In this interview, we got to talk to Amber Rose Revah, who plays Dinah Madani in ‘The Punisher’. We discuss both seasons of ‘The Punisher’ and what the future holds for Dinah Madani.
INTERVIEWER: To begin the Interview, how did you first begin your acting career?
AMBER ROSE REVAH: My family are from Poland originally and when my grandmother came over here, she would take me to a theatre, but where she grew up, it was during the war, they weren’t allowed to practice so many arts so when she came here she would go to the theatre and when I was born, I would also go with her. That started my love for theatre and from a very young age I decided that’s what I wanted to do. Then I studied contemporary performance at university, which used aspects of dance theatre, physical theatre, Russian theatre and then I got an agent whilst at that university and started pursuing that path. I actually got the film Agora whilst at university but they threatened to throw me out of university so I had a dilemma but I decided this is what I want to do, so I said to them that I’m going to do this film and they said ok.
INTERVIEWER: When did you begin to get roles such as The Punisher?
AMBER ROSE REVAH: From when I left university, I was already getting smaller roles in bigger films such as From Paris With Love which had John Travolta in it. I played a semi part in that which opened me up to more international projects, Agora which is a Spanish film from a Spanish director but it was a independent film, not British work. So I think from a young age I was doing more international work, cut to 10-12 years later, I have an American Manager, I’m already auditioning for American and international roles and then The Punisher came along. I worked on a HBO BBC Show with the showrunner of The Punisher so he knew me, I knew him and then I auditioned and it went on from there, they then flew me out to LA for the screen test and I got the job.
INTERVIEWER: Did you do any research into the mythos of The Punisher before beginning production on the first season?
AMBER ROSE REVAH: Well it’s difficult to really know what they are going to do with the characters and the show. I think a lot of the time with the actors, you can be kept in the dark, I did what I could though and I understand being kept in the dark due to a lot of confidential around Marvel and Netflix, it is really anticipated and you don’t want to give it away to an audience too much. The way it works is a need to know basis, so I didn’t hugely know much going in but I had faith in our showrunner, I had worked with him before, I love his work and it ended up exceeding my expectations, now I have a character which I worked with the writers on. Now it’s nice when they have ideas we can collaborate and integrate my interpretation on the character.
INTERVIEWER: Additionally, since The Punisher is a iconic comic book property, were you aware of the property and also the Marvel universe itself before joining this project.
AMBER ROSE REVAH: My younger sister is a huge Marvel fan so most of my knowledge comes from her, she’s 10 years younger than me and she goes to every Comic-Con, she’s in love of the Marvel shows. I didn’t have too much of a knowledge on Marvel and I didn’t have friends that were interested in it either but then when you begin the research looking into the comics and the environment of Marvel, it really did ignite a interest in it, especially how all of the fans speak about certain characters and how passionate they are about them, I really love that. I’m still on a learning curve with it but it’s great I understand the world more than I did before.
INTERVIEWER: Definitely, so are there any favourite moments of yours on filming the first season of The Punisher?
AMBER ROSE REVAH: A lot of the stunts I loved because I’m sporty and I train in a lot of stuff I really enjoyed the stunt work and physical work, also my stunt team are quite open to me doing my own stunts also, we had the car chase in Season 1, anyone who has seen the show knows what happens in that scene. In Episode 8, there was a shootout and that was really fun to do with my stunt team and learning how to use the guns and how to look like an agent so that was brilliant. A lot of the emotional scenes were great to do too, it’s great to have a female character who can do both the action and emotional scenes, she can be hurt and moved, particularly with Billy Russo and her relationship with him. But yea, there were so many wonderful moments in the first season, I could probably pick one from every episode but those are the ones that stand out.
INTERVIEWER: Moving onto the second season of The Punisher which production recently wrapped on, is there anything you can share regarding the upcoming second season?
AMBER ROSE REVAH: I think the fans, from what I saw from the feedback from Season 1 really loved the action sequences from all the characters and particularly Jon Bernthal has some gruesome but beautifully choreographed action sequences, we carried those into Season 2 but making sure not to make them the same and giving the audience something new and different. We have action this season but it’s different from the previous season, I don’t want to giveaway too much How and why it is, but there are some real shockers that come in Season 2, probably when you are not expecting it so it’ll be fun to see the audiences response to that.
INTERVIEWER: Alongside that, what can we expect from your character in the second season of The Punisher, will your interactions between Billy and Frank change in this season?
AMBER ROSE REVAH: Yea I mean, with Frank, she was on a parallel story with him and they don’t crossover much and there wasn’t much interaction between Dinah and Frank in the first season, but they are quite similar people even if they don’t want to admit it. In Season 2, we see them cross paths much more and not necessarily working together but you see intertwining a whole lot more. In regards to her relationship with Billy, we find her at the start of the season and a lot of the other characters have moved on but Dinah hasn’t, the way Billy hurt her, she’s deadset stuck on revenge and justice but she’s not as adamant on right and wrong, it’s more mixed in her mind at the beginning of the second season.
INTERVIEWER: Also, with the other Marvel Netflix shows such as Daredevil and Jessica Jones, hypothetically would you like to Crossover with these different shows or would you rather keep The Punisher as it’s own separate show?
AMBER ROSE REVAH: That’s a interesting question, well I think when I watch Jessica Jones and Daredevil, I really enjoy the Crossover moments and it makes you feel like there’s this whole world out there. I think with me and The Punisher, I could imagine myself coming into Daredevil certainly and it would be nice if it happened but yea I can definitely see her crossing over with Daredevil hypothetically, maybe even Jessica Jones but now we no longer have Defenders, Luke Cage or Iron Fist so for me, Daredevil seems appropriate.
INTERVIEWER: Definitely I agree, I think the tones are similar other than The Punisher is more brutal.
AMBER ROSE REVAH: I think they are sort of on par in terms of being dark shows so it wouldn’t be a huge tonal shift if I jumped on a show like Daredevil whereas if I jumped on Iron Fist, everyone would be like what the fuck is going on.
INTERVIEWER: To finish the interview, are there any upcoming projects of yours that you’d like to promote to make our audience aware of?
AMBER ROSE REVAH: Currently, I’m writing and developing some of our own projects, not anything yet to speak about but in the future.
