A circus ringmaster yeah, Id never thought of that but I like it. The director of British religious-swap comedy The Infidel Josh Appignanesi is trying to describe what it was like to control his cast of British whites, Asians and American Jews, and likes the above suggestion. The chatty, likeable Brit with a multi-cultural mix of his own, admitted it was sometimes difficult to match up all the different cultures on display in the film, but a challenge he enjoyed although he never actually used a whip.
The film stars Omid Djalili a British-Iranian, raised as a Bahai as Mahmud Nasir, a British Muslim who works in a London cab firm. He is not the strictest Muslim he likes his football and the odd drink. He then discovers he was adopted his birth parents were Jewish, and his real name is Solly Shimshellewitz. He befriends rival cabbie Lenny (Richard Schiff) and tries to learn how to be Jewish.
Its funny stuff, but Appignanesi admits he was trying for something more than the cruder comedy the set-up suggests. This is new, says the director, Because its really about how us Brits have coped with ethnicity and adopted it. When youve accepted something, the next step is to laugh at it. We laugh at Islam in the film why not, Islam is funny, most things are. Its a sign of how far British society has come that we can have a good laugh at cultural clashes.
 The Infidel Filmmakers: Writer David Baddiel, actors Richard Schiff and Omid Djalili, and director Josh Appignanesi |
Appignanesi admits though that Schiff for example, a fine American actor famous for West Wing, has a completely different approach to Djalili, and his job as director was to make it work. He explained: Richard is highly trained, hits his mark every time and is very disciplined its part of the reason he is so good. Omid is all over the place, in the sense that he has a line but he will do it differently every time you do a take. So Richard has to respond to that while still doing his thing. There was no safety net.
He is helped a lot by Djalilis remarkably relaxed, charming screen presence not easy when youre overweight and bald. Appignanesi said: He just has a great warmth, which is so important over 90 minutes of a film. We could have made him a very hard-line fundamentalist who discovers he is Jewish, and that would have been funny for a 2-minute sketch. For a film you need much more, you need to be on his side, to feel for him even though he is a fat idiot sometimes. To do that you need his brand of mad charm. The great thing about Djalili is he wants you to like him, and hell do anything to make that happen.
Among the funniest moments in the film is when Djalili reveals to Schiff he is actually not Muslim but Jewish, and his name is Solly Shimshellewitz. Schiffs deadpan response is, Why didnt they just call you Jewey Jew Jew Jew and be done with it> The line appears in the trailer and film, but still raises a laugh on the sixth or seventh viewing and Appignanesi thinks he knows why. Schiff is carrying a glass of whiskey, and the director said: One of the things I learnt about comedy is people carrying things is funny. Its like Richard cant bear to be parted with his whiskey. I also made sure Omid was eating in almost every scene, he is always carrying things like a bag of chips its just funny.
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The director is very confident The Infidel will prove to be a breakthrough British comedy, the first to poke fun at all organised religions without offending anyone. He explained: All American comedy is Jewish comedy, from Woody Allen to Curb Your Enthusiasm. In Britain we love that but all of our comedy is based, more or less, on class. This film is also about that, and fitting in, but it is also about what happens when we arent who we think we are. We all play roles in society, but when it cracks what happens? Omid thinks hes a Muslim but is revealed to be Jewish, so what happens? He becomes a bad father and a bad husband as well, because his identity and role-playing has gone.
One of the huge strengths of the film is the high quality of the British Asian actors on show, including Archie Panjabi as Djalilis wife, Mina Anwar and Amit Shah as his long-suffering son. Appignanesi agrees Asian talent is beginning to get noticed in mainstream British culture: There is so much depth there, but it is starting to be recognised. My cast here were just fantastic Mina had to create a character with a burka so we cant even see her, and Amit is just great. I love the fact that although he is just a boy he towers over his mother, its just funny. And Archie is one of the best actresses in the world, she can make a film with Anjelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart) and this and gives just as much.
Even if your religious knowledge is minimal The Infidel is still funny, but Appignanesi did allow himself one slight in-joke but for a good reason. When we meet Djalilis Mahmud Nasir he is wearing a Tottenham Hotspur shirt, because he loves his football and lives in north London. Spurs are of course a Jewish club, hinting at what the plot might bring, but it also gave Appignanesi a helping hand with the look of the film. Spurs have dark blue and white in their colours, he explained, also the colours of the flag of David. Richard Schiffs flat is blue, all the Jewish scenes are blue, its a cold, unwelcoming colour. All of the Muslim scenes are in green, orange and gold, because that is their colour. So when we see Omid in a blue scene we get tense, because hes not where he should be and he might not get out of there. Its my way of exteriorising the film. Exteriorising? Is that a word?
It is now, Josh.
Writer: MIKE MARTIN
The Infidel is released in cinemas on April 9th. CLICK HERE to read our review.