Emmy and Tony winner, and Golden Globe nominee Christine Baranski and Turkish actor Aras Aydin consider being cast in Season Two of Prime Video’s “Nine Perfect Strangers,” a great opportunity. 

Baranski and Aydin talked about the series in an interview with the Manila Bulletin, including how they were cast in the series. 

On how she got to star in the series, Baranski said, “I got a lovely call while I was on vacation and I was told it was Nicole Kidman and the second season of ‘Nine Perfect Strangers.’ I was told the actors who were possibly going to be involved and then I was told Munich and Austrian Alps so that was it.” 

“I said yes, you know, let me read the script but pretty much I said yes just right there and the next day was the actor’s strike so everything shut down and we had to wait a long time for it to start again,” she added. 

Aydin said, “My manager called me and do you ready to give some auditions for this beautiful Hollywood show. I was like ‘yes, of course’ and I was working hard. I gave three to four or five auditions and I got the job.” 

Maisie Richardson-Sellers, King Princess, Dolly de Leon, Murray Bartlett, Aras Aydin, Christine Baranski, Annie Murphy, and Henry Golding (Disney)

Murray Bartlett, Lucas Englander, Dolly de Leon, Nicole Kidman, Aras Aydin and Christine Baranski (Disney)

Nicole Kidman as Masha in "Nine Perfect Strangers" (Disney)

Great offer

Both agree “Nine Perfect Strangers” was too great an offer to pass up. 

“Why wouldn't we accept these roles? I mean it was just one of the great, great offers, you know, when you get to work with a major movie star like Nicole and when you have other really talented beautiful actors involved and an absolutely stunning beautiful location. There's no reason not to say yeah,” said Baranski. 

Aydin said, “this is too different for me because I'm not a Hollywood star. I'm a Turkish guy and this is a beautiful opportunity to me and close to Europe, to Turkey so that was a lot of advantage for me. The whole crew was talented, has won a lot of Grammys, a lot of Oscars and a lot of nominees so that was a beautiful chance to my life and my career, to my country.”

In preparing for his role, Aydin said, “I just read the script and went to the set. We talked a lot of conversation about Christine. She helped me so much to understand what is my background, what is her background.” 

“We needed a lot of discussion about what came before because of the nature of this piece and what is revealed. It's very important for actors to be clear what the relationships were in the past and for instance, how did we meet, what's the backstory there and then, of course, with my character, what are the issues with my daughter,” said Baranski.  

She added, “Why are we at such a terrible place in our relationship and it turns out it goes very, very, very far in the past and, you know, the show deals with people with traumas. That possibly came early in life so it requires a lot of examination as an actor.” 

Great cast 

As lovers in “Nine Perfect Strangers,” Baranski and Aydin worked closely with each other during the filming.  

“That was incredible. I learned from her a lot. The whole crew was a lot experienced in the past series. So I observed a lot of things from them. I noted on my book. I worked hard and that was a brilliant experience for me,” said Aydin. 

Baranski said, “There were so many gifted and really interesting actors, not just, not just really good actors but we were all just very unique and to bring these people together with Nicole at the head is I think it's going to be a real treat for the audience. The combination of that and then shooting in this extraordinary landscape and there's just so many secrets that get revealed so it will be a wonderful experience for the audience.” 

Memorable experience

She cited one particular scene that became memorable for her. 

“Oh my god so many, so many of course. When you're asked that question you can't think of a single thing but yeah I would have to say my favorite was when my character does not take these substances but I got to sit in a beautiful ballroom in Salzburg and my colleagues had to be in an altered state of consciousness all dancing wild and crazy and I got to just sit there and watch everyone dance. And my favorite was Aras because he was the most amazing dancer and very sexy so I had a great day of work. All I did was sit there and the camera would spin around and I didn't break a sweat but all of my colleagues were, you know, going crazy,” she said. 

Working with Kidman

About working with Kidman, Aydin said, ““I mean I appreciate every day. She's looking beautiful, she's incredible, talented and I learned so much. I observed her too so we could acting on the same place, on the same scene together and I feel so lucky to have met her. I learned from her too. I changed my way to see acting after sharing a lot of moments with her and also Christine and Mark Strong also. They are they are big people, they are important people for my career and for my life and I appreciate for all of these beautiful persons.”

Baranski said, “Yes I loved getting to know her in between takes and talking about raising daughters and having mothers that we cared for and what kind of sleeping aids do you take at night to get a full night's sleep, you know. It's always fun with, you know, you work with some people that you admire or think well I'm going to be intimidated by this person or what is it going to be like or will that person be cold right and so it was a delightful to me just to talk to her and to Lena Olin and and make girl talk actually. That’s great.”

“Nine Perfect Strangers” hails from David E. Kelley, Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories, Kidman’s Blossom Films, and Fifth Season. 

The series is executive produced by Kelley, Kidman, Papandrea, Per Saari,, Steve Hutensky, Molly Allen, Jonathan Levine, Rachel Shukert, Liane Moriarty, Matthew Tinker, Anthony Byrne and JH Butterworth.

Interview: Dolly de Leon on starring in Prime Video series ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ season 2

Interview: Emmy winner Murray Bartlett talks about working Nicole Kidman, other ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ season 2 cast