{"id":130514,"date":"2019-03-11T14:24:11","date_gmt":"2019-03-11T18:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/?p=130514"},"modified":"2019-03-11T15:19:49","modified_gmt":"2019-03-11T19:19:49","slug":"cassandra-freeman-raza-jaffrey-talk-nbcs-the-enemy-within","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/cassandra-freeman-raza-jaffrey-talk-nbcs-the-enemy-within\/","title":{"rendered":"Cassandra Freeman, Raza Jaffrey Talk NBC’s The Enemy Within"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Enemy Within<\/strong> is NBC\u2019s latest action-packed spy thriller that guarantees to keep viewers guessing. A former CIA operative, played by Jennifer Carpenter<\/strong>, is serving a life sentence in prison for betraying the United States. However, a current FBI Agent, played by Morris Chestnut<\/strong>, need to track down a criminal and his traitorous prior colleague is the only one who can help. Alongside Carpenter and Chestnut, Cassandra Freeman and Raza Jaffrey<\/strong> take on the roles of special agents Jacqueline Pettigrew and Daniel Zain helping to hunt down enemies each episode.<\/p>\n

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Freeman, a vivacious personality, can be recognized from her roles on the police drama Blue Bloods<\/strong> and the comedy series Single Ladies<\/strong>. Jeffrey is no stranger to spy dramas, having acted in roles on shows such as Spooks<\/strong> and Homeland<\/strong>. We were able to get the scoop on their characters and what to expect on their latest project. You can watch The Enemy Within each Monday at 10\/9c on NBC starting February 25, 2019.<\/p>\n

How many episodes of the show have you shot so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Raza Jaffrey:<\/strong> 13. We\u2019re on our 13th now.<\/p>\n

How intricate does it become and how much do you have to remember?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jaffrey:<\/strong> That\u2019s one of the great things about the show, actually. You care about these characters week in and week out. It\u2019s a bit of a departure from what we\u2019re used to seeing in that way. You can track the characters a little bit more. In this first season we\u2019re after this one guy in particular, and we bring Erica onboard to help them fight. That storyline, it runs all the way through.<\/p>\n

Freeman:<\/strong> Which is different because it\u2019s not like every new episode \u201cWho\u2019s the new bad guy?\u201d. It\u2019s more like that one bad guy–how do we get him? And we get people along the way who might know him.<\/p>\n

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Jaffrey:<\/strong> And then watching that web and the tentacles going deeper and deeper into government and everywhere else, sort of expanding through the season.<\/p>\n

For the people who haven\u2019t seen the show yet, what can you tease about your characters?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Freeman:<\/strong> My character\u2014I would say she\u2019s sort of like the funny and the wit of the show. So she\u2019s always got something sort of like\u2014\u201cHAHA!\u201d That\u2019s what I would say about her. But her background is that she helps hostage negotiations.<\/p>\n

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Jaffrey:<\/strong> She doesn\u2019t pull any punches, so people know the character, Jacqueline Pettigrew, is like, you know, not messing around. That\u2019s why she\u2019s so great at her job. Our team needed this character in Episode 3.<\/p>\n

Freeman:<\/strong> Right. They sort of enlist my help. I\u2019ve had a huge background, but I was working at Quantico, which is where they train FBI people, and I train my kids how to be great hostage negotiators, but they need me to come in for a special investigation. I\u2019m like listen\u2014I cut through all the red tape, and said there\u2019s one way to do it\u2014you go straight. Everyone else might want to follow the rules and I\u2019m like no, we don\u2019t need to do all that.<\/p>\n

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And what about your character?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jaffrey:<\/strong> I play special agent Daniel Zain who\u2019s the FBI\u2019s senior interrogator. He comes from a military background where he was overseas watching the CIA interrogate people in a certain way. Daniel doesn\u2019t particularly like the CIA\u2019s style and way of doing things. He\u2019s much more by the book.<\/p>\n

Freeman:<\/strong> He\u2019s the square. He\u2019s like \u201cthere\u2019s rules!\u201d. If there was someone who was like \u201cthere\u2019s a way to do things, his character would be the one who\u2019s like \u201cthere are rules. That\u2019s not how we should do it. Alright fine, but it\u2019s on you if it doesn\u2019t workout.\u201d And my character\u2019s like \u201cI\u2019ll do it!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jaffrey:<\/strong> But the reason behind that is he\u2019s Will Keaton\u2019s oldest friend and they\u2019ve been around a long time and Will is doing some things because he\u2019s on the hunt for his fiance\u2019s killer and he\u2019s doing some things he shouldn\u2019t be doing. Actually, the FBI is all about that due process. It\u2019s very different than the CIA. Bringing the case before a judge. The CIA is far more, you know, do things covertly. And that\u2019s where the great mix of our show comes. Because on one hand you have CIA Erica Sheppard. FBI, our unit, [is] trying to bring people to justice. And we butt heads as a result.<\/p>\n

Do either of you think that you would make a good special agent or spy in real life?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Freeman:<\/strong> Yes. Oh yes.<\/p>\n

Jaffrey:<\/strong> Because no one would believe you were.<\/p>\n

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Freeman:<\/strong> No one would believe it. I think women in general make great spies. I really think that\u2019s one of the most provocative things about our show is that the biggest traitor in America is this woman. And if you saw this woman walking down the street, you would never thing \u201cthere goes the traitor\u201d and I think on many shows usually it\u2019s the dude and you\u2019re like \u201cThat\u2019s the guy!\u201d And instead, on this show, you\u2019re like \u201cThat\u2019s her?\u201d and then you\u2019re like \u201cBut she did it for her daughter? Oh wait a minute.. DID she do it for her daughter? Wait a minute.. can I trust her?\u201d And then you\u2019re like\u2026 this is why women are some of the best sort of double personalities you\u2019d want to work with.<\/p>\n

You keep playing a lot of spies, agents. Do you ever think you\u2019ll do a comedy? Do you ever think you\u2019ll do a role where you are not a government official or a double agent, or a spy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Jaffrey:<\/strong> I just went and did a little special called Four Weddings and a Funeral as well. I just did a film with Blake Lively called The Rhythm Section which is out in the autumn this year. I\u2019m certainly not a spy in that. So, that\u2019s a different character. I love doing this kind of stuff. I enjoy shows which take a risk. And I think our show takes a risk in that way. I hope that\u2019s why people will watch it. Smash was a great risk. I\u2019m proud to have been a part of that. Code Black was the same. It\u2019s great to be on a show that takes risks and that\u2019s trying to do something different with the genre. Carrying those stories through and having a broken woman at its heart is really interesting.<\/p>\n

After the pilot actually airs, Erica reveals a secret. It seems like the rest of the team is in the dark for now as to why she did what she did. How much are they circling the truth going forward? How important was it for you to find out why she at least said why she did what she did?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Jaffrey:<\/strong> I don\u2019t think I know how to answer without revealing anything. We take a very long time to find out why Erica has done what she\u2019s done if we ever do, in fact, find out. You know, she protects the truth for very good reasons. So, it creates conflict with the team all the way through because essentially she\u2019s getting results, but maybe we\u2019re doing this for all the wrong reasons, you know. We shouldn\u2019t be allowing Erica Sheppard to roam free occasionally this way because of the consequences.<\/p>\n

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Freeman:<\/strong> Even though she tells stuff to Keaton, if it\u2019s your enemy, how much of the truth do you believe that comes out of your enemy\u2019s mouth? So it doesn\u2019t really matter what she says. I like to think, for my character at least, it\u2019s not about what she says, it\u2019s about what she does. And I think we\u2019re really trying to watch closely\u2014what does she do and does it match up to what she says? But, you know, when you\u2019re in the spy world, people can fake you out for such a long time and then flip everything you\u2019ve ever known. So I think that\u2019s another really provocative thing about the show is\u2014how do you know when the truth is presented to you as truth?<\/p>\n

We\u2019re seeing a lot of stories right now. There are a lot of shows about unreliable narrators. Are there any reliable narrators in your show?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Jaffrey:<\/strong> Daniel. Actually, genuinely, my character\u2019s probably one with the most integrity in the show. He\u2019s the truth teller. He\u2019s the guy at the heart of it who actually\u2014he makes a point that in the interrogation room, he never lies to his subjects. That\u2019s a rule that Daniel has. What that\u2019s about is gaining people\u2019s trust. So, yes, Daniel is a character at the heart of it who does have a moral compass in a way. He\u2019s seen what happens when people go down that path. Which is why he\u2019s such great friends with Will Keaton, Morris\u2019s character.<\/p>\n

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Freeman:<\/strong> Jackie, though, I\u2019m so out in the field throughout this show. I\u2019ll be who I need to be to get what I need to get. Your character\u2019s not so much like that. Like you are who you are, you are who you say you are. My character, she\u2019ll bend the truth if she needs to. She\u2019ll pretend to be someone else if she needs to get information. But as the audience watches that, I think you always know why she\u2019s doing what she\u2019s doing as far as I can tell. But I do think for the most part, you\u2019re watching everyone, from the FBI to the CIA as can we trust the motivation why everyone\u2019s doing what they\u2019re doing every week. And I think you do sort of trust people because you know what the main goal is at the end of the day\u2014is to catch that one bad guy, which is episode after episode after episode, you know, it\u2019s a continuous thing.<\/p>\n

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Jaffrey:<\/strong> And of course we trust Will Keaton, played by Morris Chestnut, as well, because we know at the heart of it he\u2019s out to get the killer of his fianc\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Freeman:<\/strong> You trust him. I don\u2019t know if I trust him. It takes me a long time. I don\u2019t know if I trust him and truthfully I don\u2019t know if Brad, the other character\u2026the rest of us, sort of. There\u2019s so many characters that come in and out. I don\u2019t know if I even trust Keaton.<\/p>\n

What aspects of your character would you say viewers would find most relatable?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jaffrey:<\/strong> I like the fact that, across the board, we all work together as a team. And this kind of goes off the camera. And I hope it communicates on screen as well. We have a great time making the show. We\u2019ve enjoyed being around each other and bouncing off each other in that way. So I hope that kind of relates to the audience as well. Of course, we\u2019re out to catch \u201cthe bad guy\u201d but underneath it, people want to know how we all interact with each other as characters. And I think our great writer, Ken Woodruff, has built a great team of actors who enjoy bouncing off each other and hopefully that shows in scenes.<\/p>\n

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Freeman:<\/strong> I agree. I think that\u2019s the most relatable thing. Our show very much is like \u201cOh, well I didn\u2019t think about that!\u201d or it might be like \u201cI don\u2019t know if we should do that idea. We should do this\u201d. Even people trying to put a plan together, even there\u2019s drama in that. How do people put the pieces together? And then when they\u2019re out in the field, things fall apart\u2014how do people put things back together? I think that\u2019s really quite relatable.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s a lot that\u2019s not relatable. Because, my character, she might put her life on the line\u2014I don\u2019t know how many people will be like \u201cYeah, I jump and get shot\u201d. But I think the heroic part in our brain, we like to think \u201cOh, if I were her, I would totally do that\u201d. And all these people are such true, honest sort of characters. Whether they\u2019re the techie person or the person who risks their life, the person who gets all the intel. I think you do sort of relate to the best part of everyone in the show.<\/p>\n

Following the discovery that a U.S. ambassador is selling classified intelligence to a Colombian cartel, Shepherd (Jennifer Carpenter) devises a plan to catch him that will push Keaton’s (Morris Chestnut) moral code to the brink. Keaton brings a new member (Cassandra Freeman) on to the team.<\/p>\n