EXCLUSIVE: Spartacus: Gods Of The Arena: Nick Tarabay unearths the layers of Ashur

By Ian Cullen Feb 24, 2011, 16:20 GMT

Throughout both "Blood and Sand" and "Gods Of The Arena" we have seen some fascinating character journeys, and amongst the most interesting is that of gladiator Ashur, played by Nick Tarabay.

Perhaps amongst the best and most innovative shows on television at present is "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" and the prequel series "Gods of The Arena," which concludes this Friday.

The series has the kind of scheming and backstabbing characters that you’d expect to see in any Roman epic, but in this series they are unashamedly plotting in order to get ahead, or in the case of the gladiators, to simply survive.

Throughout both "Blood and Sand" and "Gods Of The Arena" we have seen some fascinating character journeys, and amongst the most interesting is that of gladiator Ashur, played by Nick Tarabay.

I recently caught up with Nick Tarabay and here is what he had to share with me about his role in the series, and gives some hints at what is to come.

Monsters and Critics: Nick, I’m going to start this with a softball question, and my guess is you’ve been asked this many times, but how did you land the role of Ashur and what attracted you to Spartacus: Blood and Sand?

Nick E. Tarabay:  There was a couple of things to be honest with you, but first of all, I had worked with Starz on another TV show, Crash, and that was one of their first drama series. I worked with them and it was an awesome experience all round.

Starz have been very good with me, and the people that I worked with were great, and it was a great role, and it got some recognition from them and other people as well, for which I was very appreciative.

Then... there was something coming up, which was Spartacus, and unfortunately with season two of Crash they wanted to go in a different direction to how the whole thing was.

Lt Axel Finet from Crash

So there was talk since I wasn’t going to be in season two of Crash, that Starz were interested in bringing me into Spartacus.  So, it came from Starz that they wanted me to join in with Spartacus.

And of course when I heard about the show, and obviously having learned about the legend of Spartacus, which I think is every man's dream...you know, to be a part of a show like this.

It’s very raw, very manly ...I mean it’s not often in TV or film that you can be very big, and I come from theatre, and have a very big (acting) instrument... and I’m like, ‘I’d just love to sink my teeth into this.’

So, it was something that I was very excited to be a part of both intellectually and physically.

M&C: In the prequel 'Gods Of The Arena,' we’ve gotten a little insight into Ashur’s journey from Gladiator to the scheming right hand of Batiatus, and I’m wondering what your thoughts are on Ashur’s evolution from Gods Of The Arena through to Blood and Sand.

Nick E. Tarabay: You know, I think Lucy Lawless (Lucretia) says that, ‘It’s not often actors get the opportunity to go back and show the audience the homework.’

As an actor. before you approach a role. You have to do your homework and a backstory.

I personally do that. I do a backstory to every character that I play. Where does he come from, where was he born, how did he come to where we see him on TV, the things that make him tick, the things that make him happy, what is his ultimate goal?

So it was a privilege to have the opportunity to show the audience some of our homework.

It was a lot of fun, and I think that it thickened the foundation of the character to me! It made me understand him even more. I always had a very clear idea of Ashur, and even though he maybe perceived as the villain or the bad guy. I never personally see him that way. I always approach him as a guy whose trying to survive, and it’s the circumstances around that force him to be the person that he is now.

I always thought of Ashur as more of a reaction than an action. He wasn’t the man that he is. He became the man that he is.  Ultimately he wanted to be accepted and loved by the brotherhood, which is something he never had and never got for reasons that he was not clear about.

So to go back and do the prequel and then season two just made me get to know the character even more, play around with ideas that I didn’t have, but the writers had so brilliantly put together.

They helped us out a lot by adding other dimensions that I didn’t even know Ashur had. And I put all that together with my homework, and honestly man! Not just because he’s my character, but I find Ashur very fascinating. You know, his motives, what drives him. I find all that very interesting. So it was good all around.

M&C: It’s funny because about 20 minutes before speaking with you I was chatting to April MacIntyre (Monsters and Critics' Small Screen Editor), and we were saying having seen Ashur’s journey. It’s more understandable why he is so bitter when we meet him in the first season of Blood and Sand.

Nick E. Tarabay: Yes, Absolutely, absolutely. You know as an actor you never want to judge your character because that’s like death for any actor. You hit a wall. One of the things I always try to find is my characters heart.

This is something unique that I do. I always try to find what’s in his heart and what it is he longs for and I’ll always have that.

Steven DeKnight and his team of writers put that in so many ways into action, and it was great. It was wonderful. I mean this is why he was like that, and the audience gets to see that as well.

I also loved the fact that he was a little more physical as well, because I’m physical too.

M&C: One thing you got to do more in Gods Of The Arena is fight, and I’m wondering how you found that considering that much of your role in Blood and Sand was a bit more cerebral as apposed to physical?

Nick E. Tarabay:   I found it to be brilliant. First of all I love being physical. I used to play semi-pro soccer when I was younger, but I’m always physical. I love this. I think that most us men wish to have a sword somehow.

I think we all play that when we’re kids. We have swords and we’re fighting. I mean ...its all the stuff that we dreamt of. I thought it was really great. I’m like, ‘Wow,  what a great opportunity. I get not only to play that intellectual scheming guy. I get to play the physical too.’ Which is something that not all of the characters on the show got to do.

I love this stuff. In season one when I was on Blood and Sand, and found out what that story was. That he was an injured Gladiator, and was crippled. I went for the role and I had to put on weight, because I figured. If he’s injured he’s not going to be in shape, and by the time episode nine came round when he takes his brace off. I did all the homework for him to have been secretly training to get back into the arena and the training ludus. He wasn’t accepted obviously.

So, when I knew that the prequel was coming, I made it my business to go back and reshape Ashur. I wanted to have this rugged-like hungry, violent physical gladiator. So I changed the look completely from what he was in Blood and Sand.

I love this stuff man! I love this stuff. This role is in my heart.

M&C: I know a bit about the work that goes into developing a character, and was encouraged to write character diaries and keep lots of notes in my scripts when I trained as an actor. So I truly appreciate the work you guys do to bring characters to life from the script and make them your own.

Nick E. Tarabay: Oh yeah. I think that’s important. I think that’s essential.

You have to know your characters secret, which is something that I always give my characters, which will not ever be revealed and not ever be shown, and only you know.

It helps you tremendously as an actor. You have to have that. You have to have your homework, you have to have your secrets. I mean always before a scene starts. I have to have my homework before. Know where my character comes from. What kind of energy am I bringing to this scene.

You’re absolutely right. This is very, very important.

M&C: What’s struck me throughout both series is that Ashur is somewhat of a loner, and doesn’t really have many friends. Of course in Gods Of The Arena he is acting as a translator, but I’m wondering if you have any insight as to why Ashur seems to be such a loner.

Nick E. Tarabay: I don’t think Ashur is a loner by choice.

Again, this brings back the homework and backstory of Ashur. He actually is quite the opposite. He wanted to be more of the people's person. He wanted to be a part of the brotherhood so bad, but just the circumstances kept on going against him.

You’ll notice in episode two of Gods Of The Arena when Batiatus orders him to go kill what is it now, Tullius? I end up killing one of my friends.

I have no choice because if I’d not done that I would have been killed, but then it was frowned upon from other gladiators when Batiatus orders the old Doctore to give us the mark of the brotherhood without the test it was something we had to do. We were slaves. We had no say in it, but everybody frowned upon that as well.

Even when he fights in the arena, and even though he wasn’t as strong in the beginning as his friend, but really puts his heart into it. He still wonders why he’s not accepted.

Despite all of this, Ashur is a very, very proud character. His pride is very big and he doesn’t take people's insults or people's rejection very well because he doesn’t feel he is less than anybody else.

So, when they keep doing the thing once or twice. For awhile he’s like, ‘No I’m not going to stand back and let you do this.’ He gets back at them, and I think this is very, very manly of him! He may not do it the traditional way. He’s just very smart. He knows how to get people.

So I don’t think he’s a loner by choice. He’s a loner by the circumstances forced around him.

M&C: Spartacus strikes me as an intense experience for the actors and all involved, but I’m guessing there would be a few moments of humour during the average 16 - hour day. So that said have you any funny stories from the set that you could share with us?

Nick E. Tarabay: Oh my God, are you kidding me man? Yes for sure we have a lot of humour while were working on the show.

My friend that plays Dagan, Shane [Rangi] on the show... Great, great guy and a really terrific actor.

We had so much fun trying to play that. because we had to learn to speak Aramaic in Gods Of The Arena, which is a dead language since the Christ.

So we had so much fun playing it, and I remember this one time in episode four where Peter Mensah’s Doctore comes over and asks me to translate to Dagan because he doesn’t speak English.

And I have this big, big speech where I’m translating everything Doctore’s saying to him, and am saying it Aramaic, and had to memorize all these things, and I’m like, ‘What the fuck am I saying?’

So I’m translating and at one point I forgot like one word I think. So I went, ‘Line’ and you can hear the silence... On the whole set nobody knows it. So they couldn’t help me. So that was hysterical, and I was just cracking up and everything.

That was one of the experiences that was fun. There were times when we were fighting and falling. There were so many, so many, but the Aramaic one always stands out for me.

[Laughs]

M&C: I can imagine someone having to run off the set in search of an Aramaic dictionary or something to sort it out.

Ashur and Crixus, mortal enemies

Nick E. Tarabay: Well, we usually have the guy on set. I mean Crixus (Manu Bennett) is very good, but he was doing something else that day and wasn’t available, but seriously you could hear the crickets when I asked the line. I went, ‘Line’.... Nothing, and I’m like, ‘Okay.’ For me that was one of the funniest moments.

This time around too I have to say there were some really, really good actors. Shane Rangi who played Dagan, Josef Brown who played Auctus and Antonio Te Maioha, who again plays Barca. It was a lot of fun. Those guys are just a lot of fun.

On top of all of that. Our stunt team are the most professional and most comedic people that you’ll ever meet. These guys are the best out there, but have a sense of humour. So a lot of time you have to control yourself from laughing while your fighting.

M&C: Oh, that’s easy. You just turn your laugh into a growl.

Nick E. Tarabay: [Laughs] Yeah, yeah that’s right. Every time you want to laugh just growl, and they hear you screaming. That’s how it works. Instead of laugh you just scream like your about to kill somebody you know.

You know, it was a great experience, and whether it was the production people, the make - up people, the wardrobe people. They’re all champs and made it easy for us to do our jobs, and I really enjoyed that.

M&C: Most fans were both concerned and disappointed by the fact that Andy Whitfield was not going to be able to reprise the lead role in the series, and just wondered what your feelings are on that, and have you had chance to meet and work with Liam McIntyre, who’ll be taking over the role.

Nick E. Tarabay: No unfortunately I’ve not met Liam, but have heard really good things about him, and I’m really looking forward to meeting him and working with him.

Andy Whitfield, I’ll tell you one thing about Andy. I see Andy as Spartacus on and off the screen. I mean this guy is a true hero and a true survivor, and he’s very down to earth, a very nice guy to work with. He never had any ego in so much as, ‘Hey I’m the lead of the show. So you can’t talk to me!’ or anything like that, and he has great potential.

He’s a very good looking guy too. So, we were like wow, I’m a straight guy but wow that’s a good looking guy right there!

(We Both Laugh)

You know, and I’m like, ‘Oh wow,’ but I’m sure Andy will recover and I’m sure he’s going to have a brilliant career. I’m sure of it and I’ll always wish him the best of luck in anything he does.

M&C: One thought I had and almost wrote an article about was would it be so bad not to recast Spartacus, but instead have an existing actor step in based on the legend of Spartacus being bigger than the person.

Nick E. Tarabay: Yes it’s funny I heard this idea thrown around a couple of times where they said you know, ‘Spartacus might be an idea. Not necessarily a person.’ Because actually it started out with one person and continued on as a legend.

To be honest with you I like having that person continue it on. I think it will be great rather than have someone else be Spartacus and try to make you think that this is the new Spartacus.

I don’t mind it being the same guy. I actually like it because he had such an interesting backstory that I want to see his journey to becoming that leader whose going to lead this army to challenge Rome.

So I’m actually with the writers on this one. I don’t mind it at all seeing that his journey continues.

M&C: You know I can side with the writers as well because I just want to see the series carry on to be honest. There’s nothing like it on television.

Nick E. Tarabay: That’s right and you know... I love that. I mean sometimes people think, ‘Oh maybe there’s a little to much sex. A little to much violence!’ And like seriously I don’t think it is because if you read any history about those times. We actually maybe a little more tame compared to what really used to happen back then.

M&C: You know I was chatting to a friend of mine here in the UK about Gods Of The Arena, and he came up with the conclusion that the prequel series is actually about John Hannah’s Arse, because we get to see a bit much of it in the first few episodes.

Nick E. Tarabay: [Roars With Laughter] Oh my god. You know it’s funny I think this show made us very close to each other because we were pretty much naked the whole time. We became really close friends you know...

[Laughs]

It doesn’t get any closer than this. I mean really, really I’ve seen so many naked men and women that I was like wow ... If I go a couple of weeks without seeing another naked woman I think am going to be fine... [Laughs]

I wasn’t complaining trust me. I wasn’t complaining.

M&C: One thing we have seen in Gods Of The Arena is the start of difficult relations between Crixus and Ashur. Now we all know that will come to a head in Gods Of The Arena, but I’m wondering if you could maybe give further insight into that relationship and the events that lead up to the leg injury.

Nick E. Tarabay: As a lot of people obviously saw at the beginning of the relationship between Crixus and Ashur is that Ashur, which I felt was kind of interesting started out as friends. And Ashur was kind of in a way showing him the ropes.

Funny enough I think the way I played it and the way I did my script analysis was Ashur kind of liked Crixus in the beginning. He said that when he first meets him in the cell. He says that, ‘There’s something in his eyes that longs for blood and glory.’

He actually kind of liked Crixus and wanted to help him out. Crixus in Ashur’s mind had different goals, and Crixus was very focused on his goal, but he approached it different than Ashur.

In so many ways when I looked at it Crixus and Ashur are kind of the same person. They have a big goal, but they go about it in different ways.

Crixus as you notice. He won’t stop until he is the champion. Even if Barca and him were good friends, and it stands between glory. Crixus will make sure he gets the glory.

It’s the same thing with Ashur, but Ashur does it in a different way. He doesn’t do it maybe face to face. He out-smarts people because he’s discovered that his ultimate weapon is his wits.

That is his ultimate weapon, and no one can challenge him when it comes to it.

So, Crixus and Ashur are a lot alike. They just go about doing things in separate ways, and  in Gods Of The Arena. There were a couple of times where actually you would see Crixus doing things that wasn’t cool for him to do. I mean obviously he betrays me in the end, which I’m not going to give away. But he’s the one that causes me to be crippled in season one. Which really, really ignites the fire of vengeance that Ashur has towards Crixus because he kind of liked him, and the way he ends up betraying me is really a harsh betrayal.

This is why it’s almost a double whammy for Ashur that he’s really got to go after Crixus because Ashur was very close to getting what he wants, and Crixus in his mind for no particular reason took it away from him.

You’ll see in episode six that Crixus does what Ashur would do, but in a different way.

M&C: Can’t wait to see that episode.

Nick E. Tarabay: Oh my god man! You know it took us three week’s to film episode six. Three weeks.

The fight scene at the end. It’s gonna be epic. It’s amazing, it’s huge! Those stunt guys. Our stunt co - ordinator  Allan Poppleton. This guy is just brilliant. He choreographed the whole fight. It’s like a big dance. A violent dance that is going to be mesmerizing.

Seriously you are going to watch it more than once because I got to see some of the rough footage and I was like, ‘WOW!’

M&C: In Spartacus Blood and Sand, Ashur was almost the right hand of Batiatus. What do you think Ashur’s feelings were toward Batiatus insofar as his individual journey. Would it be fair to say that Ashur was looking at Batiatus as a stepping stone to much bigger and better things. Or just a means to an end?

Nick E. Tarabay: As you said he becomes a right hand man by circumstance. He wanted that. Once Ashur figured out that he couldn’t go back to being a gladiator, which he ultimately longs for.

He went after the second best thing, which is power. Which in a way goes hand in hand. He wanted power. He always wanted that power, he wanted to become the champion and wanted to be accepted and loved. 

So when he figured out that he couldn’t do it through what his heart wanted, which was being a gladiator and fighting his way to the top. He found this new way, which was being second hand to Batiatus. I mean this is a big deal coming from a gladiator who was not that strong, to being a cripple, to being second in command.

So this is a great journey, and it’s definitely set into Ashur’s ego and its set into his pride. So Batiatus was definitely a means to an end. Batiatus is not the end point for Ashur. He has even bigger plans.

If you asked me what they were. Ashur can see himself maybe one day having his own ludus or running a ludus. I think Ashur’s ambitions are limitless and won’t stop with Batiatus.

He likes Batiatus because he sees some alliance between the two and if you notice in season one. John [Hannah] kind of has the same thing that Ashur does too. So he personally liked him, but it doesn’t mean he’ll stop at being Batiatus' right hand. He has even bigger plans.

M&C: At tail end of Blood and Sand Ashur just about managed to get away from a rather upset Doctore. So I’m wondering if you have any thoughts on where Ashur will be at when the second season of Blood and Sand gets underway. Do you think he’ll try and worm his way in with the rebels or is he more likely side with the romans in hunting them down.

Nick E. Tarabay: I’m not sure I’m at liberty to say.

But I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you a little bit of a hint. Ashur’s plans of vengeance haven’t been fulfilled yet! So he’s going to make sure he fulfills that before he moves on.

So, I guess you’ll all have to just watch and see where he ends up being. [Wicked Laugh.]

I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. I have an idea, but don’t know the details, but you will see a different dimension of Ashur now. A whole new thing with Ashur. I mean just when you thought you seen it all he has another layer that he’s going to end up revealing and executing.

Yeah, he’s got more tricks up his sleeve. I think the audience are definitely either going to hate loving him or love hating him!