Home of David star Stephen Lang spoke to ComingSoon about enjoying the Nazirite Samuel within the new Prime Video series. Lang mentioned his beard within the present, talking the phrase of God, and his nice scenes with Ali Suliman. The present might be accessible on Prime Video on February 27, 2025, with the primary three episodes premiering.
“Home of David tells the story of the ascent of the biblical determine, David, who finally turns into essentially the most famend and celebrated king of Israel. The collection follows the once-mighty King Saul as he falls sufferer to his personal delight,” says the synopsis for Home of David starring Stephen Lang. “On the course of God, the prophet Samuel anoints an unlikely, outcast teenager as the brand new king. As Saul loses his energy over his kingdom, David finds himself on a journey to find and fulfill his future, navigating love, loss, and violence within the courtroom of the very man he’s destined to interchange. As one chief falls, one other should rise.”
Tyler Treese: You’ve acquired an excellent one as we speak, however in Home of David, the beard that you simply had happening was fairly the scene-stealer, if I could say. How was it working with that extraordinarily lengthy beard? It seems prefer it hadn’t been cleaned shortly. How was appearing with that on?
Stephen Lang: Effectively, that’s an fascinating query. After all, Samuel was a Nazirite and one of many marks of the Nazirite was they by no means, by no means, by no means clipped any of their hair. Any of their physique hair in any respect.
Which isn’t to say they didn’t groom it. I imply, they’ll groom it. Samuel really is fairly well-groomed. Really, the beard was fairly clear more often than not. He does get within the mud and the dust often, however the hair and the beard, it’s all integral to the character, you recognize what I imply?
I don’t really turn into Samuel till I’m in full hair and beard. After which I really feel very a lot the Nazirite. There are solely three Nazirites I feel which are talked about in each Testaments. After all, Samson is thought for his lengthy hair, and he was a Nazirite, Samuel’s a Nazirite, and the opposite Nazirite of word is John the Baptist was a Nazirite as nicely. However after all, he’s a thousand years down the road [laughs].
Samuel performs such a key function within the Bible. How is it discovering your voice for him? As a result of he’s just about saying the phrase of God, and it must be highly effective. So, how do you channel that as an actor?
How do you channel it? I don’t know. It’s an excellent query I’ve requested myself. Look, ultimately, it’s a reasonably mysterious course of. You do what you should do, which is to say you take in the supply materials — on this case, the great guide — to the extent that you would be able to. Perhaps you take a look at a lot of commentaries, you speak to folks, you experiment, you attempt to work it out with the dialect folks. You form of wanna perceive the world that the producers wanna create right here.
So what I’m saying is that it’s a mixture of some pretty concrete and mechanical elements comparable to the way you look, the way you sound, what you put on, after which different extra esoteric form of issues like what’s your relationship with the Lord? How do I actually hear the phrases of God spoken to me? Do I converse actually to Him, or do I converse with out talking?
These are choices that one makes as an actor, and you employ your powers of creativeness and remark to make these choices in live performance together with your director as a result of it’s the world that they’re creating. You’re a part of that.
One of the spectacular traits I really feel you possess as an actor is simply your depth. You get to have these nice, very tense confrontations with King Saul, particularly within the opening episode. How is it working with Ali Suliman as a scene accomplice? As a result of he may give and take it too, so you may really feel the electrical energy on the display whenever you two are going forwards and backwards.
I don’t suppose they might have forged that function any extra powerfully than they did with Ali to me. I advised him, Ali is each inch a king so far as I’m involved. To be Saul is a really, very troublesome job as a result of Saul was a gnarly, gnarly man. You already know what I imply? There’s a lot, a lot that’s admirable about Saul, and there’s a lot goodness in Saul.
And but, there’s the flaw. Sadly, it’s an unforgivable flaw. Samuel can not erase that. Samuel can not look previous that. It’s not Samuel’s place to look previous that. So appearing with Ali is all the time, it’s a pleasure and a problem as a result of he’s stunning. He’s large, he’s regal. He could be loud, he could be delicate, he could be nuanced, he could be blatant. He is an efficient bundle.
Because of Home of David’s Stephen Lang for speaking in regards to the present.
