Rami Malek on being attracted to "profoundly alienated" characters
Rami Malek loves to do "deep dives" into the characters he plays. "I think it's the only way to get down to the absolute truth," he said. "That's your superpower, essentially."
Long before Malek landed the role of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody," he says he'd been preparing for it – wearing a set of false teeth he had made, to mimic the singer's distinctive overbite.
To this day, he says, he gets a lot of "Freddie!"s thrown at him in the street. "Yeah, I give 'em a little wink and a smile," he said.
The performance won him an Oscar, and exemplifies the intensity with which he approaches a role: "I don't think you could play a character like Freddie Mercury without doing copious amounts of homework," he said.
"I remember getting a call right after 'Bohemian Rhapsody,' and they said, 'What type of film would you want to do next?' And I said, 'Believe it or not, an action film.'"
Why? "I thought there was a group of people who were underrepresented in that genre."
He's fixed that in "The Amateur," a thriller which opens in theaters Friday. Malik plays Charlie Heller, an introverted decoder for the CIA, who becomes an unlikely hero on a global mission for revenge. He said, "I think I gravitate to these characters who are profoundly alienated, seen as outcasts, different."
"Is that because there's something personal for you?" I asked.
"You're going for it! I don't know who hasn't felt different in their life, who hasn't felt like an outsider. But perhaps yes. My origin story, for lack of a better word, is as a first-generation American, and we definitely were seen as different, to a degree, and fitting in was something I worked hard on and never seemed to perfectly adjust to."
Malek's parents, Coptic Christians from Egypt, came to the United States in 1978. He spoke Arabic at home. But he also had a very southern California/San Fernando Valley life, too. "To a degree, yeah," he said. "I think my parents were trying to protect us, and wanted to create a very safe, structured place for us that perhaps allowed my imagination to flourish in a way."
Malek, at 43, is still mining that imagination. "I can spend hours alone focusing on a character and developing a backstory, or getting on the phone with a psychiatrist the way I did for 'Mr. Robot,'" he said.
In his breakout role in "Mr. Robot," Malek played a hacker struggling with mental illness and battling corporate power.
"It seems you like to play both these kind of unlikely heroes, but also the odd villain here and there," I said.
"I do, I do," Malek replied. "Who doesn't want to play a villain in a Bond film?"
For his role in "The Pacific," Malek spent hours in solitude imagining what it would be like to be in a foxhole. And before that, there was the work to get any acting job.
He said, "I was stuffing manila envelopes with my headshot and resume and sending them to every agent, every studio. There was one moment where I got a call from a casting director, Mara Casey. And she said, "We'd love to see Rami Malek for this role, and we'd like to speak with his agent.' I said, 'Speaking!' 'And what's your name?' "Rami Malek.' And she laughed!"
His charm and tenacity helped land the part, and others trickled in. "There were roles, because of my heritage, playing a terrorist, and that was something I thought, I can't – I'll be pigeonholed. And that's not the way I want to represent my culture."
In the Kiefer Sutherland TV show "24," Malek played a character who blew himself up: "Yeah, I think that was the last one. I said, 'Enough is enough' there."
In a very different turn, at London's Old Vic Theatre this year, Malek took on the role of Oedipus in the classic Greek tragedy.
The two of us first met backstage – and true to form, Malek had been doing his research: "I've been watching you on Sundays," he said.
Asked how different the stage is from the screen, he replied, "It's exhilarating. It's exhilarating, because you get to share in something communal."
It was closing night, and those who took part in that "communal experience" had lined up to see him. One fan told him, "Thank you for making Egyptians so proud."
"I love connecting with people," he said. "It's been the trickiest part of the fame that has come my way. Sometimes you have to walk down the street and keep your head down and not be able to acknowledge people or the conversations."
The actor, who's protective of his personal life, has made a second home in London. "There's something about being in Los Angeles where you always, I think, revert back to that youthful place of still trying to discover yourself … perhaps I have a bit more confidence in this city," he said.
Malek is a producer on "The Amateur," and wanted to shoot in London. It's where a key scene sets his character on a mission, giving an outsider a chance to shine. Sound familiar?
Does he still feel like an outsider? "I don't know how anyone ever feels truly integrated into the world and settled," Malek said. "I don't know that I ever want to not feel like an outsider."
"Winning an Oscar obviously opens so many doors," I said. "Does it set expectations that you feel then you've got to meet?"
"It doesn't, actually," Malek replied. "I've never really set any lofty expectations for myself. I wanted to be just a working actor. I'm pretty satisfied with what I've accomplished. If anything else comes of it that can top that, I would be flabbergasted. But hey, I'm open to it!"
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Watch an extended interview with Rami Malek
To watch a trailer for "The Amateur" click on the video player below:
For more info:
- "The Amateur" (20th Century Studios) opens in theaters April 11
Story produced by Mikaela Bufano. Editor: George Pozderec.
