Welcome to Chippendales dives deep into a story many may not know - while the eponymous stripper collective is world famous, the violent story behind it is not, but Kumail Nanjiani and Annaleigh Ashford are about to change that. Nanjiani stars as Steve Banerjee, an Indian immigrant who founds Chippendales in the 1980s. What begins as a promising business venture, though, soon becomes a pit of betrayal, jealousy, and murder. Ashford stars as Steve's future wife, Irene, an accountant who helps manage the books.

Welcome to Chippendales also stars Murray Bartlett, who recently nabbed an Emmy for White Lotus season 1, Nicola Peltz, Dan Stevens, and Andrew Rannells. The show is created by Robert Siegel and based on the book Deadly Dance: The Chippendales Murders by K. Scot Macdonald and Patrick MontesDeOca.

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Screen Rant caught up with Nanjiani and Ashford ahead of the premiere of Welcome to Chippendales to discuss the wild true story, Ashford's wigs, and their on-set chemistry.

Kumail Nanjiani & Annaleigh Ashford On Welcome To Chippendales

Kumail Nanjiani and Annaleigh Ashford in Welcome to Chippendales

Screen Rant: Kumail, in addition to the starring role, you're also executive producing here. How did you come across this story?

Kumail Nanjiani: Yeah, Rob Siegel, who's the creator of the show, came to me and said, "I want to do a miniseries on the creation of Chippendales." And I was like, Well, is there anything interesting that happened there? And then he spoke for an hour without interruption. And I said, Okay, yes. It's just so wild - so much unbelievable stuff happens in it. A lot of big dark stuff. But even the stuff that's not dark, there's just so many twists and turns and just bonkers things happen in it. And the era is so specific, and Rob is so smart. He's such a fantastic writer. I've been a fan of his for so long that it was one of those things that wasn't a decision, [it] just was like, Alright, we have to do this. We have no choice.

Annaleigh, when the Welcome to Chippendales trailer dropped, I saw a meme that said something like, "Babe, wake up a new Annaleigh Ashford wearing a wig in a series based on true events just dropped." What attracts you to the series based on true events? Is that an intentional decision? Or did they just kind of land in your lap?

Annaleigh Ashford: That's the best thing that ever happened. It's been such a Kismet kind of magic universe God thing that these incredibly complicated women who have also very good wigs come into my life. But really, honestly, this is another deliciously, uncomfortably complicated woman who is tethered to a man in a time when you only really could find power through the guise of being with a man. And in this case, there's a really lovely, beautiful love story that sort of compels her to keep staying with him. But it's great to watch a woman leave when it's time to leave.

I love that first scene with you Kumail when you're at the bar showing off your financial prowess. The look on your face, Kumail, is hilarious. So how did you guys build that rapport and that chemistry?

Kumail Nanjiani: It really was pretty immediate, wasn't it?

Annaleigh Ashford: Yeah, we're kindred spirits. We also right away, we realized that their love language was numbers. And there was something sort of like wonderful and unusual about that, that we both thought was delightful.

Kumail Nanjiani: And it was so great because that was one of the first scenes we shot together. And we knew each other a little bit, but to see you work and knock out that really long monologue. I saw you figuring out what to do with the props and everything. It was just really, really fun. So the look on my face is actually real. I'm just watching her talk about numbers and math. And it's like this scene of seduction. It's wonderful.

Annaleigh Ashford: There's also something delightfully awkward about these two characters having to navigate a space of love together, which I think both of us as actors, like, you know, that's always fun to play, awkward people.

Kumail Nanjiani: They have a long conversation about coke and caffeine. That's their first conversation. In the background, there are naked men and women grinding on them. And there are a lot of different things happening in this club.

About Welcome To Chippendales

Kumail Nanjiana smiling in Welcome To Chippendales

The origin story of Somen "Steve" Banerjee, an Indian American entrepreneur who started the stripper troupe, Chippendales.

Check out our other Welcome to Chippendales interviews here:

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The first two episodes of Welcome to Chippendales are now streaming on Hulu, with new episodes premiering Tuesdays.