Adam Patla
In just a handful of episodes, Samba Schutte made waves on AppleTV’s hit series Pluribus. He plays Mr. Diabaté, a Mauritanian man who is one of the thirteen people immune to the virus that caused the Joining. Unlike our heroine Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn), Mr. Diabaté relishes in the cultural shift and lives the life of luxury.
Schutte arrives as Mr. Diabaté fully formed and distinct. He’s wonderfully fleshed out and alive. However, it was a challenge to solidify this man given the short amount of time we spend with him.
“Once Vince finally told me who the character was and what the show was about he wanted to make him Mauritanian, where I’m from…which I loved. I think it’s the first Mauritanian character in an American show,” Schutte says about the origins of the character. “We started with Episode 6 instead of Episode 2 so I had to work backwards which was really challenging…. But, Vince was really great with Gandja [Monteiro], our director for Episode 6, and Rhea and we found the tone for who he was. It’s so easy to play a hedonist one dimensionally but Vince’s writing never makes anyone just one-dimensional. What he did was help us find the humanity in this guy and how that worked was by being really sympathetic towards Carol….”
In the sea of grand questions the series raises, Mr. Diabaté presents an interesting perspective on access. Schutte discloses that, prior to the Joining, Mr. Diabaté did not have a great life. The Joining enables him to experience everything he was deprived of for a long time.
“The access angle is so fun,” Schutte explains. “I give this example a lot. I grew up in Africa, I grew up in Ethiopia most of my life and I never had access to like chocolate. I think our parents limited us to a little bit of chocolate on the weekend only. When I moved to the West and had access to whatever chocolate I wanted at the grocery store, I indulged because it was deprived from me and I wanted to experience that. And to this day I’m a chocolate addict. So people are always like, ‘Yeah, okay he can indulge in this lifestyle because he never had access to it before, but doesn’t he get tired of it after a while?’ Maybe, but if you’ve been deprived for so long…to have access to it finally, you’re gonna live it up.”
Interestingly, Mr. Diabaté is never one to hoard the wealth. He takes great pride in sharing the things he now has access to.
“I call him the ultimate diplomat!” he jokes. It’s this approach that Schutte is able to deepen this man and make his counterpoint to Carol’s view interesting, believable, and enticing.
Ultimately, while Mr. Diabaté is in no hurry to stop the Joined, he certainly is not a villain. He may be a nuisance to Carol, but, thanks to Schutte’s intricate work, Mr. Diabaté is just someone trying to fill a void as well.
“And what I wanted to add too was a dimension of loneliness,” he says. “Why would someone want to surround themselves with people all the time? It’s because they don’t wanna deal with being alone. And I think that’s why I think he has such compassion for Carol because he recognizes the loneliness in her too.”
Mr. Diabaté feels almost oppositional to the overarching tone of the show and its central character. He contains this whimsical, almost childlike energy and infuses a bit of levity. Schutte never reduces him to a farce, though. There is a depth to him, filled with pain and struggle. Although it’s not explicitly stated, Schutte makes the audience feel it and makes sure it’s never buried.
“I said, ‘Vince, I don’t want this guy to come over like a clown,'” says Schutte. “He’s whimsical…he’s got humor, he’s a bit over the top putting on this gentleman act…. Vince said at the end of the day it was about making him human, making it real and also not playing the joke but letting the situation be what’s funny. As long as it comes from a truthful place it will be funny.”
Given that he is one of the few people willing to communicate with Carol, it feels like Mr. Diabaté has limitless potential for Pluribus’ upcoming season.
“I’d love to know who he was before the Joining,” says Schutte. “I’d love to see a glimpse of his life before. It’s really interesting, why would someone immediately go to Vegas? Why would someone wanna live like James Bond, be like Elvis, want Air Force One, feel presidential, feel important, surround himself with beauty….? So I would love to see his life of deprivation before the Joining to understand who he was. And to also explore more this theme of loneliness that he has. It’s going to be interesting to see whether he’s going to join Carol’s cause with Manousos or if he’s gonna be the villain.”
Don’t miss Samba Schutte on Pluribus. You can catch up on the first season of Pluribus now on AppleTV. Check out our full interview with Samba below!
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