so to get to do this was actually particular,” she says. “It’s so central, clearly, and vital to this story.”

As the remainder of the collection, which has been known as the primary must-watch present of the 12 months, rolls out within the coming weeks, Blue says she’s wanting ahead to viewers reactions. 

“I feel attending to see ladies which are so sophisticated and simply so messy and flawed and actually residing the realities of life — and I say that not simply in regards to the leads, I say that about the entire ladies in our present,” she says. “And I’m actually excited that we have now so many actors of coloration on this present and such dimensional work from all of them. There’s such brilliance from these individuals.”