With season 3 of the phenom show that is POWER approaching, cast members Omari Hardwick and Lela Loren spoke with The Knockturnal about the roles they play and the science behind their characters.
Omari Hardwick, who plays lead character ‘Ghost’ and Lela Loren, who plays his mistress Angela, sought to defy expectations in portraying their roles in POWER. The hit STARZ television show introduced us to Ghost and Angela in 2014 with Ghost as a narcissistic club owner by day and drug lord by night alongside Angela, who served as a prosecutor and Ghost’s high school sweetheart. Since then, the dynamic of the show has evolved significantly. Reason being, both Hardwick and Loren refused to be trapped into the limited confines of their character descriptions. As a result, POWER ultimately becomes deeper than viewers expected as Ghost can no longer be simply defined as a selfish man, but now we see him developed into a man that is doting and affectionate towards his family, but not patronizing.
“It’s hard, at times, for me to remember that I have to have grace. I grew up with an affectionate father. My mom was not affectionate. So it does an interesting thing. If you take that actor and put him in Ghost, then 6.9 million viewers are going ‘What is that I’m looking at? That’s something different.’ Most actors would play Ghost from the standpoint of mom being doting and dad not being doting,” he said, “The character is already written narcissistic, so why not bring in another element?”
Initially Hardwick was apprehensive in taking on the role as Ghost for fear of being boxed in. The decision to evolve his character, Hardwick says, came from a fear of being cast merely for his sex appeal and not being taken seriously in Hollywood.
“I was running from a part that I now have embraced. God gave me an opportunity to show the part of what it really means to be what Paul Newman was. You can’t play the characters that he, and De Niro, and Denzel, and Clooney have brought to life if you don’t have the depth that they have.” Hardwick said. “When I look at what really makes them sexy, it is the level of comfort they have within their own skin.
Loren’s sex appeal didn’t come as natural and wasn’t as much of a concern as she stated that up until recently, the idea of even being sexy was a new concept for the actress.
“I was a late bloomer. Boys didn’t even begin to look at me until I was 23, 24. One of the positive things that comes from being a late bloomer, and a nerd, and not being cool is that you aren’t allowed to be cool. At some point I stopped trying and I just said ‘F**k it’, and that frees you up to be yourself,” she said. “I had a lot of anxiety and self loathing when I was a kid. I was really dark. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten more light hearted. People say you just have to love yourself, well let’s take the ‘just’ out of it. Because, it’s actually something I had to learn and be taught. I had to find other women and men to teach me what that process looked like.”
This is how the dynamic of the show has evolved – there are attributes about the characters that have surpassed expectations. Ghost and Angela are likable, but they’re not meant to be. By adding in unexpected elements, you get characters that are complex yet human, and flawed, but authentic. Hardwick and Loren also say that these roles have transcended into their real lives:
What life lessons have you both learned from embodying your respective characters?
Lela: Angela cuts off that love in her really early [Angela was Ghost’s high school sweetheart and chose to pursue a career over love] and that scares her. That’s why she leaves James (Ghost) at 15 and doesn’t come back. She pursues ambition, and success, and jobs. And all of that feels like a great antidote, but the truth is she’s really lonely and starving. So, there’s that piece of you that says no matter how many times you fall in the mud, keep your heart open and keep love. That’s something that’s sort of important and vital.
Omari: For me, it’s been the narcissism. The narcissism is so freaking high in him. I guess being a not selfish middle kid and always having to share … Ghost shares with the 3 kids and he shares with Tommy a little bit, but he doesn’t really share with anybody else. He even runs from himself at times. He’s a fascinating character, perhaps because I’ve made him empathetic enough stuffing in those Omari-isms. On paper, he’s interesting because how many characters have we seen of this magnitude, this criminality? … You have to be so narcissistic to think you can get away with that stuff successfully. What I’ve learned is that you can’t be hubris [form of greed, excessiveness, narcissism]. If that gets up in you, it’s the worst cancer ever. Which why I love playing him! *laughs*
Season 3 of POWER premieres on STARZ July 17th. Tune in to find out the answer to the question viewers everywhere have been asking: Who wants to kill Ghost?
