Joseph Sikora And Naturi Naughton Talk Power’s Season 2 Posted by Brad Balfour
June 6, 2015
Actors Naturi Naughton and Joseph Sikora are the tough side in both seasons of Power. The 31-year-old Naughton plays Tasha, the hard-edged wife of drug baron turned club owner James “Ghost” St. Patrick, who has been at his side as he’s struggled to get to the top. And she’ll be damned if she’ll lose him now even though he’s in throes of passionate affair and an effort to go straight.
As an East Orange, NJ, native, the diminutive Naughton has the natural smarts to both play into the character but also her lend nuance and vulnerability, qualities that she has possessed as both an actress (in Fame, The Playboy Club, and Notorious, among others ) and as a singer, particularly as one of the R&B trio 3LW.
Chicago-born Sikora plays Tommy Egan, Ghost’s old buddy whose been his right-hand man, a toughened white guy in an urban world where he’s fought to be tougher than everyone else in order to succeed. Now he won’t relent as Ghost tries to get out of the trade even while forces conspire to pull him in deeper or get him busted.
The 38-year-old actor has had years of experience in televison dramas (Law & Order: SVU, ER, Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, Without a Trace, CSI: Miami, Prison Break, Lost and Dollhouse) as well as such films as Shutter Island, Safe and Jack Reacher to manage both Tommy’s conflicted mind-set.
During a recent roundtable held at the Park Hyatt, the two teamed up to explain before a small group of journalists, how much they share in creating these characters who both propel the series forward and have to react to the lead characters’ conflicts.
Season 2 of Power airs on June 6 at 9pm on Starz.
When we met you last season you were a genteel, sweet young man, just as you are today. How do you psych yourself up to get into this intense character?
Joseph Sikora: I grew up in the city of Chicago [where] I did get a lot of street education in my life, so I have been in front of the people that are very close to who Tommy was, men with depth in their eyes, right? Time and again.
I was an amateur boxer for seven and a half years, so I know how to work with these two. So there’s certain aspects of Tommy that are alive in me that I bring to the character, that are there. I also was, , an angry enough young man, as many urban young men are, and I think that now that I’ve given that up, which is not easy to walk away from stuff, and as Tommy, I don’t have to.
So I think that you find stuff that you’re able to dig inside yourself. One of the great things that people don’t give enough credit to is that ability to pretend. And if you’re a good actor you have a good imagination and pretend really well.
And Naturi, you look so sweet here as well, but then you’re the one hiding the gun for Ghost and doing all this and that. Where do you find your inner bad ass.
Naturi Naughton: I’m always playing a gangster, I don’t know why. I don’t know why! But, I love playing this character of Tasha. I think the dichotomy is that you just find what’s real in yourself and bring a little bit of that to the character — but Tasha’s definitely a lot more daring and risqué [than me].
She does some things that I wouldn’t do, but I definitely feel I can connect to her, so I’m not that drastically different. Maybe Naturi’s a little bit more demure, sweet, not as wild, but I definitely enjoy getting the permission to be a little bit of a bad girl. She definitely has the permission to go there, and I don’t get to do that in my real life, so it’s fun.
As an actress, is that something that you purposely pick out to do in your roles?
NN: No! I was Lil Kim, legally and haphazardly.
We’ve seen a lot of you…
NN: You’ve seen a lot of me? Literally? [Laughs]
And you always play these bad girl characters…
NN: I never seek out that intentionally. Lil Kim came to me in a really very surprising haphazard way. I was just auditioning, I actually thought I had the worst audition I ever had, I couldn’t even rap that well. I totally felt like I blew it, and then I got a callback. I was like, “Oh really?”
That’s so much happens with actors. We just don’t know what they see in us, and sometimes you’re just being yourself. So to me, I don’t seek out, “Oh, I’ve got to play this bad girl or I’m going to prove that I’m this sexy…” I actually just seek out realness and vulnerability in characters.
Tasha might be strong and she’s a good woman, but she comes from a street background. but I just think she’s vulnerable, she’s in love with her husband, and she’s still a real woman. She may not do everything that everybody out there might think is permissible, but she’s somebody who wants to be loved by her husband. She doesn’t want to be cheated on; she wants to take care of her family and kids. That’s real!
So I can connect to the authenticity of the character. And whether they’re gangsters, whether they’re sexy, whether they’re crazy. I think we just try to find what’s honest and play it.
Joseph, 50 actually compared your character to Eminem. What do you think about that?
JS: How did he compare them? That’s a pretty blanket statement, I doubt he just said, “He looks like Eminem…”
No, he didn’t say you looked like him.
JS: So then what did he say?
Basically it’s Tommy’s immersion into the urban culture…
JS: Let me guess, he said it’s like Eminem in D-12, so like somebody who grew up in a black environment where had to prove himself.
He didn’t actually cite D-12, but basically you’re immersed in a culture that’s authentic to who you are.
JS: Let me help you out. I don’t think that’s an incorrect comparison. So you see somebody like Em who grew up, , at least very influenced by Black culture and Black culture within close proximity, and then his crew being predominantly Black, and then him kind of emerging as the best of them all, so I’ll take that [laughs].
It was meant as a compliment.
JS: I know, I know! I wasn’t calling you out, putting you on the spot, I just wanted to see how red you could get.
How much fun is it playing this crazy role? You’re the modern-day hitman go-getter, that type of thing.
JS: I’m going to steal Naturi’s word in saying [I have] the permission. Within the character of Tommy, I’m really given the permission to go from zero to 60, and go very extreme. It adds to the dynamism of the character, because he’s a goofball at the same time. But he’s not meaning to be funny, he’s just kind of silly in some of those ways.
I think I was saying to 50 that to me, that’s reflective, sometimes, of stuff in hip hop. I remember listening to LL Cool J that “I’m Bad,” like, “I’m gonna crush you like a jellybean, ‘cause I’m bad,” and… Alright. So, I think that juxtaposition of all that is, is valid within Tommy and plays to a lot of different levels. So I have a great time [with the character].
In this world, where a white male is thought of as a person who has it a little more made, if a woman succeeds in Power, or if someone who’s mixed-race succeeds, they have succeeded through 10 times more skill. And with your characters, within that framework of success, each one has to be 10 times more at it than anyone else, to stay on top of it. Then there’s the reverse for Tommy who has to be badder than anyone else to succeed. So both have success but having more skills.
JS: Spot on. I had to be tougher, I had to be in that neighborhood. I had to work 10 times harder to get the cred of that.
And you’re playing you character in the same way. You’re the wife of the alpha male and you’ve got to be — and then you’re being challenged so you have to be on it more.
NN: Yeah, I think being the woman and — especially because a lot of people assume that the wife is going to be the naive one who doesn’t know about the drug business, the one that’s kind of like, “Get out of the game, honey” — Tasha definitely is not what you would expect her to be, especially in episode one. She’s like, “You’re the biggest goddamn drug dealer in New York City, and that’s sexy and I want you to be.”
That’s kind of the relationship, that Bonnie and Clyde dynamic that they’ve always had, but it’s hard being a woman and people of course assume that you’re just going to be this sweet damsel in distress. But she’s just as hard, just as much a go-getter, just as cutthroat. She’s telling Ghost how to cut up a body in Episode Two of Season One. She’s like, “You know what we did back in the day? That’s what we’re going to do right now.” I wouldn’t cross Tasha either if I were you, for sure.
But for you to compete, you’ve really got to be on it, to compete within that community.
JS: Yeah, and with Ghost I keep trying to remind him what they react to in this kind of environment. And that is immediate force, rather than — as he’s trying to consistently go — but I’m too extreme. I’m trying to go with too much force, just straight to the violence, and we saw that that did not necessarily work out well in season one.
But then Ghost is trying to be too — what do I want to say? What’s that s-word I’m trying to use…? Yeah, strategic, and like, he’s got too much savvy, he’s working it like that. That’s not going to work. That’s not going to be responded to well because people are going to start… We need to be in this position of power, otherwise we’re not going to be respected, we’re not going to be able to move this way, and this whole thing that we’ve worked our whole lives for is over with, especially if you keep messing with that.
An actor’s only as good as the lines, so what do you think of the writing?
NN: This show is written so well, that I think the complexity of each character is what gives us the freedom to live on the screen. We don’t have the ability to be great unless the writing is great. We don’t get the opportunity to shine unless the writing gives you an opportunity to shine.
We don’t get a chance to flourish unless the writing is actually on the page, so I always say we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Courtney’s genius mind and for an executive producer like 50 Cent who gets that hip hop culture is a part of the main culture. That’s what separates Power from the rest of the bunch.
JS: They write for us now. It’s hard to memorize stuff and blurt it back out if it doesn’t ring true. I’m not talking about a medical drama or something [like that where we need to know a lot of technical stuff].
If the lines weren’t written well and don’t sound like how a human speaks, it’s tough. And then a step better than that is not only how a human speaks, but how this character that you’ve been developing speaks. They kind of know how Tommy would say that line, and then they give me the little bit, that I can junk it up a bit more. I get just enough of that freedom but everything is written. There’s very, very little improv.
The writing is so good — we’ve seen the first few episodes — but what’s next?
JS: The writing’s so good in season two because they allowed themselves to establish the characters so thoroughly in season one, that now that’s established, the writing was able to kind of go to this crazy action and the dynamic of all these inner worlds colliding. The writing has just been phenomenal for the second season.
NN: Courtney Kemp Agboh, a Black woman who’s our showrunner and creator, has just done a great job of putting the voices into these characters. Not only the women. But because she’s a female, I think people are like, “Wow, look howsa woman writes how these men are talking…
JS: She’s tough.
NN: She plays hard and she goes into it. I think that’s another thing that Power does really well. We don’t shy away from anything, we don’t dilute anything, we’re not making this to be bright and fluffy like, “Oh New York City, it’s pretty.” No.
This is dark, it’s in the back alleys, you might get shot up or stabbed. This is real, it’s gritty, the sex is honest, and it’s purposeful to the story. Even the violence is part of New York as a whole, so we use the character of New York City as a part of the backdrop of our show, and I think Courtney does such an amazing job.
JS: And the ethnic diversity of both worlds — not just of the drug-dealing world — but also the ethnic diversity within the government and the police [is there as well].
And the club world itself.
JS: Absolutely.
Not just the drug world.
NN: There’s two worlds at play. Essentially, Ghost leads a double life.
For both your characters, where does Tommy and Tasha’s loyalty lie? Who are they most loyal to? Themselves? Is it Ghost?
NN: That’s the problem. There’s not a lot of loyalty in Season Two! That is part of the problem in it. There’s not a lot of loyalty.
JS: Also, people are questioning where their loyalties lie.
NN: Exactly, Tasha at points even questions Tommy and his loyalty. And , we’re brothers, like a brother-sister relationship. Tasha’s questioning Ghost and his loyalty to her and the marriage. I mean, I don’t know if Tasha can clearly say right now. Even if her best friend, Lakeisha, played by La La Anthony, I don’t even know if her loyalty, if I can really put that in her.
In season two, it’s a lot of pieces this year, where you don’t really know who you can trust, you don’t know who’s really your friend, because the world gets so intense that people start doing things out of character, people start reaching for power any way that they can get it. And that’s always a little bit scary. So I don’t know, Tasha’s loyalty… I mean, she’s loyal, she’s loyal. But is everyone loyal to her, that’s part of the problem.
Is she loyal to herself or more loyal to Ghost?
NN: She’s so loyal to Ghost that she sometimes can’t see straight. She continues to go back to him. She even presents to him, “Look, get rid of Angela. If we do that, we’re good. We’re back on track. You’re my ace boom. We good.”
I think that at the end of the day, she wants it to work so bad, and that’s loyalty. She will not give up on this relationship. She will not give up, and a lot of women out there probably can relate to that. But I think Tasha for sure is loyal to Ghost. This season, though, she’s going to have to choose herself.
JS: To answer your question as well: who’s Tommy loyal to… Tommy loyal to the streets, so it’s going to be interesting to see, the further Ghost gets from the street, how far is Tommy’s loyalty going to be stretched?
That’s the thing about your two characters. Your characters are on the razor’s edge. You are both dealing with the idea, if it goes one way, could you go the other way?
NN: If Ghost could just get his mind right. , Tasha and Tommy can connect on the fact that Ghost is not in the game. And that’s [where] we kind of have a connection, our characters do especially, because , we just want our guy back, we want our leader back, we want our best friend back, we want our husband back. We want the man that we put our faith and trust in, we just want him back, and that’s what I think causes the tension.
On the flip side, you guys represent a holding onto the past. He’s moving forward and maybe you guys need to pick up on moving forward. Is there some pressure, are we going to see that revealed in the later scripts?
JS: Yes. [Laughs]
NN: God willing, in Season Three, if we continue to do well, and this is just Season Two, I think Courtney’s going to evolve these characters into a whole different mindset.
And this is autobiographical…
JS: 50 Cent’s life. I think that 50 has already said — it’s still 50, and 50 has put himself and his life — so the situation with Ghost and Tasha, what happened was that 50’s first baby’s mother, when they were on the Jersey Turnpike when he got out of jail, when he got shot it was 12 in the afternoon, so he was feeling like there’s no time that this can happen. So his baby’s mother took the gun to hide it. So that’s autobiographical…
NN: That’s what Tasha does to save Ghost.
JS: That’s what Tasha does to save Ghost, so I think that 50 has added in aspects of his life to our characters. Like Tommy, even though he’s white, was kind of based on his–the guy that 50 came up with a little bit, this guy Rude Boy. So there’s definitely things that have been planted in reality.
NN: And he’s from New York City which is another key point of why we’re shooting here. That’s a huge aspect of our show that I think was important to 50 and important to all the producers involved.
[They] know how important it is to keep it real. You can’t do a show like Power and not have the grittiness of New York, the diversity of New York, the bilingual aspect of our show represents New Yoricans. I think all of that is a huge part of what makes this show so real. And in order to keep it real, why not shoot it in New York City?JS: And in so many of the shots, we get to shoot from across the street. We get to shoot down the street. If you’re not here, you can’t shoot like that.
NN: We shoot in Brooklyn and people are across the street in a Jamaican spot where a new character, Dre, played Rotimi, is part of Kanan’s crew, and they shoot a lot in this little Jamaican spot in Brooklyn, in Bed Stuy, and so many people are like, “Oh my gosh, what up?” So I was over there and they know their block. They feel connected to the story because they’re a part of it in a way, they’re a part of the culture.
Do you guys have input into your characters?
JS: We got to meet with the writers. Naturi and I and all the lead characters got to sit with the writers’ room and just [talk with them] about [ourselves].
NN: They take notes like, “You know what, we’re going to make Tasha sing next season.” , I wasn’t supposed to be singing but Courtney said, “Oh my gosh, let’s put that in episode six,” having me sing “Sweet Thing” at the club to Ghost is something that was completely created because of my singing background. So I just think that the writers in this group are really, really collaborative.
If it wasn’t called Power, what other name would you say would be perfect for it?
JS: I’m going to steal this from 50. Choices.
He already gave us that, we need a new one.
JS: I love that.
NN: If it wasn’t called Power, another name that this show, hmmn. Oh, gosh. Now you got “Choices” in my head. I was going to say “You Can’t Run”. You can’t run from the truth, you can’t run from the lies, you can’t run from your past, you can’t run. Actually, I kind of like that. I’m going to be like, “I got inspired by this group! My next single, ‘You Can’t Run’” [Sings] So I’m just saying, you can’t run! That’s my title, “You Can’t Run”.
JS: You could call it “The Kingdom”.
NN: Oh, I like that. The kingdom.
JS: Because there can only be one person wearing the crown.
NN: And everybody wants it.
So are you writing?
NN: Yeah, I write. But I usually write with a producer friend, a friend of mine, Logic, who plays the piano, I work with him and Ryan Toby, who’s actually in the group City High, we’re working on my solo project. But we write together, which is easier for me because it’s collaborative. I like working with people.
I’m writing in the studio and that’s just something I’m doing because I always want to be singing and doing music. But I want to be doing more features as well. I’m getting close to things, independents, and major studio features.
What genres?
NN: Oh, I love to do drama. Actually I want to do a comedy. I was really close to doing a comedy this summer, but I haven’t gotten a chance. But I actually got to be a guest star on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” with Danny DeVito, Charlie Day, all those guys. I had a blast, I love doing comedy because it’s a release from doing the intense work of “Power”, so I’m hoping that someone lets me be funny one day.
What’s next on the acting radar for you?
JS: I can’t get arrested here!
NN: He’s so fantastic.
JS: I’ve got Tommy, I’m loyal to this show one hundred percent, but man, all these movies where I’m like, “Hey, give me a shot, put me in!”
What kind of role would you like to get and what kind of genre?
JS: Oh god. I could do it all. But what I want to do, as I said the other day, “I’d like to be the first American James Bond.”
NN: You’re bad. He’s lookin’ good.
JS: There’s a million scripts, if I think the material is good, if I can respond to it. I think the series I was in before Power was called the “The Heart, She Holler” with Patton Oswalt and Amy Sedaris. So it was a very wacky, crazy, funny comedy series. , I’ll be good. If I like the material, I’ll be fine, I can fit into it.
Clip – Should Have Been More Careful With Your Phone
Clip – Pin It On Me
