Rami Malek Talks Taking On USA’s ‘Mr. Robot’

USA’s captivating psychological drama “Mr. Robot” debuts on the cable network on Wednesday night.

Rami Malek stars in the series as Elliot, a young cyber-security engineer who spends his days working for a firm that protects corporate clients. At night though, he moonlights as a hacker hero. His complex, central character (who suffers from a social anxiety disorder and, at times, crippling depression), breaks into e-mails, online profiles, servers and any data he can get access to as a way to connect with the world, and help out others.

When he meets Christian Slater’s character, Mr. Robot, Elliot is presented with an offer to join an underground group of hackers with an anti-corporate agenda.

PHOTOS: ‘Mr. Robot’: Scenes From Season 1

“Mr. Robot’s” premiere, kicking off at 10/9c on USA, is a fascinating watch, so during a break from filming his new series, which shoots in New York City, Access Hollywood caught up Rami to learn more.

AccessHollywood.com: Was it competitive to get this role?
Rami Malek: It was very competitive. I think any young man who read this script was trying to knock down doors to get in for this because we, as actors, are not privy to roles like this that often. They’re so multi-dimensional – he is, Elliot. [He’s] so layered and it really allows you to build a person who is completely different from who you are in real life because he can’t be anyone else. He is Elliot and you are not, and so that was something I think a lot of young men gravitated to and I was fortunate enough to keep being asked to come back and I kept fighting my way until… a very vocal, excited phone call with my agents when I found out, that was a very, very, special moment of sheer bliss.

Access: Do you think Elliot’s kind of… a modern day superhero in some ways?
Rami: I don’t think Elliot would ever describe himself as that. There’s even a quote in one of the episodes where he says, ‘Maybe I’ll be normal. I’ll watch those superhero movies’ — something like that. I think I even say one of the names of the superhero movies. Does he think of himself that way? I would say no, but he does have those qualities — heroic qualities to him. He is trying to identify what’s wrong with the world and have some effect on it because it is guys like Elliot now — one guy, who can take down a corporation from their computer, or destroy governments or have really devastating impact on businesses and societies and governments that are the guys who are being recruited and the guys who are being investigated. And if you can use some of those powers for good… as a superhero quality, then yes, Elliot is, at times, trying to do that. Is he like incredibly altruistic? I don’t know. He can be very selfish at times, which has some really negative consequences as well, but his abilities are, at times, yes, I would say, superhuman, because of what he’s able to do from a computer monitor.

WATCH: Christian Slater Previews ‘Mr. Robot’

Access: Did you have to do research on anti-social disorders to play that aspect of him?
Rami: Yes. I did research on, I think, every disorder possible to try to really identify what was really alien and troubling Elliot. So yeah, I did quite a bit of research. I’ve read a few books and I consulted our friend the Internet quite a bit, but what was most useful was talking to a psychologist. … She gave me an incredible amount of insight, not only into social anxiety disorder, but into how those conversations with my [character’s] therapist usually get conducted with her. And to hear what she says about how patients react to her sometimes — it really can be really awful and sad, so I just want to make sure we were able to portray those moments accurately as well. By working on that you realize how many people are affected by these disorders as well, personally, and how their families and friends are affected as well.

Access: Is shooting this like a movie? It feels very cinematic when you watch the pilot. Or, because you’re filming TV, does it just feel like filming TV because it’s so fast?
Rami: I’ve been on indie films where we’ve had to fly through production, but nothing moves quite as fast as TV. It can feel a bit compromising at times when you’re moving so quickly, but the other aspect of it is you have to bring your A-game incredibly quick because there’s not as much time to work out the philosophy of things or have real arguments about the really-despised-quote-by-actors-that-directors-hear [which] is — ‘Well, my character wouldn’t do that.’ (laughs) So you just gotta come in correct, know what you wanna do and thankfully… our Executive Producer Sam Esmail’s on set all the time, so his vision is pretty clear and distinct for the tone of the show and the look of the show. And we’ve had incredible cinematography on it, which makes it feel very, very cinematic. And we’re shooting in New York, which allows us to step right outside and shoot in incredible street locations wherever we are, so those things are all things that have helped us in the pace of the show. When you have the talent across the board that this show does from a production standpoint, it makes things move much more fluidly than on other shows that I’ve seen.

“Mr. Robot” premieres Wednesday night at 10/9c on USA after the Season 5 premiere of “Suits.”

— Jolie Lash