Amir El-Masry on Portraying the Flaws Behind a Hero
Amir El-Masry spoke about the importance of portraying heroes as complex, imperfect people, rather than simply focusing on their positive traits.
Reflecting on his role, El-Masry said he hopes audiences take away a sense of the character’s full picture, the good alongside the flaws. He also recalled feeling nervous about the real-life subject of his portrayal watching his performance, but was relieved by their appreciation of the rawness and balance he brought to the role.
From the interview
Full transcript · English
If audiences walk out remembering just one thing about your portrayal of Naseem, what would you hope that would be? Balance. To know that even when you idolise someone or you play a hero, you have to show them with all their warts, the negatives and the positives. And I hope you get to show that properly on screen. Because I think he was really happy about it. And on that note, by the way, before you close, Naseem was sitting next to me. And I think it was something for both of us, an experience for me to play someone. And I was so, so nervous about watching him looking at my portrayal of him. But I think he really appreciated the fact that there was some rawness there and some balance, besides the swagger and all that kind of stuff, to see what could have been said that wasn't said.
