Don't mention the holy war

10 April 2012

Omid Djalili was rehearsing for Lenny Henry's forthcoming series when he heard about the attacks on America. "The producer came in and said: 'Two planes crashed into the World Trade Center. Thousands are dead.' I was waiting for the punch line and she just said, 'Turn the television on.'"

The comedian/actor's mind raced. After checking with American friends and taking in the enormity of the tragedy, he had another concern: should he cancel his London shows? For the Kensington-born, British-Iranian it was a deeply personal dilemma.

"This was a very big thing for my show. On my publicity, which I had nothing to do with, was a quote calling me 'Middle Eastern madman' and I thought, 'That's it, I'm going to get killed if I do the show.'" He even considered giving up comedy completely. "I questioned my role as a comedian."

The quick-witted 35-year-old has done much to dismantle ethnic barriers. "A lot of what I talk about is a celebration of multiculturalism. I thought my work had all come crashing down, I'm from the part of the world that allowed this to happen so I took it personally. But pulling out would be giving in." Continuing has meant rewriting the show. He used to joke about how if you laugh at ethnic people you can warm to their culture; if people found him funny they might understand Islamic fundamentalism. Hard to laugh now. Besides, Djalili is not even a Muslim, but a Baha'i, part of a more inclusive faith. People assume he is Muslim because he looks Arabic.

But what new material should go in? "You can't really talk about the event. It's like when Princess Diana died, it's too sensitive. But I'll talk about the Middle Eastern mind-set, where you are so passionate about something you would die for it. The English don't understand this."

Djalili is no stranger to criticism, but when he first started out, it came from his own community. "Iranians told my dad that I was making jokes about Iran by saying that I was caught between the Ayatollah and Dickie Davies."

Recently, though, his film roles have overtaken standup. Like a bald, chunky, latter-day Omar Sharif, he hoovers up every swarthy part going. He played an Azerbaijani in The World is Not Enough, a Moroccan slave trader in Gladiator and a Cairo prison guard in The Mummy.

This autumn Djalili will be seen in his two biggest roles yet. In Spy Game he appears with Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. Shooting in Casablanca was a highlight, he says. "The Mummy was on television and after filming, Redford, Pitt and I were walking along a street. A couple of people looked at Redford and Pitt, then a huge crowd formed around me asking for autographs."

Djalili was particularly impressed by Redford. "Everyone kept saying to him how much they loved him in Butch Cassidy, so when I was introduced I said I loved him in Hawaii Five-O. He immediately replied, 'And you were very good in Doctor Zhivago, but you've really let yourself go.'"

He also pops up as Vinnie Jones's cockney Iranian sidekick in an update of the Burt Reynolds prison caper, The Mean Machine, from producer Guy Ritchie. "Reza the Razor turns out to be a thug. In the big football match he shows his Middle Eastern hotheadedness and gets sent off. I suppose there's a bit of typecasting there." He admits he's never going to be competing with Brad Pitt for parts. "I'm now filming Anita and Me, set in the West Midlands. I play Meera Syal's hen-pecked husband who eats all the time."

Ultimately, the live shows dominate his mind. "I usually start offstage with an announcement: 'You've seen him in The Mummy and in Gladiator. We've seen him backstage covered in lard. Please welcome Omid Djalili.' But now I'm thinking of starting in darkness. I can't just do crowd-pleasing stuff."

Omid Djalili is at the Bloomsbury Theatre, WC1, tonight and tomorrow. Box office: 020 7388 8822.

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