By Lizeth Candera
The story focuses on a software engineer who discovers several secrets as she investigates the strange death of her boyfriend. Metro chatted with the Offerman, who plays ‘Forest’ in the intriguing new FOX Premium series, which premieres Friday.
This series has a lot of technology and suspense. It is also very futuristic. Tell about your relationship with science fiction.
I am a big fan of science fiction. Despite having grown up in a small town in the Midwest, where this subject was not much discussed, the truth is that I met a librarian who gave me many books with stories very related to the fantastic ones. Without a doubt, he developed in me a charm for the stories that spoke of other worlds, of other galaxies. With time I also became a movie lover, and I cannot get films like, for example, “Ex Machina” out of my mind.
After working on “Devs”, what do you think of large companies that are dedicated to the world of technology? What is your relationship with technology?
I think that one way or another, big companies have made our lives easier with a great number of inventions. There must be very few people in the world who have not had some kind of relationship with technology, so, ultimately it contributed to changing our lives and the way we relate to the world.
However, personally, I feel that many tech creations are a great distraction for humans. They make us focus more on the device itself than on activities that could really do us good. So I try to avoid tools that I feel are useless.
“Devs” also explores parallel universes. Do you think there are ‘different versions’ of our world?
Alex Garland is really brilliant, and when you work with him you realize that he has a brain that is constantly thinking about fictional stories. So, he’s the one who leaves you with questions like the one you’re asking me. I, for example, get up in the morning, make myself a couple of eggs and wonder if I’m living in a simulation. Alex is not so friendly with that hypothesis, and I try to follow his idea, although I have my doubts.
Tell about the concepts of quantum computing, multiverse and cryptography.
I started talking to Alex several months before working on this project. He gave me a reading of the story and I found it fascinating, very different from what you see today. Of course, one aspect that caught my attention was the number of technicalities. But when already working you realize that it is not so complex to use them, because precisely, what the series seeks is to be interesting, and not to tire the public.
And speaking specifically about my character, I feel that it focuses more on the consequences of his actions, on his own humanity, so even though I had to understand the concepts better, I didn’t have to be an expert on the subject, like other actors.
Do you think that technology could destroy humanity in the future?
I think it’s a bit extreme to think about that, even though we have technology that is becoming more and more intelligent. But honestly, I feel that the dangerous ones are us, humans, who with technology are able to go over anyone’s head. I think we should be more concerned about government strategies to end the pandemic, climate change, poverty and natural resources that are being depleted.
