Midnight Mass Star Rahul Kohli Drew Character Inspiration From Clint Eastwood

Mike Flanagan has returned to Netflix after the successful releases of The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of By Manor. The director's latest project, Midnight Mass, hit the streaming service over the weekend and is already "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes with a 94% critics score and a 73% audience score. ComicBook.com's own Charlie Ridgely gave the show a 5 out of 5 and called it Flanagan's "career-best work." You'll recognize many actors from both the Hill House and Bly Manor casts, including Rahul Kohli, who went from playing Bly Manor's Owen to Midnight Mass' Sheriff Hassan. Kohli recently had a chat with Men's Health and revealed he drew inspiration from Clint Eastwood while crafting the character.

"The Sheriff role in cinema, and TV, for many years, is one of the most iconic American heroes, and it has existed for years," Kohli explained. "And [Flanagan] had taken America's greatest hero in cinema, and cast a man who has the physicality, or at least the look, of America's greatest villain post 9/11: the bearded brown man." He continued, "My dad's a big, big, big spaghetti western fan. And as a kid, I always wanted to be Clint Eastwood ... Well, not Clint Eastwood, The Man with No Name. And I used Sheriff Hassan to kind of scratch that itch."

During the interview, Kohli also admitted that despite being known for multiple horror shows, he's not a fan of the genre. 

"I f*cking hate horror," Kohli shared with a smirk. "I can't stand horror! I was not a horror fan. I got my fingers burnt as a kid. I was a very scared kid-scared of everything, scared of my own shadow." The actor went on to share that Jaws and The Excorcist both scared him too much when he was young, and he explained that he continues to stay away from horror to this day. "When a horror is celebrated, it means 'stay away from it' to me. That means it does what it's supposed to do, so don't f*cking watch it! I avoided Hill House the whole time," he admitted. "And then I booked Bly Manor, and so I did my research on Mike, which meant having to watch that. And it was f*cking terrifying."

Midnight Mass stars Kate Siegel (The Haunting of Hill House, Hush), Kristin Lehman (The Killing), Samantha Sloyan (Grey's Anatomy), Rahul Kohli (iZombie, The Haunting of Bly Manor), Annabeth Gish (West Wing, The Haunting of Hill House), Zach Gilford (Friday Night Lights), Hamish Linklater (The Big Short), Henry Thomas (E.T., The Haunting of Hill House), and more. 

Midnight Mass is now streaming on Netflix.