Note: This story contains spoilers from “Industry” Season 3 Episode 3.
As “Industry” Season 3 heats up, Joel Kim Booster relished the opportunity to appear in a guest role in Sunday’s episode. Especially since he was already a fan of the HBO finance drama when he was offered the juicy part.
Booster, who also wrote, executive produced and starred in the 2022 film “Fire Island,” calls himself an “evangelist” for the show as he tries to bring more people into its devoted fandom.
“This might be the first time I’ve ever been cast on a show that I actually watch and love,” Booster told TheWrap during an interview about his role. “I’m not exactly in a position in my career right now where I get to seek out roles necessarily. I didn’t seek this out, and I was very blessed that they liked my work and had me in mind for this, so I jumped at it.”
In Episode 3, Booster is introduced as Frank Wade, an analyst who needs to publish a buy/sell recommendation for Lumi stock by the end of the week when meets the Pierpoint crew at a global climate conference. While Frank is a bit elusive to Eric (Ken Leung), Rob (Harry Lawtey) finds Frank in a — let’s say — compromising position the hotel’s steam room. Rob takes advantage of the moment to urge Frank not to recommend a sell, which Frank somewhat considers, though his desires don’t seem to be talking business.
“It is one of those dubious things when someone is like, ‘We immediately thought of you for this,’ and the character is hitting on somebody in a bathhouse or in a steam room,” Booster said. “I guess my brand is strong.”
While the audiences don’t see exactly what transpires between Rob and Frank in that steam room, Booster says what went down is “best left up to the imagination.”
“We talked a lot about what we both think happens … we have different ideas, but I think the end result is the same — everybody gets what they want out of that exchange,” Booster said, adding that the lines are blurred on whether Rob’s assumed “compliance” might’ve had an intention for Frank to positively recommended a “buy” for Lumi stock.
“I don’t think that either one of them is necessarily stating exactly what they want out of the other person in that exchange and it’s left up to the audience to decide if either one of them got what they wanted,” he said.
Despite whatever exchange occurred in that steam room, the contentious Lumi panel might’ve had more of an impact than Rob, with Frank eventually publishing a “hold” on Lumi stock during the panel after a slew of his competitors went out with their recommendation.
While Booster didn’t want to give too much away on whether Frank had initially intended to recommend a “buy,” there might be more storyline surrounding his character later this season and beyond.
“I do not appear physically in the rest of the season, but, hopefully, I think the door is open for return,” Booster said. “It really depends on the boys (creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay) and what they know, if there’s room for this character again down the line, but I would love to come back at any time.”
After being involved in comedies like “Loot,” “The Other Two” and “Big Mouth,” among others, Booster says he enjoyed engaging in “Industry’s” dramatic and chaotic world, recalling “there’s a lot more going on below the surface … it was just nice to be able to stretch those muscles a little bit”
“It’s probably the first time I’ve ever played a character that really is in the power position I was in in ‘Industry’, and so that was a really fun, new dynamic for me to get to play with as an actor.”
Being immersed in the technical jargon of investment banking, however, was another story. “They primed me with what I needed to know to get through the scene … but beyond me, I couldn’t tell you what’s going on in that show on the finance side,” he admitted.
Like a handful of “Industry” fans, Booster said he’s “there for the psychosexual relationship dynamics at the office, and then everything else I just trust is right.”
Should Booster get to return for future episodes, he would love his character to go “head-to-head” with Harper (Myha’la) and Eric (Ken Leung), and recalled how welcoming Myha’la and the rest of the cast was on set despite it being “intimidating to dip in and just play for an episode with them.” While Booster only shared one scene without dialogue with Leung, working alongside him meant the world to Booster after growing up watching him on screen.
“I love Ken [and] have loved Ken since I was growing up — he was one of the few active working Asian men in Hollywood, so I’ve looked up to him for a long time,” Booster said. “Getting to work with him, even just a little bit … [and] just getting it to be able to hang out with him, it was a huge moment for me.”
“Industry” premieres Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.
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