Page 75 - Esquire (November 2019)

series. As a show of confidence, Apple with a blindness coordinator, Joe Strechay very intimate thing. We don’t do it often, if
reportedly spent somewhere in the neigh- (who, oddly enough, looks like a mini Momoa, we do it at all.”
borhood of $15 million on the pilot alone. which became his nickname on set), to make Momoa wore sleep shades for a couple
“It is the biggest pilot that was ever shot,” he sure not only that he was respectful of the weeks in order to properly experience being
says in a near whisper, a proud smirk appear- visually impaired but also that every move blind. “It’s just amazing how everything else
ing at one corner of his mouth. This is de- was an accurate reflection of them. Blind peo- just opens up your body,” he says of wearing
batable, but it speaks to his sense of pride in ple are so rarely portrayed well onscreen, ac- the blindfold. “You’re so fooled by your eyes.
the project. cording to Strechay, who is blind. “In some You cut off all these other senses but just feel
It occurs to Momoa that perhaps it’s some- shows, they might go up to a person and start and smell and hear, and you can echolocate.”
thing he should not have mentioned. Apple feeling their face,” he says. “That’s a very, It was Momoa who helped bring some echo-
likes to keep these things tight. “But let’s be
honest: People leak shit,” he sighs. “Like,
don’t fucking tell me, because I’ll say some- Coat, shirt, trousers,
thing. That’s why I’m not the best at inter- and boots by Fendi;
views, because I start saying shit I’m not sup- headband worn on
posed to say.” He jokes that he can’t even keep wrist by Kū i Ke Kaila;
necklaces by Rainbow
his own kids’ secrets, and that they know not
Gems; stone ring
to come to him to divulge their misdeeds. by Red Rabbit Trading
“I’d tell Mom right away,” he says, laughing. Co.; silver skull ring
“I’m not going to get busted over your shit.” by Book of Alchemy;
Still, he has managed to keep the conversa- skull bone ring
by Leroy’s Wooden
tion about See spoiler-free.
Tattoos.
When I visited the show’s set the morning
before I met Momoa—while he was bonding
with Rama back at the hotel, as evidenced on
Instagram—I saw why he and Apple want
to keep the series so under wraps. The com-
pany has poured a phenomenal amount of
money and effort into the production. I
walked through an abandoned mental asy-
lum that had been converted into a derelict
school for the show, and I saw an enormous
pool that was drained and artfully distressed
and filled with broken tiles and debris. The
overall effect was so creepy that I felt my limbs
go cold. Another room had become a cavern-
ous, dark library full of dusty books, which set
designers had aged and decayed to appear
hundreds of years old.
In the world of See, a devastating illness
wiped out most of humanity centuries ago.
The earth has begun to renew itself; plants
now thrive, green and feral, vining through
the foundations of old buildings. The few
humans left in this verdant paradise have
gone blind. They live in small clans and
communicate by sound and touch. Momoa
plays Baba Voss, the patriarch of an indig-
enous tribe on an isolated mountaintop.
He wears animal pelts and carries around
a walking stick and a samurai sword forged
from steel, which future humans call “God
bone.” When a pregnant woman wan-
ders into his village and gives birth to
two infants who can magically see, Baba
Voss takes them under his wing and leads his
followers on a migration across the plains.
This is Momoa as we haven’t seen him be-
fore—as a sensitive husband and father,
yes, but also as a blind person, one he plays
with extreme specificity and reverence for
those with the condition. He worked closely

69