"I always wanted to be an actor since childhood", says Tahar Rahim of 'A Prophet' article
Tahar Rahim plays Malik in Jacques Audiard’s latest film ‘A prophet’ which was one of the first movies to be screened in 2nd Rendezvous with French Cinema’ as a part of ‘Bonjour India.’ The movie is about a 19 year old man sentenced to 6 years in prison. Documenting his life, his rise through the prison ranks in the labyrinth of a prison, come this violent work of fiction, ‘A prophet.’ Tahar Rahim shares his views and experiences about the film with Ameya Bahulekar and Sean Sequeira in this interview:
How did you start off as an actor?
I always wanted to be an actor since childhood. I was dreaming for 10 years and I then reached a point where I just stopped dreaming and actually started living my dreams. I learnt cinema, about the story and film production. After that I made a fiction documentary which was about the condition of students’ misery, which was partly based on my life. And my job was to improvise on the subject. After that I acted in many French serials. And then I had the audition for “A prophet.” And the director Jacques Audiard called me to do the part.
How was your experience during the shooting of “A prophet?”
I loved every second of the shoot. It was very difficult too. The first two weeks were particularly hard and then everything was like clockwork. Things became clearer. Playing with actors was a challenge but it became precise as the film progressed.
How did you prepare for the role?
I studied a lot of actors, movies and other people but soon I realized it was not a correct way of preparing for me. It may have been a good way for someone else but not for me. Jacques knew that. We got talking about the character, had disputes, improvised and got to know the situation. Why is the character as he is? Why does he walk like that? We asked a few questions. The character’s personality shows that he does not know a lot of reading and writing, he lacks vocabulary and in this way we worked around it and got to know the character better. It built up my confidence. All this was before the shooting and during the shooting; I realized that I can go beyond the character himself. The entire team was so strong. The costume, the sets and the director all helped in maximizing my performance.
Since it was a prison setting, did you meet anybody who has been in prison before the shooting began, just as a part of research?
I knew a lot of people who were in prison. But it helped me only during the second part of the movie. In the first part, the character Malik is a ‘virgin’ when it comes to prison life and as a result I am too. I did not want to visit the sets before the shooting as I didn’t want to know what the prison looked like since the character too, was unaware of how a prison looked like.
Is the transition of the character in the film according to his age or his maturity in prison life?
The transition is due to the experience. The character always uses his head. Indirectly, Caesar (the Corsican boss) channelizes his energy through him. All the time he is learning. It is the story of a person who is writing his own life. His first purpose is to survive and have a better condition of life. After that is breaking free of dominance and pushing his limits more and more. And finally his motive is to obtain power. He is not a normal criminal and so he has to get acquainted with the life he is making for himself. All he wants is a home to go to and the final scene depicts it so beautifully.
The movie has been nominated for the Oscars. What do you think about your chances of winning?
Maybe we will win, maybe not. All we can do is wait. Nothing else can be done. We really can’t tell. The decision is expected on 3rd February.
You have a new movie called ‘Eagle of the Ninth’ coming up. Could you tell us more about it?
It is a movie by Kevin McDonald. I play the baddie. It is not a really big role. I play a warrior hunter of a savage tribe from which the eagle of the ninth is stolen. The character is a barbarian who is chasing the thieves trying to restore the stole piece to the tribe.
