Today we’re joined by Jay Ali a.k.a. Agent Ray Nadeem from Daredevil season 3. Jay talks about Agent Nadeem’s hair, what Vincent D’Onofrio smells like, Wilson Bethel’s butt and dishes the dirt on Daredevil himself – old man Charlie Cox, amongst other things ofcourse!
Well it seems like you’re man of the hour at the moment!
Jay Ali: Yeah, it’s pretty mental. It’s all good. It’s kind of overwhelming sometimes but it’s very, very nice.
Yeah, I mean the response to the tweet is just phenomenal, do you get that all the time, or?
JA: Well definitely in the last week, I mean if I did it a week before that no one would have cared. But now… yeah, the character went down really well, so. Yeah, it’s very very cool at the moment and thank you for doing this – I really appreciate it.
Our pleasure. So you promised to dish the dirt on the daredevil cast. So we would love to know what Vincent smells like, what Wilson’s favourite colour is and what Deborah’s favourite karaoke song is.
JA: Vincent D’Onofrio smells like a fresh meadow breeze. Yeah he always smells really good actually for a huge crime boss, he’s got a lovely scent about him.
Wilson’s favourite colour is probably whatever shade of colour my skin is. And I don’t know what Deborah’s karaoke song is actually, it’s probably the theme song of Dungeons and Dragons. She loves that.
Are you saying you never went out and did karaoke at all?
JA: We didn’t actually. We were too busy working. but I’m sure that we will at some point. I’m sure we will.
Talking about favourite fight scenes. Daredevil is just so well known for the fight scenes. In season 3 you had Daredevil vs. Bullseye and you had the prison riot scene. What was your favourite?
JA: I think it was the Daredevil – Bullseye one, just because of the tension that led up to that. It was the first time we were really seeing – I mean apart from the first part where he saves Wilson Fisk from the Albanians. Seeing him in the suit and just the tension in that scene. I remember when they first saw it – they showed it at comic con. We hadn’t seen anything at that point and when they showed that scene it was just unbelievable – it was just such a great great scene and the soundtrack as well. It really gets your heartbeat going and that was the one that really blew me away was the Bulletin fight scene. I thought that was awesome.
Yeah definitely – definitely a highlight of the show! So the first fan question is from @nerdschatting. They said: did you have the same reaction as we did when Dex took his shirt off. It seems like there’s a bit of a you and Dex bromance going on here. theres a lot of questions about that.
JA: Well first of all me and Wilson are good good mates because we were the new kids for this season so we bonded straight away – we dig at each other a lot. It started because he posts these pictures on Twitter from like a shower scene. And then we went back and forth and it started this thing where we’ve got a bit of a bromance. So what was my reaction to it? I’ve seen it so many times before – I’m like whatever. Do you know what’s crazy about him? Most people when they have a topless scene don’t eat for a week before. This psycho is eating pasta and pizza and cakes and he’s just got the most amazing genetics and genes that anything he eats doesn’t touch him – he ate like a pig. It was unbelievable. But he’s absolutely ripped. So that’s what the most amazing thing is, you’re waiting for him to look really bad, but he doesn’t he looks great. So yeah we all hated him. That’s how I felt, I just had envy.
So next one’s from Matthew Fisher @CouchPotato_MVP: Did you read any Daredevil or Marvel comics to prepare for this series?
JA: No, I didn’t. Because my character was an original character I didn’t really need to do that much homework beforehand. Because he’s new to the world I didn’t really need to know what was going on beforehand. So no I didn’t. I was always into comics when I was younger. But no, I don’t remember ever reading anything I mean I watched the first two seasons which were amazing but in terms of the character no not really.
Next up is @JackGeekstalk: Who was more intense to work with? Charlie Cox or Wilson Bethel?
JA: Charlie I think because Wilson’s just a nutcase. We’re always laughing. That’s the thing – the thing which is so amazing about watching Wilson is – he’s such a joker. I mean in between takes and even when we’re doing – if they had an outtakes reel it would just be me and him laughing at each other – which there would be hours of. But Charlie’s very – he knows his character so well and he knows how he would react to certain situations and stuff like that, so it was more intense working with Charlie.
I mean you two are the two brits on the block right?
JA: That’s right yeah, we had a good laugh as well don’t get me wrong. He just wants to make sure he’s very truthful to the character of Daredevil so he, yeah he really gets into it.
So What is Agent Nadeem’s hair routine? My personal favourite.
JA: That’s funny. Nothing, I just woke up like this. Yeah, just get a good amount of grease – the hair department did a great job – I think I’m getting more plaudits for my hair than my performance, which is nice. But I don’t really have one to be honest with you. Most of the time it looks like a mess but for the show they toned it down and made it look more stylish.
Yeah stylish mess is fine! So chris @mattmurdork: favourite dexray scene? Mine’s all of them.
Jay: The one when he comes to the house is pretty intense. I enjoyed doing that with him and obviously the scene where you-know-what happens. Those two are the one’s that stand out for me. It’s crazy we did such an intense scene – between takes we’re laughing and joking around and stuff and then we’d get back to it you know? So we had a lot of really good scenes, we always had a lot of good fun. So it’s nothing but really good memories – it’s amazing it came across so serious on screen because I remember inbetween what a laugh it was.
So madi poindexter @kilmonger asked: has Jay seen Infinity War and if so who does he think is the strongest avenger? I need to know, it’s important.
JA: I have seen Infinity War. We actually got a little secret screening before it came out which came out which was super cool. Joe Quesada set that up for us. Yeah he’s really impressed me in the last – he’s always been great but Thor, since Ragnarok. He’s become the most powerful one now and he’s super funny man, he cracks me up. I’d say it’s Thor for sure. All of them are really good but I think he speaks to my sense of humour a lot more.
So, let @vrepittsa asked: Who wore the DD suit better: Charlie or Wilson?
JA: Well I never saw Charlie in it in real life. I only saw it in the second season. He wore the black suit all this season so I’ve only really seen Wilson in it. He fills it up nicely. It looks cool on him and also with that ridiculous square jaw that he’s got you know? Him in the mask – he looks great in it – he looks super cool in it so. Only because I haven’t seen charlie in real life in the suit I’ll have to go with Wilson. I saw Charlie said something about his butt looks better but I wouldn’t know anything about that.
Ofcourse not, no!
JA: No, no, no.
So sofi @capitanmarvels asked: are you aware that you have Disney prince hair?
JA: I am aware now, I am aware now. Before I didn’t really know. I think I’ve been compared to Aladdin and Eric from The Little Mermaid. Which are both lovely comparisons to have. Yeah apparently I do, unfortunately I’m too old to play a Disney prince but yeah I’ll take it. It’s funny because they don’t know it’s actually a toupé. I’m totally bald on top and it’s just hair at the sides – I look like a monk at night.
You’ve crushed everyone’s dreams there.
JA: Yeah I know I know. Spoiler.
Matt murdock lovebot mikey @wiccanloki asked: Did anyone in the cast pull any pranks on set?
JA: No not really – we’d do stuff like – we had a lot of night shoots so poor Wilson had to do three weeks full of night shoots so he was a mess and he was doing all these intense fight scenes aswell so any chance he’d get to take a nap he’d do it. so when we’re shooting at the church he’d just find a pew and fall asleep and we’d do stuff like put stuff on him – balance things on him. I think i’ve got pictures, I’ll have to post them sometime of us just balancing things on him in his daredevil suit with like a bible on his head.
All curled up!
Jay: So that’s the kind of stuff we did but we didn’t really have much time to pull really crazy pranks but I would’ve liked to. Also you don’t really know how people are going to respond to it – imagine pulling a prank on Vincent D’Onofrio.
That could be interesting!
JA: You have to choose your audience sometimes.
Yeah, definitely! So evie @plazasludgate asked: who in the cast has the best and worst music taste? – Now that’s a tricky one I guess?
Jay: I don’t know because whenever we went into hair and makeup I always put my music on – but no one else really did. Everyone liked to be pretty quiet so they probably hated me coming in. Some people really didn’t like my music – I don’t know who would have the worst taste – I’ll go with Charlie because he’s an old man. I reckon he’s probably got the worst taste.
Yeah – there seems to be this running joke!
Jay: Yeah well it’s a running joke – fair play to him he doesn’t do any of the social media and all that stuff. He dresses like an old man. So I’d give him a bit of stick for that but – I don’t really know to be honest with you. But if I have to guess It’d be Charlie had the worst taste and I had the best taste. Despite what people think.
Solid Answer! So Silvia @valetikswift asked: How long til a buddy cop movie starring you and Wilson Bethel?
Jay: It’s in the works right now – I’m writing it as we speak. No – unfortunately he’s in Marvel now. So I don’t think it would happen for a while – that would be fun if we – maybe one day down the line. A lot of people have said it, just because we have a good laugh with each other. A lot of people on the cast and crew and everyone were saying we should do that. I would be funny – it would be great to do one day but he’s too busy being a big Marvel superstar now.
Yeah, Pfft. Maybe if they did special features when they release the dvd and blu-ray?
JA: Yeah maybe we could do something like that. I don’t know we’ll see, I’ll run it past him see when he’s free.
So chris @mattmurdork asked: Did you know Ray was going to die when you got the part and how hard did you cry?
JA: I didn’t know when I got the part. Eric the show runner basically gave everyone knocks and said “Do you want to know what happens through the season?” I like to know – so we sat down and he told me what the arc was of the character and what was going to happen, and then we got to half way through the scenes and then there was discussion of we might keep you alive. But I said, for the purpose of the story and for the character arc. And what Eric wanted to get across about fear and power and corruption impacts the average American – I was like if you really want to get that point across we should really call it a day for him. So no, I didn’t cry that much. Wilson cried more than I did.
Of course. Well thank you so much for joining us on the show today it’s been a blast, it really has.
Jay: Thank you so much – it’s been great and love to everyone in England.
