Steven Prusakowski
The Fargo franchise has a long history of strong female police officers. Starting back with the 1995 Coen Brothers film there’s Frances McDormand in her Academy Award-Winning role of Marge Gunderson. Then there was Molly Solverson played to Minnesota nice perfection by Alison Tolman, followed by the great Carrie Coon in season three (year) playing Officer Gloria Burgle. After Fargo season five you can add another name to the already impressive list: Indira Olmstead, played by Richa Moorjani.
The actress admits not having watched any Fargo, neither the FX anthology series nor the film, until getting an audition for the newest season. But, once she started watching she was hooked and knew it was a role she had to play. So much so, she decided to write to writer/creator Noah Hawley to directly ask for the part.
Moorjani, previously best known for the Netflix dramedy, Never Have I Ever, was pleased by the amount of depth Hawley had written into the character of Indira. Not only was she written to be an Indian American law enforcement agent, the character had a home life and was not defined only by her work.
Moorjani sat down with Awards Radar to discuss what made the role connect with her, working with a pair of amazing actresses like Juno Temple and Jennifer Jason Leigh, her new Fargo fans, staying in that Minnesota accent, her respect for police officers, and much more. Below is the complete video interview as well as some excerpts from our conversation.
On what first interested her about playing Indira:
Richa Moorjani: Fargo has always been defined by these central and iconic female cops, but I really felt when I got the audition and I read the first two scripts that Indira was so different from all of them. First of all, she was specifically written to be played by an Indian American actress, which I thought was so incredible that Noah had that, just created that opportunity when it could have been played by anybody. And I just thought there was such an interesting dynamic between Dot and Indira and even Lorraine, having these three women who are all so different interacting with each other and eventually helping each other out. That to me was really exciting, just to see these three strong women who are all so different, but on a similar journey.
On having never seen Fargo before her audition:
Richa Moorjani: When I got the audition, I had never seen Fargo, so I quickly watched as much of it as I could, and then I became a huge fan, and then I became obsessed with getting the role and wrote Noah a letter telling him that he had to cast me. So, yes and no.
First of all, I read the scripts, and I was like, wow, this writing is, there’s nothing like it. And then I watched the movie, and I watched, I think the first season, I watched it in two days, and I was like, I have to be a part of this, there’s no way I can’t do this.
On why a strong, smart woman did not leave her husband earlier:
Richa Moorjani: That was something I really grappled with throughout shooting. And when reading the scripts, like, why is she not leaving him? Why is she staying with him? But that’s the question of life.
I mean, how many people do we know in our own lives that are in these relationships and from the outside, you cannot for the life of you understand why these people are together and why one person stays, but it happens. And I think that’s why it was so important to show the storyline because it’s so realistic. And I think that, you know, I’m sure it wasn’t always bad for them.
I’m sure there was a time where they were in love and, you know, they were probably on equal ground when it came to their careers. And I don’t think that Indra is somebody who likes to fail. I think she is some, which is why it’s also hard for her to make the decision to work for Lorraine because she feels like a failure. She feels like she’s failed her career. She’s failed her marriage. And that’s very difficult for her.
It’s scary. Change is scary. So, and these are the reasons why it’s taken her a while to get there, but she does it.
On her favorite qualities of Indira:
Richa Moorjani: Oh yeah, so many. I think she’s so brave. I had the amazing opportunity to shadow a female cop when I was working on building the character. They’re just a whole different level. When I say bravery, it’s a whole different level of bravery. You’re literally putting your life on the line every single time you get in your car and every single time your shift starts.
You don’t know if you’re just going to be pulling people over for speeding or if you’re on your way to a really dangerous situation. What I love about Indira is that she is so unafraid of the work. She’s afraid of leaving her husband, but she’s not afraid of the work.
She’ll walk into a house where there’s been a crime with no fear. And I think that that’s so, that’s so not me. So I’m very impressed by that.”
On working with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Juno Temple:
Richa Moorjani: I feel like it was a dream. I can’t even believe that it happened in real life, to be honest. I had been such a fan of both of theirs for so long and was very intimidated, to be honest, going into it when I found out that I’d be working with them, especially because I had so many scenes that were just one on one scenes with each of them. But both of them are just the loveliest human beings. Jennifer and I had a lot of scenes together and many opportunities in between shooting.
It would just be me and her. If we were shooting in the Lyon house, for example, it would just be me and her in a bedroom, just sitting on the bed and talking about life. And to me, those were my favorite parts of shooting. I learned so much from her. And her and I are actually both very alike in a lot of ways… and Juno, too. I mean, she’s just a magnificent human being.
On taking on the much-attempted Minnesota accent:
Richa Moorjani: I’m an actor who loves to do accents, but obviously some are harder than others. The Minnesota accent, I had never heard it before. I got the audition because I’d never seen Fargo before. It came to me actually pretty naturally. Obviously, I worked with a dialect coach, which was so much fun. If you don’t know, it was Liz Hamilstein, who is the original dialect coach who did the movie.
She did the movie and all the previous seasons of Fargo. So that’s how they kept the through line with the accent, which was so exciting. I stayed in the accent throughout the entirety of shooting. So even when I was not on set, even at home with my husband, not Lars, I would be doing my Minnesota accent. And that’s what really helped me to make it feel real because it’s hard to go in and out of it.
I didn’t want it to come off animated or stereotypical or cartoonish in any way. I just wanted it to feel really real. So that was my goal.
You can watch all of Moorjani’s work in year five of Fargo, streaming exclusively on Hulu.
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