Babou Ceesay is a British-Gambian actor whose work spans all the pieces from gritty true tales to high-stakes sci-fi.
Recognized for standout roles in Wolfe, Guerilla, Darkish Cash, and the BAFTA-nominated Damilola, Our Cherished Boy, this yr he steps into a complete new world as a part of the core solid in Alien: Earth, FX’s subsequent chapter within the Alien universe from Noah Hawley.
Off-screen, Ceesay is simply as dedicated to storytelling. Since relocating to The Gambia together with his household, he’s launched the Khoros Movie Competition, a nonprofit platform rising the following technology of Gambian filmmakers. We caught up with him to speak aliens, performing, and constructing one thing greater than your self…
Please introduce your self …
My title is Babou Ceesay, I’m an actor, a proud Gambian by heritage and a proud Brit by beginning. I’m a Scorpio.
Describe your life presently in a single phrase or a sentence…
Fortunate.
Why are we right here?
I consider we’re right here to attempt to create greater than we devour. I wished the accountability to create Morrow in Alien: Earth, and I’m lucky to have been given that chance by Noah.
Morrow is a cyborg, half human, half machine and he makes a brutal selection early on by sacrificing the crew to guard alien specimens. How did you faucet into that rigidity between chilly logic and buried human empathy when shaping his efficiency?
Necessity can create machine like readability, even machine like energy. Consider the mom lifting a two tonne automotive off her son. In Morrow’s eyes the larger good is what issues. His sense of loyalty and responsibility override his empathy, and positively at a price.
Alien: Earth introduces hybrids like Wendy – youngsters in grownup artificial our bodies. As Morrow interacts with them within the early episodes, how do you navigate that line between protector and enforcer?
Once more it comes again to the larger good. Which behaviour is best to safe the objective? Protector? Enforcer? In Morrow’s eyes they could very nicely be the identical factor.
The present mixes the traditional Alien look with trendy results. How did that tense, close-up environment have an effect on the way you performed Morrow?
All the pieces on set was sensible. That made it a dream. I might work together with the units and the creatures in a means that made it actual to me and hopefully actual to the viewers. All kudos to the extremely gifted artistic group.
Hybrid know-how offers characters tremendous human talents. Did you do any particular coaching or follow to assist present that in your efficiency?
I had weapons and combat coaching and hung out working with our good motion director. I additionally did some analysis and located a modern-day cyborg, the artist Neil Harbisson. He’s utterly colourblind and has a cyborg antenna implanted in his head, which permits him to really feel and listen to colors. I learn someplace that he stated he feels greater than human. I took that as a leaping off level.
Alien: Earth is about earlier than the unique 1979 Alien movie however expands the story. What does it imply to you to be a part of this legacy, honouring the unique whereas pushing its universe into new territory?
I like the unique movie. It made a deep impression on me once I first noticed it. In consequence, when the chance got here for Alien: Earth my first feeling was that I’d be an imposter. I virtually didn’t do the audition as a result of I used to be too intimidated. In the long run my need to be a part of this unimaginable legacy drove me to provide it a go. I’m glad to have had the possibility, and pleased with what we have been in a position to do.
You studied Microbiology earlier than coaching at Oxford Drama. How has your science background influenced your performing or understanding of sci-fi roles just like the one in Alien: Earth?
I used to be a horrible scientist. I understood the idea and obtained nice grades, however the second I used to be in a lab setting I fell aside. Science turns into an artwork within the lab. However chaos will not be conducive to that atmosphere. The one factor that science taught me is that I’m sadly not a scientist. I’m too chaotic. Because the Principal at Oxford College of Drama, George Peck would put it, “I’m a distant particular person making an attempt to be close to”. I’ll convey my chaos to the set.
Past performing, you based the Khoros Movie Competition in Gambia to construct native filmmaking capability. What impressed you to begin this, and the way do you see it shaping African cinema?
My intention is that the Khoros Movie Competition performs an vital position in shaping African cinema. And in my humble opinion we’re already firmly on that path. In contrast to most of my esteemed African colleagues within the diaspora, whom I like and maintain in excessive regard, I’m on the bottom. I stay right here and that makes a distinction. I wish to see African tales instructed the world over. If alongside the best way it uplifts Africans, as I anticipate it is going to, I’d have achieved one among my loftiest targets.
Having labored throughout movie, TV, and now a serious sci-fi franchise, what challenges or surprises have stood out for you on this newest challenge?
The shock has been that Alien: Earth is suddenly enormous and contained. There’s the spectacular scale of the manufacturing, after which there may be the quiet units with a fellow actor, a number of props, and surrounded by a artistic group that cares. Actually I can’t consider any challenges, it’s a dream job.
GETTING TO KNOW YOU…
If not this, then what? In all probability farming…
What’s made you unhappy, mad and glad this week? Unhappy and mad concerning the Gambian child woman that died after being subjected to the horrendous practise of FGM. Glad the folks that did it have been arrested. It means our first responders are serving the larger public good.
What are you presently watching? About to begin Wednesday and a bunch of exhibits starring the peeps I met at Comedian Con.
What’s the final movie you watched? Blissful Gilmore 2.
Final play you noticed? A play at Ebunjan Theatre in The Gambia, the title eludes me, but it surely was directed by a cultural icon, Aunty Janet Badjan Younger, a Rose Bruford Graduate.
Final stay music occasion you attended? Noah invited my spouse and I, and some solid members, to stay jazz at The Crimson Room in Bangkok.
What’s presently in your music playlist? Spiderman Into the Spiderverse soundtrack.
Tune on repeat in the intervening time? Wickedest by Tems.
Which podcast are you presently listening to? Diary of a CEO. What else?
What’s in your bucket record? Visting Everest and the Antarctic.
My glad place is? Watching Mr Beast movies with my household on a Saturday morning.
Rejoice another person… Martha Manga. A journalism graduate who joined my firm in Gambia simply over 3 years in the past, aged 22, and she or he’s simply change into our CEO. Nuff stated.
Rejoice your self… I’m nonetheless a thriller to myself, however if you’d like one thing constructed from the bottom up, I’m your man.
What’s subsequent? In addition to focussing on my performing, I’m writing a TV present with one among my greatest pals George Georgiou.
The place can we discover you? babouceesayofficial on instagram… Many individuals suppose it’s a faux account. I believe meaning one thing, though I’m not certain what.
Photographer: Ron Timehin @rontimehin
Grooming: Stefan Bertin @stefanbertin
Styling: Venk @modur_style