There are performances and there are performances. Shira Haas‘ portrayal of Esther “Esty” Shapiro in the Netflix limited series “Unorthodox” is one of the latter. It’s a visceral accomplishment that is often heartbreaking and uplifting at every turn. And if you’re a member of the Television Academy who has the privilege to vote for the nominees in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie category, she should be right up there at the top of your list.
READ MORE: Emmys 2020: Outstanding Limited Series Contenders and Predictions
Based on the non-fiction novel “Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots,” by Deborah Feldman, the small screen adaptation uses a chunk of the author’s life experiences to tell the tale of Etsy, a 19-year-old woman who feels trapped in an existence controlled by an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect in Brooklyn, N.Y. She finds herself in an arranged marriage with a man, Yakov “Yanky” Shapiro (Amit Rahav), who communicates with his mother more than his own wife and is under intense pressure to get pregnant despite her pleas of immense pain during intercourse. When the opportunity arises to escape to Germany, where her estranged mother (Alex Reid) lives, she jumps into a secular world she is almost completely unprepared for.
The now 25-year-old’s performance has earned massive critical acclaim and been something of an unexpected buzzworthy release for Netflix during the stay-at-home pandemic. Haas, who resides in Tel Aviv, jumped on the phone this week to discuss her preparation for the role, having to shave her head on camera and the impressive response to the series.
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The Playlist: How did the call for “Orthodox” come your way?
Shira Haas: I got a call for an audition, for a read-through for a TV series called “The Orchestra,” a German production. No one told me the real name or [that Netflix was involved] because it was such a best selling book and they didn’t want to expose it yet I guess. So, I just went there because I loved the [sides] and I found the story very interesting. And they did this audition and it worked really, really well, and then a few days after I got a phone call said that said, “So they love you and it’s actually called ‘Unorthodox’ and it’s a TV series of Netflix. Well done.” And then the director, Maria Schrader, and one of the creators, Alexa Karolinski, came to Israel to meet me. We were together for something like three days, we had chemistry tests with some young kids for Yanky and we had an immediate connection. We really fell in love and it worked very well, and it was pretty official after that and I was the most excited person on earth, probably.
I was going to ask about this later, but since you talked about chemistry reads with other actors playing Yanky, we can talk about it now. I’ve heard that you and Amit Rahav, who landed the role, grew up in the same neighborhood or knew each other beforehand. Is that true, or did I misread that?
Oh, well we’ve known each other for 10 years already, that’s true. That’s true. We really grew up in the same place, but we had mutual friends. I think we’ve met like, 10 years ago when we were 16 at his party and we had an immediate bonding. He’s the funniest person on earth, that’s a fun fact about Amit, and we became good friends and we always said that we really want to work together one day. And then 10 years later, cut to, it happened big time and he’s the best. He’s a really good friend of mine. We are neighbors now, he lives very close to me in Tel Aviv. I mean, I’m right now on my balcony, if I were to shout his name he might hear me. I love him, The fact we have a good relationship really, really helped me to be very mean with him and to be very also professional, but also to have some humor in between takes and some of the intense scenes. And he was really the best partner, so that’s great, yeah.
Going back to prepping for the role itself, how much did meeting Deborah help your performance?
I did not meet Deborah before filming, actually.
Oh, I didn’t realize that.
Yeah, I really wanted to, but that was kind of a decision we made together not to meet her before. I mean, I read her book I think 1 million times before. And I marked in some things in it and I was inspired by it and I took a lot of it, especially for the past scenes that are really inspired by her story. But it was really important for the producers and creatives, and Deborah and me as well, not to try to imitate anyone. To really bring a new person to life, and to bring Esty to life. I met her, I think it was the second weekend of filming. It was brunch, my hair was already shaved and I just met her for the first time. I was in shock and overwhelmed in meeting her, but after that, she came to set a few times and she even visited me in Israel and we have the best connection and I have so much respect for her.
Having your head shaved is a one-take shot, for the most part. You can’t really do it again.
You only have one piece of hair, yeah. That’s true, it’s one take. [Laughs.]
Was that nerve-wracking beforehand or do you try to not think about it?
I guess it’s both at the same time. It was on the first shooting day. I mean, one hack of a welcome to the project and I was really nervous and scared and at the same time, very excited and very surreal to do it. I mean, I had mixed emotions kind of like Esty the character has, so it’s both sides of the coin. And I remember Maria Schrader talked with me a few hours before this scene and she told me, “Listen, I know that you love to prepare yourself for scenes.” Which I do. “But for that scene, I ask you, don’t. Just whatever comes up, bring it.” It’s 20 seconds in the show, but it’s an eight-minute take until everything is shaved. I mean, she told me to bring everything that comes up because there’s no right or wrong. And I found myself just going through really a roller coaster of emotions, that were also very real but at the same time, I really controlled it and maintained it and I understood it’s part of a scene and a very important one.
How much did you actually know about the ultra-Orthodox sect in Brooklyn beforehand?
It was very new to me. I mean, I come from Israel, so I mean I know some religious communities and I played in [the Netflix series] “Shtisel,” but it’s very different every community from one another. Really, the rituals, the language, everything’s so different. And I wasn’t familiar with the Satmar community, so I needed to do a lot of research and I learned a lot of new stuff. And if you see the show you won’t hear the word Satmar one time. Not even one time. They didn’t even mention it. But for me, for Shira, yes, it’s about this place, but it’s a universal thing. But for me, obviously, as Shira, it was important for me to do as much research as possible. So, I read a lot, I watched a lot of interviews, and I wouldn’t say it was from nothing because I am familiar a little bit with the Orthodox world. But about this specific community, I needed to do a lot of research, yeah.
Did you have to learn Yiddish and German for the role?
I did not know German or Yiddish before. I didn’t have much German [lines], I had some so it was easier. But Yiddish was really like, 40% of the TV series I think. It was really intense. I mean, I had an amazing teacher, Eli Rosen, he also plays the rabbi, he was also our religious consultant and we met a lot. I recorded him saying the lines, I recorded myself, and I wrote the lines of Yiddish in Hebrew and in English so it will be easier for me to understand it. And I just, I washed my dishes with the recordings and I went jogging with the recordings, and, basically, I went to sleep and woke up with those recordings and with the lines. I mean, it was daily work. Because I didn’t just want to know my lines, but I wanted to really control it and know it so well that I’ll just come on set and I’ll be able to change it a little bit and just to be able to really act and to be Esty. So it was really important for me and challenging and fun and everything together.
From when you got the role to when you started production, how much time did you have to prep?
Well, I arrived in Berlin for all the preparations, practical preparations and lessons almost two months before filming. And yeah, it was also my intention, something that I asked, to come earlier than what I was meant to in order to really prepare for it. I mean, I could do it in Israel as well, right? Like Skype lessons. But something [about] being there and being alone there is really something that made me very committed to the role and for the process of this. I did a bit of research before and I read the script, but the real deal and the practical work, also the Yiddish, also the piano and singing and rehearsals happened once I arrived in Germany.
What has the reaction been to the show in Israel?
Very positive. I really did not expect it to be the way it is now. I’m so grateful and crazy, but in Israel I expected it to work well because there are some Israeli actors and stuff like that. But it still, even hear it was beyond what I expected. It was really a big hit. It was for several weeks or months in the first place on Netflix. And the second place would be behind the scenes episodes. So, it was really, really good. I mean, a big success here. I mean, very positive reviews. I was somehow expecting that a lot of maybe, not a lot but some Orthodox or religious people will go against it. I’m just, I was ready for it, not because I think it should happen, but because I’m used to telling stories that are hard to tell and sometimes when you tell stories like that, you should be prepared that people would go against it sometimes. And that’s part of art, right? You don’t need to be afraid of it. That’s also part of having a conversation with someone, and even arguing, that’s O.K. So, I was really expecting that and to be honest, a lot of people, even religious, really accepted it so nicely. They understood that it’s a story that’s important to be told and that it’s a one-person experience and that you can say things, that it’s important to talk about those things. I was surprised in a very good way from the responses here and also the rest of the world. It’s amazing.
What was it like to have actors such as Jessica Chastain, who you starred alongside in “The Zookeeper’s Wife” or Barry Jenkins publicly praise your performance?
Amazing, amazing. It’s also amazing because there are actors and amazing people that I admire that are posting and praising the project and my work, which is always unbelievable to think that these people are posting it, but at the same time, I find it so amazing because it just shows, for example of Jessica, just shows that it’s not only about being a great actor and professional actor like she is or others are. It’s also about being able to be also a person, to say a few good words about other’s work. I mean, I remember how professional she was, even when the camera was on me and not on her. I mean, she did the exact same thing when she had her close up and I had my close up. And I was very new to this life, I was about 20, and it was so inspiring for me as an actress. Not only because of her abilities but also because of her eye to eye and down to earth attitude. And I think that’s also part of what makes me very emotional, to see all these posts and stuff like that of her and other amazing artists. Being able to say a few words about others and especially women to women. It’s always empowering and it’s important, and yeah, it’s amazing. I’m very grateful for that, really.
I’m not up to date about what the COVID situation is in Israel in terms of stay at home orders and film production. But have you been able to audition for anything while in isolation or have you sort of, has your life been on hold like most people in the business?
Wow. That’s a big question. I’ll talk about for example these days, I mean, it’s better here now. I mean, you can never tell. You treat it day by day and crossing my fingers not to have a second wave or something like that, but it is getting better. I mean, places are opening up a little bit here and people are still going with masks and taking care of themselves. But it is, you feel like it’s getting better. So, I hope it will keep going like that. Also needs to in the rest of the world. As for the past few months, I mean yeah, I was in quarantine. And I had a few days of like, “Bummer.” Because I was supposed to be at different festivals, also there is one in France and in Berlin and also there’s a festival in Austria . And everything got canceled. But then also I understood the situation, how small I am comparing what’s happening in the bigger picture. And also I mean that’s funny because I had a conversation about this with a friend of mine a few days ago that I think in a strange way, the fact that it’s happened, which I wish it didn’t for so many reasons, but the fact that happened meant a lot of people watched it because everyone stayed at home. I got the love and the comments and a crazy amount of it. And I had interviews and press and stuff like that. But at the same time, I mean I’m at my home. Kind of like in my safe place, I don’t have this FOMO or however you call it. That you need to run from place to place. I’m really able to take it in and to really appreciate it in a way. And I really want to believe that we’re like much stronger than this. It might take time but we will go back to our real life and be able to do projects again and hug each other. And I look forward also to come to the States, of course, when things will be better.
*Haas won the Best Actress honor at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival which was held virtually this year.
“Unorthodox” is available on Netflix worldwide.