4 days ago
'The Better Sister' star Bobby Naderi on 'changing the dynamic of protective power' in thrilling show
Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks play sisters in the new crime thriller series The Better Sister (on Prime Video), based on the novel by Alafair Burke. In the mysterious new show, a puzzling death brings Chloe (Biel) and Nicky (Banks) back together unexpectedly.
The sisters live very different lives, Chloe is a journalist, married to her husband, lawyer Adam (Corey Stoll), while Nicky is a recovering addict whose teenage son Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan) is being raised by Chloe and Adam. Yes, Chloe married her sister's ex-husband.
But when Adam unexpectedly dies, the estranged sisters work together to get answers about Adam's death, and to be there for Ethan.
Among the cast is Bobby Naderi who plays Matt Bowen, who one of the detectives working on the case, alongside his partner Nancy Guidry (Kim Dickens). Their dynamic is one of the highlights of the show.
There's this really appealing, sarcastic banter that they have with each other. Nancy, in particular, is always ready to be a little bit critical of her partner's approach.
Naderi told Yahoo Canada that these great were a great balance to the more dramatic moments in a show tackling such "heavy" subject matter.
He also praised the script for The Better Sister as a solid foundation for the actors to work from.
"If it's a bad script, I don't believe that you can be amazing," Naderi said.
"For me, what attracted me to [The Better Sister] was kind of changing the dynamic of protective power. ... And I've played police officers and FBI in the past, this was so different. The show's very heavy. ... There's something to grow in that is exciting. His backstory, with his family, it's all that stuff."
With so much of this story resting in the twists and turns, Naderi very much went on the ride of trying to figure out what happened as well, looking for clues. But the actor also stressed how interesting it is to see the little nuggets of information throughout the series.
Looking at Naderi's career more broadly, born in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq War, he stressed that he started from a place so far away from the world of acting and entertainment.
"I was so far away from acting. I grew up in Iran during the Iran-Iraq War and we got out of there," Naderi said. "I was so far away from the arts."
"My mom was an artist, she's incredible writer, ... but with the circumstances of life, that wasn't a reality. I thought I was going to play in the NBA. I still think I could have, which is complete delusion. And then when I was like 19, I got approached to just go into a class, and that really shocked me. And it was from there I somehow and it's still kind of unclear how I ended up in Phantom Love, which went to Sundance in 2007, and that's what kind of opened me up to indie films."
Naderi stressed that it was these independent films that were critical because they taught him about cinema.
"I'm getting older, but I have that passion for film and storytelling in general," he said.
While we won't spoil how The Better Sister ends, we'll tease that Naderi's character is critical, opening up a whole host of details to explore for this character if the show continues.
