Shabana Azmi Talks About Being Cast For Steven Spielberg's Halo, Says She Found Out After Part Was Confirmed

Earlier this month, Shabana Azmi shared the first look from her upcoming international show Halo. Backed by Steven Spielberg the project is directed by Otto Bathurst. The five times National Award-winning actress is yet to reveal details about her character, however, shared details about the casting process for the show.

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Talking about the casting, the veteran star revealed that she was cast after the makers saw her work in other films. She said, "It was quite surprising because I was not asked to do an audition. The casting directors saw a couple of my films and suggested my name. My agent Geoff Stanton was in talks with the producers without letting me know."

"It was only after I got confirmed that I had my first facetime call with the director Otto Bathurst, whose work I had loved in Black Mirror and Peaky Blinders," Azmi added. Talking about the process that went into early filming the actress said they had a "Bootcamp subsequently in Budapest, did some readings, and workshops and then on the sets at Korda Studios."

Azmi said that she was surprised by how the set had entirely been transformed into the Halo world. "The first thing that strikes you is how quiet it is on the set - nobody raises their voice. I loved working with Otto, who was the showrunner but did only three episodes. Then Jonathan Liebesman and another director after that. Their styles were completely different although they had different strengths," she added.

The veteran actress reporteldy will be playing a color blind character in the show. Sharing her first look for the show, Shabana had captioned the post as, "As Admiral Parangosky in HALO - my first colour-blind casting! releasing 24th March." In the first look, she can be seen dressed in some sort of formal attire with her hair tied in an updo featuring show grey strands.

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The first look received a lot of love from B-town celebrities including Vidya Balan, Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar, and Anil Kapoor, among many others. The actress will soon be travelling to Los Angeles for the premiere of Halo on March 23.

Meanwhile, apart from Halo, Shabana Azmi will also be seen in R Balki's Ghoomer and Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani.