David Oyelowo has asked hotel concierge to turn his room lights off, but he's not a diva

In case you haven't heard, celebrities can make demands and some of them are rather specific.

For example, Beyonce requested juicy baked chicken (legs, wings or breast) seasoned with fresh garlic, seasoned salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Oh, and it has to be "heavily seasoned".

Or how about Rihanna with her clean large throw rug that is "plush and [has] animal print"?

At least, according to this (rather old) article on Business Insider — and that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the demands of some of the biggest names in music.

As for British actor David Oyelowo, he confessed to having called the hotel concierge and got them to help turn off his room lights.

However, he wasn't being a diva. In fact, the handsome and charismatic thespian, who rose to fame after portraying Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, couldn't be further from a diva.

Dressed snugly in a black turtle neck and a black denim jacket, the 45-year-old explained to journalists in a virtual roundtable interview on Tuesday (Feb 9) that he was technologically challenged.

"There are some crazy hotels now where the light fixtures are so technologically advanced, I feel like it's rejected me. I have had to, several times, call down to the concierge to say, 'I'm trying to sleep, can you please come and turn the lights out for me?'" he said, as he mimicked the way he would cluelessly toggle with the light switches.

He added with a slight chuckle: "I just want a switch. I just want to press it and for the light to go out... Hotel people enough. Okay, I'm done with my rant."

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQCQgth8baA[/embed]

David's confession came on the heels of a question about whether he's been in any house or apartment that made him feel unwelcomed.

Sounds random, but it really isn't when you consider that he'll be playing an enigmatic, detached and methodical architect in the television thriller The Girl Before.

In The Girl Before, Jane Cavendish (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) moves into a beautiful, extraordinarily minimalistic house designed by Edward Monkford (David). Not only does she have to be assessed via a questionnaire and a physical interview, she also has to agree to live by a very specific set of rules.

However, everything isn't as it seems when Jane finds out about the previous female occupant Emma Matthews (Jessica Plummer) who not only bears a physical resemblance to her but who died mysteriously in the house. Ben Hardy also stars in the series as Simon, Emma's partner.

To top it off, Edward also strikes up a relationship with Jane, just like he did with Emma, after assessing their compatibility through the questionnaire.

Kind of creepy, we pointed out during the interview, which elicited a laugh from David.

Is a checklist good or bad?

However, we also couldn't help but notice the parallels between what Edward does and how we approach dating in modern times with the integration of technology.

We answer some questions, the algorithm records our preferences and proceeds to recommend the most suitable matches. Sounds familiar?

With Valentine's Day around the corner, we asked Gugu and David what they thought about a checklist and whether modern dating has become too clinical. (Yes, we know David has been married since 1998.)

Gugu, 38, said: "I feel like Edward takes it completely to extremes. I mean, I'm a big fan of human-to-human connection. I think having a checklist for people feels a bit robotic. Even if you did, I don't know that that would necessarily work out.

"I think it is quite a sort of controlled way of approaching human relationships. I think people are much more, you know, interesting than that."

David, who said he hasn't dated in 25 years, joked that it was "very different back in the 18th century" when he was doing it.

He shared: "Honestly, it terrifies me the idea of these apps, you know. People have found love and I think that it's weird, isn't it? We're sort of more connected and less connected than we've ever been. I understand the validity and the necessity of those but like Gugu, I'm always looking for that interpersonal connection. I think we all are, [that] is the reality."

"I think the extreme nature of what Edward proposes is what makes this drama fascinating and it is why he only attracts a very finite amount of people," David said, adding that both Jane and Emma are going through very specific traumas which Edward capitalises on in some way.

Stillbirth a taboo subject in society

Apart from obsessing solving the mystery behind Emma's death, Jane also has to deal with the tragic death of her daughter.

Gugu and the team went to great lengths to accurately portray the journey onscreen. Gugu shared: "Obviously, stillbirth, unfortunately, is still quite a taboo subject in our society, I think just because it is so sad and difficult to talk about.

"And we made sure that we partnered with Sands, which is an organisation who help people process stillbirth, and they had a lot of resources for us in terms of the materials that they give to people who've lost a baby. I was able to speak with a bereavement midwife, who works with that organisation.

"I also spoke with a therapist... And a friend of mine who has experienced a stillbirth was very kind and generous enough to talk with me about her experience. So with all of that, I was able to sort of feed some of that in.. while the scripts were being developed a little further."

Architects have "god complex"

She wasn't the only one who did some research on her character as David also spoke to an architect friend David Adjaye, who confirmed the "god complex" of some of the big architects.

He said, much to the amusement of the journalists present: "He said there is something about driving down the street and going, 'That's my building. That's my building. That's my building.'

"And they are almost all male — the guys he talked about are all male — and in the UK anyway, there's about 10, maybe 12 of them, he's the only black one. Among them, there are no women and they do walk through the earth in a certain way."

David added: "He did confirm that when a building standing up is in some ways your responsibility, control is absolutely an occupational hazard of being an architect... There are good reasons to be controlling, there are bad reasons, also to have a god complex.

"And he talks about how difficult it is being one of those people in relation to family because it involves a lot of travel, you are dealing with a lot of people, it is very obsessive in terms of the attention to detail."

The new original limited series The Girl Before is now available exclusively on HBO GO.

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bryanlim@asiaone.com