Thats the thing: were never going to run out of interesting stories to tell.
We wanted some to be funny, some to be romantic, some to be thrilling.
We didnt want there to be really too much overlap between them.
Credit: Philippe Bosse/Apple TV+; Inset: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
You moved to America from Pakistan at 18 and studied computer science and philosophy before becoming a comedian-actor.
Immigration is a polarizing issue in the U.S. right now.
But we just wanted to present entertaining, moving, funny, poignant human stories.
David Giesbrecht/Apple TV+
Immigrants are just human beings, which means they can be everything that a human being can be.
They can be messy and complicated.
Thats what we wanted to show.
Philippe Bosse/Apple TV+
The only thing that immigrants to America have in common is that they moved to America.
I mean, we have a story about a gentleman from Nigeria who wants to be a cowboy.
We have a story about a woman from Uganda who wants to bake cookies.
Apple TV+
These are completely different experiences and not the stories Ive really seen.
Ones with massive stakes, ones with tiny stakes.
Its not always life-or-death.
Sometimes its just about wanting your kids to spend some time with you.
I had a great life in Iran.
I came to America to provide my family new and excellent opportunities.
But we did not want that to be the connective tissue between all of them.
We wanted someone who wasnt going to learn it phonetically.
Obviously, it seems like its a little challenging.
Its not impossible to find people who are extremely talentedandare from a very specific part of the world.
It can be very easy for Hollywood to just look at the names they know.
Our casting people [led by casting director Bernie Telsey] were absolutely amazing.
Its not challenging in that they are very talented.
Sometimes you put out open casting calls.
Yeah, he said, You know, its really tiring.
[Laughs] It was very exciting for me just as a fan to watch their performances.
Our job in that regard was very easy.
We found talented people and then we just let them do what they do really, really well.
How did that come about?That decision came in the edit.
That was not shot as a silent episode.
Zachary Quinto actually had a lot of lines.
He has these monologues that were really wonderful and really funny too.
And he was very excited.
He was like, Of course!
It sounds like creatively thats the right thing to do.
And we were like, Oh my God, thats amazing.
That was very, very satisfying.
How involved were the subjects of the stories in these adaptations?They toldEpictheir stories.
But for the most part, they were not involved in the actual writing of it.
A lot of them have recently seen the episodes.
Their reactions have been extremely satisfying because theyve all been very moved by it.
But we really wanted to use the stories as jumping-off points.
That was very exciting and it was something that I had not anticipated.
We want this to be a show thats entertaining to watch.
And we want it to be a family show.
Everybody could watch this show and get something out of it.
