Day 631 - 'Tehran' director on how war inspiring Season 4
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.4 • 864 Ratings
🗓️ 28 June 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
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Summary
Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Jessica Steinberg speaking with Daniel Syrkin, director of the acclaimed TV series "Tehran."
Recorded on Monday amid the ongoing conflict with Iran, Syrkin discusses the impact of the current geopolitical events on the storytelling of "Tehran" and the challenges of producing a series that reflects the most recent realities of life in Iran.
The "Tehran" director shares insights from his background in military intelligence and how it shaped his understanding of the Iranian regime and the making of the series, created with Israel's Kan 11 and Apple TV.
He also discusses the cultural authenticity of the series, the emotional responses from Iranian actors to their Israeli costars and crew, even during the last 10 days of the conflict.
Syrkin notes that sometimes the only way for him to cope as an Israeli is by working on the show, and notes that whatever happens next, it will be reflected in the next season, Season 4.
And so this week, we ask Daniel Syrkin, what matters now.
What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch.
IMAGE: 'Tehran' director Daniel Syrkin with actor Niv Sultan from 'Tehran' (Credit: Tully Chen)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, welcome to Times of Israel's What Matters Now. It's weekly podcast focusing on |
| 0:09.8 | what matters to Israel right now. I'm here today with Danielle Doni Sirkin, the director of |
| 0:16.0 | Tehran, the award-winning TV series, fictionalizing the work of an Israeli Mossad agent, Tamar Rabinian. |
| 0:23.6 | In Tehran, a show on Apple Plus, a show that we're all very, very familiar with. |
| 0:28.8 | But first, hi, Danielle, welcome. How are you? |
| 0:32.6 | Fine, fine. Thank you for having me. I'm okay. These are challenging times, as they say. |
| 0:36.9 | But they are. |
| 0:37.5 | Yeah, we smile and we don't really feel like the smile is, makes sense, but we're doing it |
| 0:44.1 | anyway, sort of, right? Yeah, yeah, it's real. It's like in COVID time, but now we have |
| 0:49.1 | ballistic missiles flying at us rather than invisible germs. Yes, that's a really, that might be the best description I've heard so far. |
| 0:56.5 | Okay. |
| 0:57.4 | And you're speaking from your home in Eir Tilia. |
| 1:01.5 | Yeah, which, yeah, like a few weeks I was filmed in Eritzilean. |
| 1:05.3 | So we know, we're not absolutely safe here as well. |
| 1:08.4 | Let me give a little bit background of you, just so that people know what you've done |
| 1:12.0 | in addition to Tehran. |
| 1:13.5 | So born in Moscow, immigrated to Israel |
| 1:15.9 | with your family as a baby, |
| 1:17.6 | went to Tel Aviv University Film School. |
| 1:20.8 | You're also known for, I think I'm mentioning shows |
| 1:23.8 | that I know that our listeners |
| 1:25.0 | probably have seen Hamidra Shah, the Gordon cell. |
... |
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