An Interview with Glenn Close and Niv Sultan from ‘Tehran’ – Nerds That Geek

Season two of Tehran on Apple TV+ is about to arrive on the airwaves and in anticipation of its release, we here at Nerds That Geek were granted quite the honor. In that we were able to speak with two of the show’s stars, Niv Sultan, who plays Tamar, and Glenn Close who plays Marjan, and here is what they what they had to say about season two. 

John Betancourt: What does it mean to both of you to be a part of a series that is both a phenomenon and revolutionary in nature?

Glenn Close: Well, look… this is the person who helped to make it that. -gestures toward Niv- So ,I mean, for me, it was so many firsts. A character like I'd never played before. Having to learn Farsi like I've never had before. Shooting in Athens with a multilingual cast. So, it was kind of a no brainer for me. When I read it. When I saw the first season, I thought, this is something I want to be part of.

Niv Sultan: And, for me, I can say that… obviously I'm only at the beginning of my career, it was a great opportunity and an amazing platform to tell the story and to portray this amazing character. And mostly I'm, you know, when I sit in my bliss in Tel Aviv, and I get messages, love messages from Iranian people, and I realized what we're doing here is bigger than another TV show or another step in my career. It feels big, it feels important. So, I'm grateful for that.

John Betancourt: Now, both of our characters are under constant duress and are surrounded by danger. How did both of you get prepare yourself mentally to play people in that kind of situation?

Niv Sultan: That’s a question… I can say that… shooting was really intense. Everything was really intense. I can't remember not even one scene where I came on set, and it was okay. That's an easy one. So, the tension was very, very high. And I was far from home. I wasn't in Israel, and I was surrounded by foreign people. It was a set full of culture and languages and mentalities. So, it really helped me to try to think how it was like to live as an agent far away from home, being a foreigner, and the tension really helped with the danger like... -turns to Glenn- we didn't feel danger during shooting…

Glenn Close: No, no.

Niv Sultan: But we did feel tense, in a way.

Glenn Close: I did a movie called Paradise Road once and played a woman who was in the evacuation of Singapore on a ship, having to jump into the ocean being strafed by Japanese, you know, airplanes and reading the true events, there's a lot of writing about that, the women didn't get hysterical the women got very quiet, very calm, did what had to be done, you know, protect their children. And I think the mindset of a of a good agent has that ability to find calm, and I've always thought maybe they have an amygdala that's not quite as active as others, because they can control their fight or flight or freeze, you know, reflex. And I think it's probably… learned, I think part of it, but I think a lot of it is natural. I mean, if you have the potential there.

John Betancourt: What are both most proud of when it comes to your time on this series?

Glenn Close: My Farsi. Boy, that was a real challenge. And I had a lot of help. I wanted to speak Farsi. So, a Farsi speaking person would be impressed. And so, I had two people always on set, listening in on their earphones, and sometimes we would just stay on a shot, and I would repeat it until it was perfect. So that that to me was… I'm told that that we all succeeded in that and I'm very proud of that.

Niv Sultan: I don't know… how to answer. I think I'm obviously I'm very proud of the show, but I'm not sure I'm in the position to understand what I'm proud of in my work. I just... I really feel that I love… I love Tamar. I feel her in me. I love this character so much. And maybe this is a good beginning.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.  

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