Deli Boys recently wrapped its first season on Hulu. When their rich dad dies and his criminal enterprise is exposed, two Pakistani-American brothers have to fend for themselves for the first time. They run the only legal business, which is a deli, while tied to the crime aspect anyway. Casting director Seth Yanklewitz, veteran casting director of New Girl, How I Met Your Father, Eastbound & Down, and many others, recently caught up with Immersive via Zoom.
[This conversation has been edited for clarity and length]
What was this like in contrast with other projects you’ve worked on in terms of discovering talent?
At the beginning of this process, I had to educate myself on the Pakistani and Indian talent pool. Much to my embarrassment, I did not know that there had been a war between Pakistan and India. Culturally, Pakistanis and Southern Indians are very different. It was very important to Abdullah Saeed that we got it accurate culturally because of the story he was telling. We had to divvy up actors who were Indian from Mumbai per se, as well as people of Pakistani or Northern Indian, Muslim descent, and that immediately narrowed the talent pool.
We were up for the challenge because it was so interesting because it was difficult. Anytime you start a pilot, you’re like, who are the names, right? What name actors out there could we get for this job? And there weren’t many. I’ve known Asif Ali for a while and watched his career grow; he was a front-runner. Then I saw Saagar Shaikh in Ms. Marvel and knew I was interested. We ended up testing Asif and Saagar for the same role, and when it became apparent that Asif got the part, I wanted to test Saagar for the other role. Everyone was on board, and the moment he started reading, he had it.
There’s good acting, and then there’s actors who look like siblings…
It was a pretty immediate bond the second they got together. We were like, “Oh wow, this is gonna work.” It was the same when I did the pilot for New Girl and Zooey Deschanel was cast first. The minute she read with Jake Johnson, we knew they could be believable as siblings.
Poorna Jagannathan is a real find. Looking up her credits, I see that she’s been in a lot of things, but she really clicked here.
The role of Lucky Auntie was originally written as Lucky Uncle. Onyx Collective gave a note to the producers: we just need more female energy. There were only two female roles at the time, so this made sense. The minute they decided, I thought, I know who it is. I’ve been obsessed with Poorna Jagannathan since I saw her in Never Have I Ever. I had seen her in other things, but in this, she was so striking and charismatic and just owned the screen. We brought her in, and we all fell in love.
I just knew she had this role in her. This is a dream role for any actor, let alone a diverse actress. Like you – these roles are just not written for them. I think that is why this show is so powerful and why I’m extra proud of it. It’s putting an entire group of people forward who haven’t had many lead roles. I think Poorna took this role and just knocked it so far out of the ballpark. What she’s created is unimaginable.
What were some of the challenges beyond filing the lead roles in terms of casting the rest of this world…
We hired Marisa Ross, the best of the best in Chicago. I’ve worked with Marisa for decades. She used to live in LA, but you know, we all went out into the community. I did LA, and she did Chicago. For every actor that came in, we asked if they had a relative or a grandma or an uncle or a cousin that would audition. We went to all the neighborhoods where there are Pakistani grocery stores and Pakistani restaurants, like anywhere in a Muslim town or part of town. We had people’s grandmothers and aunties auditioning for us who were like actors with agents or comedians.
Any favorite of the episodes that was more fun than another one than the cast? I personally love the clash between the Indians and Pakistanis because that’s something that I would see in the neighborhood growing up – that was bold to put in a show.
Abdullah was headstrong in accurately approaching the culture wars. He did it in such a delicate way that you could laugh at it. I think we did it in such a way where there’s love behind it and heart. I love the episode with the Italian mob. I fell in love with all of the guys around the empire. And if we get a second season, hopefully, we can expand on them and their lives because I think they all stepped up. When you look at the whole season, there really wasn’t a weak link anywhere. I’m just really proud of this cast and that it got recognized. Hopefully, it continues to grow because these actors deserve a light on them.
What’s it like now that this one is over? I looked up your credits, and you have so many great projects on your list. How does this one stand?
I would say it’s one of the top five, there’s New Girl, How I Met Your Father, this one, and then a bunch of movies that I’ve done. What I’m most proud of about this show is the fact that we as a casting team, found and elevated talent and it worked and came to fruition. It deserves to get a second season to see what happens with these brothers, Lucky Auntie and the whole crew.
Deli Boys season one is streaming on Hulu.
