Exclusive Interview: Manish Dayal Discusses Directing an Episode of The Resident

Manish Dayal has quickly made a name for himself with the dynamic characters he’s brought to life in projects including 90210, Switched at Birth, Halt and Catch Fire, Fast & Furious Spy Racers, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. But he’s best known for his starring role in Fox’s heart-pulsing medical drama, The Resident.

Throughout his tenure with the series, Manish has captivated audiences with his nuanced performance as Dr. Devon Pravesh. He’s taken viewers on an emotional roller coaster as we’ve seen the young resident come into his own.

Now in its fifth season, Manish has become the first actor on the show to step into the director’s chair.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Manish about this exciting milestone that’s been decades in the making, collaborating with the cast, and what’s ahead for Devon.

PC: The episode that you directed is airing this week. How did this opportunity come to fruition?
Manish: I expressed my interest and passion early on. It was probably during the first season. They knew. I, of course, shadowed a bunch of directors and did a directing program. When all of the stars aligned, I went in with my final pitch or plea to direct an episode this season. They supported it. It worked really well. The producers of the show and the network all had my back. They supported this passion of mine. For that reason, I was able to direct Episode 14. It’s been really a great gift. It’s been one of the best experiences I’ve had so far on the show. It’s also something that I’ve been practicing for a very long time. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do and do with purpose. I worked hard. I wanted to make sure that I knew what I was going to do. It was a thoughtful decision.

PC: You’ve directed a short film in the past. How has your experience working on Fifteen Years Later prepared you for this moment?
Manish: Fifteen Years Later was my story. It was something that I wrote and put together with a band of people. It was a much smaller budget. We were in control. That was a tremendous experience. When you’re directing an episode on a network TV show, my first job is to tell their story. It’s not my story. I’m directing someone else’s script. It’s important that we not forget that because it’s our job to take it, break it down, and figure out what the theme of the show is—despite the fact that it might have five or six storylines in it. We need to understand what the theme is so that we’re constantly thinking about it when we’re watching it and experiencing it.

My job is to put myself in it and ultimately tell what the story is. Anytime I deviated from the story or felt myself making a choice that was deviating from the story, I would wind it back. Whereas on Fifteen Years Later, I deviated from the story all the time because I was discovering new things as I was filming. That does happen on TV too. It did happen here, but ultimately, we know the story we’re telling, and it’s important to hone in on that as much as you can.

PC: You also said in past interviews that one of your favorite parts of this job is the rehearsal process. How did that process differ with you in the directing chair this time around, and what was that collaboration like with the cast?
Manish: It was incredible. Rehearsal is my favorite time to explore and figure things out as an actor. As a director, it’s different because before you’re even at the rehearsal space, you’ve gone over the scene 100 times. You’ve read the script 100 times. You’ve been working on it for a month at that point. When you show up at rehearsal, you have all of your thoughts and ideas on how you want it to go. But then this is the first time you’re hearing the actors reading it. That’s when the ideas start to come in and you hear other people’s thoughts and ideas and see how that could influence the story. Maybe some things don’t pertain to the story. It’s my job to mold all this and make it make sense and give justice to the scene.

I thought that was really interesting about this rehearsal process versus ones where I was an actor. I, of course, know these actors. We’re like a family. We’ve been working together for five years. We have a shorthand. We put our personal relationships to the side a bit because we were focused on the show and focused on the scenes that we were working on at the time. Everyone is devoted to their characters and knows their characters so well that it’s cool to lean on them. They know what their character would do and say. I found that to be very helpful. It’s really important to trust those around you and collaborate as much as you can, but ultimately you have to make the decision for the show and for the scene so that you can get to the story points that you’re trying to tell.

PC: There are so many impactful moments within your episode. Is there a particular scene that you’re really excited for your fans to see when it drops tonight?
Manish: There are so many special scenes in this episode. I love it. I love this episode. It’s so transcendent. It’s about people moving on from their past, healing from their traumas, and grieving. It’s sad and emotional, but it’s also hopeful, uplifting, sweet, and forgiving.

The center of the episode is about this relationship between mother and son. That is, I’d say, one of the most important formative relationships since the dawn of time. We all know that relationship or have some familiarity with it. In this episode, Billie and Trevor, their relationship is very complicated. They are both protecting each other, ultimately. They are making choices to protect each other without the other one knowing.

They have a rocky relationship, but at the end of it, their devotion to each other is untouchable. Even though their relationship is really challenging and they don’t have a typical mother-son relationship, there’s something about it that does resonate. They’re still connected, even though they had a very bad relationship at the start. When you see the power go into Trevor’s hand and it’s up to him to save his mom or not, he makes a decision. She’s, of course, moved by it.

One of the most special scenes to me is when they’re leaving the medical board. They’re standing in front of the building and they’re talking about what’s next. Where are they going to go? What are they going to do? She says, “You didn’t have to do this.” He says, “I did.” Then they hug. I think what’s so profoundly deep about that is this is the first time that these two people have ever hugged each other. Imagine that. It’s a very cathartic and visceral experience. That scene can’t be heavy-handed. It should be done in a very delicate way. I think we got that. I think that scene is really terrific. It’s about these two people ultimately trying to start this next journey and heal themselves because they’ve been able to face this ugly situation that they went through. That scene was a very special scene to shoot.

Technically speaking, there was the challenge of the stunt at the top of the episode, which is really wild and intense. That was action packed. We wanted her to fall like 80 feet. I storyboarded the whole sequence and we broke it down. The producers made the vision possible. They saw it as a very ambitious storyboard. We toned it back, but then they made it happen. They helped make this happen and figured out how to shoot on stage while keeping the actor safe. We did it. They built this massive exterior wall on our stages. We shot a lot of practical stuff on location at the High Museum, which is where we shoot. We shot the interior scenes on stage. We couldn’t have done that without everyone giving their A-game. Paul Peters built this incredible set. He’s our production designer. Everyone brought their A-game and I think it really works.

PC: When you’re tackling such delicate themes, as a director how do you create the space for the actors to play and explore those different emotions?
Manish: During the pre-production process, I broke down the script and made a map. That map basically is everything you need to know about the episode. There’s not a stone unturned (from my perspective). When you see the actors read the words, you see their experience with those words. There are some very delicate and heavy subjects that we talk about. I wanted to see their interpretation of it and see what it is that clicked with them. Where did the scenes change? What are the beats that they were playing in the scene? Was it earlier than where I had imagined? Was it later than what I imagined? Do they sit here or do they retreat there? Do they move forward?

All those movements, they matter so much. The smallest things like sitting down in a chair can be a big choice in a scene. You can’t do anything aimlessly. It has to be done with specificity. I wanted to see what they did. These are incredible actors on our show. There’s no stone unturned for them either. They’ve thought about it. They’ve thought about these ideas and how to make their characters pop and shine. It was really cool to see them play. Often our ideas came together and they meshed, and sometimes they didn’t. If I thought that the way I wanted a scene to go needed to be the way I had originally seen it, I would communicate that and we would work on it. We had such a great working relationship with the whole cast. It was so great. Everything was elevated. But always seeing what the actors first instinctually bring is very valuable to the process.

PC: Great answer. Speaking of the cast, you shared on social media that this milestone has been decades in the making. What has it meant to you to have it come to fruition now and to also share this moment with a cast who’s become like a second family to you?
Manish: There’s no greater experience. This is home. This is family for me. To explore this passion with the folks that have my back and support me is tremendous. That’s what you want. So I think that for this experience, it was charmed in that way. It has been decades in the making. I don’t think there’s a person out there who knows me that doesn’t know that I’ve wanted to direct since I was young. That’s something I’ve always been passionate about in addition to being an actor. Directing is something that I’ve always loved and I’ve always wanted. It’s something I’ve always studied nonstop. That’s something I never stop studying. Even when I watch a movie, it lives in you when you have a passion for something.

I got a text message from my mom a couple of weeks into directing this episode. They were moving out of their house. They sold it. They had an old bin full of things from when I was a kid. She opened it and inside was all this director stuff that I had. It’s all stuff I haven’t seen in years, but it reminded me of that time when it was everything to me. That’s why I said decades in the making, because it really was in some ways, even though my career has been primarily in acting. But it’s definitely been something that’s been part of me for a while.

PC: How would you say your work behind the scenes has now impacted your work on camera?
Manish: When you’re behind the camera, you see everything in a different perspective, like in a very global way. You see how A and B and C and D and E and F all connect and how it all matters, like how Scene 35 connects to Scene 3 and what’s important. What are the key moments in each scene that connect us to the story and that ultimately get us to the end? When you’re looking for it from that perspective it’s like having a bird’s-eye view of the story versus just seeing a character on camera when you’re an actor. You’re thinking about the scene, your character, and the other character. How are they interacting? How are they going to create something that’s interesting, important, and compelling? When they come together, it’s the best combination.

You’re looking at things much more globally when you’re a director. If you’re an actor, you’re thinking about each character’s storyline, which might be a small piece or a big piece of the overall episode’s story, because that’s not your job as an actor. It’s not to build the story. That’s not your job. That’s the director’s job. Our job is to do the best we can with our scene and bring truth to it. We need to bring the history of our character and our relationship with the character that we’re working with to elevate the work that we’re doing on that day and in that scene. That’s the biggest difference.

As a director, you’re telling the story. You’re building it. You’re figuring out how to tell the story in a different way. It doesn’t say in the script, do this on the third internal moment this character has in the 35th scene. You have to bring some way to differentiate all these moments. Billie’s character, for example, has a lot of internal moments in this episode. She goes through this metamorphosis in a matter of 42 minutes. Each internal moment has to be different. They can’t be the same or she’s going nowhere.

I have to figure out how to tell each internal moment with no words or sound. It has to keep moving us forward. How are they going to get bigger and more intense? Those are the things that I had to ask myself and figure out and try to bring to the screen. We’ll see if it worked. I hope it did. Her character’s really going through a lot and she does so silently in many pieces, which I think is so compelling. That’s some of the best filmmaking when you’re not talking.

PC: We’re halfway through Season 2. What can you tease about what’s ahead for your character? If we’re lucky enough to get a Season 2, could we see you stepping back into the director’s chair again?
Manish: I hope so. I don’t know. We’ll see if this episode works. Devon is really moving into this new role as a clinician, as a doctor, as a scientist, and as a researcher. He believes that the things that he’s good at and that he’s passionate about will ultimately serve medicine in the best way he knows how. This clinical research and trial is his next step as a doctor. It’s something that has not been reflected on in the show yet. It’s a huge component of medicine. It’s something we should be talking about. I’m glad that we are.

In Episode 15, you see him go on this clinical trial journey with a patient who’s suffering from cancer. That’s where he is going professionally. Personally, I think that he wants to settle down. He’s in a situation with Leela’s character where she’s not ready to settle down. What conflict does that bring? Where does that ultimately take these two people who are both ambitious and want to succeed and do good in the world? We have to see that conflict surface.

To keep up with Manish, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Watch The Resident every Tuesday at 8/7c on Fox.