What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1484479
T10 WHATS UP! November 20 - 26, 2022 Nanjiani's portrayal of Ba- nerjee, however, is one of the biggest draws to the series thus far, as it's a far cry from his usual repertoire of the quirky, funny guy (such as Dinesh in "Silicon Valley" and Jibran in 2020's "The Love- birds"). This switch in charac- ter even necessitated a change of posture that gave Nanjiani a constant reminder of the seri- ous, unsatisfied character he had to become during filming. In an interview with E! On- line, Nanjiani said he devel- oped a knot in his shoulder while embodying Banerjee on- screen and decided, "That's where Steve lives. I can't get rid of this knot until I wrap." Later in the interview, Nanji- ani notes his Banerjee has a "certain kind of masculinity" that presents in "aggressive, even violent ways ... if you're not processing your sadness or your fear." He also added that his take on the Chippendales founder is "a guy who was completely cut off from his in- ner life, from his emotions. He's very scared of what he is and he doesn't like himself." In contrast to Banerjee's in- securities, Bartlett told E! that his take on De Noia has an easy confidence that his business partner lacks. "I think it's a little infuriat- ing to Steve [Banerjee] be- cause he's really disconnected from his body," Bartlett said. "You can see he's very stiff, whereas Nick [De Noia] is very fluid and comfortable with movement." Those more removed from the true crime sphere may even find this story familiar. The tragedies that followed those at the top of the Chip- pendales empire have been en- tertainment fodder since they were first reported. Takes on the events were adapted into the 2000 TV movie "The Chip- pendales Murder," featuring "The Dropout" star Naveen Andrews as Banerjee. More re- cently, the podcast "Welcome to Your Fantasy" detailed the rise and fall of the empire. What drew "Welcome to Chippendales" writer and cre- ator Robert Siegel ("The Wres- tler," 2008) to the tale wasn't that an adaptation was lacking, but that there was still more ground to till. With the recent Hulu hit "Pam & Tommy" under his belt, Siegel has become moti- vated to take on more real-life stories, and he was quickly tak- en with Banerjee's story. "It hit a lot of my pleasure buttons," Siegel told Vanity Fair. "It felt like 'Scarface' or 'Goodfellas' or 'Boogie Nights.' ... It's bad people do- ing bad things. But what dif- ferentiates it from another wannabe Martin Scorsese movie is that you take out Tony Montana and put in this nerdy, socially awkward Indi- an immigrant." Don't miss the first two epi- sodes of "Welcome to Chip- pendales" when they premiere Tuesday, Nov. 22, on Hulu. continued from page T2 It's raining men: Drama miniseries 'Welcome to Chippendales' takes viewers backstage TV FEATURE 5 x 5 Murray Bartlett in "Welcome to Chippendales"