ABFF 2023 Exclusive: Shanola Hampton and Mark-Paul Gosselaar talk NBC’s Found
Airing October 3, 2023 on NBC (10 - 11 p.m. ET/PT) is the season premiere of the missing persons' drama series Found, created by Greg Berlanti and Nkechi Okoro Carroll.
The cast includes Shanola Hampton, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Kelli Williams, Brett Dalton, Gabrielle Walsh, Arlen Escarpeta and Karan Oberoi.
The series follows public relations specialist Gabi Mosely (Shanola Hampton) and her crisis management team dedicated to finding missing persons, especially those often overlooked by the system. Gabi was once herself one of those forgotten ones, and is still hiding a chilling secret of her own – she has found her kidnapper, Sir, (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), and uses his twisted expertise to help solve their cases.
This past summer at the 2023 American Black Film Festival and before the SAG-AFTRA strike took place, Blackfilmandtv.com spoke with Shanola Hampton and Mark-Paul Gosselaar regarding their roles and experience thus far shooting the show.
Hampton is best known for starring alongside William H. Macy in Showtime’s award-winning series “Shameless” as the Gallaghers’ sassy neighbor, Veronica “V” Ball, for 11 seasons. Hampton has previously guest-starred and recurred on several series, including “The Neighborhood,” “Miami Medical,” “Criminal Minds,” “Stalker,” “Related,” “Scrubs,” “Strong Medicine” and “Reba.”
Gosselaar made his television debut as Zack Morris in the popular teen sitcom “Saved by the Bell.” Since then, he has had an extensive career starring in a number of series, including “The Passage,” “Pitch,” “Commander in Chief,” the critically acclaimed drama “NYPD Blue,” “Raising the Bar,” “Franklin & Bash” and the “Black-ish” spin-off “Mixed-ish.”
What led you to take on this project?
Shanola Hampton: Well, I will start with the showrunner, creator Nkechi Okoro Carroll, who is amazing. I had a just a general meeting about directing. It wasn't even for me to be an actress in her show. But I fell in love with her spirit. And her philosophy was in line with my philosophy in the business. And that was leading with love. Once I saw that she was one of the people that I knew I had to work with, I wanted to work with someone wanted to be with. So she'd already had great success with All American and that franchise and I knew she was a great writer. But then I got the script and saw who was Gabby Mosley, a boss, and I'm reading it and I'm like, “okay, she's got nice outfits.” Nkechi's doing a show that has purpose and meaning and meaning to her, which she had always shared with me where it came about. But then I got to the end. And once that twist happened, and it showed the layers of these characters and these flaws that you're able to see and characters that you love at the beginning. It's not that you see coming, you see it happen. I'm like, “that is what I have to do. That's what I have to do next.” This particular project, it's very different from what I've done, or what I did for the last 11 years with Shameless. I want to work with people that I love and good people. But I also wanted to do a project with purpose. And this project checked all the boxes.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar: I'd say that the the thing that initially attracted me was a pedigree behind it, NK and Greg Berlanti. You start looking at things that inherently are going to have wings in pilot season, and this was one of those that was held very tightly during pilot season. So when they come to you, and they asked you about your interest, I was very humbled by the fact that they asked me to take a look at it. You're betting on a horse that has won races in the past. And so it makes it a little bit easier to engage. And then when you read the script, you're just not that you're surprised, but you're thankful. And I'm just relieved that it's as good as you thought it was going to be coming from that pedigree. This is a character I haven't played before. The challenge would lie also in sort of trust with NK and that she was going to definitely knit the fabric throughout the season and just basically trust in her that she's got this. Does she trust me that I'm going to be able to do what she provides on screen? So there's this great chemistry that NK and I had when we had a chat before signing on and just all the pieces just came together.
How much of a deep dive, because these things happen in real life and people go missing and so forth, did you do outside of the show and script? Do you have a new perspective for people who do this?
Shanola Hampton: The thing about doing a show like Found is that it has all the things but it's very emotional. And you tap into emotions, because you want to be the best and do those who have victims or where family members are suffering from their own trial. It is a show about healing. So you want to make sure you do them justice. You want to do justice within so it's important to be able to really be wrong. And the dive that I did was just really reading a bunch of articles that those stories that you don't hear about and see about that we all may have heard a hiccup or not heard of at all and say “Wait a minute, why didn't miss get the coverage. And wait a minute, this little baby is still gone. And it's been however many years.” And so that's what I did; to really try to put myself in that space of what it would mean to be looking for those who are not being looked for.
Is there a humanity in a character you're playing?
Mark-Paul Gosselaar: I think there's a humanity in any human. You just have to dig a little deeper. I don't think I’ve played sir void of all humanity. You will learn from his backstory that there are reasons why he has become the way he has. Not saying that they're justified, but that's how he handled it. There's a human quality of pretty much everyone on the show.
Having been on Shameless for so many years and being part of an ensemble, what's it like now where you're our number one on the call sheet and you have more pages to read than before?
Shanola Hampton: I want to say this in a way that sounds the most humbling. But being in this position is not a surprise to me, in the sense of I've been ready for my whole life because I know the feeling of what it is to breathe. And to make sure that that energy survives the 16 hour day. And is it a lot of work? Yes. But I was so excited. And so up for the challenge and I worked every day. And it was very, very long days. And then I would fly home missing my kids on the weekends because there's nothing more important for five months and it's different. But even our number one on Shameless didn’t work the hours that I work and he'll tell you he wouldn't do it. This has been a delight. And because when you work with a great crew, and you have great stories, it all works out.
How’s working with Shanola?
Mark-Paul Gosselaar: Great, thankfully, because all my scenes are basically in the present with Shanola and with her younger self in the past and both actors are amazing to work with. It's been a joy and something I look forward to coming on set and thankfully it's that way. Because like I said, I'm only there to to work with her and the present and teen Gabby in the past so it makes my job a little bit easier.
What muscle was brought out in doing this that's different from what you did on Shameless?
Shanola Hampton: Definitely the emotion that’s raw. When you do 11 years of a show you go through a journey but nothing quite this hard, emotionally. I lost my grandmother at 93 years old and who was also my best friend. It happened a week before we started to shoot the show. In real life. I'm not a big crier. I just choose not to but on the show Gabi Mosely goes through so many things that you get to see her break down and frazzled and stuff. So for me, to bring that muscle up and make it true and believable and to really tap into that place. It didn't make me go crazy in real life, but also that would translate on as an audience can go through that emotional journey with her, that muscle was definitely exercised and it gets exercised throughout the season and by the end of the show.