The National Geographic Channel’s SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden stirred controversy with its release so close to the election. But stars Freddy Rodriguez, 37, and Kathleen Robertson, 39, preferred to focus on prepping for their roles. “I played a Navy SEAL. It started off with going online and researching BUDS, which is where they train, and to kind of see what goes into becoming a Navy SEAL,” Rodriguez told Uinterview exclusively. “And then we had a tech advisor on set who kind of walked us every step of the way from there.”

Born and raised in Chicago, Rodriguez became recognizable in films such as A Walk in The Clouds and Dead Presidents. His breakout role was as Federico Diaz on HBO’s critically acclaimed Six Feet Under, receiving an Emmy nomination for best supporting actor in 2002. When the show ended in 2005, Rodriguez found work in movies, and he returned to TV in 2007 in the role of Giovanni “Gio” Rossi on ABC’s Ugly Betty.

Robertson, who was born in Hamilton, Ont., got her big break when she was cast as Claire Arnold on FOX’s Beverly Hills, 90210 in 1994. She stayed for three years and from there had roles in the films Beautiful and Scary Movie 2. She’s recently garnered critical praise as the personal assistant of Tom Kane, played by Kelsey Grammer, on the STARZ series Boss.

Robertson found challenges in preparing for her role as Vivian, a member of the CIA team that has been on Bin Laden’s tail for years. “Ultimately, when it comes down to it, our job as actors is to figure out a way to bring that human being forward in a way that the most amount of people can relate to that human being,” Robertson told Uinterview, “and it’s really about not judging that character.”

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Q: How do you develop a character whose true identity is confidential? - Uinterview User

FR: The information was gathered through a team of experts and part of the team was like an ex-Navy SEAL, a CIA operative and a Bin Laden historian and so in terms of our characters, for me at least, I played a Navy SEAL. And so it started off with going online and researching BUDS, which is where they train, and to kind of see what goes into becoming a Navy SEAL and then we had a tech advisor on set who kind of walked us every step of the way from there.

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Q: Did you meet any Navy SEALs from the raid throughout the making of the movie? - Uinterview User

FR: No, no, our tech advisor was not a SEAL before that. We shot this in February before the book was released or any other articles, and so the identity of those SEALs were all classified at that time.

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Q: Did you approach this role differently because it was historically based? - Uinterview User

KR: You try not to, I mean ultimately with a story like this there comes sort of a sense of responsibility, and wanting to make sure that it’s as accurate and as truthful to what really happened as possible. But ultimately, when it comes down to it, our job as actors is to figure out a way to bring that human being forward in a way that the most amount of people can relate to that human being, and it’s really about not judging that character. So I think, in a movie like this, it’s slightly different. It feels slightly more heightened in a way but you have to sort of approach it from a very open perspective.

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Q: Kathleen, how does your character fit into Bin Laden’s capture? - Uinterview User

I play Vivian Hollins. She is the only woman in the film, which was interesting, in and of itself. She’s with the CIA, and she’s been on the Bin Laden team for several years. One of the things that was interesting in the research was that that particular aspect of the CIA has a high burnout rate, that those people tend to rotate in and out quickly, but this character and this person stayed. She’s one of the few that lasted. She’s a composite of actual women that actually did this job. So, still to this day we don’t know the actual, we obviously don’t know the actual SEALs, but even with this character it’s very much a composite of who that person would be.