Rami Malek never wanted to be a star. He wanted to be Gene Hackman.
“I’ve never had any massive expectations in this business,” Malek tells The National. “I’ve always just wanted to be a working actor – a journeyman.
“I always loved the character actor. That guy that just kind of appears in things. I remember watching Gene Hackman when I was young. He just kept popping up, until one day I realised 'that’s Gene Hackman' – may God rest his soul.”
That might sound crazy. After all, if there’s any image that’s become inextricable from Malek’s legacy, it’s him standing on stage at the Academy Awards, the first Arab to accept the top acting prize. He made history – and seemed destined for top billing for decades to come. But deep down, he's always wondered how he got there.
He didn’t get to that stage by striving for attention, he says, he strived for a seat at the table, and stardom was just thrust upon him. “My family kept me quite humble,” Malek adds.
The acting bug first bit him in front of the television as a child, growing up in the 1980s in an Egyptian immigrant household in Torrance, California. It wasn't the marquee stars who caught his eye – it was the familiar faces that drifted across the back of the frame, the scaffolding of every story so fundamental that their skill didn’t become obvious until you focused on it.
When he thinks back to his Oscars moment, he can’t help but feel a bit guilty. He’s grateful, he says, but standing in the spotlight feels like he’s taking too much credit for himself.
“It’s just not about me. I think it’s about everybody else. I appreciate those grand moments – the respect you gain from your peers, from the world and from the audience. But I just want to give. And because of that, I've wanted to see what I could do in this business beyond acting for quite some time.”
Over the past several years, he’s been putting that ethos into practice more and more. Using his well-earned stature, he engineered his latest film, The Amateur, practically from the ground up. Based on the 1980s bestseller, it’s a project almost 20 years in the making, originally set up in 2006 to star Hugh Jackman. Not only did Malek revive the dormant project for himself to star, he also signed on as a producer, intricately involving himself in every aspect of production.
“He really had his hands in every single part of this,” says co-star Rachel Brosnahan, who plays Sarah. “It was really inspiring to watch.”
Malek saw the spy thriller as an opportunity to assemble his favourite journeymen and women – taking it upon himself to personally convince actors such as Brosnahan, Laurence Fishburne, Holt McCallany, Jon Bernthal, Michael Stuhlbarg and Caitriona Balfe to sign on.
“He tracked us all down. His passion is so infectious,” says Brosnahan.
Fishburne echoes: “Rami manifested this.”
Malek is willing to take credit. “Yeah, I galvanised some of my favourite actors that I’ve always wanted to work with,” he says with a smile. “And I’m very proud of that.”
And throughout the shoot, which spanned England, France and Turkey, Malek was indelible behind the camera. Even in post-production, he sat with the sound editors, focusing on how they could enhance the experience for the big screen, an aspect he particularly enjoyed. “There’s really nothing like getting into the sound mix,” he says.
Balfe, who plays fellow spy Inquiline Davies, says: “He has time for everybody – it was amazing to watch. He was constantly making sure that things were working the way they should, or if the script needed tweaks, or really anything.”
And while this experience will help ensure that he will appear behind the camera more and more in the years to come, the one thing Malek is not concerned about is his acting future. If he gets to continue to be a lead star, great. If not, more than fine. But what he says he really cares about is continuing to play a variety of characters – people who rail against the system and speak truth to power. And he's confident that he'll never have to play the same person twice.
“Honestly, there’s too much going on with me as a human being to ever get pigeonholed,” says Malek.
The Amateur is in cinemas now across the Middle East
