Key points
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Mahershala Ali says he wants to focus on movies that ‘don’t feel like reissues’ after his ‘Blade’ movie failed to materialize at Marvel.
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His new film, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, features an original script from writer-director Bassam Tariq.
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Ali plays a devoutly religious Muslim man and recently widowed single father who also happens to be a contract killer.
Mahershala Ali has learned some important lessons over the last seven years.
That’s how long the two-time Oscar winner was attached to star in Marvel’s revamped Blade,as the heir apparent to the vampire hunter originated by Wesley Snipes. Ali still doesn’t know why the movie never materialized, and has been vocal about his disappointment. But there is at least one significant silver lining in the debacle: his new film, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.
Written and directed by Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli), who was originally slated to helm Blade, Ali calls the intimate action drama (in theaters now) “a bit of a happy accident.”
“It’s no secret that Blade didn’t quite work out, but clearly, if Blade had happened, this wouldn’t have happened,” the actor tells Entertainment Weekly in an interview alongside his director. “As a result of the dust settling a bit and Bassam working on his next project and me looking for my next project…clearly Bassam thought of me.”
When he first read the script about a devout Muslim and struggling single father who also happens to be a hitman, Ali says, “It was so refreshing to read something that was essentially a no-brainer for me, for many reasons.”
In the new film, Ali plays Tarif, a contract killer and recent widower whose faith is tested when his children get caught up in his escalating feuds with a pornographer (Abubakr Ali) and a Christian fanatic (John Cho). Though the film features some brutal violence and bears some passing visual similarities to Blade(namely, Tarif, like the vampire hunter, wields a type of sword), Your Mother Your Mother Your Motheris mainly a stylish drama about faith and grief.
After years of waiting for the Marvel film to go into production, Ali has finally found a project that reflects the type of movie he now wants to build his career around.
“I’ve learned that that’s where I want to consciously commit myself, to things that feel unique, but purposeful, and have a real reason for being here,” he says. “I think that’s the larger lesson for me over the course of, say, seven years or so.”
For the Moonlightand Green Book Oscar winner, that means going back “to stories that really matter, that feel like they have a real purpose for existing, that don’t feel like just reissues of things.” Ali says he “really learned the hard way” that he prefers films that feel “small with big potential.” Working on Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother“only affirmed that for me.”
“I started writing this around COVID before I even met Mahershala, but even when I didn’t have a name for this character, I wrote ‘Mahershala,'” Tariq says of the new film. “I knew that I wanted to talk about grief, but I wanted someone to hold it with the dignity that I’ve seen people in our Muslim community hold it with. And when we started to get to know each other while we were on Blade, I was just like, ‘I can’t believe I’ve met someone that also sees things so similar to me.'”
For Tariq, Your Mother Your Mother Your Motherwas also a chance to express himself freely as a filmmaker, something he says working on a Marvel movie doesn’t necessarily allow directors.
“It’s so funny, in the Marvel world…they say this to you very kindly, they’re like, ‘Look, this is a Marvel film directed by a person,'” he explains. “They crop into shots, they do a lot of things, and that’s fine, right?”
“Your name might not matter,” Ali adds, laughing.
That’s not to say there aren’t filmmakers doing good work in the Marvel ecosystem. While Tariq hadn’t seen Spider-Man: Brand New Dayat the time of this interview, he calls its director, Daniel Destin Cretton, “phenomenal,” adding that what Black Pantherhelmer Ryan Coogler “has done is really incredible in their universe.”
He also credits Kevin Feige and the Marvel team with teaching him to “think big and be ambitious.” That, he adds, “is what we did with whatever we were handed. We tried our best to give the best that we can and also respect audiences because I think that’s something that [Marvel] really thinks a lot about.”
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After attending premieres for other Marvel films, Tariq says he saw firsthand how people “were connecting and seeing themselves in these characters,” and came away feeling like, “Oh, wow. This is really special. This isn’t just something to roll your eyes at.”
He remembers that sentiment from his own childhood love for superheroes. “I’m a huge comic book guy, so I understand the otherness that you may feel and how these films make you feel less lonely,” he continues. When audiences see Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, a story “about a single father with so much on his plate, attempting to be the best damn man he can be in a difficult situation,” Tariq hopes they leave the theater with a similar feeling.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
